Westside’s Hidden Champion: Dylan Travis

As the all-time leading scorer at Gross Catholic High School, and a national champion in both college and the USA basketball 3 on 3 league, Dylan Travis is not your average special education teacher. He has played professional basketball in both Germany and Australia, and now, in his second year of teaching and coaching basketball at Westside, he continues to play the sport he loves. 

At 28 years old, Travis is still an active player in the USA 3 on 3 basketball league, and said playing fits in his schedule perfectly.

“For me it’s perfect. I retired from playing professionally, but I can still be around the game by three-x-three and I don’t miss work,” he said. “I fly out after work on a Friday, I play Saturday and Sunday and get back Sunday night, and you get to win some money if you do well.”

To reach the professional level, Travis had to have early success in his career. He did just that, winning a Division II national championship with Florida Southern as a junior, and then averaging over 20 points per game on 40% three-point shooting as a senior. 

“We ended up winning the whole thing my junior year, just a really good team,” Travis said. “My senior year we got a new coach, the old one got a new job in Division I, so then I became the go-to guy. I averaged over 20, and I played well individually, but we didn’t win as much as I’d like, but what I did my senior year kind of helped open the door for me to play professionally in Germany and Australia so that was a good thing.” 

Following his college and professional career, Travis decided to play in the 3 on 3 USA league and, this past June, his team, 3BALL Omaha, won the USA nationals tournament. 

A team made up of former Nebraska stars, it consisted of Travis, former Division III player of the year Trey Bardsley, Bellevue University graduate Klaye Rowe, and Steffon Bradford, who was a part of Nebraska’s Big 12 conference winning team. Bardsley said the preparation leading up to the tournament propelled them to the nationals victory.

“Our biggest focus was to build chemistry and get a lot of game reps,” he said. “We practiced two to three times a week running through some of our plays as well as scrimmaging with another Omaha team.”

Travis said that the tournament was a lot of fun, but the games can put more wear and tear on the body than it may seem. 

“All together I think we went 8-0, and it’s harder than you think, but your body gets crazy sore at the end of it, it was grueling, but a lot of fun and we were able to raise the trophy at the end,” Travis said. 

3BALL Omaha is still competing in tournaments, and even traveled down to Mexico recently and competed in an out of country tournament. Bardsley said it was a learning experience and will help the team improve for the future. 

“We went down a week ago and ended up going 0-2,” Bardsley said. “It was very close in both games, we learned a lot and are improving.”

3BALL Omaha will be competing in Phoenix on the first weekend of December, looking to get back to their winning ways.