Lehi police chaplain wins gold medal at Senior Huntsman games
Phil Wasden poses for a portrait near his home on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018, in Lehi. Wasden has competed in the Huntsman World Senior Games for the past 12 years.
A bronze and gold medal from the Huntsman World Senior Games are pictured on Phil Wasden on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018, in Lehi. Wasden won the medals competing in two basketball competitions.
Phil Wasden poses for a portrait near his home on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018, in Lehi.
Medals from the Huntsman World Senior Games hang on Phil Wasden's Christmas tree in his home on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018, in Lehi.
Lehi resident Phil Wasden could probably give you pointers on your basketball shot.
Wasden, 81, brought home two medals, a gold and a bronze, last week from the Huntsman World Senior Games for his basketball shooting. The bronze was for the Hot Shot event, where players had 60 seconds to sink as many shots as they could from designated points around the basketball key.
“You have to shag your own balls, and when the balls bounce away, that’s tough because the time is still ticking away. It’s not my favorite event,” he said with a laugh.
The gold medal win was for the Free Throw and 3-Point Shoot — an untimed event where he had to shoot 25 free throws and then shoot from six different three-point spots on the court. Those with the most total points won. Wasden sunk 17 free throws and four out of the six three-pointers.
“I’m hoping the Jazz will call me and invite me out,” Wasden joked.
Wasden has competed in the games for about 12 years now, and he was extremely excited about his gold medal win.
“I’m real pleased with this gold. That’s going on top of my Christmas tree,” Wasden said Tuesday.
Wasden has a Christmas tree he keeps up all year long in his Traverse Mountain home. It’s less of a holiday tree and more of a memory tree. All the medals he’s won at the Huntsman games are there, plus many ornaments representing his life with his family and wife, who died in 2001.
In addition to his medals, Wasden is busy making more memories. He’s a daily fixture at the Lehi Legacy Center, where he exercises every morning, first by shooting free throws until he sinks 100, and then walking five miles on the track. The track is where he landed his current volunteer position as the Lehi public safety chaplain.
Lehi Police Chief Darren Paul noticed him often walking the track there at the Legacy Center. He admired how Wasden reached out to others as he exercised.
“He’s there every morning exercising, talking with people. His concern for everyone around him is very obvious,” Paul said.
Paul asked Wasden in 2015 on that same track to serve as the Police Department’s chaplain. Paul felt the department needed a chaplain, and felt Wasden was a good fit. Wasden researched what his duties would entail, and then said yes. Wasden got credentialed as a chaplain and still regularly attends chaplain training through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the International Conference of Police Chaplains.
“He really jumped in with both feet,” Paul said.
The Lehi Fire Department noticed Wasden’s work and asked him to serve as the Fire Department’s chaplain as well. While Wasden will say a lot of his duties are more ceremonial in nature — building dedications and swearing-in ceremonies — but he’s also helped in a number of stressful situations.
“He’s helped us on difficult family notifications, helped with traumatic calls we’ve responded to, and helped citizens who have been victimized,” Paul said.
Wasden said he’s also performed five weddings, served at the memorials for various K-9 dogs, and held impromptu counseling sessions for first responders sitting in patrol cars or fire trucks, or during ride-alongs. His experience has been fun and rewarding, but also at times heartbreaking.
“My goal is to support our first responders and their families,” he said.
Wasden is an inspiration to the police and fire departments and Paul explained that Wasden can also be found at other departments within the county, helping those that have no chaplain, and working to train others. As part of this outreach, Wasden is doing a presentation in November on officer wellness. Paul said they invited officers and firefighters from around the state to attend.
“We’re all proud of his achievements,” Paul said.
As for his basketball dreams, Wasden hopes to win another gold medal at future Huntsman games. He always has some good competition, though, so he joked that he might have to wait a few years for his competitors to die off.
“I love the games. I made some wonderful friends from around the country. We all cheer for each other,” he said.
