The Gus Bus is preparing to make one final stop.

An era of long-range shooting will come to an end at Northern State as Augustin Reede is closing in on the last time he will wear a Wolves jersey.

As the journey comes to an end, what a bus ride it has been for the former Roncalli standout.

He has gone from a little boy growing up watching NSU, to becoming a staple in the lineup where he recently became the 61st member of the program’s illustrious 1,000-point club.

“It brings a lot of personal pride to the journey,” Reede said of the accomplishment. “You look at that list of some of the guys that are on that list of the 61, and it’s holy cow, like my name’s now included in that? Those are people that I grew up idolizing, and that fact that you can say that we’re somewhat in the same category now or you can relate with that, that’s really cool to me.”

When Northern coach Saul Phillips arrived at Northern, Reede was already part of the program. It did not take long for the coach to discover the passion that Reede had for the game of basketball.

“One thing that struck me as soon as I met Gus is how serious he took the game,” Phillips said, “and how hard he worked at it, and how much work he had done on it before I got here.”

That said, Phillips wanted it understood that nothing would be given to the local product. He would have to earn his playing time.

“And lo and behold he’s a great example of a kid that just kept working until he was able to be a part of a championship team as a starter,” Phillips said. “He was able to put up some really good numbers. All the work that he did, clearly paid off over the years.”

Work might be an understatement when it comes to Reede perfecting his long-range shooting stroke.

When asked how many 3-pointers he attempted during his career from practice to games, Reede paused and started calculating an astronomical number in his head.

He finally settled on an answer.

“If I could guess,” Reede said, “I’d like to say probably anywhere between 5 to 10 million.”

Does that even register to him now that his playing days are coming to an end?

“Sometimes when I think back to everything, I’m like geez that was a lot,” Reede said. “I’ve really done a lot for this.”

But he said the hours and hours of shooting three-point field goals was “all worth it and more. And more. More than I could have ever even imagined.”

That’s because Reede got to live out his dream of playing basketball for his NSU Wolves in front of family members, hometown friends, and a variety of maroon and gold faithful.

“It’s just so unique. I can look at every section of the Barnett Center, like the actual seating sections, and I know I’m going to see this person here, these people here,” Reede said, “because everyone sits in the same spots, and it’s never changed.”

So, kind of like church where people sit in the same pews?

“It is in a way like church,” Reede said. “You could almost say that Northern basketball is like a religion here to some extent.”

Through the years, Reede has taken way more 3-pointers than two-point shots. The lefty explained why he became so enamored with the most difficult shot in the game.

“One of the things I was taught at a young age – and I luckily had people in my life that were very honest with me about size, athleticism – I was never going to be someone that could really differentiate themself with that,” he said, “I always heard if you want to make it at the level I wanted to play at, you have to have one elite skill and that for me ended up being shooting the basketball.”

And while Reede is a like a firecracker in that he can go off at any time, Phillips said that the sharp-shooter doesn’t have to make a single shot to impact a game.

“There are nights where he doesn’t score, but he’s responsible for a lot of our scoring,” Phillips said, “because he literally takes it from playing 5-on-5 to 4-on-4 at times, because they have to pay attention to him.”

Make no mistake, there are times when Reede does go off and he said there’s no other feeling like it.

“When it starts to feel like that, I just need to catch it and release it. It doesn’t matter how I’m getting guarded, I just need to catch it,” Reede said. “As long as I can catch it and get it off, I’m like it’s going in. There is no better feeling. I’ve never really been able to dunk, so its’ all I know. I might be biased, but I think hitting eight threes is better than a couple dunks.”

Reede, who is approaching 25, has been around the program for extra time because of redshirt and COVID years. He said it has allowed him to process and accept his career coming to an end.

When asked how he would like to be remembered, Reede responded, “That I was just someone that gave it absolutely everything I had. I’ve never been the most talented by any means, but I worked as hard as I could, and I wasn’t afraid to dream.”

And that has produced a dream come true for an Aberdeen boy who worked his way into the lineup and made the most of his opportunities.

“I obviously can’t speak for everybody that came before him, but I would be willing to bet he’s worked as hard at basketball than anybody who’s ever come through this program,” Phillips said. “Again, I just can’t imagine pouring more of yourself into it than he has.”

Soon, Reede will go to work for the family business at Reede Construction, but he will always maintain strong ties to the NSU program. He is grateful for the community support along his memorable journey.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure getting to play here,” Reede said, “and I can’t wait to take a seat again as a fan and hopefully get to watch another generation of Aberdeen kids wear the Wolves jerseys.”