Q&A with Senior Student-Athlete Ryan Bokan

A little about Ryan Bokan

Ryan Bokan is not the type to come right out and say he’s a trailblazer; his life story doesn't quite compare to the popular commercial with the child prodigy who was capable of performing open heart surgery with a ballpoint pen. But for someone who was a hall of famer at the age of 18 and is now applying for a legitimate medical patent at the age of 22, the Case Western Reserve University senior does project a healthy amount of confidence. The Idaho native doesn’t hesitate to openly acknowledge his opinion of himself as a leader amongst his peers and, hopefully, a future success story as an entrepreneur.

Arriving at Case Western Reserve all the way from Boise, Idaho, it would be decidedly impossible to classify Bokan as a follower – especially when he made such a difficult decision to leave his entire life on the west coast in favor of experiencing a new culture and a foreign city in Cleveland.

If Bokan was a follower, he probably would have just clapped from the bench last year when a torn knee ligament forced him to miss his entire junior season. Instead, he took on the role of student-assistant coach while recovering and this year was elected a team co-captain, despite the fact that he has played in just 18 games during his three years with the varsity squad.

 Now that knee rehab is over and his senior season is upon him, Bokan is embracing his new role as a spark off the bench and resident guard-player-coach for a team picked to finish second in the ultra-competitive University Athletic Association.

What’s strange about Bokan’s basketball success is that basketball wasn't even Bokan’s best sport coming out of high school. He spent three years playing wide receiver for the Bishop Kelly football team, a perenial power program located just outside of downtown Boise. In fact, he was a first-team All-State receiver as a senior and probably drew more recruiting buzz as a gridiron prospect than as a point guard on the basketball court.

For two seasons, both of which resulted in state championships, Bokan caught passes from current Colorado University starting quarterback Cody Hawkins. His senior year, he was honored as one of five Outstanding Scholar-Athletes by the Southern Idaho Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

It only made sense, then, that after a storied career as a receiver in Idaho, Bokan would come to play college basketball in Ohio.  

Outside of basketball, Bokan is one of few college students who can say they’ve been a part of a project that will lead to a legitimate medical patent. As a part of the Case Rising Engineers and Technical Entrepreneurs (CREATE) program, Bokan worked this past summer with a small group of students and professors to develop a new device that will potentially reduce the swelling risks surrounding intubation.

These days, Bokan’s main projects include varsity basketball and remaining focused while wrapping up his degree. He’s giving a serious look to graduate school, but launching a startup company is also well-within the realm of possibility.

“Ryan is a tremendous young man,” said men’s basketball head coach Sean McDonnell. “He is hard-working, accountable and fun.  Of all the players that we have taken to Brazil, in both 2007 and 2010, nobody made the most of his experience like Ryan did.  I admire Ryan for the way he approaches school, basketball, and life.”

In this edition of, “Spartan Spotlight,” we sat down with the senior guard for a little Q&A. Mostly to figure out what exactly an endo-tracheal tube is, but also to get an idea of how he ended up in Cleveland and what his Case experience has been like so far.

After missing all of 2009-10 you made your return to the court in an 85-64 season-opening win against Baldwin-Wallace. How did it feel to finally get back into a game?

“Oh, it felt great. It was kind of weird in warm-ups going through everything. I played in summer league this year with a few of the guys on the team, but to actually play in our first game of the year was pretty exciting. I was pretty excited for our team too but for me, physically and mentally, I knew once I got past the first game it would be a relief and I’d be ready to go forward from there.”

You were a student coach last year. How different is your role on the team when you’re suiting up versus when you’re carrying a clipboard?

“It’s a lot different, but at the same time it’s similar in a lot of ways. Being a co-captain of the team this year, I’ve taken on more of a leadership role – both on and off the court. Last year was entirely off the court, which I thought I had some good experiences behind the scenes with coach Sean (McDonald) and coach Jeff (Gorski) and A.J. (Curry). That was great from an X’s and O’s standpoint because you see the little things when you’re not on the court. It’s a lot different from when you’re actually playing, or even when you’re on the bench suited up. So, when you take that side of it and then you take the player side of it – being in practice, in the games, in the action – and bring the two together you can sort of connect the dots between the X’s and O’s and some of the subtleties on the court that we may or may not be fully executing.”

Is that an advantage for you on the court?

“Yeah, I think it is. I really did learn a lot last year, and that was the goal going into it. I knew I wasn’t going to play at all because I tore my knee, so I figured I’d rehab it as best as I could and get the experience on the coaching side and then come back and have a great senior year.”

What do you feel you bring to the team, personality-wise or skill-wise? What’s your best asset?

“I think I’m a great leader by example and I think I am a vocal leader as well. Like I said, it’s connecting the dots between what’s said in practice and the motivation behind what’s been taught and translating that into what actually happens in the practice and, ultimately, in the games.”

You are originally from Boise, Idaho. What made you want to come all the way to Cleveland for school?

“Coming out of high school I looked for a few things. I wanted to experience a different city and a different culture. I wanted to get a good education, especially for engineering, but I also wanted to have the ability to go pre-med or business if I decided to change. And I wanted to play for a smaller school because it fits my profile and it’s a little less demanding, I knew I’d be able to put more time into extra-curricularactivities and my schoolwork.”

Why did you decide to play collegiate basketball as opposed to football?

“I would say coming out of high school, football was probably my best sport. I got the most looks for football, even though I didn’t pursue it the most. But in basketball, I’ve always liked the idea that there are five guys on the court and only 14 guys on a roster. There’s more of an opportunity to make a direct impact and, for me, I think my greatest strength in sports is leadership. As a receiver in football you‘ve got a role, but you can’t lead the team as much just because of the dynamics of the sport – you’ve got an offensive set, a defensive set, special teams, etc. I’m a role player on this team now, and I enjoy doing it, but in basketball I just felt like I could have a more direct impact and be the guy other people look to. That’s something I want to take with me throughout life.”

You’re a biomedical engineering major. For those of us who don’t really know what that is, what does a BME major do on a day-to-day basis and what do you hope to do with your degree when you’re done with school?

“There are seven or eight specific sequences within biomedical engineering and the one I chose is bio-electrics. In a nutshell, it is modeling electric activity in the body. I do a lot of circuit work, I study neuro-stimulation, but that’s the premise of it for the most part. And I think it’s a great basis for any career. My dad’s in the business field and he told me he wished he had more of a technical background. He’s a big role model to me, so I thought it made sense and I went into the field and I really enjoy what I’m doing.”

Tangibly, though, what type of career would you be looking at when you wrap up at Case?  

“A start-up company. I’d like to work for a smaller design company, whether I start one up myself or go work for one after I’m out of college. Graduate school is something I’m going to strongly consider. Ultimately, it kind of goes back to the leadership thing. I see myself as a leader, an entrepreneur, a creative guy and I think that’s where my interests are.”

Speaking of being creative, is it true that you already have a patent?

“Yeah, I’ve got to be careful because it’s still in draft. It’s still patent pending, but it should be filed in a week or two. It’s basically an endo-tracheal tube. The idea is to sense swelling around the tracheal tube when you’re intubating a patient. When you’re taking the endo-tracheal tube out it can be a big hazard in that process if the throat’s going to collapse on itself after having a neck or a head injury where there’s been a lot of swelling. The patient population we’re going toward would be neck surgery patients, who are at risk upon extubation that their throat will collapse and potentially they will die or have to stay in the ICU longer. A lot of bad things can happen. But that’s what I worked on this summer for the CREATE project and we’re going to continue work on it this fall, next spring, and it could potentially spin-off into a company.”

Note: “Spartan Spotlight” is a bi-weekly to monthly series that highlights a Case Western Reserve University student-athlete and his/her exploits on and off the playing field. The series is meant to provide an inside look at the unique backgrounds of Spartan student-athletes and show what it takes to succeed athletically and academically at one of the nation’s premier research institutions.