January 2010 Archives

Harry Bohn of Clarendon Hills is in his 42nd year of officiating basketball games. At one time, he worked 40 high school games a year. Now he works 25 high school games and 20 small college games a year. He worked the finals of the state tournament in 1983-85 and worked the Proviso West holiday tournament championship in December.

On top of that, Bohn has served as an Illinois High School Association rules interpreter for 25 years, a head basketball clinician for 10 years and assignment chairman for the South Suburban League for the past 15 years. If anyone knows the game, he does.

"The biggest change has been the speed of the game," Bohn said. "More and more teams play an uptempo game. It evolves from AAU and the kids playing year-round. More kids are capable of playing and playing at a younger age. There are more good athletes at a young age."

This is the time of year that is most entertaining for college football fans. Longtime recruiting analyst Tom Lemming of CBS College Sports refers to it as "Football's Second Season," a reference to the days leading up to and including the national signing day. In case you just returned from Mars, that is Feb. 3.

Who is the No. 1 player in the nation? Which college will sign the No. 1 recruiting class? How did my favorite team do? How could one recruiting service rate my favorite player in the top 100 while another service didn't even rate him among the top 250? Who is overrated? Who is underrated? Does any of this really matter at the moment?

It is fascinating to see how the major recruiting analysts--Tom Lemming, Rivals, Scout and ESPN--rate each class. Sometimes you wonder if they are evaluating the same player. They usually agree on the No. 1 class but often come to their conclusions in different ways.

The emergence of AAU or summer basketball has forever changed the landscape of the high school game as we once knew it. Some would argue it hasn't been a change for the better, especially in Illinois.

"AAU isn't the answer," said Gene Ford, who was the Sun-Times Player of the Year in 1964 while playing at Crane and taught in the Chicago public schools for 31 years. "Kids suffer and programs suffer when coaches don't have teacher's certificates. They don't have professional preparation in coaching."

In 2004, Ford said he was offered a position as elementary sports coordinator by Calvin Davis, director of sports administration for CPS. In the position, he would be supervising more than 600 schools. At the time, however, he was making more money as an assistant principal.

It might seem strange that a former high school basketball player from Lincoln, Ill., has written the only book on Thornridge's great 1971-72 basketball team. But it has happened. To obtain a copy of Scott Lynn's "Thornridge: The Perfect Season in Black and White," contact thornridgebook@hotmail.com.

Lynn captained coach Duncan Reid's 24-3 team that included All-Stater Norm Cook and was ranked No. 4 in the state in 1971-72, finally losing to Springfield Southeast in the regional. He went to Southern Illinois on a basketball scholarship but soon realized radio/TV was his future. After working in Decatur and Tampa/St. Petersburg, he has been sports director of KEX radio in Portland, Oregon, for the past 20 years.

So how did he come to write a book on Thornridge?

At the conclusion of the 2008 high school football season, King coach Lonnie Williams was asked if he had any juniors on his roster who might be Division I prospects as seniors. He named one player, 6-5, 290-pound offensive tackle Jamall Keaton.

Williams, who has coached for 40 years, said Keaton "has the potential to be another Jeff Allen," comparing him to the former King star who was a standout at Illinois. Keaton, a three-year starter, was described as "athletic, strong, good blocker, a great prospect."

Williams never mentioned offensive lineman Greg McKee.

So imagine everyone's surprise when McKee recently made an oral commitment to Connecticut.

Tom Lemming didn't know it at the time but the Chicago-based recruiting analyst was on the cutting edge of one of the most bizarre coach-swapping incidents in the history of college sports. And if you ever thought college football and basketball is motivated by anything but money and ego and greed, the Pete Carroll/Lane Kiffin story should sober you up.

Last Friday, Lemming was interviewing Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin and his two chief assistants, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, his father, and recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel in San Antonio. Across the street, some of the best high school players in the nation were practicing for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl to be played on Saturday in the Alamodome.

During the interview, Lane Kiffin received a text message from a friend in California.

Picking Illinois' all-decade high school basketball team is no less difficult than selecting an all-decade football team. The tendency is to choose players for what they achieved in college and the NBA, not just based on their high school performance. So there is a lot room for argument and debate, which as it should be.

My first five? Simeon's Derrick Rose, Glenbrook North's Jon Scheyer, Peoria Central's Shaun Livingston, East St. Louis' Darius Miles and Richards' Dwyane Wade.

My second five? Thornwood's Eddy Curry, Westinghouse's Cedrick Banks, Proviso East's Shannon Brown, Crane's Sherron Collins and Springfield Lanphier's Andre Inguodola.

How do I separate the first five from the second five?

Who were the best high school football players in Illinois during the past decade, from 2000 through 2009? How many Sun-Times Players of the Year were good enough to make the team? In hindsight, who was overlooked or overrated or underrated? There is plenty of room for argument and debate.

Here are my selections:

Offense: Tight end--C.J. Fiedorowicz, Johnsburg; Wide receivers--Jason Avant, Carver; Kyle Prater, Proviso West; Linemen--Christian Lombard, Fremd; Jon Asamoah, Rich East; Martin O'Donnell, Downers Grove South; Chris Watt, Glenbard West; Bryan Bulaga, Marian Central; Quarterback--Charlie Goro, Maine South; Running backs--John Dergo, Morris; Rashard Mendenhall, Niles West.

In basketball, there are scorers and there are shooters. Billy Harris became a playground legend and one of the most celebrated high school basketball players in the history of the Chicago Public League by becoming the fastest and most accurate gunslinger on the block. He didn't earn his nickname, Billy the Kid, for shooting blanks.

Think of the greatest pure shooters ever produced in Illinois. Lawrenceville's Jay Shidler immediately comes to mind. So do Carver's Pete Cunningham, Elgin's Flynn Robinson, West Aurora's Bill Small, Thornton's Lloyd Batts, Bloom's Brandon Cole and Glenbrook North's Jon Scheyer. It is a distinguished list. But it is hard to imagine that anyone could outshoot Billy Harris.

He suffered a massive stroke and died on Saturday night. He was 58. He is survived by a wife and six children. It was much too soon.

While I was working for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat from 1966 to 1968, I saw a great shooter, Collinsville's Tom Parker. I saw him score 50 points in the championship game of the Carbondale Holiday Tournament, a record that still stands. As good as he was, however, Parker didn't possess the shooting range that Harris had.