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LYLE – After being 26 years removed from competing as a high school athlete, Brock Meyer has now seen life go full circle.

Brock, a 1999 Lyle grad who scored 1,298 career points in his time with the Lyle Lions boys basketball team, has now seen his son Landon, a senior, join the 1,000-point club for the Lyle-Pacelli boys basketball team.

It’s an accomplishment that didn’t come easy for either Meyer, especially considering they both favor baseball over basketball. Brock played baseball at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and Landon has committed to play baseball at Division II Upper Iowa University.

“Baseball was probably my number one passion sport, but I was probably better at basketball to be honest,” said Brock, who is LP’s head baseball coach. “As a parent, when a kid achieves a goal that he’s been working for, you have to be proud of him. It’s been more fun to watch him do it than it was for me to be doing it myself.”

Landon has been hearing about his dad for as long as he can remember and he’s always made it his goal to one-up Brock’s accomplishments. He’s done a pretty solid job of that goal as he’s played in two state baseball tournaments with the Athletics and he was on the state qualifying LeRoy-Ostrander/Lyle-Pacelli football team this past fall.

“I’ve learned a lot from the community members about how good (my dad) was and that inspires me to be better every day. I’ve always wanted to be better than him and that keeps me motivated every day,” Landon said. “He always tells me things that I don’t always want to hear, but I need to hear it. The life lessons he taught me are valuable.”

It’s a little ironic that Landon’s milestone points came in a season in which the Athletics are struggling with a 2-15 overall record, given that Landon has enjoyed a lot of winning in his athletic journey. However, the losses haven’t changed his approach to the game and that’s something that Brock is very proud of.

“He’s played in three sports and he got to go to state three times in two different sports,” Brock said of Landon. “Small school kids don’t get that opportunity very often. I think he’s been blessed this way. This (basketball) season has been kind of rough for him because Dylan (Christianson) got hurt and those two have played together since they were in third or fourth grade. But losing kind of reveals character and I think this is one of the seasons I’m most proud of him for. He’s never negative and he never comes home after a loss and complains about it.”

While his future is in baseball, Landon has enjoyed his time as a multiple sport athlete. He missed a couple of years of football after he sustained a concussion and LP was hit with low numbers before combining with LO, but he had the time of his life playing with the Cardinals this past fall. Landon doesn’t just enjoy playing either, he loves to win.

“All we did was compete growing up. We were always a little arrogant towards each other, but that’s what made us who we were. We believed in each other from the start,” Landon said. “It’s just consistency. If you want to be good at something, you’ve got to keep doing it over and over again until you’re great at it.”

Brock, whose basketball teams lost in the section semifinals to Fillmore Central in his junior and senior years, wasn’t about to diminish his son’s accomplishments, but did point out that teams play six extra games now and the games are longer.

“We beat a lot of teams by a lot, so I didn’t play in a lot of second halves,” Brock said. “It’s also just a different era now. We barely shot 10 threes a game back then as a team and now if you’re open, you better shoot. The game has changed so much.”