In the fall of 2020, Travis Ambrose was a high school freshman in Orange County, California who was eager to start his prep basketball career.
But the COVID pandemic had hit the previous spring and high school sports were cancelled throughout California.
It just so happened that sports were reinstated that fall in Michigan and the basketball season started on schedule, even though the players had to wear masks.
At the suggestion of his parents, Travis decided to make a temporary move to Muskegon and play his freshman season with the Reeths-Puffer varsity basketball team.
The idea was not that far-fetched, because his mother grew up in the R-P district and had plenty of relatives in the area, and the traditional high school experience was not available at the time in California.
R-P's Travis Ambrose, who is averaging nearly 15 points and 8 rebounds per game.
“We watched our oldest son get his senior year taken away from him by COVID,” said Travis’ dad, Matt Ambrose (second from left in top photo). “No prom, no graduation. For that whole age group, there’s a gap, and we watched the impact it had on him.
"Then Travis’ first experiences in high school were virtual. That’s just not what we wanted, and it wasn’t what he wanted, either. He saw what happened to his brother.”
The situation was simple enough at the time. Travis' mother, Tori Ambrose (far left in top photo)rented a house in the R-P district for a few months and lived with Travis while his father remained at home in California, working and visiting as often as he could.
Travis’ sister Madie (far right in top photo), then a junior in high school who was taking remote classes, was also a frequent visitor.
“I loved it here the first semester with him,” Tori Ambrose said. “My family allowed us to rent a house from them. I would stay for a month and go back after that. That whole first semester, we kind of went back and forth, and our daughter was able to come for a few weeks because she was in virtual high school.”
Then the next unexpected thing occurred. Back in California following the school year, Travis told his parents that he had fallen in love with Reeths-Puffer and wanted to finish high school there, even though basketball was reinstated in California.
Ambrose goes high for a layup in a game earlier this season.
That began a series of heart-wrenching decisions for the family.
As difficult as it was, Matt and Tori allowed their son to return to Michigan as a sophomore and continue at R-P. His mom could not come with him again, however, because Madie was now a senior at Huntington Beach High School, classes were back in session, and Tori was needed at home.
So Travis moved in with his mother’s cousin, Corey Johnson, and his family in the Reeths-Puffer district. His parents were frequent visitors, jetting back and forth to visit him and see him play as often as possible.
“We didn’t plan on that,” Matt said about Travis’ request to stay in Michigan. “Once he got to Michigan, he met friends, his cousin Brooks was a freshman, the whole group just accepted him, and he said, ‘Man, this is amazing.’ He was so scared to tell us, but he finally broke down and said he wanted to stay.”
Then came another unexpected turn of events. Madie, a standout water polo player in high school, accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Michigan and enrolled last fall.
Suddenly Matt and Tori had two of their three children living in Michigan while their oldest was attending Orange County Community College.
Ambrose guards an opponent in middle school basketball back in California.
That prompted a long discussion about leaving California and joining Travis full-time in Muskegon, where Matt and Tori would also be just a few hours from their daughter in Ann Arbor.
They finally decided to make the move, sold their house in California, purchased a home in Twin Lake, and became official residents in December 2022.
“When our daughter graduated we were an empty nest, and we had to make a decision,” Matt said. “My wife still wants to be a mom and I still want to be a dad, so we were torn.
“With Maddie in Ann Arbor, now we have two here. Our oldest wants nothing to do with it. He grew up surfing, he just finished community college and he’s applying to become a firefighter in California.
“So we decided to sell the house. We timed the market just right. Our reimagination of life has changed and we’re adapting, each and every day.”
Tough decisions and adjustments
Travis didn’t arrive in Michigan until January 2021, about a month into his freshman basketball season, but still averaged 9.8 points and 10.1 rebounds per game as a ninth-grader playing varsity.
He really hit his stride in 2021-22, his sophomore season, when he formed a powerful inside-outside offensive combo with teammate, close friend and fellow sophomore Jaxson Whitaker.
Whitaker, who specializes in outside shooting and driving the lane, led the Rockets in scoring with 15.9 points per game. Travis, a dominant post player, averaged 15.2 points and 10.9 rebounds per game.
The future looked bright at Reeths-Puffer, and Travis knew, even before that big season, that he didn’t want to leave.
“I just liked the community,” the 6-foot-8 college basketball prospect said. “I felt like I was welcomed here. I felt like I would do better here than I would in California. I had my cousin (Brooks Johnson), who’s like my brother, and Jaxson, who I became very close to when we were freshmen on the team together. It was hard when I went back to California to visit, because I missed my friends here.
R-P hoop stars and close friends Jaxson Whitaker (left) and Travis Ambrose.
“I was talking to a lot of people about it and praying about it. It was hard to tell my parents I liked it here more than my original home in California. I didn’t want to ruin our family life.”
Travis admits he became homesick at times during the 2021-22 school year, with both of his parents living back in California.
“When it’s gray and wintery outside everyone gets a little down, and after one game last season I just broke down, talked to my uncle and called my parents,” he said. “I just missed them so much, and I ended up flying home for a few days. I just needed to see them.”
Travis’ longing for family was addressed when he learned his parents were selling the house in Orange County and buying one in Twin Lake.
He said the Johnsons were the best host family he could have hoped for during his sophomore year, but his parents were not with him, so it wasn’t quite home.
“I was shocked,” he said about his parents' decision to move. “I knew they had talked about maybe moving here eventually, but I didn’t expect them to buy a house so soon. It’s really nice having a home again that’s mine, not my cousins’ or my friends’ – it’s my family’s house.”
Ambrose dunks against Zeeland East in a recent game.
The family’s relocation has been far from simple.
Tori Ambrose had an easy time finding work, because she had spent several years teaching secondary education in California. Substitute teachers are very much needed in Michigan, so she was able to secure a position as a regular sub at Reeths-Puffer High School.
The move was also easier for Tori because she was really just going home. She is the daughter of Steve Oyler, who taught at R-P’s McMillian Elementary years ago. Oyler was in a terrible car accident in 1978 and passed away in 1980.
Tori’s mother eventually remarried and the family moved to California, where Tori met Matt Ambrose, married, started her teaching career and had a family. Now she’s happy to be back in her original home with her family.
“The community here has been nothing short of amazing in the way they have embraced us,” she said.
Matt, however, still has some work issues to sort out.
Matt Ambrose, right, when he was coaching one of Travis' youth league teams.
He is a career firefighter who has worked for the Newport Beach Fire Department in California for about 22 years. The family still relies on his income and insurance benefits, and his pension kicks in at year 25, so he’s been shuttling back and forth between his new house in Muskegon and California, where he shares an apartment with his oldest son.
He spends two weeks in Muskegon, then two weeks back in California.
His goal is to be in Michigan, living with his family full-time and playing a bigger role with the R-P basketball team. Matt became a volunteer assistant coach this season under head coach Nate Aardema and has very much enjoyed the experience.
Matt played prep basketball at Huntington Beach High School back in the early 90s, and his team advanced all the way to the state finals in his senior year.
He started his college basketball career at San Diego State University, then transferred to Orange County Community College and finally Portland State University in Oregon. Despite blowing out his ankle playing in Oregon, which affected his collegiate career, he was still good enough to spend a few post-college years playing professional basketball in China.
Matt and Tori were married by then, however, and home beckoned. Matt tripped onto his firefighting career when a friend’s father asked him to take a few classes that would make him qualified for employment with the Newport Beach Fire Department.
Matt and Travis Ambrose at a Portland State University basketball team reunion.
“He just wanted me to take a few courses, and I loved it,” Matt said. “Ironically, our chief said later that he didn’t hire me to be a fireman. He said he hired me to win some gold medals in basketball. They were super competitive in the firemen Olympics, and I think we ended up winning five or six gold medals.”
Matt ended up coaching Travis' youth league teams and serving as an assistant boys and girls coach at two high schools in California, but never got the chance to delve very far into the profession.
Now with his family in Muskegon, he would like to become more involved in coaching. That’s not possible at the moment, however, with his back-and-forth schedule.
“I want to help build this program up,” Matt said about the R-P boys team. “Coach Aardema has been really flexible with me. He is a great coach. You talk about a coach who loves his players, that man is extraordinary.
“But right now, for me, it’s two weeks here, two weeks there. The goal is to build some consistency as I help with the team, but I just start to build relationships, then I’m gone.”
A challenging season that’s trending well
The current basketball season has been challenging for Travis, as well.
After performing so well as a sophomore, he expected to take the next step and have a breakout season as a junior.
But just a few weeks before the season began he had surgery to correct a double hernia that was discovered during his basketball physical.
He wasn’t out of the lineup very long, but he wasn’t playing at full capacity for much of the season, either.
“Mentally it was very challenging for me,” Travis said about returning from his surgery. “I came back after one game, but I was not myself. I should have waited a little longer, but I missed basketball.”
The Reeths-Puffer boys have also had a challenging season as a team. The Rockets were hoping to contend for an O-K Green conference championship this winter, but have been inconsistent, sometimes playing great and sometimes struggling.
Ambrose makes a move toward the basket in a game against Muskegon this season.
R-P won its season opener against Allendale, then lost two games in a row, won two, lost two, won four out of five, then lost three in a row between Jan. 28 and Feb. 7.
Now things are looking up again for Travis and the Rockets.
Travis is back at full strength, and his stats show it. He had 19 points and 12 rebounds in a game against Zeeland East; 23 points and 13 rebounds in a fun matchup with Detroit Catholic Central; 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks in a game against Wyoming; and 19 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks against Zeeland West on Friday night.
“I’m starting to get back to it,” Travis said. “My hand-eye coordination is back to where it was before and my legs are starting to come back.”
The Rockets overcame their three-game losing streak with three straight wins over Wyoming, Zeeland East and Zeeland West over the past two weeks. They are currently 10-8 overall and 7-5 in conference play with four regular season games remaining before the Division 1 district tournament.
“Our energy is starting to come back,” Travis said about the team. “It was down for a few games, and now it’s nice to see my team finally having fun. There is a lot of talent on our team. We have not seen our full potential yet. We’re just starting to get there.”
Ambrose, already towering over everyone, shoots a free throw in middle school.
Coach Aardema said Travis’ big game against Wyoming showed that he’s back to full form.
“He had an incredible game,” Aardema said. “He had a near triple-double. You don’t see that too often.
“I think the surgery set him back more than anyone anticipated. I think when you have a core surgery like that, so much burst and balance comes from your core, and those things were a little off for a while.
“The kid we saw play in the summer and in the fall, he’s back to that now. It’s fun for him again, and he’s earned that.
Aardema said Matt Ambrose has been a big plus as a volunteer assistant coach.
“He’s so knowledgeable,” the coach said. “It’s nice just having someone like him seeing things through a different lens sometimes. Nate Baker has been my top assistant for years, and we have bounced a lot of the same ideas off each other for a long time, so it’s nice to have Matt asking if we’ve thought about something this way or that way.
“His biggest thing has been developing relationships and connecting with the kids. He’s had some talks with some of the kids, and I think that’s helped some of them turn their seasons around.”
Travis, left, and a buddy pose with a UCLA basketball player in California.
Aardema said the Ambrose family has been an overall blessing for R-P.
“For the program, for me, for Reeths-Puffer as a whole,” he said. “They are a first-class family, just in the way they treat people. Before I really knew Travis as a player, I had him in class, and I saw how he went out of his way to help other kids have a better day.
“He will play in college, no doubt, but eventually basketball stops. How you interact with people and how you impact people is the biggest part of life, I think. Travis is off to a great start that way, and that doesn’t happen by accident. It’s his parents who instilled those values in him.”
Regardless of what happens the rest of this season, the good news is that Ambrose will be back as a senior next year, his mom will be with him, and his dad will be around as much as possible.
That’s all because Travis was that rare kid who knew what he wanted from his high school experience and had the courage to tell his parents how he felt.
“What he felt was right for him was to stay here in this community and embrace all of it,” his mom said. “He prefers Muskegon, Michigan and Reeths-Puffer.”
