Panther Profile: Sam Beatty

Sam Beatty is a senior at Mt. Pleasant High School and a member of the Panther basketball team.

Beatty moved into the starting lineup on the varsity team this season and has made the most of his opportunity. He leads the team with 13.8 points per game.

Beatty met with The News on Wednesday before practice.

Did you grow up in Mt. Pleasant? No actually. I was born in Cedar Rapids and lived in Vinton for a while, and then I moved to Mt. Pleasant in first grade.

How long have you been playing basketball? Ever since fifth grade. I started playing tournament ball with some kids from my class, and then kind of moved up from there.

Were you always tall or did you have a growth spurt in there? Oh, I had a growth spurt in there. Just a couple of times.

Do you have any plans for after high school? Yes, I plan on attending Central College where I will be majoring in Enviornmental Studies, and I'll be playing ball while I'm there.

Do you have a favorite basketball memory from your time at Mt. Pleasant? When we beat Camanche in the U.S. Cellular Center a couple of weekends ago, that was really cool. It was a great experience playing there, and then any time I've got a dunk in a game, that's been nice too.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Probably bread. I just like …

Like Italian type bread? Yeah, Italian type bread.

When was the first time you dunked a basketball? Fall of sophomore year was the first time. That was my first one where I did it just in a gym. My first in-game dunk would have been junior season about halfway through, versus West Burlington.

What's a better feeling, dunking or blocking a shot? I'd go with dunking for sure.

It's like the coolest feeling ever, right? Yeah!

When you aren't at home or at practice, what can we find you doing? Either hanging out with my friends or getting some dubs on Fortnite. And hanging out with family, stuff like that.

If you could pick the soundtrack for pregame warm ups, what kind of songs would be on it? All sorts of hip hop and rap. Some Uzi Vert, Travis Scott, Migos. That kind of deal.

If you could hang out with one celebrity for a day, who would it be? Oh man, that's hard. I don't know if Bill Gates is a celebrity, but he's got a lot of cash, so he might be fun to hang out with.

What would you guys do? I don't know, maybe go somewhere really nice to eat. Try and get some good food with him.

Where would you take him if he was in Mt. Pleasant, to take him to impress him about the city? Probably Press Box.

A little bit of a different question. What if you could dunk on anyone? That's tough too. I'd probably dunk on Lebron since he's like the best basketball player.

Do you remember that time somebody dunked on Lebron and he had the tape destroyed? Oh yeah! There you go. Well I'll make sure I've got it recorded so that wouldn't happen.

What if you could pick a superpower to have? I think it'd be pretty cool to fly to be honest. I don't know why. Definitely flying for sure.

Who has been your favorite teacher at Mt. Pleasant? Probably go with Mr. Peterson and Mrs. Kohorst. They're tied for first, for sure.

Any shout outs? I'll shout out my parents and my basketball team. We'll stick with that.

Panther Profile is a series of interviews with Mt. Pleasant athletes currently in season. This year will focus on members of the Panther basketball, bowling and wrestling teams.