SWEETWATER COUNTY — A nonprofit born from loss, friendship and a graveside promise brought its message of mental health awareness and suicide prevention to Sweetwater County this week, delivering cowboy boots and conversation to seniors at Black Butte High School.

The Jae Foundation centers its outreach around “Boot-Check Moments,” intentional check-ins prompted by cowboy boots meant to symbolize belonging, purpose and connection.

The program is rooted in the life of Jae Bing, a Pinedale native known for his love of cowboy boots, fishing and people. Jae died by suicide in 2016 at the age of 27. His longtime friend Jason started the foundation as a commitment to his friend that something good, amazing, and transformational would emerge from the darkness.

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At Jae’s funeral, Jason noticed two things that stayed with him, the diversity of people who came to mourn, regardless of faith or background, and the overwhelming number of cowboy boots worn in Jae’s honor.

After the burial, Jason returned alone to Jae’s grave, where he made a promise that something good would come from the tragedy.

That promise eventually became the Jae Foundation.

Growing up in Pinedale, Jason and Jae attended school, activities and celebrated milestones together. Jae, adopted from South Korea by the Bing family, stood out as a Korean cowboy in a predominantly white, rural town. Friends remember him for his charisma, humor and constant concern for others.

“From the outside, it looked like he was on top of the world,” said Wyoming Outreach Coordinator Julie Mackey, “but unfortunately, he was not doing okay.”

Jason last spoke with Jae days before his death. The news came through a phone call from his father on a Sunday morning. Jason later described that day as one of the hardest of his life.

The organization struggled to find its footing in its early years, including a period when little progress was made and the nonprofit’s bank account sat dormant. Momentum finally came years later during a visit to Pinedale’s Cowboy Shop, when Jason bought a friend his first pair of cowboy boots, a moment he described as the beginning of healing.

Today, the foundation’s High School Senior Boot Program has expanded across Wyoming. Every graduating senior at Black Butte High School, along with several early graduates, received a pair of boots during the event, funded through local fundraising, donations and community support.

“These are not just any boots, they’re a reminder that you are loved, valued, needed and that you belong here,” Mackey told the students.

The foundation’s presence reflects growing efforts to address youth mental health through community-based approaches, especially in Wyoming, which has long struggled with high suicide rates.

After students tried on their boots, they were asked to look around the room, a visual reminder that everyone’s boots were different, just as everyone’s story is different.

The foundation’s message is simple, boot-check others and don’t walk alone.

A Wednesday afternoon conversation with Mark Branch begins somewhat introspectively, with Wyoming’s head coach detailing the injury — an ACL reconstruction in 2021 — that finally pushed him to be more selective as to how often he rolls around with his athletes, most of whom are now 30-plus years his junior.

“I still work out pretty much daily, but I don’t get on the mat as much anymore,” Branch said.

The injury, just the latest to his knees after a career in the sport, happened on the practice mat. And its effects are still being felt by the man who once reached four NCAA finals as a competitor.

“That slowed me down in everything for sure,” he said. “Heck, I went snowboarding the other day and I’m like, I used to just rip it. And now I’m pretty conscious with everything.”

So as not to start off on too much of a down note, the next question for the 18th-year head coach is whether there have been any silver linings to his scaling back.

“It’s been good because you look at coaching a little differently, I think,” Branch said. “It’s not that important that I’m out there wrestling with those guys every day.”

It also helps as a valid excuse for an aging hammer to hold over a younger generation that’s always eager to take shots at the old guard.

“Oh, I can still talk big, that’s for sure,” Branch said.

And the best part is, these days he doesn’t have to give those youngsters a chance to prove him wrong.

Novak Nears Return

Speaking of those Wyoming pupils — and dealing with injury — one of the Cowboys’ brightest stars is expected back on the mat after a month-long absence.

That Cowboy, returning All-American Joey Novak, has been out of competition since the Jan. 4 Soldier Salute.

There, the nation’s sixth-ranked wrestler at 197 pounds suffered a nerve injury during a finals match in which he pinned Missouri’s #9 Evan Bates.

“It’s not like a lot of injuries that I’m familiar with,” Branch said. “It’s one of those things that you just have to get it to kind of calm down, to relax and get the inflammation out of the area.

“You’ve just got to listen to your body and go at the pace that everything starts feeling better —  and that’s what we’ve had over the last couple weeks (when) he’s made some big jumps.”

Novak was sidelined briefly by a high ankle sprain last season, but this particular injury marks his most substantial period of missed time as a collegian.

“I feel pretty good about this weekend,” said Branch, regarding his 197-pounder’s return.

“We want to do what’s best for him and our team, so we’ll look at those two duals that we have Friday and Sunday and maybe only use him in one…but we’d like to get him back on the mat, get him out there competing.”

In Novak’s absence, #18 Wyoming has gone 1-2 in duals — all against opponents ranked 21stt or higher in Flo’s latest NCAA rankings.

But a 7-1 Big 12 dual record is still within reach if the Cowboys can win a pair of Friday/Sunday doubleheaders these next two weeks — the first of which will stream live on FloWrestling against Air Force (Friday at 8:00 p.m. ET) and North Dakota State (Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET) respectively.

Unleashing The ‘Wild Man’

Among a trio of highly ranked Wyoming upper weights, Eddie Neitenbach might go a bit underappreciated by general wrestling fans compared to the likes of Novak and former prep star Christian Carroll (ranked seventh at 285 pounds).

But make no mistake, the Valley City, Ohio native is worth your attention.

“Even in the wrestling room, he’s just a wild man,” Branch said.

“He’s consistently one of the hardest workers in the room…Sometimes we can be drilling, and he’ll probably loses 5-6 pounds in a drill just because of the pace that he goes at.

“(And) we want him to go at that high pace because that’s what separates him from a lot of guys at the weight class. But at the same time, be in control, and make sure that we’re utilizing good positions and good technique.”

Neitenbach (#9 at 184) has just three contested losses this season — all against top 10 opponents, and all of them within the margins.

The sophomore fell to #8 Dylan Fishback of Ohio State, 10-7, at the National Duals Invitational. At the Cliff Keen Invite he was pinned from a seemingly advantageous position by Oklahoma kitchen-sink-thrower #10 Brian Soldano. And back in December, he lost a 4-1 bout against #1 Rocco Welsh when Penn State visited Laramie.

“I think he knows and he’s shown that he can go with the best guys in the country,” Branch said. “There’s no doubt. I think he can get on the podium this year (and) I think he’s going to give everybody a fit.”

Talking Through The Pressure

“I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wish I would have,” said Branch of the final month-and-change of his final collegiate season.

Then a Cowboy of a different sort (at Oklahoma State), Branch was desperate to cap his career with a second national title sandwiched around two runner-up finishes.

“Everything in my heart wanted to win a national championship my last year,” he said. 

“It meant so much to me that I did put a lot of pressure on myself…and then going undefeated — I don’t know if that was the best thing. I started tightening up towards the end and stressing out a lot because I’d had this perfect season and I’m like, ‘Well, what’s the perfect season matter if I don’t win when it matters at the end?’”

Fortunately for Branch, he had a pretty great resource at his disposal in Pat Smith, the first four-time champion in NCAA history.

Smith overlapped with Branch on Oklahoma State’s 1994 national championship team — the former topping the podium as a senior while the latter did the same as a freshman. Several years later, Smith relayed that he’d felt some of the same pressures Branch was dealing with as a senior in addition to Smith’s uniquely heightened stress of becoming a historic four-timer.

“He (Smith) really helped me calm down when I really started stressing out and feeling that anxiety,” Branch said. “He let me know that everything was fine and I’m right where I need to be. He gave me that confidence of ‘You’re going to win the national championship’ and I believed in it.

“Without that, I don’t know how I would have handled it.”

Almost 30 years later, Branch still carries those lessons with him as he leads an entire team of strong, motivated, but very much ‘human’ individuals.

“There are guys in our lineup that I can see they’re letting the anxiety build and they’re not happy with their performance — and they’re maybe being too critical,” he said. “So, sitting down and just talking — maybe evening sharing your own stories — I think those things can all be helpful.

“And I do that because it helped me, and I’m not sure if the story would have played out the same if I wouldn’t have had somebody to talk to.”

Watch Wyoming home duals this season live on Flowrestling.