From BV to Augie to Harvard

Marso makes difficult decision to forgo starting QB role in pursuit of medical career

 

Growing up, Chase Marso and is dad, Randy, visited every major league baseball park in the United States. They have mementos from each of the parks and thousands of personal memories to last a lifetime from their multi-year ventures.

And on July 25, the father and son set out on yet another trek together, this time to Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass., where the younger Marso, now 23, will study medicine for the next four years.

“It’s about 23 hours, all on I-90, then two miles from I-90 to the Med School,” Chase says, noting his classes start on July 31.

Cleveland, as it turns out, is about 13 hours down the road and just happens to have a ballpark, Progressive Field.

“And we might stop at one last ballpark,” Chase says, “it’s about the half-way point.”

Sports have been part of Marso’s life from the very beginning, especially growing up with a dad who coached at the high school level and later transitioned into the activities director position at Brandon Valley.

His dream of pursuing a career in medicine, however, didn’t come into focus until his junior year in high school when he was dealt a blood clot that temporarily put him on the sidelines. 

“Med school, itself, was something that started in high school, and I really started to think serious about it when I had the blood clot (my junior year), that was really the incidence that started it. But where to go to med school, I didn’t really think about it until my second, third year of college, what’s the next step,” he tells.

As Marso began to map out his career path, he split his possibilities into two trains of thought.

“I applied to the six, which I consider local schools, which is USD, Creighton, Minnesota, Mayo, Iowa and Nebraska, and to give myself a shot at applying to some schools that are farther away, some private schools that have some different things to offer. Harvard was one of them,” he explains.

Out of the eight private schools he applied to, he remained hopeful to secure one interview, but instead landed three – Duke, Vanderbilt and Harvard. In all total, Marso said he applied to 14 medical schools and went through seven interviews.

His acceptance to Harvard came in an email last spring just moments before longtime friend and teammate, Adam Guthmiller, was preparing to give his first sermon at Augustana University. A follow-up letter arrived in the mail days later. 

Although bursting with excitement, the always-humble Marso quietly shared his good news with his mother, Lisa. 

“My friend, Adam, was giving the sermon at chapel that morning at Augie, and so we had lots of Brandon people there, my mom even came to hear him give the sermon, and I get the email as I’m walking to that in the morning. It was one of those moments that I was so excited and happy, but at the same time it was Adam’s big moment and I didn’t want to take that away from him. And so, I kind of quietly said it to my mom, but I didn’t want to make a big deal of it until he was done,” he said.

Difficult decisions

Marso’s acceptance to Harvard meant the multi-sport standout at Brandon Valley and backup quarterback at Augustana had yet more decisions to make. 

Would Harvard allow him to defer a year in exchange to step into the starting QB position at Augie, or would the spring game he’d just played in be the last time he put on the helmet and shoulder pads? Or should he enroll at the USD Sanford School of Medicine, which had approved him for a deferment to 2018?

His teammates and coaches supported him, and many encouraged him to go to Harvard, and when he was named one of the Vikings’ captains for the 2017 season in late April, that made the decision even tougher.

“It truly was a difficult decision. One thing that our athletic director at Augie said to me, Slade Larscheid, was a great way to put it: ‘It was a win-win, but also was a lose-lose.’ The decision was a win-win because I was going to go to Harvard, or it was a win-win that I was going to complete my athletic eligibility and play football and have the chance to start and do things I haven’t been able to do the past four years,” he said. “It was a very, very difficult decision, so I leaned on the people that were closest to me. The best advice I got from anybody was from parents and friends, teammates that are really close to me … (because) I was going to be losing out on an opportunity either way. It was going to be a ‘what if’ I didn’t go and a ‘what if’ I stayed. Either way, you’re going to have that question, but as I move farther from the decision, I’m more and more at peace with it and more and more excited about what’s to come.”

In his back-up QB role, Marso still compiled an impressive resume as a three-time Academic All-NSIC honoree who owns a 4.00 grade-point average as a biology (pre-med) major, and was named an NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction honoree, which is awarded to senior student-athletes who have a cumulative GPA of 3.75 or higher.

Augustana head football coach Jerry Olszweski, although sad to see Marso forgo his fifth year of eligibility, certainly understood the opportunity that awaited Marso.

“Augustana football could not be more proud of Chase,” Olszewski said in a late April Augustana Athletics media report. “He is a young man that does everything the right way and he has left his mark at Augustana in every way imaginable. Chase truly engaged himself in the fabric of Augustana and actively made a difference academically, athletically, spiritually, socially and lastly, as an incredible ambassador for the university. He is gifted in so many ways and that speaks volumes because of how humble he remains in the process. Though my prayers were that he would be granted deferment from Harvard Medical School, the truest prayer is that he continues to impact others in such a positive way in his journey. Augustana has been blessed with this young man and his influence on our campus. Though he will be leaving Augustana for Harvard, he will forever be a Viking.”

His back-up QB role
Marso departed the Vikings program having spent the entirety of his career as the backup to Trey Heid, a teammate and friend he’s developed great respect for.

“It certainly wasn’t what I expected coming out of high school, having a great career at Brandon in many ways. You dream of going to college and being a four-year starter or a two-year starter, and my goal and aspirations coming out of Brandon was to start and lead that team and help them out on the field. But it didn’t pan out that way,” he explains. “As many times as it was frustrating, I wouldn’t have traded my experience there for going to another school because the relationships I’ve formed, whether it was with Trey, who started for four years and was in the top 10 of voting for national player of the year, and an incredible player in his own right. I think I helped him grow in some ways as a quarterback in complimenting him and helping him on a day to day basis, and on Saturdays because we were two different quarterbacks from the mental aspect of the game, from the physical aspect of the game. … The opportunity would’ve been great, but I found other ways to contribute to the team on the sideline, being a player-coach on the sidelines, things like that, and all the other things that come with being a college football player. It’s not just three hours on a Saturday, it’s a lot of other things, and I wouldn’t have traded that for anything.”

As a Viking, Marso played in a total of 17 games (one start) and completed 71-of-105 passes for 934 yards and six touchdowns. Heid became the Vikings’ all-time leading passer during the same timeframe.

Besides leaving a footprint on the Augie football program, Marso was involved in the Pre-Med Club while serving as a student leader for Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the president of the Augustana Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He also served as mentor at Hayward Elementary school and had membership in the Tri-Beta National Biological Honor Society.

Lynx, Viking memories

In his senior season, Marso guided the Lynx football and boys’ basketball teams to their respective championship games. He has fond memories of both.

“Two that come to mind are basketball and playing for the state championship in Sioux Falls against Pierre my senior year. When we sold out the Sioux Falls Arena, and the one moment in that game when I took a moment to step back was the start of the second half. The music was blaring, it was a really close game at that point, and I just took a second as I stepped out on the floor to look around and see the people, hear the sounds going on,” he says. “And in football, coming out of the tunnel at the Dome to start and seeing the sea of red in the stands. Those two big moments, both championship games, and to be able to reach that goal.”

As for his highlights at Augie, “There’s a lot of them,” he says. “They’re memorable in different ways, because I wasn’t always the guy leading the team onto the field.”

He mentions when the team learned they’d made the playoffs two years ago and seeing how the program has excelled since coming into his freshman year when the Vikings were a below .500 team.

“Then in a couple of years, flipping it around and heading out to California for the first round of the playoffs, that’s certainly a memory that I’ll never forget. … To be part of that first stone of laying the foundation for where Augie football has gone and will continue to go, that we changed the direction of that program, that certainly is a memory that sticks out.”

While Marso may have dreamt of playing the game at the pro level as youngster, as he matured, he kept his focus at the collegiate level. 

“If opportunities had presented themselves, if my career had gone a whole different way, I can’t say with 100 percent certainty that I wouldn’t have looked at the possibility,” he confesses. “Coming out of high school I knew that athletics were going to be a great part of my college experience, they were going to be a huge part of building me both on and off the field, but I also knew it was supplemental to what I was going to get of college as far as academics and the next step of pursuing my medical career,” he said.

Marso’s education now moves from Augie to Harvard Medical School for the next four years, to be followed by residency – a two- to six-year endeavor – where he’ll explore different specialties. If he chooses to specialize, fellowships would follow. 

“I always tell people, probably 10 years and we’ll see where I’m at,” he said.

Marso said he’s following the advice of current medical students, and that is to keep an open mind. 

“You will try a specialty and have a rotation in that specialty that you didn’t think you were going to like at all, and you’re going to love it, or you’re going to go into a different rotation of a specialty that you thought you’d love, and you’re going to find out that’s not for you. So, I want to go in with open mind, explore different areas to see what I can be passionate about for the rest of my life,” he said.

His current interests lie in cardiovascular, neurology and orthopedics and sports medicine, for obvious reasons, he adds.

“If I can have the opportunity to work with that population of the patients for the rest of my life, I know I could be very passionate about that and be able to identify with the patients that I’m serving, as far as their needs and being able to serve them,” he says. “I think I could see myself doing cardiovascular, cardiothoracic through the blood clot that I had opened up that area, and I have a little bit of interest in neurology, especially with concussions and other things dealing with the brain, but I’ll leave it open for now.”

While the East Coast will be Marso’s new home for the next four years, he hopes to return to the Upper Midwest one day.

“That’s my thought right now is to go there and be in Boston for the next four years and where residency takes me is where residency takes me. My thought right now is to come back to the Upper Midwest. I love the people, the culture, the area, and so if that’s the Sioux Falls area, Brandon, that’s great, but I can see myself in the Upper Midwest, Fargo, the Cities.”

In the weeks leading up to his departure to Harvard, Marso has taken time to reflect on where his path there started. He uses the word “incredible” to describe the support he’s received through his faith, family and friends.

“It’s been incredible. My whole life through elementary, middle school and high school, has been incredible to have the community support, not only the obvious things of being on the basketball court and on the football field, and I can’t state how important those things are because Brandon supports its activities as well – or better - than anybody across the state. Those things are important but it’s all of the relationships that I’ve built, it’s the people that have supported me in the classroom to foster my academic development to get me to the point at Augie where I could have success and then continue to build on that success in medical school. It’s the people that have supported me in my faith, my church, pastors at Brandon Valley Assembly of God and all the relationships I have in the community. Those relationships, as much as academic and social relationships, keep me going, give me motivation, and those relationships are ones that I hope don’t ever end as I move on.”