October 2010 Archives

It isn't often that a cross-country meet in November commands as much attention as the state football playoff. But Saturday in Peoria is one of those times. The 38-year-old state record of legendary runner Craig Virgin will be at stake at Detweiler Park and Sandburg's Lukas Verzbicas could surpass it. But can he beat York's Jack Driggs?

Virgin, who set a national record in the 3,200 the following spring at the All-American meet at Prospect, won the state cross-country title in 13:50.6 in 1972. Last year, Verzbicas won the event in 14:07 while York's Andrew Smith and Driggs were next at 14:28.

For his part, Virgin wishes Verzbicas good luck in his quest to set a new standard. "If he is healthy, he will take a good shot at it. He was on track for half the race last year before fading slightly in the second half," Virgin said.

If John Holecek isn't the best defensive strategist this side of Buddy Ryan...well, it is difficult to imagine anyone who is better equipped to teach the do's and don'ts of defense to high school football players than someone with his pedigree.

Holecek, Loyola Academy's fifth-year coach, was an All-State linebacker at Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights. He was an All-Big 10 linebacker at Illinois. And he played in the NFL for eight years, seven under defense-minded Wade Phillips.

After taking two years to get his players to buy into his system and his defensive philosophy, Holecek has guided Loyola to 30 victories in 36 games over the last three years. Last year's 11-2 team lost to two-time state champion Maine South in the semifinals. This year's 8-1 squad, which hosts Whitney Young Saturday in Wilmette, has allowed one touchdown or less in six games.

It is a sad commentary that many young sportswriters and high school basketball fans in today's slam-dunk generation don't know the history of the game, only how many points someone scored yesterday. That's a shame. Because they never got to know Sherrill Hanks.

Duncan Reid began coaching at Rock Island long after Hanks had moved from Quincy High School to Quincy College. But he had admired Hanks' handiwork while coaching at Lincoln.

So when I was researching my first book, "Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe: High School Basketball In Illinois," I asked Reid to comment on Hanks, as in how one successful coach views another.

Bill Chesbrough was born in Connecticut, went to high school in New York and earned a football scholarship to Syracuse. He associated Elgin with watch factory until he was serving with the Navy at Great Lakes in the 1940s and attended a sectional basketball game in Waukegan pitting Elgin and Downers Grove.

"The enthusiasm of the crowd excited me," Chesbrough recalled in an interview in 2002. "Elgin was a high class team. I said that I would like to coach at that school one of these days. As it turned out, I was in the golden years of Elgin basketball."

Chesbrough, whose coaching salary never exceeded $900 a year, never lost his enthusiasm for the game. One of the most successful coaches in Illinois high school basketball history, he died Monday after a long illness. He was 92.

Mike Ellis, welcome to Chicago. What is a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?

After winning 74 percent (156-55) of your games in seven years in a prestigious program at Peoria Richwoods, including second-place finishes in the state tournament in 2006 and 2010 and coming off last season's 30-3 record, why did you decide to tackle what some critics insist is a no-win situation at Evanston?

"I'm 40 years old. Evanston is a new challenge in teaching and coaching for me. People I talked to had nothing but good things to say about Evanston," Ellis said. "I knew it would be a great challenge to take on. I knew Evanston basketball is very important to the community and the school. Things were going well at Richwoods. We had been achieving season after season. Leaving was the toughest decision I ever had to make in my life. But I have no regrets about leaving Peoria."

After being out of coaching for three years, Lloyd Batts has returned to the profession he loves most of all. Batts, 59, has been named the head coach at South Shore High School in Chicago. He succeeds Lamont Bryant, who left to become the coach at Hyde Park.

I remember the first time I saw Batts. It was the opening night of the 1968-69 high school basketball season and Thornton, a perennial state power, was playing at Riverside-Brookfield, which at the time was being coached by my good friend Ron Nikcevich.

Before the game, I asked Thornton coach Bob Anderson about his team. "Watch Lloyd Batts," he said. "He is only a junior and this is his first game on the varsity. But I think he is going to be something special."

Reilly O'Toole, Wheaton Warrenville South's Illinois-bound quarterback, is the favorite to be the Chicago Sun-Times Player of the Year for 2010.

So what else is new?

Quarterbacks have won the prize six times in the last 10 years. In fact, quarterbacks or running backs have won the Sun-Times Player of the Year award 21 times since 1986. Since the award was first presented in 1951--to Evanston running back Bob McKeiver--it is rare for a defensive player to win. An interior offensive lineman hasn't won the award since 1955.

I lost all respect for the Heisman Trophy selection when Dick Butkus, who won the Sun-Times POY award in 1959, didn't win the Heisman in 1964.

(Note: This is another in a series of stories that had to be deleted from the final manuscript of my latest book, "Dusty, Deek, and Mr. Do-Right: High School Football In Illinois," published by University of Illinois Press. To my knowledge, it is the first book ever written on the subject. So I wanted to cover everything. I wrote 150,000 words but the publisher wanted 100,000. I will continue to publish the deleted stories on my blog)

Mark Carlson remembers when Paul Adams, his high school coach at Deerfield, took him aside, explained something more important than X's and O's and pointed him in the right direction--toward a successful career in college and business.

"I will never forget in the winter after my sophomore year, I was sitting in the training room," Carlson recalled."He closed the door and told me: 'You don't know the opportunities you will have if you work your butt off and keep your nose clean. You can play football anywhere you want to go.' That's when I committed myself to doing whatever it took. He made me realize my potential was unlimited. He saw something in me that he wanted to invest in and he got my attention and commitment."

Geneseo is the high school football capital of Illinois.

If you have any doubts, plan a trip to the Henry County community about 165 miles west of Chicago on I-80 to attend a football game. It's a small town that Norman Rockwell painted a hundred times and one that Andy Griffith, Don Knotts and Ronnie Howard must have lived in.

Geneseo has a population of 6,480 and more than 2,000 show up for every football game, wearing their green shirts. Where else are rockets shot into the nighttime sky during the "rockets red glare" singing of the Star Spangled Banner? And you wouldn't believe the pork sandwiches off the grill.

But that's only the beginning.

Imagine if Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh informed the Miami Heat that they had no intention of playing for the NBA franchise.

Devastating, right?

Well, Hall of Fame coaches Morgan Wootten, John Wooden and James Naismith will no longer be associated with the McDonald's All-America Game, the nation's most prestigious high school all-star basketball event.

Devastating, right?

What kind of spin will Ronald McDonald put on that piece of news?