The story behind Payton Tolle's viral basketball video

As if there needs to be more evidence of Payton Tolle's unique likability, along came a reminder from five years ago.

That was courtesy of a video showing Tolle as a basketball player from his days at Bethany High in Bethany, Oklahoma.

The images came courtesy of a man who witnessed the Tolle Effect first-hand, former Bethany High boys basketball coach Quinn Woolridge. Well before the Red Sox were introduced to the personality of the rookie pitcher, Woolridge experienced the unique existence of the former three-sport athlete.

For instance, that hug he gave Seattle's Dominic Canzone three weeks ago was nothing new. Just ask all those basketball coaches who went up against Woolridge and Bethany High went up against and were greeted with Tolle's signature embrace.The kid just had fun doing everything he was doing. Yeah, that was a chance where he could have some fun.

"All the stuff with the highlights that are coming out now, he always been that fun kid," Woolridge told WEEI.com. "I think you guys are probably getting the feel that he is the genuine article. I mean, he's the real deal."

"It's called a highlight reel for a reason," laughed Tolle when talking about the video, that included the lefty nailing three-pointers and throwing down dunks, along with the consistent hugging of opposing coaches. "A little breakway action never hurt anybody. We had a lot of fun."

And as for the coaches' responses to the embraces, "I would say most like it," Tolle explained. "Some f them tried to get away from it, but I was like, 'No, no, come get this. Let the big bird get his paws on here. Word got around. The Oklahoma high school basketball coaches group is small, so they knew."

The influence his basketball years had on Tolle stretched well beyond just those introductory embraces.

Even though baseball was clearly his meal ticket beyond high school, the 6-foot-5 center made a point to put his all into both football and hoop, two sports Woolridge said Tolle could have also had a future in beyond high school.

"Obviously, baseball was his No. 1 sport," the coach said. "I don't think he really even liked football that much, but he was obivously good at it as a tight end and defensive end. And then he literally played basketball like three months out of the year, but he was pretty good. If he wanted to be a basketball player in college, he could have been. If he wanted to be a tight end, he would have been playing on Saturdays (in college) and maybe even Sundays (in the NFL). Being around him, if he wanted to be good at darts, he would have been really good at darts.

"A lot of young basketball guys, they take themselves too serious. They're into a lot of social media stuff and everything. He was a good basketball player, but he didn't take himself too serious and he had a good time with it. He helped everybody else playing that way, too."

While Tolle wasn't Bethany's leading scorer ("They never ran isolations for me," he joked), he was an important part of a very good team. And as much as his presence did for the Bronchos, the reward was just as great for Tolle to get where he finds himself today.

"Every single time a kid or parent comes up to me and says, 'Hey, what advice do you have for my high school?' I tell them to be an athlete because you're going to learn movements and explosiveness. I might not show it out there anymore, but I would say that a lot. Not to too my own horn, but I feel l ike I move fine for a large guy thanks to the base athleticism that was happening in other sports.

"(By playing one sport) you're going to find yourself burned out. You're going to find yourself overusing your muscles over and over again. With basketball, I knew once Christmas and New Year's happened I would go back to throwing after basketball practice, just stacking days. It helped me be an athlete and not get too burnt going to baseball all the time. There's also a lot of mental stuff that goes into, too."

Now, we have the memories, the impact of those days on the basketball court, and a pretty enlightening video montage.

"The biggest thing is he was such a competitor," remembered Woolridge. "He was such a positive influence with all the guys on our team. That was one of my prevailing memories about him.

"You see a lot of guys that have a good PR team that puts good stuff out there about them, and then you meet them in an elevator and they're kind of a turd. What you see with Payton that is out there now is what you get from him every single day, and what he was at Bethany High."