WISCONSIN (SPECTRUM NEWS) -- You don’t have to be a huge sports fan around Palmyra-Eagle to appreciate Scholar Athlete Brandon Wilde.

“My daughter, she’s ten. She couldn’t tell you the difference between a touchdown and a free throw. But I’ll say, you want to go up to the game? Her first question will be, is Brandon gonna be there?” said Tara Leroy who’s gotten to know Brandon over the years.

If it’s a sporting event, odds are that Brandon will be there. On Friday nights, you could have seen him on the football field where he led the state in passing yards. At halftime, he’d grab his trumpet and play with the band. Then early the next morning, he could be seen catching a bus to travel to a cross country event where he’d put in his 3.1 miles.

Joel Tortomasi coached Brandon in cross country and credits Brandon with recruiting some of his friends to run with him.

“There’s times in the race you could see the pain in his face and he’d just keep pushing through that to help the team succeed. People see cross country as an individual sport, I don’t think he ever approached it that way. It was about what he could do to help the varsity be competitive,” said Tortomasi.

By the time he graduates, Brandon will have collected eighteen varsity letters. In the fall he doubles up on football and cross country. The winter means basketball and in the spring it’s baseball and golf.

All of this while carrying a 4.0 GPA with an advanced class load.

“He’s what we call a double accelerated student in math. freshman, sophomore years he’s taking classes that normally they take as juniors and seniors,” said Sue Fischer, who taught math and physics to Brandon.

Brandon, and those around him credit the small size of Palmyra-Eagle for allowing him to take on so many activities. For a while last year, the district faced the possibility of dissolving. Brandon and others spoke up at meetings to try and save their school.

“To speak your heart, to plead for your school to be saved and to inspire others in your class to get up and do the same thing, it was really impressive,” said LeRoy.

“I felt like it was my duty. My family has been here for generations and this school district is my everything. They set me up with countless opportunities to succeed in life,” said Brandon Wilde.

The future of the school district was up in the air. Two days before basketball practice began, the head coach resigned. Brandon reached out to someone who hadn’t coached basketball in thirty years. A special someone who’s name is on the Panthers home court, his grandfather Duane Wilde.

“I’m over to his house that Friday night before the season started and he says, Grandpa Dewey, would you mind coming out of retirement and coaching the basketball team this year?” said Duane Wilde.

With Brandon at point guard and Grandpa Duane on the sidelines, the Palmyra-Eagle Panthers locked up their 3^rd straight conference championship this season.

Also in January, a state appointed board voted to keep the school district in-tact.

“I felt like I had to do everything in my power to show the state that our community was worth it,” said Brandon.

“I know that my children are in the right place because we have children like Brandon and all the people that helped Brandon become the man that he is, here to do the same thing for my kids,” said LeRoy.