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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?
"I was at Assembly Hall in Champaign when Thornridge beat Quincy for the state championship. It was the best team I ever saw," Lynn said. "For decades, I had been trying to locate a video of the game. Finally, I persuaded Thornridge coach Ron Ferguson to give me a copy.
"One night, I woke up in the middle of the night. I looked at the Internet to see if anyone had ever written a book on Thornridge. The only thing I saw were Taylor Bell's articles. I said to myself: 'Someone should write a book about that team.' A seed was planted.
"One night, I woke up, sat up and said to myself: 'I'm going to write it.' That was June, 2008. Right then, I started writing down names of people I wanted to talk to. I wanted to take a 'Boys of Summer' approach. Whatever happened to the five starters? I tried to sell it to a publisher. I talked to a lot of agents. But nobody wanted it. So I decided to self-publish."
The search was the most interesting aspect of the adventure, part of the challenge, the fun of trying to locate the players...Quinn Buckner, Boyd Batts, Mike Bonczyk, Greg Rose, Ernie Dunn, Nee Gatlin. Then finding the Quincy players and Dick Van Scyoc, Wayne McClain, Bob Basarich, Gene Pingatore, Steve Goers, Duncan Reid and Lee Cabutti.
Lynn also interviewed Bob Knight and John Wooden about their recruitment of Quinn Buckner. And he talked to Jerry Tarkanian about his two years with Boyd Batts at Nevada-Las Vegas. And former Michigan coach Steve Fisher, whose Rich East team played Thornridge in the opening game of the season, Fisher's first as a head coach.
Finding Rose and Batts were adventures in themselves. On Google, Lynn uncovered a video of Rose singing in a jazz club in Los Angeles. He was still there when Lynn found him. Even Lloyd Batts, Boyd's older brother, didn't know where Boyd was. Lynn finally found him in Madison, Wis.
"I went into it from a basketball standpoint," Lynn said. "I'm a sports guy. But every single guy talked about the black/white element. It was the days of the civil rights issue and it was something that impacted all of their lives at the time."
Race wasn't the only issue that Lynn had to confront. He was fighting colon cancer and undergoing chemotherapy while he was writing the 292-page book.
"I had my first book reading/signing at Powell's drugstore in Portland last week and had 75 people turn out--most of them Thornridge alumni and a couple from Blue Island Eisenhower who had played football and basketball against Buckner. It made for a very interesting evening for all concerned," said Lynn, who is a seven-time Oregon Sportscaster of the Year.
"The first thing I learned when I realized I had to self-publish the book is that you don't make any money in this business. But when I completed all the work, after going through my health problems, and looked at the finished product in my hands, it made it all worthwhile."
To jog your memory, Thornridge is generally regarded as the best high school basketball team in state history. In a 33-0 season, the Falcons didn't allow an opponent to come within 14 points. They averaged 87.4 points per game while allowing only 56.3. They capped their season by overwhelming Quincy 104-69 for the state championship, the most one-sided final in tournament history. In 1994, a poll by Reidel's Roundball Review ranked Thornridge as the No. 4 high school team of all-time, one spot ahead of an Indianapolis Crispus Attucks team led by Oscar Robertson and two spots ahead of a Philadelphia Overbrook team led by Wilt Chamberlain.
If you saw Thornridge play in 1971-72, and even if you didn't, this is a book that you'll want to read. Thanks for the memories, Scott.
Cell Phone Alerts
Taylor,
There are many great stories about Illinois High School sports that will never be written.
Time may be running out on a lot of them. The 50's are long gone. The 60's are fading fast. And even that great Thornridge team of the early 70's played a long time ago. It may be a stretch to think that only a handful of people younger than say 48 ever even saw this team play.
Many thanks go out to Mr. Lynn for doing this labor of love.
That Thornridge team is still the most dominate team to have ever played in Illinois.
I hope to find and buy a copy of this book.
Here is a link to the book website..... you can order a copy there. http://www.thornridgebook.com/
I've read one of the early copies of Mr. Lynn's book, Thornridge, with my only previous knowledge about the team being being based on its legendary status as one of the best teams in high school history.
Thank you Scott Lynn for writing this book. I read it in two sittings. If you're a basketball fan, I'd check out this book.
Blah, Blah, the 1970's were, QUinn Buckner was, "They did this" "They did that"
Who cares about Larry Zizioak and Moyd Fatts. That was 40 years ago when the shorts were low, the competion was lower and the interest now is at its lowest.
Write about a team thats made an impact recently. Stop living in the past nostalgia is for the weary
Thomas,
Apparently this book will not appeal to you, however, I'm a younger guy who was not around during the 70s, and reading about a legendary team helped to paint a contrast between the origins of the game and its current development.
Maybe you should write that book, but working on your punctuation skills might be something to work on in interim.
Working on my puncuation for a informal blog, ha!
My case is that Taylor Bell is notorious for being biased against teams/players of today. He constantly refrences Quinn Buckner. I think this guy cant go a week without a Quinn Buckner reference.
History is nice thats great. But give it up. The players then have done nothing no more than what players are doing today.
its the same ball and the same rim. Just different decades. I'd pit Derrick Roses leadership and playmaking ability in HS against any of the 70's players any day.
Its like comparing mike to koby I am 55 years old and know that mike wins,not really close. that team from south holland had it all. buckner would win state with any team he was on. kendal gill rich central team had the talent ability to destroy teams along with great minds for the game. buckner team,raise it five notches,that team was the best of illinois
Irrelevant debate. Buy the book or don't buy the book. Read Taylor Bell's blog or don't read it. Compare history with the present...you get the idea. Thomas, there are plenty of places you can go to where writers state how great the present is...hey, they even let these players write diaries for you to read, they rank 'em for you, they sadly stalk every move made by these kids or around these kids. If you are interested in that world, stay there. There's nothing wrong with referencing Quinn Buckner or a past that has something to do with shaping the present. Ironically, Derrick Rose would agree. We love knowing more about our game.
trust me, thornridge was the best ever, no doubt. i was there for every home game and some away games. as an example, in feb. 72', bloom came to dolton with over 6000 people in the school. at the end of the first quarter it was thornridge 20, bloom 2, because quinn got caught for defensive goal tending. remember in the championship game they shot 62% from the floor against the no. 2 team in the 5th largest state in the country. derrick rose or ever may have been a great player, but thornridge was a team, boyd batts, mike bonznic greg rose and errine dunn. quinn had basketball where it counted, the 6 inches between the ears. and he knew how to keep everey one else involved. if you didnt see them, and watched as much basketball as i have, i guess you can"t get it.
Great article. I will track down the book. Thanks for posting this and thanks for the memories. It was a great time.
MJH
That was the only time that I looked forward to going to school. They were a great team. They would have beat some good college teams at that time. And to THOMAS you are a jerk get a life. Some day you will relive your past and at that time think about what you wrote.
This team was fantastic and no thanks to the blogger that Bloom Township, my almamater, had 2 points at half. I remember and marvel at that Thornridge team today. That team put jumpers up from the hash mark at the state championships. As a kid one thing I recall about that team is they played together in the off season. They would come to King park in Chicago Heights and play our guys, epic picup games in the summer. I later played at Bloom but T'ridge always had McCann gym rocking. We couldn't will our team past T'ridge. I'll be looking for a copy of your book.
I watched Lloyd Batts play for three years at the University of Cincinnati. He was a great player. In those days, of course, there was no internet and no high school rating services, but there was always a murmur that Boyd Batts, Lloyd's younger brother, was even better than Lloyd, and that he and Quinn Buckner were both coming to Cincinnati. Obviously, that did not occur, with Buckner going to Indiana and the younger Batts eventually winding up at UNLV. I never saw Boyd Batts play, but if he was better than Lloyd, I would have loved to have seen. Lloyd Batts was the most gifted all-around player that UC had had since Oscar Robertson.
I saw Thornridge play 2-3 games each year in the early 1970s at the Rockford Guilford Turkey Tourney. They were the best HS team I ever saw. My friends and I were big fans of Buckner and the Batts brothers (the older one played for Thornton in 1970).
I also saw one of the prior great teams (Collinville, 1961) at Huff Gym at the sate tournament and there was no comparison.
Well looks like I need to get busy writing a book. Wasnt no team better than the 89-90 King Jaguars. Which im very proud to say I was apart of. We were surrounded by contraversy, and all types of distractions. We took Highschool Basketball in Chicago to another level. "MICHEAL JORDAN use to literly call my crib we were hotter than the BULLS. We went 32-0 and blew every out and I mean everybody. We won the national title.JAMIE,JOHNNY,RASHARD,AHMEED,KEITH,FRED,MARC, DAMIEN. We all could have benn stars on any other team in the city,but we stuck togther and the result was the greatest team in chicago highshool basketball. IF anyone feels any different feel free to call (901)550-2209 ask for CHINNY WEST. PS GO TO 4445 S. DREXEL AND GO TO THE GYM and check out the "Banner" Yo boy Marc Winters aka Chinny West.
Come on lets be foreal!!! No disrespect to that Thornridge team,but there has been dozens of good if not great teams since then. None other better than the 89-90 King Jaguars. Which I can proudly say I was a member of. We went 32-0 won every title possible including the national title. We were surrounded by positive and negative hype and all types of contraversy. WE BLEW ALL OPPONETS OUT by 12 or more. Jamie,Johnny,Rashard,Ahmeed,Fred,Keith,Marc and Damien could have been stars on any other team in the city,but we stuck together. The result was the greatest chicago highschool basketball team ever. Mad love to coach Cox. Write a book about that someone please.Yo boy MarcWinters aka ChinnyWest (901)550-2209