By Rich Winter

605 Sports

EAGLE BUTTE — On the morning of July 5, 2024, Cheyenne-Eagle Butte’s Nicholas Joaquin life changed in a flash. 

Joaquin lit a ‘Cherry Bomb,’ expecting a few seconds to get away from the firework. But the device blew up as soon as it was lit. 

“For the first few seconds I couldn’t see anything and then I looked down and my right hand was gone,” Joaquin said. “I couldn’t see my hand but there was blood everywhere.” eiFor a moment Joaquin felt nothing, no pain, no loss of limb thoughts as his body instantly went into shock. Surrounded by his father and a cousin, the family members covered the injured area and raced to the Indian Health Service Hospital in Eagle Butte. 

Joaquin said it probably took 10 minutes to reach the hospital. Once there, hospital staff was unable to give the soon-to-be-sophomore anything for the pain, instead choosing to life flight him to the hospital in Bismarck, North Dakota. 

A standout on the Braves junior varsity player, and a spot player on the varsity as a freshman, Joaquin had no immediate thoughts about his basketball career. 

“To be honest, I kinda thought I was going to die that day,” he said. “After I got to Bismarck they put me to sleep and when I woke up they had cut most of my hand off and stitched up my face.” 

While Joaquin was recovering in North Dakota, Cheyenne-Eagle Butte junior varsity coach Beau Kingfisher was worried about his player. 

“We were going to a team camp in Spearfish and he was supposed to come,” Kingfisher said. “He didn’t come to the team camp and then when we got back we heard about the accident.” 

Joaquin stayed in North Dakota for about a week and couldn’t do anything for about a month until the stitches were removed from what was now his right wrist. It was then during the lonely weeks of initial recovery the player Kingfisher nicknamed ‘Bucket’ began to wonder about his basketball future. 

“At first I thought I was never going to be able to play basketball again,” he said. “I’m naturally right handed and I didn’t think I would be able to switch and play using my left-hand the same way as before.” 

During the summer of open gyms Joaquin was barely visible. After getting his stitches removed in early August and relearning how to eat and write with his left hand, he was tentative to work on his hoop dreams in public. 

Kingfisher said it was about two months after the injury before he even saw Joaquin. He had heard that the sophomore was taking the injury pretty hard and struggling with his mental health. Kingfisher remembers seeing Joaquin begin his new basketball journey last fall and feeling for a young student-athlete.

“It was hard seeing him at first because he was a ‘bucket’, he was a scorer,” Kingfisher said. “He had to shift his whole mentality into being a distributor and playing defense.” 

Kingfisher remembers Joaquin scoring 15-20 points per game in freshman and junior varsity action last season. Prior to the injury it was thought that Joaquin would play junior varsity this season but be a steady contributor to the varsity team.

That varsity spot was reserved for the sophomore but the coaches respected Joaquin’s decision to remain at just the junior varsity level this season. 

“He came to the first practices and the speed of the drills was too much,” Kingfisher said. “At first he was having trouble catching the basketball and I think he felt some pressure so we respected his decision to stay at the junior varsity level.” 

In last week’s junior varsity win over Todd County, Joaquin had several key baskets and started. Kingfisher said Friday’s effort, and the progression since the beginning of the season has been astonishing. 

“He’s a vocal leader and like an extension of me on the court,” Kingfisher said. “If I see it he’ll say it. He’s become a point guard and a lock-down defender. He’s had all of this adversity and he’s prevailing and pushing through it.” 

Joaquin said he still feels the hand referring to a ‘phantom’ feeling of the limb still being attached. The right wrist is wrapped before practices and games but he said the limb still hurts when it gets bumped.

Joaquin has plans of rejoining the football team next fall. Until then, he’s just working on getting better every day and soaking up the experience of being able to play the game he loves.

“Being able to play means everything to me,” he said. “I never thought I’d be on the court again but now I’m back out there and giving it my all.”