BROUGHT TO YOU BY: After high school, Middlemist earned his bachelor’s degree in
Health Science at Friends University in Wichita, and in 2016, he earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Rocky Vista Univer- sity College in Denver. He completed a fi ve-year orthopaedic surgery residency at Oklahoma State before performing a one-year Fellow- ship at Beacon Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Cincinnati. Then came an opportunity most mere mortals just don’t get—a chance
to join the medical staff for the Cincinnati Reds for a year, spanning 2021- 22. Some decisions in life are easier to make than others. He spent a month in Arizona for spring training with the Reds be-
fore working Cincinnati home games during the regular season, and he had a good seat to watch the games—in the dugout. “That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to see the back side of professional sports, where you’re in the training room working with the athletes,” said Middlemist, who will celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary later this year with Kayla, and they have a 3-year-old son, Cameron, who’s already playing t-ball. “But I just love working with the local high school and college ath-
letes we have here. We’re very blessed to be in such a great com- munity and working with great young people, great coaches and great staff s. Working in a town this size, you feel like you can make a diff erence. The people I take care of, I see them at the grocery
store or the golf course. I love having that personal connection with people. I’m just not a shadow fi gure.” You can understand if Middlemist were a Reds fan, and since he
grew up in Kansas, I suppose we have to hold our nose and under- stand why he’s a fan of the Jayhawks. But the Broncos? The Middle- mist family has roots in Colorado, and the extended family has had season tickets to Denver home games for 60 YEARS ... starting with a great-great uncle, then passed off to Grandma, and now they’re in the hands of Kevin’s dad, who’s a lifelong Broncos fan. But in the end, Middlemist’s favorite team of all is the only one
that really matters. “I’m very blessed,” he said, “and I realize that God has given me
the ability to do the thing I want to do. I’m humble enough to realize it’s Him, not me; I’m just the mechanism for Him.” Amen.
Show-Me Sports /// 69
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