LOCKPORT —
If you’re waiting for the punch line from Bubba Ralyea, it won’t come until after the game.
Ralyea, a senior soccer and track standout at Lockport High School known equally for his toughness as his biting sarcasm, signed a Letter of Intent recently to attend Daemen College in Buffalo this fall on an academic and athletic scholarship.
Bubba, also known by his actual first name Robert, is the son of Chris and Becky Ralyea. A three-year varsity soccer player and 2012 First Team All-Niagara Frontier League all-star on defense under head coach Jeff Hulshoff, Ralyea also went on to a record-breaking career in the pole vault under head coach Miles Patterson.
Both coaches, along with Bubba’s parents and Lockport Athletics Director Patrick Burke, were on hand recently for Ralyea’s official letter signing in the LHS Library.
“He’s kind of a jokester — he’s very good at sarcasm — but he was always tough on the field,” Hulshoff said.
“Bubba played every game like he had something to prove. I decided he should move back from midfield to defense his senior year and he made the sacrifice quietly. He ended up as a First Team all-star because he was a solid defenseman and I’m assuming he’ll be a starter somewhere on the field for Daemen because he can play any position.”
After competing for two years in junior varsity soccer, where he was named his team’s offensive MVP, Ralyea went on to play three years for Hulshoff, earning league championships in both his junior and senior fall soccer seasons.
As a junior, Bubba was named a Third Team NFL All-Star at midfield. This past season, he was named to the NFL’s First Team as well as the All-Western New York Second Team.
“He never joked on the field. He rocked a few people’s heads once in a while because he was tough and intense and showed no fear on the field,” Hulshoff said. “He was always sacrificing his body just to make sure we got the ball.”
Moving on to the pole vault in his winter and spring sports seasons, Ralyea competed in both indoor and outdoor varsity track for three seasons, smashing records along the way.
Ralyea is the current LHS 10th and 11th grade record holder in the indoor pole vault and this past season, set a new indoor pole vault record of 13-feet, 6-inches, placing second at sectionals and was a state qualifier, after finishing third a year earlier.
Outdoors, Ralyea tied the school record of 13-6 in the pole and repeated as NFL champion and a First Team NFL All-Star.
A scholar athlete for five straight years (2008-12), Ralyea was also a three-sport LHS varsity athlete from 2009-2012.
A member of the National Honor Society and Math Honor Society, Bubba plans to study accounting, while he plays soccer and does the pole vault at Daemen.
A tough competitor, Ralyea said he wants his LHS legacy to be his softer side.
“I want to be remembered as someone who was always trying to have fun doing what he loved to do,” Bubba said.
Ralyea has two siblings, Keeley and C.J.
Sports
Related Photos
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Lockport High School senior Robert “Bubba” Ralyea, seated at center flanked by his parents, signs a Letter of Intent to attend Daemen College on an academic and athletic scholarship. From left, first row, are Becky, Robert and Chris Ralyea; second row, LHS varsity track coach Miles Patterson, LHS boys varsity soccer coach Jeff Hulshoff and Lockport Athletics Director Patrick Burke. John D'Onofrio/Staff
Hulla-Bubba-Loo at Daemen College
Lockport senior Bubba Ralyea heads to Daemen College
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