Concussions slow down Glasgow teen, but won’t defeat him

Hunter Losleben’s high school career at Glasgow High hasn’t turned out the way he planned.

A multi-sport athlete, Hunter received his third concussion during wrestling his junior year and could no longer compete in school sports.

“The only sport that I could play in is hockey since it isn’t a school sport,” Hunter said.

But his hockey coach told him he shouldn’t play — that he should put his health first.

“I think it was a good call because your brain is pretty important,” Hunter said.

With two concussions his junior year and a tough academic load, Hunter found school difficult and the honor student’s grades began to slide.

His 4.0 took a hit due to this recovery, but despite that, he will graduate with a 3.5 GPA.

For his perseverance, Hunter was chosen as one of the Tribune’s 10 Academic All Stars, seniors from northcentral Montana who have excelled both in the classroom and in their communities.

“Math is a real tough one when you have two concussions,” Hunter said. He was taking pre-calculus, chemistry and anatomy the semester he received his second and third concussions. He missed a lot of school trying to recover and suffered constant headaches and memory loss.

“It’s a pretty depressing feeling,” Hunter said. “I worked so hard and didn’t get to play with my friends.”

Hunter, the son of Heather Losleben-Zeller and Willie Zeller, has made the most of an unfortunate situation, much of it still on a field. He and a friend who hurt his knee and also couldn’t play football coached youth soccer teams this fall during the football season.

“That is how we passed the time,” he said.

During the summer he logged dozens of volunteer hours prepping baseball and softball fields. He also coached a flag football team.

“As Key Club adviser, I can attest that Hunter is reliable and frequently one of the first people to offer assistance,” Desiree Johnson wrote in her nomination letter.

He helped Johnson organize the repainting of Glasgow’s underpass to create a clean and safer walking path for pedestrians.

He has also not been afraid to try something new. He auditioned for the school musical and landed the lead role.

“To be completely honest, I never thought I’d be the type to get on stage and sing and dance in front of hundreds of people,” Hunter said. But I loved it. It was so much fun and I made friends with people I never thought I would.”

Hunter, who is leaning toward studying electrical engineering at Montana State University, really enjoys physics, math and sciences.

“I’d really love to come back and help out my hometown,” he said.