If You're Good, They'll Find You.

We've got (arguable) proof

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I don’t want to say that Eli Willits, the kid who just went No. 1 in the Major League Baseball draft, is from a small town, but I grew up in the state where he did, and I had to go look it up in order to place it on a map.

Get to Oklahoma City, start heading west and south on I-44, say hi to the Dairy Queen Grill & Chill as you pass through Chickasha, and after a little while and a few more turns, you’ll hit Fort Cobb, Okla., estimated population 504.

(There’s also a Braum’s Ice Cream & Dairy Store on this route. I am told that’s closer to Anadarko than anywhere else. You’re welcome.)

Fort Cobb is the size town where, like so many places around rural America, you need to buddy up with the next town over in order to form a high school. In this case, it’s Fort Cobb-Broxton High. The Mustangs compete in Class B prep sports in a state where (in football, at least) you can go all the way up to 6A-I and 6A-II.

So this tiny high school in this tiny burg is where the top pick in all the draft played most of his innings. In a minute, I will tell you a few of the reasons why Eli Willits is not quite as small-town as this makes him sound, but for a moment let’s allow ourselves a little wonder.

We always tell our kids about sports, “Hey, if you’re any good, they’ll find you.” What do you know? They just did.

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