Well, even if you buy that description, Iron River is not going to be sleepy for awhile. In fact, Iron River — and Baumgartner’s real hometown of Bates Township — will be in celebration mode. Count the rest of Iron County and maybe the whole U.P. in on that as well.

The 40-year-old Baumgartner, the oldest athlete on the 2022 U.S. Winter Olympic team, fulfilled his dream of “bringing home some hardware” Saturday by earning a gold medal in the mixed snowboardcross event with partner Lindsey Jacobellis in Beijing, China. Two days earlier, Baumgartner suffered an abrupt end to his pursuit of a individual medal in his fourth Olympic men’s snowboardcross games, this time failing to get out of the quarterfinal round.

After that race, a heartbroken Baumgartner — seeing what at the time seemed to be his final chance at an Olympic medal slip away — wept. And so did many back home.

“He showed his raw emotions,” said Iron River resident Chris Shamion, who has known Baumgartner and his family for decades. “We could all just feel that. He was himself. He bared his heart to the world.”

FAMILY AND FRIENDS of Nick Baumgartner gathered Friday night — it was Saturday morning in China — at his parents’ home in Bates Township to watch him compete in mixed team snowboardcross at the Winter Olympics. Shown are Baumgartner’s parents, Mary and Robert Baumgartner, with Nick’s son, Landon Sundelius, a senior at West Iron County High School. (Submitted photo)

Indeed. And anyone — from Yoopers who’ve followed his career for the past two decades to those who just like a good-old romantic sports story about the rural underdog who overcomes long odds — was right there with him.

But as things go in sports sometimes, Baumgartner got another chance Saturday to win a medal, to not go out the way he did on Thursday. He was paired with Jacobellis, a legendary figure in the sport who has suffered herself in her long career. The two “’80s babies,” as Jacobellis called them, had a prime opportunity to become the darlings of the 2022 snowboardcross competition.

Which they did. Baumgartner gifted Jacobellis a small lead after his final run and then the Stratton Mountain, Vermont, native brought home the gold for herself and the aging Yooper.

Thousands of miles away, in Iron River, Baumgartner’s mother Mary, father Robert and son Landon were among a host of well-wishers gathered at a watch party. Surely plenty others around Iron County and the Upper Peninsula did as well. It isn’t difficult to imagine that they suffered the moments, as Baumgartner did, of waiting to see if Jacobellis could finish the deal.

“I was watching, (and when I saw how it was going) I said, ‘All right!,'” said Ronjo Leonoff, a longtime resident of the community, a bus driver for the West Iron County School District until recently and a current member of the Iron River City Commission.

IRON RIVER ALREADY has a sign at its city limits marking Nick Baumgartner's Olympic gold in mixed team snowboardcross at the Games in Beijing. (Submitted photo)

“Everybody in this community has been behind him since he started in snowboarding,” Leonoff added. “He realizes where he’s from. NIck is one of those types, he’s going to promote and support kids and the older people. He’s a very community-minded person.”

Before the Olympics, Baumgartner saw a Facebook post that displayed a letter of support written by Shamion’s granddaughter, Ava, for her kindergarten class at Forest Park schools in Crystal Falls. Ava asked what Baumgartner would do if he won. Baumgartner responded to Ava, telling her she could wear his gold medal around her neck if he wins.

In ways like that, Baumgartner always has remembered his people back home. And he did so again after the biggest athletic moment of his life. In remarks to NBC after his win, Baumgartner gave a shout-out to Iron River, to West Iron County and even mentioned the school’s nickname.

It was a surreal moment, for sure, to hear NBC’s Olympic host Mike Tirico talk about the “Wykons.”

“Who does that?” Chris Shamion asked rhetorically. “Only a Yooper would say something like, ‘Once a Wykon, always a Wykon.’ The whole world has no idea what he was talking about. It was just so precious. And is so meaningful for our community.”

Now that community is planning a number of celebratory events for Baumgartner, according to his mother, Mary. Plans are in the works for an escort parade when he gets back to town, a regular parade later, pep rallies at West Iron schools and several other parties and get-togethers to celebrate and bask in that moment in time when Iron River went international.

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A parade is planned for 4 p.m. Central today in Iron River as Olympics champion Nick Baumgartner returns to the region. The procession and escort will start in Iron Mountain and wind through Florence, Wis., and Crystal Falls on to Iron River, according to his mother, Mary Baumgartner.