(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah State's Spencer Butterfield, a junior guard, has become a leader for the team. Thursday, February 21, 2013 in Logan.

Hatred of losing consumes Aggie

By Kyle Goon | The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Feb 22 2013 04:32 pm • Last Updated Feb 23 2013 12:07 am

Logan

t keeps him awake at night.

Losing. The thought of it. The feel of it.

Defeat is repugnant to Spencer Butterfield. Before getting to Utah State, he had never lost back-to-back basketball games in high school or college. The hatred of losing consumes him.

"It’s the worst thing in the world to me," he said. "After the BYU game, I couldn’t get any sleep. After the Denver game, I couldn’t get any sleep. When I’m in the moment, all I can think about is I don’t want to feel that again. I pour everything out."

At Del Oro High in Loomis, Calif., that drive fueled him to touchdowns at the end of tackle-breaking runs. At Yuba College in nearby Yuba City, Calif., it motivated him to prove he could be a Division I basketball player when folks said the 6-foot-3 white kid should’ve stuck with football.

At Utah State, teammates’ injuries earned Butterfield a starting role, but since shouldering that responsibility, he’s become one of the team’s most important leaders. He’s averaging 13.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as a starter, and was the WAC player of the week after a scoring outburst at San Jose State.

"He is playing really hard, which he always does," coach Stew Morrill said. "He has taken on a little more of the scoring load and obviously is a really good rebounder. He is a positive guy with his teammates so he is providing leadership."

Butterfield always thought he could be a Division I starter if given the chance. Winning games despite missing three former starters, the Aggies look wise for having given him that opportunity.

"I didn’t want to come somewhere where I wasn’t making an impact on the team," he said. "I wasn’t asking for a starting role, just the chance to battle for the position."

As a former coach puts it, Butterfield doesn’t pass the eye test. Alternating between the 2 and 3 spots, he’s never been the biggest, strongest or fastest player on the court. In high school, he was overlooked because he wasn’t as athletic as other Division I prospects.

But watching him grab rebounds against players with 8 or 9 inches on him or beat opponents in transition defies physical explanation. And his former coaches say that’s what always made Butterfield special: He wanted to win more than anyone else.

"He’s the ultimate competitor," Del Oro High basketball coach Geoff Broyles said.

"He was a once-in-a-decade talent," said Del Oro assistant football coach Jeff Dietrich.

"He’s the toughest kid I’ve coached in 20 years," Yuba College coach Doug Cornelius said.

Those perceptions have their roots in Butterfield’s childhood in Loomis, Calif., a rural suburb of Sacramento with fewer than 7,000 people. He grew up the oldest of five siblings.

The family lived with his grandparents in what started as a small house, but they built five additions to it on their three-acre patch of land. Butterfield remembers constantly being at work as a child.

"Saturdays were basically work days," he said. "We had to do a couple hours of chores before we could play. We were always mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, digging holes, building stuff. You had to do that before you could do your sport or whatever you wanted to do."

Eventually, the worlds of work and play overlapped for Butterfield, as he strove for athletic excellence. He was a star football and basketball player at Del Oro, and many fans thought he might go to college on the gridiron. He racked up 96 catches for 1,616 yards during his career — still program records. When he didn’t have the ball, he was a fearsome run blocker, Dietrich said, and the team ran behind him all the time.

One of his standout games was in his senior year against No. 1-seeded St. Mary’s. Butterfield had an ankle injury, and was noticeably limping through his routes. He led the Golden Eagles to victory with a career-high 141 yards on nine catches and a pair of touchdowns.

"It was just this Willis Reed-type moment where he just kind of willed us to win," Dietrich said. "He was literally on one leg the whole time, but he just played through it."

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