Big Red Ballers

The success of others has been both an area of strength and an important aspect of life for Bartelstein, St. Jean and Robinson. “When you are part of a team, you are a part of something bigger than yourself,” Bartelstein says. “As a walk-on captain who did not play a lot of minutes for a Michigan team who went to the national title game, I needed to know something about leadership, building culture and connecting teams. If we were going to be good, I needed to find ways to push my teammates and empower them to lead to be at our best. These are things I think about every day in my current role.”

Robinson adds: “As a young player, you are obsessed with just trying to stick in the league, find a role and find your way. Now in my sixth year, I’ve shifted to being a mentor and leader for guys. It’s the ultimate compliment to me and it’s a responsibility I am excited to embrace. It’s made the day-today more than whether my shots go in, but what can I pour into the team and organization on a given day?”

Though their careers have taken them to different areas of an NBA arena, the three are woven into the tradition of Big Red basketball, a network that is entrenched in a supportive culture and mutual respect.

“Our program has been fortunate to enjoy some real tangible results over the years,” Tilton says. Big Red won their fifth Class A title in March by toppling Andover 60-42 in the finals. “But the success we’ve had is all progression. It’s really humbling to look back at the effort and commitment of past players and how so many of them have remained a huge part of our program.

“Our current players have witnessed firsthand how connected past players remain to each other and to our current team. What I’m most proud of is how those connections have continued to grow and how much Exeter basketball alumni continue to support and take pride in the program today.”

Big Red alumni often return to Love Gym to work out with the team, they send videos offering congratulations and good luck, and they connect around the globe to catch up and reminisce. They remember when coach Tilton would bark about not buying celebratory jackets for a regular-season win, and when the coaching staff gave them “humble pie” T-shirts ahead of Thanksgiving break as a reminder to not get ahead of themselves.

Although St. Jean, Bartelstein and Robinson have found professional success, it is relationships that they have built over the years that form the core of their ethos. “To this day some of my closest friends and closest relationships I have are with some of my teammates from Exeter,” Robinson says. “It is fun to reminisce, but it is even more enjoyable to follow what we have all done in totally different spaces. Some of us are still in basketball, some are crushing it in the corporate world or with entrepreneurial endeavors. But we are a group that have certainly grown through our post-Exeter days together.”

Bartelstein echoes that sentiment, saying, “I would go back to Exeter in a second because my friends I made there have been my friends for life. The way coach Tilton does it is all authentic; it’s truly about building relationships. To think that Greg and I would go work out together every night in the gym — I can remember it like it was yesterday — and now we’re texting about how we’re defending the Cleveland Cavaliers for our jobs.”

“We are always thinking about what it means to build culture,” Tilton says.

“How do we want to act, be perceived, and how do we want to grow. The best teams are a collection of unselfish people who are passionate about what they do and are connected. Nothing is more important to us than extending those connections between our past and present players.”

This article first appeared in the spring 2024 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.