Editor’s note: The Menominee High School Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2024 induction ceremony takes place May 4 at the Pullman House in Menominee. Tickets are on sale at the superintendent’s office at Blesch School and the principal’s office at the high school for $35. Each week, the EagleHerald will spotlight one of the 12 inductees. This week’s feature is on Jason Boucher, Class of 1998.
MENOMINEE — “Not only does no one love the game of basketball more than I do, but I don’t think there are many people around here that put more time into the game of basketball than I have.”
Out of anyone else’s mouth, those words may seem like hyperbole, but when they’re spoken by Jason Boucher, it’s impossible not to nod one’s head in agreement.
The son of a coach, basketball is not just a sport for Boucher, but something more akin to a lifelong love affair.
From being around basketball since before he could properly dribble the ball to coaching the game he adores for Peshtigo High School, the diminutive Boucher has carved out the type of career that few believed he could.
A journey that began in Menominee and included stops all over the world comes full circle on May 4, when Boucher takes his rightful place amongst the titans of Maroon athletics, when the 1998 graduate is inducted into the Menominee High School Athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2024.
The induction ceremony takes place at the Pullman House in Menominee.
Born May 7, 1980, some of Boucher’s earliest memories are wandering around a gym alongside his father, longtime Menominee junior varsity boys basketball coach Shannon Boucher.
“With my dad being the JV coach at Menominee for 30 years, I’ve been around the game since I was three years old. I was always in the gym. My older brother was three grades ahead of me and we were always outside, shooting baskets in the driveway with our dad,” he said. “It just stuck with me, grew on me and eventually, I decided that it was the only thing that I wanted to do.”
Boucher’s dedication to his craft paid off when he became a starter on the Menominee boys basketball varsity team as a sophomore, a rare feat even today, let alone back in the late 1990s.
His skills on the court were evident, but so was Boucher’s height. Or rather, a lack thereof.
“I was a small kid growing up. I mean, my nickname wasn’t ‘Peanut’ for nothing. I was five-foot-two and maybe 92 pounds as a sophomore and I was starting on the varsity, so of course I had everyone telling me that I was too small to play,” he recalled. “That only added fuel to the fire. Every article I’d read, everywhere I went, I’d hear ‘Yeah, he’s good but he’s too small, He’ll never do anything.’”
“I didn’t let those things bother me, even though they bothered me. I just put in endless hours of time into my game,” Boucher continued. “I knew I wasn’t the biggest guy but I’d go to the gym for two or three hours a day and never shoot a basketball. I’d work on ball handling. I’d work on passing. I’d run because I knew I had to be quick and fast. I wanted to prove people wrong.”
Boucher not only proved his doubters wrong, but he did so while racking up a laundry list of accomplishments.
During his three-year career as starting point guard for the Maroons, Boucher was the two-time Great Northern Conference Defensive Player of the Year (1997-98). He was All-GNC Honorable Mention as a sophomore, All-GNC Second Team as a junior, and All-GNC First Team his senior year.
Boucher garnered All-U.P. recognition twice, earning All-U.P. Class A-B-C Second Team honors in 1997 before landing a spot on the coveted All-U.P. Dream Team the following season.
Menominee won the GNC title twice during Boucher’s three-year stint and won the District 64 championship in 1998, which was the Maroons’ first District crown in eight years.
As a senior, Boucher led Menominee in scoring with 16.6 points per game, assists per game (5.0 APG) and steals per game (3.5 SPG) en route to receiving All-State accolades from both the Associated Press (Class B Honorable Mention) and the Detroit Free Press (All-State Fifth Team).
Boucher’s shining prep career led to a full scholarship from Grand Valley State University, where he was a four-year starter for the Lakers, playing in 106 career games and starting 102 of them.
Boucher is still GVSU’s all-time leading in career steals with 242 and sits third all-time in Lakers’ history with 514 assists.
While he continued to see success on the court, Boucher still maintained the same chip on his shoulder from his high school days.
“It was a huge shellshock,” he said of his time at GVSU. “I went from playing Class-B Upper Michigan schools to one of the best Division II colleges in the country. The competition was 10,000 times better than it was in high school, but I went in with the mindset that I was not going to be out-worked by anyone. I put in even more time than I did in high school, because I had to.”
After graduating from GVSU, Boucher embarked on a fruitful 11 year professional career that saw him make stops all across the globe, including Mexico and Germany.
Boucher played for the Grand Rapids Flight of the International Basketball League (IBL), earning All-Star honors in the process. He also suited up for the IBL’s Battle Creek Knights and spent time in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) as a member of the Michigan Mayhem and Albany Patroons.
Much of Boucher’s professional career was spent playing overseas in Germany. He began his European career in 2004-05 as a member of the TB Weiden club before returning to the United States to play for the IBL and CBA from 2005-07.
“Everyone playing professional basketball in Europe can play. Even if they weren’t a starter, every single one of those guys were All-Americans in college or one of the best players on their team,” he said. “It was an adjustment, but I just went back to thinking, ‘I’m going to out-work everybody’.”
Boucher returned to Germany for the 2007-08 season, playing for Coocoon Baskets Weiden before moving on to Heimerer Schulen Basket Landsberg from 2008 until 2010.
He spent one season each playing for BiG Oettinger Rockets Gotha (2010-11) and the Dresden Titans (2011-12) before finishing up his playing days with a two-year stint for Rattlesdorft Independents (2013-15).
Boucher dropped 54 points in his final game, which stamped his transition from pass-first point guard into one of the most feared scorers in Europe.
“I wasn’t known as a scorer in my high school and college days. I was a more traditional point guard, but in my opinion, if you’re going to go to Europe and you can’t score, you’ll have a hard time playing,” Boucher said. So, I’d put the time in and shoot 1,000 shots in the offseason because I knew I had to develop a jumper.”
With his playing days behind him, Boucher knew that he still wanted to remain involved with the game of basketball, and soon he found himself in a position to give back to the sport that had given him so much.
Since the 2020 season, Boucher has been the head coach for the Peshtigo boys basketball team and has compiled a win-loss record of 63-38 in four seasons.
“I was done playing when I was 35 but I didn’t want to be away from the game. I got in touch with my cousin, Jordan Berth, who’s from Peshtigo and who knew (former Peshtigo coach) Nate Motkowski. Nate said he’d love to have me come in and see if I enjoyed being around the guys, and the cards just fell the right way,” Boucher said. “Nate got married and was having a kid and just didn’t have the time to do it anymore, so he stepped down and I ended up getting the job. If Nate never takes a chance on me, I may never have gotten the job.”
In another full-circle moment, Boucher will be inducted into the Menominee High School Athletic Hall of Fame alongside his former coach, Pete Pericolosi, a man whose teachings Boucher now imparts into the young men that he coaches.
“When I was in the gym at three years old with my dad, Coach Perc was right there with him, so I’ve gotten to know Pete very well over the years,” he said. “One thing Coach P stressed was that it’s not all about basketball, It’s also about teaching these kids how to survive in life after high school. My kids play hard for me and I think that they have respect for me, which is something that a lot of kids had for Coach P too. Yes, I’m the basketball coach, but I want to make sure that these kids are also getting good grades and that they have a better chance at success after high school.”
“For me, it’s bigger than basketball.”
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