Through grief and loss, Will Berg is finding his joy again at Wichita State

The sound that anchors Martin Berg’s memory of his son’s childhood isn’t the swish of a net or the thump of a basketball.

It’s a faint knock on the bathroom door.

Not long after his wife’s death, he remembers sobbing uncontrollably as the grief he had spent weeks holding back finally crashed over him. He remembers the moment his 6-year-old son slipped inside, eyes wide and worried, and asked a question no child should have to ask.

“Daddy, are you sad?”

When Martin wiped away the tears and steadied himself, his eyes still red, to tell his son yes, Will Berg didn’t hesitate. He simply sat down and said, “That’s OK, daddy. I’ll wait for you.”

In that moment, long before he became the tallest player to ever wear a Wichita State uniform and long before he left Sweden for America to chase a basketball dream, Will Berg became the person he is now. Caring. Empathetic. Measured and thoughtful in a way few his age are.

Those qualities didn’t just appear with maturity. They were forged by what he lived through. Will grew up in the aftermath of tragedy, watching a single father rebuild a home from the inside out. He learned early how to read a room, how to recognize when someone was hurting, how to respond with gentleness instead of frustration.

That upbringing became the foundation for the way he treats people now. It explains the patience he shows teammates, the way he carries himself in practice, the dignity with which he responds to adversity. It’s why his coaches and teammates speak about him with such reverence. Because his talent is impressive, but his goodness is magnetic.

For someone who has every reason to be hardened, every reason to be guarded, Will remains open, kind, grounded.

It’s why everyone who’s crossed paths with the 7-foot-2 giant, from the teammates who saw him wait his turn at Purdue to the ones who now rely on him at Wichita State, is pulling for him as he continues his run as the Shockers’ starting center on Thursday night against Loyola-Chicago.

“After this huge, long journey, he is now getting to the light of what he’s been working towards this whole time,” said Brandon Goble, who has known Will for years. “It’s like a dream delayed.”

The loss that changed everything for Will Berg

Will doesn’t remember everything about the months after his mother died. Grief at age 6 is blurry in the way childhood memories often are.

But he remembers the feeling of it. The quiet house. The change in his father’s face. The sense that life had split into a before and an after.

“Facing such a loss that early in life, it’s hard not to get derailed,” Will said. “But I was lucky to have my dad. The way he showed strength and helped me through all of those difficult emotions.”

What he does remember clearly is that it was always the two of them, side by side. Learning how to live with sadness without letting it become everything. His father never pretended things were fine; he showed Will how to talk about his emotions instead of hiding from them. How to be honest about pain and still make space for joy.

“It was important to me to show him it was OK to be happy,” Martin said. “He needed to see that it was OK to have fun.”

So Martin planned fun activities for them to do together. They went on small adventures. Movies. Amusement parks. Time with friends. Martin wanted Will to know grief didn’t disqualify joy — the two can coexist.

“It’s so easy for me to look at him as a role model because he has been a rock,” Will said. “I know he’s gone through the same loss that I have and it’s just as hard, if not even harder for him. So for him to still be able to make sure I’m happy and show me it’s OK to still have a positive outlook on life, it certainly made the dark times brighter.”

Over time, they became more than father and son. They became best friends. They share everything, hide nothing, and for nearly 16 years, they’ve steadied each other through every high and low with a guiding principle.

“Put energy into people and things that give you energy back,” Martin said. “That’s been our life rule.”

Will often describes his father as his greatest teacher, someone whose example shaped everything he believes about how to treat others. Will says he can’t imagine having a better man to look up to and Martin feels the same in return. Trying to raise a son the right way, to teach him a moral code and how to stand firm in his principles, pushed him to become the kind of man he wanted Will to emulate. In shaping his son’s character, Martin found his own shaped as well.

“He’s truly a part of me, a very important part,” Martin said. “I have tried to make him a good person and that has made me a better person. He’s already way better than I’ve ever been in all perspectives.”

Will’s body is covered in ink now, a mural of Polaroids on his thigh honoring his mother and a tattoo over his heart showing a father and a child walking hand in hand.

“I wanted my dad to always be close to my heart,” Will said.

When Martin looks at Will, he doesn’t see the 7-foot-2, 265-pound mountain of a center that everyone else does. He still sees the little boy who waited for him in the bathroom. Still his lilleplutt, a Swedish nickname he likes to use.

“He will always be my little boy, no matter what,” Martin said. “He’s taller than me, and he lets me know, and he’s stronger than me, and he lets me know, but he’s still my little boy.”

The special bond between father and son on Wichita State

Grief fractured their home, but cooking helped patch it back together.

Jessica had been the chef of the family. After her death, Martin inherited her kitchen and her responsibility. He burned dishes. He tried recipes out of order. He learned through mistakes. And over time, he became a good chef.

After years of enjoying the meals, Will eventually joined his father in the kitchen and began discovering his own passion for cooking.

Their favorite was Jessica’s chicken curry, a tradition Martin has kept alive with his own twist — adding apples and mango. It reminds them of her, but never painfully.

“We have a lot of good memories connected to it,” Will said.

Cooking became their language. Their therapy. Their way of showing love.

“You can make people happy with food,” Martin said.

Another layer to their connection in the kitchen is necessity. Both Will and Martin have Type 1 diabetes, a reality that has shaped the way they eat and live. Will wears a glucose-monitoring device, a small sensor attached to his stomach that tracks his blood sugar levels, including during practices and games. It allows him to play without constantly worrying about dangerous drops.

Managing the condition requires discipline, knowing what goes into his body, knowing how it affects his energy, his performance, his health. Cooking gave him control.

For Will, cooking isn’t just a hobby. It’s a form of self-care. While he jokes about indulging in Spangles every once in a while, he takes pride in understanding his nutrition and shaping his own health one meal at a time.

And this Friday, for the first time since Will arrived in Kansas, father and son will team up in the kitchen again. With Martin visiting from Stockholm, Sweden for Thursday’s game, the duo will cook for the entire WSU basketball team. What’s on the menu? Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes.

“I just realized that you can spread so much joy with cooking,” Will said. “It’s like when you’re trying to learn something, the best way to learn something is to teach it. I think the best way to feel happy is by making other people feel happy.”

The winding basketball journey of Wichita State’s Will Berg

Basketball came to Will at the perfect time, right after he lost his mother.

He picked up the sport not long after her passing and it quickly became a refuge, a place where thoughts paused and movement drowned out grief. It became the constant in a young life that had already experienced too much change.

Then came the growth spurts. He shot to 7 feet tall by the eighth grade. He earned a spot on the Swedish Youth National Team and soon became a standout. That success led him to a basketball academy 10 hours away from home, forcing him into independence earlier than most.

When he returned from the academy for the first time, he hugged Martin at the airport and said something that still makes Martin’s eyes water.

“Now I understand everything you’ve done,” Will said.

Leaving home at 16 forced Will to grow up fast. Leaving his country forced him to grow up even more.

His dream had always been to play college basketball in the United States. After a breakout performance in the U18 Nordic Championships, his dream crystallized when Purdue coach Matt Painter offered him a scholarship. Suddenly, a boy from Stockholm was crossing an ocean to chase the future he’d imagined since childhood.

At Purdue, he experienced almost everything the sport can offer — except opportunity. He battled All-Americans in practice. He watched from the bench. He played in short bursts, then not at all. But he kept showing up. Kept working. Kept learning how to stay ready even when he wasn’t needed.

“I’ve had so many different experiences and perspectives, both in basketball and in life,” Will said. “It feels like I’ve had a thousand different lives on the court. I know what it’s like to come off the bench, what it’s like to be the star player, what it’s like to be a role player, what it’s like not to play at all. That has helped me mature and be kind towards others because I can relate and I know what they’re going through and what they’re feeling.”

In his last two seasons with the Boilermakers, Will appeared in 36 games and averaged 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds in 5.2 minutes per game. But he left an imprint far bigger than that.

“With playing time comes confidence,” longtime Boilermakers assistant Brandon Brantley said. “Once he gets a taste of it, he’ll grow into that role. I know he didn’t get a chance to show all that he can do in games here, but I’m confident he is capable of doing whatever Wichita State will ask him to do.

“I’m a big believer in karma. That’s why I think he’s going to have a tremendous season for the Shockers this season.”

When he entered the transfer portal last spring, he wasn’t escaping Purdue. He was searching for a place that matched his growth.

Wichita State became that place.

“He’s been through a lot that most young men haven’t had to go through,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said. “He has high character and you can tell he has gone through a lot because he has measured responses. When you deal with young kids and emotional guys, if you ever watch them behind closed doors, their responses aren’t always measured. So that’s a tribute to Will’s composure and his poise.”

Now, instead of waiting, he’s playing. Instead of hoping, he’s producing. Through the Shockers’ 2-0 start, he is averaging 11.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks, finally able to show the foundation he built in the shadows.

And if you ask his recruiting mentor, Brandon Goble, there is still another level waiting.

“People will see over time, and I don’t know when it’s going to happen, it might be next semester, it might be next year, but he has got some skill and he can shoot the ball,” Goble said. “He can do things that he hasn’t been able to show yet because the emphasis is to do the simple stuff first. Let’s become awesome at the simple stuff… and once he gets that stuff down, he can add in some of those other things to go from a great to a special player. He’s capable of doing that.”

Martin’s flight from Stockholm landed just in time for him to watch Will score a career-high 15 points against Prairie View A&M last week. It was special, but not surprising.

“It was a very cool feeling, but me and my dad both know it’s long overdue,” Will said. “This is something I’ve worked on my whole life. So it didn’t surprise me because I know what I’m capable of. Now I’m in the right environment to be able to show off all of the work I put in.”

Because this is what he’s been chasing, not just minutes or numbers, but joy. The feeling he had as a little boy when basketball became a shelter from loss. A fresh beginning where he finally feels like himself again.

Martin can see it instantly.

“I’m always proud of him, no matter what,” Martin said. “If he would sell hot dogs, I would be proud of him. But the difference now is you can see the energy in his eyes. He’s happy. You can see it in every picture. The glow. It’s fun for him to play basketball again.”

Will’s journey has never been straight. It has looped and twisted, risen and fallen, carried him across continents and through heartbreak. But it has led him here, to Wichita, a place where the game feels light again, where his smile comes easy and the glow in his eye is unmistakable.

And that’s the real victory.

Not the points, not the minutes, but the peace. The peace of a young man who has lived through loss, held onto love and finally found a place where joy feels possible again.

This story was originally published November 13, 2025 at 8:15 AM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6270

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.