Idaho football recruit Gatlin Bair’s decision to serve a mission

BURLEY, Idaho — Gatlin Bair was pulled as much as play varsity highschool football after his first freshman game in fall 2020, but achieving his dream of playing major college football felt more realistic a 12 months later as he stood on the sidelines at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City and watched the University of Oregon play the University of Utah.

As Bair sized up the players and observed the sport up close, he had a surge of confidence.

“I will be nearly as good as these guys. I can see myself in that situation,” he said in a recent interview with the Church News. “Seeing those guys in person is the purpose where I believed I could physically play the game at the following level.”

More than two years later, not only has Bair shown he can play with the very best, however the 6-foot-2 wide receiver could almost have his pick of any program within the country. They have all expressed interest in having him.

After demonstrating his skills and speed on the All-American Bowl against the country’s top highschool players, Bair is listed because the nation’s No. 27 overall prospect and is the highest-rated football recruit in Idaho history.

The 18-year-old is anticipated to make a choice from Oregon and the University of Michigan on Feb. 7, the national signing day for school football prospects, although multiple media outlets reported on Feb. 3 that Bair has committed to Oregon.

But then Bair is stepping away from the sport he likes to do something he feels is more essential — serve a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Bair doesn’t view two years away from football as a sacrifice.

“I’ve all the time desired to go on a mission. It’s never been an issue in my mind,” he said. “I feel the most important sacrifice — like several other missionary — is being away from your loved ones. Not seeing my older brother [who is currently serving] for nearly 4 years will probably be tough. … I don’t think [leaving football] is a sacrifice, I actually don’t. If anything, I’ll be more blessed for it. Football will all the time be here once I get back. Football isn’t going anywhere.”

Family, running and faith

Understanding Bair’s decision to serve a mission begins at home together with his family and upbringing.

His parents, Brad and Shae Bair, met in highschool and were star track athletes at Utah State University. She was an All-American pole vaulter, and he was a conference decathlon champion.

“Obviously she was a really competitive and elite track athlete,” Brad Bair said. “The joke at our wedding was I used to be the just one who could catch her. That’s why we ended up together.”

Following college, the couple settled in Kimberly, Idaho, where they coached the highschool track team and oversaw a youth track club. Gatlin, the third of 5 children, began training when he was 5 years old.

“The kids grew up going to the track,” Brad Bair said. “It’s something we did as a family, and it’s type of our identity. It’s just how we hung out together.”

Beyond running and friendly competition on the track, the parents desired to be relevant of their kids’ lives and help them “grow into good human beings,” he said.

The family strived to make the Church and their Latter-day Saint faith their highest priority. There were no competitions on Sundays.

“We all the time went to Church and were probably like everybody else — hit and miss with family home evening and scripture study — but we did our greatest,” the daddy said. “We desired to help them understand that faith was a very powerful thing in life and the actual reason why we’re on the earth. It’s to not run track and play football, it’s to organize ourselves to fulfill God. That has all the time been our No. 1 priority.”

His wife agreed.

“Example is the most important thing,” Shae Bair said. “If we show that it’s essential to us, you then hope your example will set that precedence for them.”

Family of missionaries

An example of missionary service within the Bair family began with Brad Bair. Prior to marriage, he served a mission as a young man in Paraguay.

In the Church of Jesus Christ, a mission is a period of volunteer service — typically 18 months for young women and 24 months for young men — where missionaries devote themselves to teaching the gospel, humanitarian assistance or other service opportunities.

Those who don’t understand what a mission entails are understandably skeptical of why a young athlete would go away his sport in the height of his development, Brad Bair said.

“What they don’t understand is that the mental, emotional and spiritual growth goes to assist him be an outstanding football player,” he said. “The physical part is straightforward. The hard part is the mental, spiritual and emotional part. What prepares you higher for anything than a mission? How significantly better of a football player is he going to be because he has that piece that the majority kids don’t have?”

Gatlin’s oldest brother, Peyton Bair, served within the Arizona Mesa and Mexico Cancún missions before returning to compete in multiple events for the Mississippi State University track and field team. Peyton Bair also serves as second counselor within the presidency of the Starkville Mississippi Branch.

The Bairs’ second child, Jaxon, is currently serving within the Bolivia Santa Cruz North Mission. When he returns, Jaxon will compete for the University of Arkansas track and field team.

Along together with his parents’ support and encouragement, witnessing his older brothers’ missionary service has greatly influenced Gatlin.

“One of the most important things people tear me down for is my decision to serve a mission. Some people say I’m pretty dumb for doing it, that it can spoil my profession and I’ll come back slower. They don’t understand why I’m doing it or the reasoning behind it, not being [Church] members or experiencing the blessings,” Gatlin said, mindful of seeing the consequences of missionary service for his parents and brothers. “I feel I’m going to come back back and be very blessed for serving. Even if I did come back and wasn’t quite where I used to be, I feel it could all be price it.”

He continued: “My brother Peyton has been back for a 12 months and a half now. The blessings he has had, the expansion and things he has been capable of achieve, are remarkable. I’m not fearful about it in any respect. I feel I’m going to be just high-quality.”

Gatlin has been assigned to serve within the Texas Dallas West Mission. He begins his mission service Feb. 19. Peyton Bair is grateful that his little brother has decided to “put the Lord first.”

“It’s really been a blessing in my life,” Peyton Bair said of his mission. “I learned loads in those two years, and it has helped me loads personally and in my athletic profession. … I feel it’s a blessing in disguise. He will probably be more mature and developed when he gets back, which is advantageous for sports. On top of that, he’ll have a stronger testimony and give you the chance to make higher decisions.”

Hard work, perseverance, discipline

Because his parents were track athletes, many incorrectly assume Gatlin Bair is only a “genetic freak” who was born with sprinter speed. It’s true, to a certain degree, his father said, but speed may also be developed.

“You don’t come out of the womb running 10.15 [seconds in 100 meters]. It’s been a protracted process, and he’s worked hard at it,” Brad Bair said. “He’s been training just about his whole life.”

Years of consistent training paid off in a giant way last 12 months when Gatlin clocked a time of 10.18 seconds within the 100-meter dash on the Texas Relays. He went on to win the finals with a time of 10.25.

More than a month later, Gatlin clocked a record-breaking time of 10.15 within the 100-meter dash within the prelims of the Idaho High School State Championships in Meridian, Idaho. The next day he tied his own state record with one other 10.15 within the finals. He was named the Gatorade Boys Track and Field Player of the Year in Idaho.

Even with 73 catches for 1,113 yards and 20 total touchdowns in football as a junior, it was Gatlin’s performance on the track that turned the heads of football recruiters. Bair began fielding calls and receiving visits from the likes of University of Oregon head football coach Dan Lanning, former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and lots of others, said Cameron Andersen, Gatlin’s football coach at Burley High.

“Every single team in America would take him at once,” Andersen said. “To see him experience those cool moments, due to his exertions, is completely awesome.”

Gatlin said the recruiting process at times was almost overwhelming. Andersen was capable of shepherd him through the recruiting process because he had previously helped one other player, former Gooding High star Colston Loveland, land at Michigan.

The majority of coaches were somewhat aware of what a mission is, and Gatlin said all were willing to carry a roster spot and scholarship for him. One program even offered to finance his mission, although the family declined. This is to say nothing of other “name, image and likeness,” referred to as NIL, opportunities, which he says won’t mean anything until he starts playing football anyway.

“At the top of the day, the cash you can make off NIL deals comes out of your production on the football field,” Gatlin said. “If you base your decision off the number they’re throwing at you [during recruiting], you then’re probably not picking the college for the fitting reason.”

Gatlin was already a high-profile prospect in Idaho when his family moved from Kimberly to Burley before his junior 12 months. Because of his talent and success, there was pressure to perform at a high level while being the most important focus of each defense; he’s faced heckling and taunting by opponents and fans, and he’s been a favourite goal on social media.

Yet Andersen says his star player has remained humble, persevered and continued to work. He also found solitude and spiritual strength by attending seminary, where he studied the scriptures.

Looking back, learning to take care of adversity and a giant highlight fostered maturity and growth for Gatlin, all of which helped prepare him for a mission.

“It’s been really cool to observe him, through thought and prayer, handle those situations, take heed to the recommendation of others, and take a mindset well beyond his years about understanding others, and the way that doesn’t impact him,” the coach said. “He’s going to be a superb missionary.”

Andersen also says Gatlin is so disciplined in health and nutrition that his friends and teammates can’t even get him to eat a candy bar.

“If you eat something bad, you’ll get a brief lecture about what’s in it and the way it’ll negatively impact your body,” Andersen said. “He is so focused on achieving his goals, it is sort of inconceivable to get him to eat things that aren’t useful to achieving those goals.”

Serving within the ‘football capital of the world’

Andersen says Gatlin Bair further proved himself as a top college prospect together with his performance against other elite players during practices and workouts leading as much as the All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, on Jan. 6.

Gatlin appreciated the chance to attach with several players, a lot of whom asked about his mission plans.

“A variety of them asked questions on training, how that will look and what I thought of it,” said Gatlin, who hopes to exercise as much as his mission rules allow. “I explained how that looked and that I believed it could be a very good thing for me.”

Gatlin will soon return to Texas in a special uniform. Instead of a jersey, helmet and shoulder pads, he will probably be sporting a white shirt, a tie, dress pants and a black name tag. He knows he’ll fit right in.

“I feel I used to be called to Dallas for a reason. It’s probably the football capital of the world. I feel like I’m really going to attach with people down there,” he said with a smile.

Gatlin hopes other Latter-day Saint youth who read his story will consider missionary service as well.

“If you dedicate that point to the Lord, you’ll be blessed for it,” he said. “And if you do get back, you’ll find that you simply’ll probably be more successful than in case you decided to not go.”