december 2010

December 2010 Vol. 4 No. 5

FREEsisportsconnection.com

2 l December 2010 l

l December 2010 l 3 sisportsconnection.com

Publisher/Editor Jim Muir

Account Executive Cheryl Hughey

PhotographersChristopher KaysCeasar Maragni

Contributing WritersTeri CampbellJohn D. HomanChris Hottensen Roger LipeCeasar MaragniJim MuirMike Murphy

Joe SzynkowskiNathan WheelerTom Wheeler

For more information regarding Southern Illinois Sports Connection call Jim at 618-525-4744. For advertising information, call Cheryl at 618-353-8515.

The Line Up

Faith on the Field. . .............14

JALC Journal...........................32

In Focus...................................45

Publisher’s Greeting..................5

From Where I Sit .....................35

RLC Report......... .....................9

Ask the Coach...........................6

sisportsconnection.com

The Hot Corner....................22

Safe at Home........................31

Murf’s Turf...............................20

1990’s SISC Elite 60page 18

36

16

24

28

4 l December 2010 l

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decade under Coach Wayne Harre. It’s a great feature story about the 2010-11 Hornettes who have four returning starters back from last year’s squad that brought home a 3rd place trophy from Bloomington. It’s a certainty that Nashville will once again be the team to beat this season on the girl’s side.

And as always this month we are ‘chocked-full’ of great features, columns and commentary. We also introduce a couple new monthly column, ‘Safe at Home,’ written by Joe Szynkowski and ‘The Hot Corner,’ written by Chris Hottensen. Both columns will be a monthly feature in SISC and will focus on a local angle to high school and college sports here in Southern Illinois.

Finally, but most importantly let me take the opportunity to extend a ‘hearty’ Merry Christmas from all of us here at SISC to you our faithful and loyal readers. And don’t forget – in all the hustle and bustle and basketball – that ‘Jesus is the reason for this season.’

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from SISC!

Jim Muir Publisher

G reetings and welcome to the December issue of Southern Illinois

Sports Connection Magazine.How much do Southern

Illinois residents love their high school basketball? That question was answered recently when I received a phone call from Toby Brooks, who created and maintains our website (sisportsconnection.com). Brooks wanted to know if I had noticed the heavy volume of traffic going to the website to vote in our ongoing “SISC Basketball Elite 60” contest where we are picking the top basketball players for the past six decades.

Brooks told me that more than 30,000 people visited our website and added that he checked to make sure and this was 30,000 ‘unique’ visits. While I’m thrilled with that number I really can’t say I’m totally surprised because I know the passion fans have for round ball here in Southern Illinois.

Thanks to our readers for making SISC Basketball Elite 60 such a big success and be sure and check out our 1990s roster this month.

OK, I need your help for a new feature – “SISC Trifecta” – that will launch in January and will feature athletes who excel in academics, leadership and athletics – in that order. The idea behind “Trifecta” is to recognize athletes who might be a role player in their respective sport but

who excel in the classroom or in a leadership role with their school. And here at SISC we cover nearly 60 high schools so it would be impossible to find these athletes without some outside help.

We are counting on athletic directors, coaches, fans, parents, relatives, etc. to nominate athletes for SISC Trifecta. We will honor four athletes (two male, two female) each month beginning in our January issue. ‘Trifecta’ will be prominently displayed in our centerfold position each month with a picture and bio of each player. Once again, I’m counting on your help. Nominations can be made through our website and should include, the students’ name, grade point average, school activities, picture (head and shoulder shot) and a brief narrative explaining why this student should be chosen. We look forward to hearing from you.

Our cover story this month features Marion’s Aaron Adeoye, a young man that has worked hard to hone his considerable basketball and athletic abilities. The story will give you some insight into the amount of time, travel and expense it has taken for Adeoye to compete at a higher level. You’ll hear Adeoye’s name mentioned many times in Southern Illinois basketball circles during the next few months.

We also have a great story about the success that the Nashville girl’s basketball team has enjoyed during the past

Publisher’s

greeting

6 l December 2010 l

Question:As an ex varsity basketball coach in

Southern Illinois, what do you miss, what don’t you miss and how has basketball changed since you last coached.

Tim Ricci, coached at Murphysboro under Tom Ashman and also coached at West Frankfort High School.

“I miss the relationship of my players and

talking and working with the other coaches. I don’t miss parents of play-ers that think their son or daughter is better than they are and don’t have a good attitude. I think basketball has changed as players don’t play as much on outdoor courts and in gym-nasiums as they used to do.”

Brad Lee, ex-McLeans-boro athlete who played under Curt Reed and David Lee and then coached under Reed after a year as Johnston City Jr. High coach.

Coach Lee moved to Carmi White County as varsity coach, took them to state, and is now the high school principal.

“I miss the practices. I really enjoyed teaching fundamentals,

motivating players to work hard, and attempting to get them to compete out of their comfort zone. I enjoy watching teams that are disciplined, unselfish and well prepared. I don’t miss bus rides, watching film, scout-ing, and being criticized at the local coffee shops!”

‘I don’t feel the game itself has changed, even though you do get some rule changes that may have an influence. All coaches have a certain philosophy they believe in and follow, but your most successful coaches adapt to the talent level of their play-ers, hold them accountable, while continuing to stand steadfast in their beliefs.”

Ron Van Horn, ex Sess-er-Valier varsity coach got his start at St. Anne Jr, High in Kankakee County (home of Jack Sikma and Julie Fru-endt) and then coached at

Benton High School for Rich Herrin.“I miss the close relationship you

build with your student athletes. The sharing of good/bad times along with the intense competition that is associated with rival schools. I miss the friendships that were developed

with the coaches, officials, oppos-ing school administrators, the great student sections at some opposing schools and some of the greatest fans in the world, both hometown and opposing. I don’t miss the sacrifice that is made by a coach and his/her family in the number of hours spent away from home and the numer-ous hours that are spent in building and maintaining a program and the continual problem of funding your program. The knowledge that if you want to have a competitive program you must play 12 months a year and you and your student athletes must sacrifice to meet these expectations “

“The biggest change is not in the abilities of the athletes, nor the time spent, although current athletes face a multitude of competing choices, but in the class system. Although I originally opposed the expansion of the class system, I voted for it after talking to my coaches and knowing I was going to retire. After seeing the excitement in Woodlawn and last year experiencing the Sesser-Valier run to Peoria. I am a firm proponent of the current four class system. Many schools can now see a realistic opportunity of advancing to state tour-naments, a feat that creates a unique and exciting experience for the team, community and its supporters. Watered down, to a degree yes, but the excitement that is generated in a community triumphs that argument.


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Mark your calendar for next year’s Lights Fantastic Parade December 3, 2011!

Event SponsorsCity of CarbondaleCarbondale Convention & Tourism BureauSouthern IllinoisanWSIL-TV3MediaComWithers BroadcastingCarbondale Park District

BenefactorsE. T. Simonds ConstructionWest Bus ServiceCarbondale Main StreetRobco AudioVitamin World, IncGreat Boars of Fire

PatronsJames & Kathleen FralishB and A Travel ServiceSouthern Illinois Sports ConnectionSouthern Illinois UniversityBarrett Twomey, Broom, Hughes & Hoke LLP

Memorial SponsorsSouthern Illinois HealthcareSouthern Gas CompanyIllinois Liquor MartsClifford & Virginia NeillGayle Klam

Banner SponsorsCarbondale Hearing CenterForbes Financial GroupDr. Michael Durr, DMDNeuroRestorative

ContributorsLarry & Marlene DietzClifford L Coleman MDJamestown Management CorpDr. Fredrick Gustave, DDSDr Paul Ploegman, MDVirgil A Beadle, DDSKarl & Sandy BartelsmeyerCommon GroundsMichael Ellis & David Decker

DonorsPat & Barb HewsonLarry’s House of CakesMurdale True ValuePaul & Catherine BennettPepsiMidAmerica

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Ranked third in the national preseason poll with nine top-10 prospects, Rend Lake Col-

lege Wrestling 2010-11 is stacked up to be the program’s best chance in history to bring home a national title.

Coach Kevin Tate said his 34-man roster is probably the best in the country.

“Talent wins, plain and simple,” Tate said. “And we have been blessed with a lot of talented kids. We’ve got 10 kids that have a legitimate shot at being top four in their weight class at nationals. If that happens, we should have a good shot at winning the team title.”

RLC is the only junior college pro-gram in the country this year to sign a top-five national recruit. Isaiah Wil-liams of Haverhill, Mass., at 5-feet 8-inches, was ranked fourth among high school All-Americans across the nation at 171 pounds, according to Amateur Wrestling News. The two-time state champion and national run-ner up in the 174 pound division under coach Brett Legavit at Haverhill High is ranked fifth among 165-pounders on the NJCAA preseason poll.

But the talent doesn’t stop with Wil-liams. RLC’s roster runs deep with ac-complished athletes at every weight class.

125 pounds: Two-time state champ Detoreious “TT” Prayther (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) came in ranked third in the NJCAA; high school All-Americans Efrain Aguilar III (Graham, Washing-ton) and Damon McQueen (Hunting-ton, N.Y.), who was ranked by AWN at ninth in the nation coming out of high school; two-time state qualifier Wal-ter Eiskant (Pinckneyville); two-time state qualifier Kyle Borders (Herrin); Brute National champion Zach Schall (Marthasville, Mo.); and three-time Il-linois placer Antonio Juarez (Joliet).

133: Top preseason pick and NJ-CAA All-American Tyler Holloway (Brookfield, Mo.); three-time Missouri

state champ Jordan Orr (Brookfield, Mo.); and two-time state champ Reyes Cortez (Phoenix). 141: Two-time high school All-American and top-five preseason prospect Wen-dell Cannon (Seaford, Del.); and Hon-orable Mention All-American Lucas Nelson (Worth).

149: Top-five preseason pick Seth Horner (Canten, Ohio); Florida state runner-up Uxsunn Ramirez (Miami); and three-time state champ Garrett Kitchens (Southside, Ala.).

157: Top-12 preseason and two-time state champ Jo-E Smith (Van-dalia); three-time state champ Chris Aguilar (Cleveland, Tenn.); regional champ Derek Horine (Benton); and two-time regional champ Kenneth Os-moe (Mt. Olive). Smith is the only re-turning Warrior from last year’s roster although he red-shirted his freshman season at RLC.

174: Third-place New York states finisher Jonny Glennon (Ithaca, N.Y.).

184: Two-time high school All-American Austin Morehead (Yuba City, Ca.).

197: New York state runner-up Chris Parris (Farmingdale, N.Y.); state qualifier Michael Vega (Chris-topher); William Simpson (Charles-ton, Tenn.); and Drew Horine (Ben-ton). Heavyweight: State champ and high school All-American Terrell Pugh (O’Fallon); and three-time state champ Karl Green (Baltimore, Md.) who was ranked 10th by AWN among the nation’s high school heavyweights entering college this season. Green is ranked third at heavyweight on the NJCAA preseason poll.

“I think it’s going to definitely be our best year so far,” said Tate, who is now in his fifth season coaching wres-tling at RLC. “It’s been progressively better every year. But bringing on Dave Mirikitani has been a big boost for the program. He is a phenomenal recruiter and he is also tireless at what he does.”

Mirikitani is the former coach at St. Louis Com-munity College - Meramec. Now an assistant coach for RLC, he brought with him a big chunk of what is now the RLC roster, and recruited others, after M e r a m e c ’ s wrestling pro-gram was shut down earlier this year.

“I’m giving Dave all the credit for bringing those kids in,” Tate added.

The Warriors kicked off the season with the Lindenwood Open and Loras College Open where Morehead was the silver division 184-pound champ. The Warriors went to the University of Central Missouri Open Nov. 14 in Warrensburg, Mo., and the Nebraska-Omaha Open, Nov. 20, in Omaha. Morehead took third in the amateur division there.

The Art Kraft Memorial Open is coming up Dec. 11 in River Grove; and the Midlands Championships, Dec. 29 in Evanston, will close the 2010 side of the season.

Next year starts off with the Lin-coln Duals, Jan. 15, in Lincoln and continues with the SBC Open, Jan. 29, in Conway, Ark.; a tri-match with Southern Illinois University - Edwards-ville and Truman State, Feb. 3, in Ed-wardsville; and the Grey Hound Open, Feb. 6, in Indianapolis.

The Midwest Regionals are Feb. 12 in River Grove, followed by the NJ-CAA National Championships, Feb. 26, in Spokane, Wash.

For all things athletic at RLC, visit the college online at www.rlc.edu/warriors.

RLC Report

By Nathan Wheeler

Warriors wrestling hopes to pin down 2011 National Championship with talent in bulk

10 l December 2010 l

academics • leadership • athletics

Trifecta

The best of the best – that’s what Southern Illinois Sports Connection is gear-

ing up to highlight with its new monthly feature, “Trifecta.”

Kicking off the New Year SISC in January will introduce Trifecta, which stands for academics, lead-ership and athletics.

“And that’s exactly the or-der of importance for this new feature, first academ-ics, second leadership and last athletics,” said SISC publisher Jim Muir. “We be-lieve this new fea-ture will give us the opportunity to high-light even more ath-letes each month.”

Muir had the brain-storm for Trifecta a cou-ple months ago and put the idea into play with SISC staff.

An avid high school sports fan, Muir does play-by-play for more than 125 games (football, bas-ketball, baseball and softball) on WQRL (106.3 in Benton).

“I kept hearing people talk

about the off-field accomplish-ments of athletes who might best be described as ‘role players,’” he said. “While these athletes are an integral part of their respective team they really shine in academ-ics and in leadership positions in their school.”

Muir de-scribed it as “one of those light bulb

moments.”

“The light definitely flashed on

when I had the idea,” Muir said. “What a great way to highlight stu-dent/athletes for their role in aca-demics and leadership but also for what they contribute in athletics.”

Each month Trifecta will high-light four athletes (two male and two female) in the centerfold sec-tion of SISC. Muir said he is count-ing on athletic directors, coaches,

fans, parents and even extend-ed family members to nominate

students. A committee of SISC staff members will then

make the final determina-tion each month. Nomi-nations can be made at sisportsconnection.com and should include the students’ name, GPA, and a short bio of their

academic and leadership accomplishments.

“We just think it gives us another avenue to high-light the young athletes here in

Southern Illinois,” said Muir. “And here at SISC that is what we are all about.”

Anyone needing more in-formation can contact Muir at 618-525-4744.

SISC introduces a new feature aimed at going beyond the lines


Over the years there have been a number of good sports films with signifi-

cance and insight for those of us who love sport and sportspeople. I hope this list, in no particular order, can be helpful to you as you choose films to watch with young players and others who are trying to understand their ultracompeti-tive family members.

“Chariots of Fire” – This Acad-emy award winning film is my personal favorite sports movie. It contrasts the lives of two sprinters whose lives intersect on the track, but vary widely in terms of identity.

“The Legend of Bagger Vance” – This film tells the tale of a golfer who matches up with some high profile golfers in a much hyped contest. It helps the viewers see what the golfer sees when he is well focused and has good con-centration.

“Bull Durham” – This film shares a view of minor league baseball which varies between crude, lewd, endearing and humor-ous. It does detail some of the sacrifices players and coaches make to stay in the game as long as they can.

“Hoosiers” – There are layers of relationships developed in this film and many are authentic to lives in sport. It displays a number of broken people and how sport sometimes helps them restore their relationships and even their own sense of identity.

“The Natural” – This is a story which portrays a player’s love for the game, his broken relationships with people, baseball, and finally restoration of those relationships.

“Field of Dreams” – If you can cut through the mysticism and post-modern dogma, you’ll find

some solid insights into a player’s mentality in this film. Watch in particular the segments when Joe Jackson is on the field. Listen to his words and watch his move-ments. This looks like someone who loves baseball.

“Eight Men Out” – This is a story of the “Black Sox” gambling scandal and faithfully portrays the pressures which would lead a player to shave points or other-wise cheat the game he loves.

“Remember the Titans” – This movie about two high school football which were merged due to racial integration in the USA. Watch the relationships which are layered throughout, coach-player, player-player, coach-coach, white-black, white-white, black-black, coach-community and even more.

“61*” – The pressures which high profile and elite players feel are highlighted in this film about Roger Maris’ pursuit of Babe Ruth’s single season home run record.

“The Blind Side” – Like most films, this one is not as good as the book, but it has real merit. It gives us a look at how a player’s unique athletic abilities can make a way for him to escape his en-vironment of poverty and crime and learn to achieve and relate to people outside his culture.

“For Love of the Game” – This film is about professional base-ball and the broken relationships so prevalent in that culture. It does a good job of getting inside a pitcher’s head and his ability to focus his mind for high level performance.

“Cinderella Man” – This film about boxing deals with the pres-sures and drives of a competitor. It shows his relationships with his

family, promoters and competi-tors.

“Hoop Dreams” – This film follows two young basketball players from the housing projects in Chicago. It tells a sometimes despairing tale of their lives and their dreams that basketball will be their tickets out of this life.

“Rudy” – This overly sentimen-tal movie about an undersized kid who grew up dreaming of playing football for the University of Notre Dame is inspiring none the less.

“Miracle” – This film tells the story of the formation and the performance of the 1980 USA Ice Hockey Gold Medal team. It’s insightful as to how a coach evalu-ates players and builds a team.

“Breaking Away” – This movie about bicycle racing displays the sacrifices a competitor will make to pursue his dream. The protago-nist deals with misunderstanding, cultural bias and family conflicts on the way to fulfillment of his goals.

“Finding Forrester” – This film about a young, black basketball player who is mentored by an older, reclusive, white writer is fas-cinating. They do a good job with the basketball and provide some good insight into mentoring.

“Invictus” – This film tells the story of how President Nelson Mandela used the influence of Rugby to help unify South Africa across ethnic and cultural barri-ers.

“Seabiscuit” - is a 2003 Ameri-can dramatic film based on the best-selling novel Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillen-

Faith on theField

By Roger Lipe


Grab your copy of Southern Illinois

Sports Connectiontoday

or Visit our website:


brand. The film recounts the life and racing career of Seabiscuit, an undersized and overlooked thorough-bred race horse, whose unexpected successes made him a hugely popular media sensation in the United States near the end of the Great Depression. (Sum-mary courtesy of Wikipedia)

“Bend it like Beckham” - An Indian girl living in England who wants to play soccer and her battle against prejudice. Girls in that culture don’t play sport.

This is certainly not an exhaustive list and my aim here is not to endorse any of these, their value systems or worldviews. Rather, I simply have found these to offer insight into the relationships, values, hearts and minds of coaches and competitors in sport. These films have been helpful to me in ex-plaining to coaches’ and players’ parents and spous-es exactly what is going on in the hearts and minds of the people in sport. A trip to the video store, the Red Box or Netflix may be in order during the holi-days.


Photos by Ceasar Maragni

After a much needed $30 million face-lift SIU Arena in Carbondale is now the gem of basketball facilities in the Mis-

souri Valley Conference and among the finest in the nation.

From last season the facility has gone from the oldest in the conference to the newest. Af-ter a half century of heavy use, the change was well overdue and early indications show that the renovation is a big hit with coaches, players and fans alike.

Facelift SIU Arena's pricey conversion is the final

part of the visionary Saluki Way project which also saw the opening of Saluki Stadium for the Saluki football team earlier this year. Both venues are eliciting rave reviews from Saluki fans. As home for both the men's and wom-en's basketball programs, the new look Arena should serve the athletic needs as well as the occasional concert, trade show and circus for decades to come.

Basketball fans visiting SIU Arena are in for a treat following a $30 million renovation project

After a $30 million spruce up, SIU Arena is now among the finest college basketball ven-ues in the country.


Saluki family Rich and Janie Davis and daughter Megan Whitecotton enjoy the Saluki basketball highlight photos featured throughout the entrance and lobby areas of the new look Arena.

Above: Saluki John Freeman goes up for two points against Indianapolis.Below: Saluki basketball fans can purchase Saluki clothing and other items in the new fan shop locat-ed at the Arena.

One of the gigantic photos that depict

highlights from the Salukis past now

part of the “new” Arena.

Plenty to cheer about at the renovated SIU Arena.


SISC takes on the dubious task of picking the top high basketball players during the past six decades

com).As I mentioned earlier

we will break down the other decades each month with the 1960s in Septem-ber, the 1970s in October, the 1980s in November the 1990s in December and the 2000s in January. Then in February we will list the top players from each de-cade. And as an added bonus in February we will give you the opportunity to vote on those top players from those six decades. That select group will be announced in the March issue of SISC just in time for the ‘Madness’ that will once again sweep through the region.

Finally, we understand that many of these selec-tions are subjective so please feel free to write-in any player that you feel deserves to be on the list. Also, the list of players posted each month will remain up for the duration of the selection process (March 2011).

So, with that said … let the voting continue for the top players from the 1990s.

By Jim Muir

The task of picking the top high school basketball players during the past

60 years moves into the home stretch as we highlight play-ers from the 1990s – a great decade of basketball here in Southern Illinois.

As an example of how SISC Elite 60 has caught the atten-tion of our readers we had more than 30,000 ‘unique’ votes on our website for the 1980s alone. In all more than 50,000 votes have been cast – and we still have two months remaining.

In case you’re coming in on the tail-end of this let’s bring you up to speed. The question we’re asking is this: Who’s the greatest high school basket-ball player from Southern Illi-nois to ever lace up a pair of sneakers? We encourage you to jump in and join the fun and we’ve found out in just a few short weeks that folks are pas-sionate about this topic and that only adds to the enthusiasm.

For those of you who are just joining us on this quest and to answer some of the most com-monly asked questions, here’s how things work. First, we had to decide what geographic area our player selection would encompass and quickly decid-ed to basically use the same

coverage area where SISC is distributed. Perhaps the easi-est way to describe this would to draw a line from Carmi to Okawville and then include ev-erything south.

Next, we determined that we would include the years 1950 through 2010 and break our selections down by decade (1950-59, 1960-69 etc). Another stipulation is that this has noth-ing to do with collegiate career, professional career or coaching career and is based only on the success each player had in high school.

As we pored over names we quickly realized that selecting a 10-man team from each decade would be a nearly impossible task for the four of us and decid-ed to give SISC readers a vote on the greatest players.

So, here’s how our “SISC Elite 60 Basketball Standouts” will work.

Beginning in August we will list 50-plus players from the 1950s and you (our faithful and loyal readers) will be allowed to vote on 10 players. You can vote as often as you like. Voting can be handled in three ways that include mailing in the ballot that will be in each magazine, emailing your selections to [email protected] or on-line at our ‘new and im-proved’ (and regularly updated) website (sisportsconnection.


JoJo Johnson – Benton

Kent Williams – Mt. Vernon

TJ Wheeler – Christopher

Reed Jackson – NCOE

Tyrone Nesby – Cairo

Dan Cross – Carbondale

Shane Hawkins – Pinckneyville

Troy Hudson – Carbondale

Jamar Sanders – Mt. Vernon

John Pruett – Massac County

Abel Schrader – Okawville

Jared Payne – Webber Township

Terrance Avery – West Frankfort

Scott Burzynski – Sesser-Valier

Dale Overstreet – Harrisburg

Lance Brown – West Frankfort

Brian Piasecki – Nashville

John Copple – Woodlawn

Ron Wettig – Trico

Kerwin Lowe – Cairo

Kyle Gwaltney – Fairfield

Ryan Luechtefeld – Okawville

Joe Evans – Century

Brian Foster – Fairfield

Brad Steig – Nashville

Ryan Norris – Waltonville

Clay Gray – NCOE

Matt Barnes – Steeleville

Seth Smith – Carbondale

Justin Via – Marion

Ricky Garrett – Centralia

Bernard Rogers – Murphysboro

Jeremy Wright – Murphysboro

Ty Moss – Centralia

Jon Kraus – Okawville

Bernard Patton – Mt. Vernon

Luke Sharp – Centralia

Tim Holloway – Mt. Vernon

Hector Barnes - Centralia

Billy Harris – Carbondale

1990’s SISC Elite 60

Name ____________________________

Address __________________________

Town ____________________________

Phone No. ________________________

Cell No. __________________________

Email: ____________________________

Or You can also vote online at

sisportsconnection.comor email:

[email protected]

Cast your vote today!Mark your favorite tenplayers on this page, clip it and mail the page to:SISCPO Box 174Sesser, IL 62884

Roger Tillit – Murphysboro

Derek Mapes – Sesser-Valier

Marcus Pruett - Egyptian

Joe Cross – Carbondale

Scott Gamber – Mt. Vernon

Todd Tripp – Goreville

Mark Shasteen – Carterville

Dustin Turner – Pope County

Derek Hood – Woodlawn

Brad Fisher – Nashville

Ryan Cleland – Pinckneyville

Labon Cross – Hamilton County

Tony James – Chester

Shane Hampton – Herrin

Quint Hamilton – Marion

Malcom Smith – Carlyle

Travis Scheriger – Centralia

Rashard Tucker – Carbondale

Ryan Mitchell – Hardin County

Jason Goforth – Nashville

Jeremy Hatchett – Thompsonville

Benji Johnson – Hamilton County

Jeremy Payne – Webber Township

Josh Franklin – Goreville

Jason Ohlau - Chester

Kelly Cruiser – Nashville

Reuben Statam – Century

Jason Karnes – Du Quoin

Brian Laur – Sesser-Valier

Lance Brown – West Frankfort

Malcom Smith - Carbondale


The sand in the glass is rap-idly running out on yet an-other sports year but before

we turn the glass over let’s talk about a few things and get ready for what could be another tumultu-ous year in sports.

What will be the outcome of the Albert Pujols sweep-stakes? Will there be any

sweepstakes at all? Most readily agree that the Cards should sign Pujols no matter what the cost. Cards’ GM John Mozeliak has indicated December “may be a critical time” and he doesn’t want the Pujols talks to drag out all winter long. The Red-

birds have exercised the sluggers’ $16-million option

for 2011, the last year of his original eight year

$111-million deal he signed in February

2004. Pujols has been with the club

long enough so that the lever-age is his. He

can not be traded with-out his con-sent and the

Cardinals could not trade him

before the July 2011 t r a d i n g d e a d l i n e without his permission.

Pujols says he wants a deal done before Spring Training which hints that once the season starts there will be no more talks until after the sea-son. That means a free agency bidding war could ensue. Making the wa-ters muddier, the gargantuan five-year $125 million deal Ryan Howard of the Phillies just received. That deal gives Howard $25 million per season and Cardinal fans would scream Pujols should be paid more. Don’t expect anything to happen on this issue anytime soon.

Watching the start of the high school basketball season, the thought hit me, where will the next group of basketball officials come from? Watching seasoned pros like Bob Conte, Mike Austin, Rick Runge, Dana Pearson, Larry Barnett, and John Sallee, you wonder when these guys hang up the whistle, where will the next group come from? I just don’t see many young men getting into the profession. I can’t blame them because with on-line chat rooms and e-mail, it’s even a tougher job than it once was. Fans don’t seem to be getting more tolerable either.

The sports fans of Southern Illinois are getting used to watching their sports in new shiny places. Fans of the Southern Illinois Miners have been spoiled from the outset with Rent One Park. SIU football fans were wowed this season in new Saluki Stadium. I am getting used to that name; al-though we were told the stadium could be renamed when a corporate sponsor steps up with a big wad of cash. I guess so far the asking price is too steep. The renovated SIU Arena has now been unveiled and makes you feel like you are inside an arena in St. Louis or Chicago. Can you imagine what a high school kid will think when he trots out on the floor after Christmas for the Carbondale Holiday Tournament?

Enjoy the month of December and keep sending those positive vibes toward St. Louis, I don’t expect to find Pujols gift-wrapped under the tree but you never know.

Let’s meet here again next month.

Murf ’s End of Year Musings

Murf’s

Turf By Mike Murphy


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join us for breakfast

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Sesser-Valier’s improbable run in the state tournament last year can’t help but bring

to mind “Hoosiers” – the movie that chronicled a small school winning the Indiana state championship.

In fact, the S-V team watched the movie on the four-hour bus ride to Peoria. But what that movie didn’t reveal was what happened to Milan (Hickory in the movie) after winning the state championship in 1954.

After losing its top seven players from its championship run, Milan re-loaded and won its regional the next year. They then won the regional again in 1956.

Could a young, inexperienced Red Devils’ squad somehow find magic in a bottle once again and like Milan, make another run deep into the play-offs this year?

For that magic to be rekindled, the similarities with Milan will have to continue. Like Milan, Sesser-Valier graduated its top seven players from last year’s roster. The Red Devils will have to somehow find a way to replace them. That’s a tall order for a small school in a small community of 2,000. But after last year, basket-ball may never be the same in Sesser, and the improbable may from now on seem possible.

“We lost our seven top kids,” Sess-er-Valier coach Chip Basso said. “That’s the question I’ve been getting a lot lately, how do you replace those types of kids and of course the answer is – you don’t. But I think we’ve got a pretty good, strong program, and I think the next group’s ready to step up and see what they can do now. The main thing is those kids saw what the blueprint is to do something like that.”

The example has been set at Sess-er, and belief is at an all-time high. The Red Devils have to take the court

with five new starters this year, but the replacements are not intimidated.

They know they went toe-to-toe ev-ery day in practice last year with the starters from the second best team in Class 1A basketball for the state of Il-linois.

“The kids we’ve got this year were the kids practicing against that group,” Basso said. “A lot of those days they held their own, and they know that.”

Bobby Plump was the star player on Milan’s championship team. In the movie he was portrayed as Jimmy Chitwood, the eagle-eyed sharp-shooter from the perimeter. When asked what advice he would give to a new group of players stepping in af-ter a state championship run, he said, “Pay attention to the coach, and keep things on an even keel. You can’t get too high because you won last year or won a game.

“You can’t get too low because you lose. Everybody’s going to win and lose some. That’s the way life is.”

What made last year’s run seem even more improbable was it was Basso’s inaugural season as a bas-ketball head coach. Most coaches just try to survive their first year of coaching. Basso did more than sur-vive and that should make this new crop of players heed Plump’s advice and pay attention to their coach.

“Especially with a new coach com-ing in, kids have to believe in what you’re doing,” Basso said. “They have to believe in the program and what’s going on, and I think a lot of times coaches come in and if they don’t win right away it’s hard to get that trust level there. I think our kids believe in what we do, and I think that makes it a little easier.”

Not only has Basso built trust, but last year’s run has also built tradi-tion. For the first time, a state finals

banner will be hoisted in the Sesser-Valier gymnasium. That memorial of excellence will speak louder than any motivational speech or coaching rant. Sure, Sesser-Valier will lack size. Sure, the Red Devils will lack experi-ence. Sure, they will lack Justin Matyi and his 19.6 points a game.

But sports are not always decided by who is the strongest or who is the fastest or even who is the most athlet-ic. Sports are many times determined by intangibles, things you can’t find in a scorebook.

Even though the Red Devils don’t return a single starter from last year’s squad, the experience of seeing all the hard work in practice come to-gether and pay off on a big stage like Peoria should help Sesser-Valier’s new crop of young players grow into players who know what it takes to win.

“I don’t think you can really quantify what that does for your kids in your program to be able to go to Peoria, to play in that environment,” Basso said. “Us walking out of that tunnel into the arena, that’s not something kids get to do very often, and they’ve got that confidence. They’ve got that experi-ence.

“You can schedule big games and play big games throughout the sea-son. But those are some of the intan-gible things that are sometimes hard to get unless you’ve been down that road before.”

Deep in the heart of Indiana, there remains a small gym that still today carries the ghosts of a magical sea-son that turned some ordinary kids in Milan into legendary heroes. Sesser-Valier now has its own set of heroes that will forever haunt the Red Devils’ gymnasium.

What remains to be seen is if their example will help create even more.

HOT CornerTh

e

“The kids we’ve got this year were the kids practicing against that group. A lot of those days they held their own, and they know that.” - Chip Basso, SV basketball coach --

by Chris Hottensen


By Joe Szynkowski

Aaron Adeoye’s teammates like to remind him where he belongs. The 6-foot-7 standout forward for Marion’s Wildcats has traveled the country and

world in pursuit of becoming one of the most polished high school basketball players in the Midwest. His Amateur Athletic Union team (St. Louis Eagles) played games on ESPN over the summer and he is receiving plenty of attention from colleges that would love to see him in their uniforms.

“I had never seen him play for the Eagles but I recorded one of those ESPN games on DVR and watched it one night,” said Marion senior guard Blake Gibbons. “Not that I was doubting him at all, but I was kind of shocked to see how well he played against those guys. He really impressed me.”

Fellow senior guard Troy Stuckey was impressed, too. But not by Adeoye. “I saw him get dunked on,” Stuckey said with a smirk. The look on his face admitted that this

wasn’t he first time he was bringing up the dunk in front of Adeoye.That’s what friends are for, right?“I was shocked by how many people saw that,” Adeoye said. “As soon as the game was

over everybody was texting me saying, ‘“I saw you got dunked on.”’ Good-natured ribbing aside, Adeoye’s teammates appreciate the special skills he brings to

the basketball floor. Senior Jeff Clark calls Adeoye “The Big Man on Campus.” Stuckey and Gibbons use words like “intense,” “athletic” and “powerful” when describing their classmate.

“He’s played on levels that some people think are higher than high school,” Gibbons said. “He’s not cocky at all. He comes back and plays with the team like he’s never left.”

taking it

up a notch

Marion’s Aaron Adeoye returns for his senior season and the goal of becoming a dominant force in the always-tough South Seven Conference


Adeoye averaged 13 points and 10 rebounds as a junior last season, doubling what he recorded as a soph-omore. He spent this summer with

the Eagles working on improving his rebounding, defense and presence in the paint.

Look out, South Seven. “I’ve really seen him turn it up a

notch,” said Marion assistant coach Darrell Wimberly, who specializes in handling the Wildcats’ post players. “He’s a really hard worker and he’s been around a lot of guys who have had success. He can really do some things on the court.”

Wimberly has the pleasure of guarding Adeoye in practice when the Wildcats have an upcoming matchup with a big, physical opponent. No small man himself, Wimberly does all he can to keep up with the combina-tion of speed and power that Adeoye uses to punish opponents.

“I tell him I don’t mind if he dunks on me,” Wimberly joked. “I just tell him to make sure he dunks on the compe-

tition, too.” Adeoye’s success

under the basket will be a deciding factor in Marion’s efforts to turn around last sea-son’s 1-9 conference record. The Wildcats hovered around .500 all season, lost to Centralia in the re-gional championship game and finished 14-16 overall. The season was strained before it even started when senior Nick Lewis suffered ACL and MCL injuries during the football season. Lewis was All-South Seven as a junior, Marion’s first first-team all-confer-ence player in nearly two decades.

Now, Adeoye and Stuckey are the only returning starters af-ter the Wildcats lost four seniors to grad-uation. Gibbons and Clark garnered a lot of valuable playing last season and join

6-foot-8 junior Jared Ellis and speedy sophomore Eddie Webb as a strong supporting cast.

“We’ve got more quickness that what we’ve had for a while,” said Marion head coach Aaron Mattox. “We’ve got some big guys inside that if we keep them out of foul trouble we can make it hard on people to match up with us size-wise. And I think our quickness on the perimeter, especial-ly with some of our seniors, can really help us out.”

One thing Marion fans can count on seeing this season is athleticism. Gibbons is an all-conference soccer player and ran four miles a day during the offseason to stay in shape for bas-ketball. Clark is a solid 6-foot-1 guard who provides defensive tenacity and hopes to play college basketball. Stuckey and Adeoye were instrumen-tal in the success of the Wildcats’ foot-ball program, which lost in the second round of the Class 5A IHSA playoffs.

“Adeoye was big for us on the de-fensive line but he actually played some linebacker for us, also,” said Wimberly, who coaches Marion’s linebackers. “Due to injuries we were short a backer or two sometimes and we’d put him at outside backer. Most of the time we would just let him loose on the quarterback but sometimes we’d put him into coverage. That’s just the kind of athlete he is.”

Because of the football team’s postseason play, players like Adeoye and Stuckey had exactly one day to rest before basketball practice got un-der way.

“We’ve got to work hard to get back into basketball shape,” Stuckey said. “We’ve got to get our legs back after football season.”

Mattox doesn’t treat Marion’s multi-sport athletes any differently than the players who concentrate solely on hoops.

“They come in and have to be ready to compete,” Mattox said. “Guys that are competing in other programs ben-efit all of our programs. We share ath-letes and I think we’ve got coaching staffs across the board that are all for that. It’s not like that everywhere and it’s not always been that way here.”

Gibbons said the hard work will pay

“He’s (Adeoye) worked very hard and has a ton of upside. If he contin-ues to work on things the right way and carries that through practice, there’s no doubt his best basket-ball is ahead of him. He’s got some physical gifts with his size and athleti-cism that can really trans-fer over to the next level.”

– Marion Coach Aaron Mattox


off, especially when it comes to turn-ing around last season’s disappoint-ing record and ending his Marion ca-reer with a bang.

“I don’t think it will be that hard to end on a good note,” Gibbons said. “This is the best team I’ve been part of at Marion.”

“We feel like we went through some growing pains,” Mattox said. “We hadn’t matured as a basketball team and as individuals off the court. Hopefully that’s one of our strengths this year. We had some kids who didn’t really have a lot of experience at the varsity level who got to come in and play.”

One of those players was Adeoye, who filled in admirably for Lewis. He finished second-team all South Seven and was a member of the All-Pyramid Tournament team. Adeoye, who says he was “offensively challenged” his sophomore year, was pleased with his progression last season. So was Mattox.

“He’s worked very hard and has a ton of upside,” Mattox said. “If he continues to work on things the right way and carries that through practice, there’s no doubt his best basketball is ahead of him. He’s got some physical gifts with his size and athleticism that can really transfer over to the next level.”

Adeoye is focused on doing ev-erything he can to prepare himself for college basketball. Two summers ago, he traveled to places like Rome and Milan as part of a highly competi-tive European League. He stayed in the Unites States this summer, play-ing more than 50 games with the 17-U Eagles.

“I played with and against a lot of high D-I talent in AAU,” Adeoye said. “With them being so good, that made me a better player. And hopefully I can carry that intensity back here to help the team.”

His coaches noticed a different player when practices started.

“I think he’s going to be a more ag-gressive rebounder than we saw last year,” Wimberly said. “I really think AAU helped him become more savvy on the court and understand that his size is such an advantage. He moves

forget about that dunk anytime soon.

Joe Szynkowski is a freelance writer for SISC. He can be reached at [email protected].

well without the ball and I think he knows that this year, for us to win, he’s going to have to control the paint for us.”

Adeoye learned a lot of lessons while playing AAU ball: Like how to laugh off text-message taunting. But maybe one of the most important was how to play under pressure. He competed in front of Division-I super-coaches like Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams and Il-linois’ Bruce Weber.

“It was really fun with all of the lights and cameras, knowing that everybody’s watching what you do,” Adeoye said. “And then you look over and see some of the top coaches in the country in the front row … that’s kind of scary. You know you’re playing for your future.”

“He got the opportunity to play on ESPN and that’s great exposure for him,” Mattox said. “It’s also good for our basketball program to have one of our players involved in that. It’s really been a win-win situation.”

Ask anyone about Adeoye and they will talk about his strong character and positive personality. Marion’s players say it’s contagious. Wim-berly says it all starts at home.

“He’s got good parents who are very supportive,” Wim-berly said. “He’s a very mature young man and that’s what it boils down to. He’s really starting to un-derstand the game and find himself as a basketball player. And he doesn’t feel like he’s ever above the team.”

Not that Stuckey would ever allow that happen. He doesn’t plan on letting “The Big Man on Campus”

“He’s got good parents who are very supportive. He’s a very mature young man and that’s what it boils down to. He’s really starting to understand the game and find himself as a basketball player. And he doesn’t feel like he’s ever above the team.”

– Darrell Wimberly, Marion assistant coach –


Photos by Ceasar Maragni Story by Jason ClaySIUSalukis.com

More than 1,500 mourners filled Southern Illinois’ Abe Martin Field November 22

to celebrate the life of late Southern Illinois University baseball coach Dan Callahan.

Callahan, 52, died surrounded by family at his home on Monday, Nov. 15, after his courageous battle with a rare form of skin cancer.

A 45 minute celebration of the coach’s life brought back so many of his close friends, former colleagues and players of past and present.

Former Saluki football coach and current Northern Illinois coach Jerry Kill, SIU president Glenn Poshard, childhood friend Mark Erickson, Saluki and Illinois baseball coaching legend Richard “Itchy” Jones and SIU Hall of Fame Broadcaster Mike Reis all reflected to the audience

Dan


Dan

Family, friends and colleagues turn out to pay tribute to SIU baseball coach Dan Callahan about how truly great Callahan was as a man.

The humble “Coach Cal,” as he was known, might not have wanted such a large event in his honor, but to see so many dear friends and loved ones all come together would have brought so much joy to the Saluki baseball coach of 16 years.

“I am proud to say Dan Cal-lahan was my best friend,” said Erickson, who was the best man at

Dan’s wedding to his wife, Stacy. “The amazing thing about Dan is that there are probably another 20 guys here today that would consider him their best friend.”

The lines were painted, the bases were down and Cal’s No. 37 was imprinted behind home plate at Abe Martin Field. That is the epicenter where so much of his life’s work took place, and that doesn’t even include the games he coached. It was where

he touched the lives of hun-dreds upon hundreds of people.

“This was his of-fice,” Jones said. “This was his home away from home.

This is where he had the opportunity to do what he did best, and that is teach young men

how to live and how to play baseball.”When Jerry Kill became SIU head

football coach in 2001, Kill said that the first person to come see him was Callahan.

“Dan said, `coach, I’m glad your here, and I’ll always have you back.’ That’s what he said, and he always had my back,” said Kill.

Kill continued to talk about how special Callahan was for how he ap-preciated what everybody did for him, and the love he had for his family. He also spoke about Cal’s love for the game - a love that never faded, even when he drew ill.

“He is the toughest individual that I have ever met in my entire life,” Kill said. “He is the finest individual that I have ever met in my life because the guy was incredible.”

Kill closed his speech saying “that guy has sweat and bled on this field for a lot of years.” He guaranteed that Cal was listening and asked the audience to give the man a standing ovation that he truly deserves, which the crowd responded with a heartfelt moment.

Reis talked about the sense of humor that Callahan had.

“Cal stories. We all have them,

Many former players were among those lined up beside Abe Martin Field to pay their respects to Coach Callahan.

Roger Lipe, Jerry Kill and Itchy Jones were among the speakers at the cer-emony.


we’ve all told them,” Reis said. “Whether you knew Cal for 52 years, or if you knew Cal for 52 minutes, you probably have a story.”

Reis went on to tell a funny account of a Saluki Athlet-ics staff meeting in the spring of 2010, when Di-rector of Athlet-ics Mario Moccia asked all Saluki head coaches to introduce themselves to SIU’s new Chancel-lor, Dr. Rita Cheng.

“Cal gets up and says,

`I’m Dan Cal-lahan, the baseball coach.

We beat Eastern Illinois yesterday, 9-8. We’ve won two in a row. We think we deserve a

raise.”l thanks to (SIU associate head coach) Ken Henderson, for his undying loyalty, hard work and never ending support of Dan.”

“Thank you for giving us Dan for all these years to be our coach and our mentor at this university.” SIU president Glenn Poshard thanking the Callahan family

“His passion for doing what he loved and his determination to do his job will be his legacy. He was a man of true courage and character.” - Mark Erickson

“Dan was the finest human being I’ve ever known. He was a humble man...a great head coach that commanded respect, but at the same time he would crack you up with a one-liner. I have never met a guy who liked to laugh and have fun more than Dan Callahan.” - Mark Erickson

“College baseball mourns one of the finest coaches, a great gentleman and a great teacher of the game.” - Richard “Itchy” Jones

“I really, really appreciate, and I know the family does, the (SIU) administration, and I appreciate the people in Southern Illinois because you all let Danny do what he loved to do. That guy loved baseball and for you giving him the opportunity to coach this great game, you helped a lot of peoples lives and those young people that he can inspire.” - Jerry Kill

“I will tell you, Dan Callahan is coach Kill’s hero. As my life goes on, I want to be like Dan Callahan. I want to be as good of a parent, as good a coach, as good a teacher and I want to be as good to people as he was. They don’t come around like him.” -Jerry Kill

“Cal wanted all of Southern’s team to succeed. But he had a tremendous ability to be there for the people involved when they didn’t succeed.” - Mike Reis

The stands were full at SIU’s Abe Martin Field in Carbondale Monday where nearly two-thousand people turned out for A Celebration of Life for Saluki Baseball Coach Dan Callahan who died of cancer at age 52.

Saluki Hall of Fame

broadcaster Mike Reis

served as emcee at

the memorial service.


The quarterback receives the snap, back-peddles and deliv-ers a perfect strike down the

middle of the field. The receiver goes up for the pass but is interfered with by the defensive back. Incomplete pass.

No flags fly out of the pocket of the officials, but some swear words sure do out of the mouths of two fans behind me.

About an hour later, the players have moved on. The game is close and their focus is on securing a vic-tory. But those fans behind me have yet to let it go. The referees are get-ting an earful. And let’s just say it’s a nasty earful.

But because of the respect they possess for the game they offici-ate, these men in stripes keep their backs turned on their mockers. I can tell without asking that they would love nothing more than to blow their whistle, sprint off the field and jump the fence that separates them from these foul-mouthed fools. Teach them a little of that aforementioned respect.

No, I’m not in the stands of a Na-tional Football League stadium. I’m walking the sidelines of a high school football game - taking statistics and trying to follow the action. But that’s kind of hard to do while listening to fathers, and yes, sometimes moth-ers, screaming things that are usually reserved for the set of Jerry Springer.

This is no place for swearing. It is a place for good sportsmanship and competition. Oh yeah, and don’t forget about fun.

If you’re a 16-year-old boy or girl trying to play the game you love,

By Joe Szynkowski

what’s fun about hearing someone in the crowd use your name in an obscenity-laced tirade? These are high school kids. You’re an adult.

And don’t try to justify your potty mouth if you happen to be directing your hate toward a coach or official. Kids are still listening. And they’re learning from you.

I’ve covered hundreds of sport-ing events in Southern Illinois and have developed great respect for the athletes and, for the most part, the parents and mentors who help mold these boys and girls into men and women. Fans generally behave themselves.

But it really is inevitable. A gym packed full of basketball-hungry fans on a Friday night will eventually be become the venue for a few folks to let off some steam. And I’m not talking about the players. Maybe it’s the mob mentality overtaking their senses. One fan sees another acting outrageously and decides to join in.

But if you’re a parent, when does it start? I know it hasn’t started for me yet, but my daughter isn’t even two years old, yet. I’ve started working on tossing her a football every once in a while. Sometimes she catches it, sometimes she doesn’t. One time she dropped it in front of some people at the local park we like to play. All of a sudden, a few people jumped up from their picnic table and started calling her “Butterfinger Baby.” There were chants of “Catch It Crybaby!” Then a few more. Then even more. Eventually, my daughter began bawling, laid down in the fetal position and vowed to never play another sport again.

Alright, that never actually hap-pened.

But that’s the kind of behavior that Southern Illinois’ athletes, coaches and officials have had to deal with during their careers. Chants of “But-terfinger Baby” are docile compared to some of the things I’ve heard slip on the sidelines. And yet, our ath-letes carry on because they love the game too much to let a few immature imbeciles spoil their sports.

And you know what? If the kids can handle it, maybe I should try to tolerate it, too. All of the jeering and name-calling might not be so bad after all. Maybe I’m being a little hard on these people. Sports are emo-tional endeavors played and viewed by emotional people. And emotion is what makes football, basketball, baseball and the rest of my favorite sports so entertaining.

So maybe I should actually be thanking all of those adults who choose to act like infants at sport-ing events. It’s important for young parents like myself to witness such moments and learn from them. We’ll call it an educational experience.

So I send a sincere thank you to the guy who just called a high school kid an expletive. Thank you for being who you are. Your mastery of those four or five words you keep repeat-ing truly is inspiring. So much so that I hope I never become you. And so does my daughter.


Safe atHomeHow young is too young to start embarrassing your kids?


JALCJournal

By Teri Campbell

The John A. Logan College men’s and women’s bas-ketball teams are in the

middle of their nonconference schedules. The Volunteers are the reigning conference champs and have two players back from last year’s squad that won 24 games.

“The season is a process, and it’s still early, especially since all but two of our players are new this year,” said Mark Imhoff, head coach of the Volunteers. “Our slate of games prior to Christmas is de-signed to give the players some experience and have them face obstacles that will prepare them for league play down the road.”

The two returning players are 6-feet-6-inch guard Nathan But-ler and 6-feet-2-inch guard Josh Anderson. In addition to But-ler and Anderson, the Vols have three sophomore transfers on the team. They are Connell Cross-land, a 6-feet-7-inch forward from Highland College, Stan Simpson, a 6-feet-10-inch center from the University of Illinois, and Harris-

burg native Matt Smithpeters, a 5-feet-10-inch guard who played at Southeastern Illinois College last year.

“We’re expecting substan-tial contributions from our sophomores because they’ve played a year at the college level and have been through the grind before,” Imhoff said. “But we expect our freshmen to help us, too. Anthony Shoe-maker (6-feet-6-inch forward)

and Alex Brown (6-feet-10-inch center from Herrin) have both shown signs of being able to contribute at a high level. We have a lot of room to grow, and the most important thing is that we keep working hard and making progress as season goes along.”

On the women’s side, Lady Vols head coach Marty Hawkins character-izes his team as a work in progress.

“We have three players back that played here last year,” Hawkins said. “Cheshi Poston (6-feet-2-inch cen-ter) was a starter most of last season while Sasha Warmington (6-foot for-ward) and Haley Hewitt (5-feet-2-inch guard) both played reserve roles. The only other player on the team who has played college bas-ketball is Kyra Watson (5-feet-8-inch guard) who played two years ago at Cloud County College in Kansas. The rest of the squad are newcomers, and these early games are important to give them much-needed experience.”

Of the nine new faces on

the squad, five hail from southern Il-linois. Austyn Ridings, a 5-feet-9-inch guard, who was the 2010 Southern Il-linoisan Player of the Year, Ka’Daizha Benjamin, a 5-feet-9-inch forward, and Diamond Timmons, a 4-feet-10-inch guard, all played at Herrin High School. Moriah Kirkpatrick, a 5-feet-8-inch guard, is from Mt. Vernon, and Brittany Wood, a 5-feet-5-inch guard, prepped at Pope County High School. Guards Shakera Bennett (5-feet-6-inch), Je`Mishia Cottrell (5-feet-6-inch), and Olivia Russell (5-feet-5-inch) along with 6-feet-2-inch center Sydney Streater round out the roster.

Hawkins says he sees potential on his young team.

“We’ve been a very good rebound-ing team so far this season and our scoring has been pretty balanced with several players contributing offensive-ly. I think the keys for us will be to cut down on our turnovers, stay healthy, and keep working to get better.”

For more information on Logan’s basketball teams, visit the John A. Logan College athletics Web site at: www.jalc.edu/athletics.

Logan Basketball Teams Gaining Experience


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From where I SIT

By Tom Wheeler

Most people look forward to the end of October for Hal-loween however I enjoy

this time because of the Mt. Vernon’s Teachers Conference. A long time ago Rod Stover got me involved with a coach’s panel and many years later it is now a challenge that I look forward to each fall. This year may have been one of my best, let me explain.

On Thursday the Orlando Preda-tors Nick Hill of the Arena Football League went one-on-one with me. Nick is the Du Quoin athlete who by-passed college basketball to become a great quarterback for Jerry Kill at SIU. Nick explained to the coaches some different rules in his AFL league and I brought up how Nick threw nine touchdown passes in the playoff loss to Tampa Bay.”

I threw Nick an invisible basketball and said shoot a free throw (he shot left handed) then I said, throw coach Mings (Dan , Mt. Vernon) a touch-down pass, Nick threw it left handed. It was surprising how many coaches in the audience did not realize Nick had this skill. Nick said the two hard-est things he had to do as a young athlete was to tell Western Kentucky that he was transferring to SIU and it was just as tough to tell the basket-ball coaches at SIU that he was going to concentrate on football (after prac-ticing both sports for a year as a red shirt). Nick did grin when he spoke of his fiancée Alicia Johnson a SIU vol-leyball player.

Nick then joined Herrin coach Dwayne Summers and Carterville coach Kevin Helfrich who spoke of being assistants in great programs. Coach Summers told a great story of his playing days at SIU. Dwayne said “after my last game at SIU head coach Bob Smith came up to me and said,

‘you have had a nice career JOHN.’ I was a three-year starter at nose guard and he didn’t even know my name”

Nick then told a story on his high school coach Al Martin, Nick said “Af-ter a loss one night and I was inter-viewed by the local TV station and I told them what my high school coach always taught us. Coach Martin was a rabbit hunter and he would always say, “when you miss a couple shots you just have to reload and put an-other shell in” and it’s the same with football, you just have to reload.”

On Friday Deon Thomas, head basketball coach and athletic direc-tor of Lewis and Clark College of Godfrey, Ill went one-on-one with me. Coach Thomas, the all time leading scorer at the University of Illinois told of pro basketball career in Spain and Israel after turning down a chance to play in the NBA with the Dallas Mav-ericks. Asked about going to Illinois Deon said he was leaning to Arizona but his grandmother said it was to far from home (Chicago). Coach Thomas also said “when the assistant from Iowa came to visit, my grandmother didn’t like him, said he had “snake eyes, there is evil in his eyes” she told me.”

Deon was joined in the next hour by Illini teammates Tommy Michael and TJ Wheeler and the stories be-gan. I set and was amazed at how an Illinois Player of the Year (Deon) from the south side of Chicago ended up as

basketball captains and best friends with a player from Hoffman (Tommy) and another from Buckner (TJ).

The tales of their teammates flew. Like TJ telling how he flat ran over Coach Henson at the half line one day at practice, or how they followed Coach Henson after an Indiana game when Lou chased Coach Bob Knight calling him “a big bully.” They didn’t repeat what Knight called Henson. They recalled how Rennie Clemons came in one half-time and told Andy Kaufman “to pass the ball” all three said they got out of the charging bull’s (Andy) way.

When asked who was the tough-est player to guard Deon answered “Michigan State’s Mike Peplowski (6-feet-11-inches and 275 pounds), he was so big and strong you couldn’t get around him.” TJ who guarded more than his share, went with Indi-ana’s Calbert Chaney, TJ said “ be-fore you got to the half line they had set five picks for him and then after he got over the half line another five was set , the last being a guy in a wheelchair on the front row.” Tommy had no comment.

A couple great days for my regular attendees, in fact it’s going to be hard to top in 2011, but I’ve already started on it.

After a loss one night and I was interviewed by the local TV station and I told them what my high school coach always taught us. Coach Martin was a rabbit hunter and he would always say, “when you miss a couple shots you just have to reload and put another shell in” and it’s the same with football, you just have to reload.

-- Nick Hill, Orlando Predators quarterback and former Du Quoin and SIU standout --


By Joe Szynkowski

Scoring points against Nashville’s girl’s basketball team isn’t easy. Neither is rebounding. Oh, and you can forget about easy transition baskets.

Come to think of it, the Hornettes don’t concede much on the court. They have the perimeter speed to keep up with run-and-gun teams and the frontcourt power to wear down teams that like to score down low. Defense is power in Nashville.

“Coach just always preaches defense and playing hard every possession,” said returning senior starter Jenna Mor-ris. “That’s what he’s all about. We know if we do the best we can that we will have a good season.”

“Coach” is Wayne Harre, now in his 11th season leading the Hornettes. His teams have finished third in the Class 2A state tournament the last two seasons. With a deep bench and four starters back from last year’s 28-7 squad, Harre

sees no reason why Nashville can’t match its recent suc-cess and maybe even break through for a state champion-ship.

“This is a group of girls that has already accomplished a lot,” Harre said. “But I don’t think they’re satisfied with go-ing to state twice. They want to do it again. They know they have a hard road ahead but they also know they can be a pretty good team if they work hard.”

Morris runs the show offensively for the Hornettes. The 5-8 point guard took over the starting job her sophomore year when Renna Ruggles went down with an ACL injury. Also a standout golfer and softball player, Morris scored a team-high 13 points to seal a victory in last year’s third-place state tournament game.

“Jenna was really thrust into a role that we didn’t foresee putting her,” Harre said. “Injuries just kind of ate us up and

Nashville coach has plowed his way to success By Joe Szynkowski

Basketball and beans. Not exactly the most co-hesive of combinations, right? Well, Wayne Harre thinks so. And he’s got the resume to prove it.

In the midst of his 11th season leading Nashville’s girl’s hoops team to un-paralleled success on the court, Harre is not your typical teacher by day and coach by night. He spends his mornings and after-noons in the fields helping sustain his family farm with

his father and nephew. It has taken some

time, but Harre has found the balance between farmer and coach.

“When I started going to college and playing basketball at Kaskaskia and SIU, I really didn’t know if I was going to go

back on the farm or not,” Harre said. “It’s turned out fine. I kind of thought I was going to be a teacher, I got my teach-ing degree at SIU and thought I’d maybe coach a little bit, but I ended up sticking around and helping my dad.”

Coaches who are teachers at their schools have the luxury of the short stroll from the classroom to the court when the school day ends. Harre must drop what he’s do-ing on the farm – which produces beans, corn and wheat - and get to the gym. And as he’s found out over the years, the transition isn’t always a smooth one.

“A couple years ago there were a few practices that we had to cancel because I just couldn’t get away from the farm,” Harre said. “But the girls understand the situation and it just means we have to work harder when we get back to practice.”

It was easy pickings for Harre and his family this fall. The cooperative weather helped them pull off an early harvest. Less stress on the farmer leads to less stress on the coach.

“This year it worked out OK,” Harre said. “It’s been dry so we’ve been able to get the crop out. The last two years we were still taking stuff out of the fields at this time and running practices at the same time. It was just so wet in Southern Illinois. It’s not the greatest situation when you

“This is a group of girls that has already accom-plished a lot. But I don’t think they’re satisfied with going to state twice. They want to do it again. They know they have a hard road ahead but they also know they can be a pretty good team if they work hard.”

In his 11 years at Nashville Coach Wayne Harre has never had a team dip below 22 wins in a season and his Hornettes teams have won 84 percent of their games.

Hungry Hornettes


she stepped up for us. She’s really come a long way.” Joining Morris in the backcourt are seniors Melanie Rhine and Bre-

anne Pelker, who is stepping in for Annie Borowiak – the lone player the Hornettes lost to graduation.

“We’ll miss Annie, she was such a big shooter for us,” Rhine said. “But we have a lot of seniors who have played a lot and we also know that we have some good younger players who can help.”

Rhine scored a combined 21 points in Nashville’s two state tourney games last winter. Pelker came up with some big shots down the stretch of the regular season.

“Melanie has also been starting since her sophomore year,” Harre said. “She really just likes to win. She gives you 110 percent all of the time. She’s a three-sport athlete so she stays pretty busy during the offseason. She’s done a really nice job for us.”

“Breanne really came on strong at the end of last year. She’s a tough matchup for people and is very athletic.”

If teams are able to find answers for Nashville’s perimeter players, they may have trouble simultaneously stopping the physical inside duo of Jennifer Moeller and Kourtney Heggemeier, both of whom stand 5-foot-10. The pair combined for 24 points and 29 rebounds in last year’s state tourney.

“Mo is one of the better post players we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Harre said. “She was second team all-state last year and can really guard for us. Also, she always takes the ball out of bounds for us, which is very important.”

“Kourtney is a very physical player. We’ve really been working on getting her inside a bit more because she’s such a good rebounder. She’s also worked on improving her range.”

Having five seniors starting – with senior Paige Schwartzkopf coming off the bench – is a luxury Harre has rarely experienced in his time with the Hornettes. He’s used to coaching teams that consist of only two or three seniors.

“We have a lot of senior leadership this year,” Harre said. “We’ve got six this year and that’s a big number. This is something different than I’ve seen really since I’ve been here.

“And we’ve also got quite a bit of depth this year. We’ve got Shaye Harre (5-10 sophomore), Erica Brown (5-11 sophomore), Keisha Setze-korn (5-5 junior) and Jolie Wall (5-2 junior) who should play a lot, too.”

Hungry HornettesSenior-laden and tournament-tested, is this the year Nashville’s girls break through for a state title?

Above right: Second-team All-State as a junior 5-feet-11-inch Jen-nifer Moeller will be counted on heavily during the 2010-11 season. Right: Kourtney Heggemeier, at 5-feet-11-inches, is the other half of the tough inside duo for the Hornettes


Having so many seniors and so much depth might not be an annual expectation for the Hornettes, but playing tough defense sure is. Harre learned the importance of defensive tenacity while playing college basketball under Rich Herrin at Southern Illinois University.

“We always try to be a good defensive team,” Harre said. “I’m a big believer in that. I’ve just always been taught that defense is a very important part of the game. Sometimes the ball just isn’t going to go in and you have to be able to stop people at the other end. That’s especially true in the postseason.”

Defense wasn’t what let the Hornettes down in last year’s state semifinal loss to Quincy Notre Dame. Nashville actu-ally held a one-point lead midway through the fourth quarter before turnovers took over. The Hornettes finished the game with 22 giveaways to miss out on playing for a state title.

“I honestly wasn’t too disappointed with that loss,” Harre said. “We lost to an awfully good team. We played pretty well, we just had too many turnovers. We know if we get a shot off every time we go down the floor we’ll be OK. We are big and we can rebound, so we just have to limit those turnovers.”

“I think we’ve gotten rid of the nerves that go with playing at state in front of a lot of people,” Rhine said. “So if we get up there again I think we’ll be prepared to handle that kind of stuff.”

Moeller concurs. “I think this team has a lot of confidence because we have

so much experience,” she said. “Me and the other seniors know that we have to show leadership.”

Harre says Moeller keeps his team calm and collected on the court, but he stops short of calling any of his players the team leader. He leaves that pressure and responsibility for himself and assistant coaches Doug Althoff and Dempsey Witte – two people he calls “crucial to our success.”

“I don’t think we have anybody who really sticks out as a leader,” Harre said. “They all have about the same personal-ity. I honestly don’t think I’ve had many of those strong leader types since I’ve started coaching here because basketball really seems to be kind of the second or third sport for a lot of the girls. But they work very hard on the basketball court and that’s how we’ve had good teams. These girls know when it’s time for basketball.”


Above: Melanie Rhine is a three-year starter for the Hornettes and a three-sport standout at Nashville High School and scored 21 points during last year’s two state tournament games. Below: Described by her coach as “a tough match up for other teams because of her athleticism” Breanne Pelker came on strong last year in helping lead the Hornettes to a third-place finish in the Class 2A state tournament.


have both going on but you just get through it.”Harre has gotten through it, alright. He boasts a career

winning percentage of .840 at Nashville and has led the Hornettes to two consecutive third-place finishes at the Class 2A state tournament. His time on the farm has taught him valuable lessons that have helped him become a qual-ity coach.

“Sometimes farming is a lot like coaching,” Harre said. “You can do everything right, but it doesn’t always work out the way you want it to. With farming you can do the best you can and work really hard, but then the weather can ruin things for you. It’s the same thing in basketball. Sometimes you can play good on the court but just because you do the best you can doesn’t mean you’re always going to win. But at least you can tell yourself that you tried your best and worked hard.”

Harre is sure that he made the right choice between farm-ing and teaching. And although it can be tough to keep up on the daily goings-on of the high school dynamic – grades, drama, relationships and such – Harre says Nashville’s fac-ulty and players do a good job of keeping him informed.

“It can go either way,” he said. “Sometimes you do feel out of the loop on certain things. But I’m still at the school every day for practice and the girls do a good job of commu-nicating with me about what’s going on day to day. Maybe that’s a big reason why it’s worked out for us.”

Nashville’s players say Harre has established himself as their unquestioned leader, even if they don’t see him in the classroom.

“Coach is great…we know what we can and can’t get away with,” said senior forward Jennifer Moeller. “He defi-nitely knows what he’s talking about.”

Nashville Athletic Director Neil Hamon certainly has no problem with his coach’s day job: “It is not a normal non-staff coaching situation because Wayne is in the building every day during the basketball season,” he said.

“It is wonderful to work with Wayne. He is a local Nashville farmer that is passionate about coaching and helping devel-op players and quality individuals. I would consider Wayne one of the top girl’s basketball coaches in the state, but more importantly a great person. As the athletic director I always look forward to going to the coaches’ office during basketball season because Wayne keeps the office laughing.”

Hamon has been athletic director for about half of Harre’s coaching tenure. He has never seen the girls team dip below the 22-win mark in a season.

“Wayne has established a level of success at Nashville that is hard to match anywhere in the state,” Hamon said. “It makes me very proud to be associated with such a quality coach and girls basketball program. Wayne is the hardest-working coach in practice that I have ever been around and his teams demonstrate that effort each and every game.”

Whether he is on the tractor or on the bench, Harre takes his work seriously. He has put in long hours and hard work for his achievements. But just like on the farm, Harre says, he’s not the only one sacrificing for success.

“What we’ve been able to do at Nashville isn’t just about one person,” he said. “It’s about all the players, coaches and parents who have contributed throughout the years. It’s been pretty special to be a part of.”

Along with being a standout golfer and softball player Jenna Morris runs the show offensively for the Hornet-tes from her point guard position. A three-year starter Morris scored 13 points in last year’s third-place state tournament victory.


By John D. Homan

One college sport simply wasn’t satisfying enough for JALC sophomore Olivia Russell.

The Crystal City, Mo. native has been a scholarship athlete on the Vols’ volleyball team each of the last two seasons, but still felt a yearning to compete in a sport that she enjoyed wholeheartedly in high school – bas-ketball.

“What can I say? I wanted to play

again,” Russell said. “I thought about playing last year after volleyball was over, but decided against it. This year, I had people telling me I ought to play both, and when I saw the sign in the hallway about basketball tryouts, I couldn’t pass it up again.”

Although not large in stature (5-feet-5-inches), Russell was a tal-ented enough guard to attract the attention of some small colleges her senior year of high school.

“Mineral Area College (Park Hills,

Double UpDouble UpRussell is JALC’s only two-sport athlete

Russell was utilized as a designated server and defensive specialist on this year’s conference champion volleyball team. (Logan Media Services photo)

Mo.) offered me an opportunity to play, but I was more confident in my abilities as a volleyball player,” she said. “And I’m happy with the choice I made in coming here to Logan to play. It was a great experience. We enjoyed a lot of success and I made many new friends.”

Still, basketball is the itch that Rus-sell needed to have scratched.

“I can shoot a little bit and my ball handling skills are coming around since I have started practicing regu-larly,” Russell said. “It’s my hope that I can help the team out some.”

JALC head basketball coach Marty Hawkins has only coached a handful of two-sport athletes in his 30-plus years in the game and isn’t ruling out Russell as a contributor.

“At the very least, Olivia will add to our depth,” Hawkins said. “Because of her commitment to volleyball, she was only able to practice with us a couple times a week until the season ended. The more she plays, the bet-ter she should get. It looks like she can shoot, which is great. It’s tough, though, to be out of the game for a year and then try to adjust to the col-lege game. I look for her to get some playing time as the season progress-es.”

Russell, now 20, was a designated server and defensive specialist on the volleyball team. When in high school, the spikers placed fourth at state her freshman year and second her soph-omore year. Crystal City was pro-jected to compete for a state title both her junior and senior seasons, but got knocked out in sectional play.

“It was a small school, about 300 enrollment,” she said. “In basketball, we won some tournaments, as well as the conference one year, but never got out of our districts.”

Russell said her last basketball


game was one of her most memo-rable.

“I remember hitting five 3-pointers,” she said. “That’s probably one of the main reasons why I still want to play. I want to see if I can do well at this lev-el. It’s just so hard for me to sit on the bench and watch. That’s why I can’t wait to get in the game.”

JALC volleyball coach Bill Burnside described Russell as “a great kid and a quality volleyball player.” He said her role with the team was never ex-actly what she wanted it to be, but al-though it was clear at times that she was frustrated by this, she never let it hurt her production in the role of des-ignated server and part-time defen-sive specialist.

“Olivia always competed aggres-sively and gave a great effort in games, as well as in practice,” Burn-side said. “That’s a very professional attitude that is difficult to find in col-lege athletes right now. Her ball con-trol skills and serving were important to our team. When other players struggled with these skills, she was the first to come in and stop the bleed-ing. Not everyone has the ability that Olivia has to come off the bench cold and immediately help a struggling team get back on track.”

As far as competing as a basket-ball player, Burnside said he does not have the expertise to judge, but be-lieves Russell will be an asset to the hoops program.

“She is an intelligent athlete with a quality work ethic and I think most coaches would be excited to have her around. Personally, I am looking forward to seeing her play. She talks about basketball all the time, and I’m anxious to see what she can do.”

Russell is JALC’s first two-sport athlete in the last five years.

She said she originally planned to major in athletic training, but is switch-ing gears.

“My major is a little up in the air right now,” she said. “I do want to at-tend a four-year school in the fall and I have hopes of continuing my volley-ball career.”

JALC sophomore guard Olivia Russell gets some shots in prior to a recent practice. The Crystal City, Mo. native is the only two-sport athlete on the Logan campus this year. (Logan Media Services photo)


Rend Lake Aquatic Youth swimmer Katie Cully is USA Swimming’s second fastest

9-10 year old in the 50 meter free-style, according to this month’s is-sue of Swimming World Magazine. USA Swimming is the largest youth swimming association in the coun-try and governs all youth swimming programs in the U.S.

Cully, 10, of Marion, swam a 30.77 long course in August at the USA Swimming Central Zone Championships in Lincoln, Neb. New York’s Kristen Romano finished in 30.51 on the west coast at right about the same time this summer. The two went head to head at a race in the spring that Romano won.

“I hope someday I can beat her. I know she is a better swimmer than me, but I know I can beat her. I think it’s great for me and the team,” Cully said of the national ranking. “I’m ex-cited when I hear it.”

RLAY Otters coach Laura John-ston was probably more excited. But she wasn’t surprised.

“The pure strength of Katie is amazing,” Johnston said. “I think it’s outstanding that she’s put us on the map. Southern Illinois period, in the

CullyClimbs Marion’s Katie Cully is a quarter-second from USA Swimming’s top spot

world of swimming, is not a renowned area, especially when you are neigh-boring Indiana and St. Louis. Even in Illinois high school swimming, the times are unfathomable because of the Chicago area. Who would think, in a small area like ours – a team of 62 kids – to have that kind of caliber of performance is amazing. In the big cities, the St. Louis area for example, they have teams of over 200 kids. And here we are in Ina. For us to be sitting where we are sitting is really, really fun. ”

Although she is ultra-competitive at a young age, Cully’s favorite thing about swimming is seeing her oppo-nents in a social setting rather than the lane next to her.

“I love seeing my friends because through the winter we have so many meets on the weekends and basically every weekend is when I get to see all my friends from other teams.”

“I’ve had coaches and parents come up to me and say, you know, your daughter is just as good of a los-er as she is a winner,” said her mom, Sonya Cully. “I’m more proud of that than any win.”

But don’t get Katie wrong. She wants to beat every one of them. The


other thing she loves about swimming is that, in the pool, she can prove them all wrong.

“I love doing what people say I can’t do. Like, they say I can’t swim such a time in my 100 freestyle. Then I go out and swim it.”

And she’s been proving them wrong a lot. Cully dominated at the Great Gator Times meet in October in Cape Girardeau, winning all nine of her events as the 9-10 girls’ high-point champion. She went undefeated in seven events at the Ozark A Champi-onships held on the weekend of Nov. 20-21 at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

She won the 25 and 50 freestyle at the Illinois-Missouri YMCA Champi-onships in 2009 and was the 100 free and 50 fly champion in 2010. She helped the 9-10 girls 200 free relay team break a 25 year old Y district record. She placed top three in a whopping seven events at the USA Swimming Short Course Champi-onships in February, and was run-ner up in the 50 and 100 free, 50 and 100 backstroke, and 50 meter butterfly. At the USA Long Course Championships in July, Cully took first place in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, and the 50 and 100 meter backstroke. She was run-ner up in the 50 fly.

Johnston said each swim meet the team travels to – from Florida to right next door in Missouri – provides a learning experience that would not be possible without a strong network of supporters.

“Swim teams can’t function with-out support ... whole, all-out support from parents. And her parents are the best.”

Her father, Scott Cully, is a re-search and development scientist for the agricultural corporation Syn-genta. But that’s during the week. On the weekends, he is an official stroke and turn judge for both YMCA and USA Swimming. He said he started being a judge to help the team out and be close to Katie at the meets. He was athletic as a kid, he said, but he couldn’t think of anything like the success his daughter has found in the pool.

“ I t makes us very proud,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing. Her work ethic and her love for the sport make it all possible.”

Her goal is to be a collegiate swim-mer at either Georgia or Illinois, she said. The family moved to Southern Illinois years ago from the Champaign area where Cully was born. With a goal like that at the age of 10, the Cully’s make sure Katie remembers to be a kid.

“We have lots of conversations about that,” Sonya said. “And yes, it is still fun for her. But our concern is that she is so competitive right now and she loves it so much right now that we do worry about burnout.”

She spends one to two hours, four to five nights a week, training with

Johnston at RLC. She has also start-ed stretch-ing at home

four to five days a week to develop her core. Sonya said if there is a night Cully wants to take off, they make sure to give her the break. This summer, Cully took a long break from swimming to play her other sport, softball.

“As parents, we got to regroup,” Sonya said. “But I think it gave her time too, to decide if this was some-thing she wants to keep doing. And by the time we went to the Ozark Cham-pionships and Zones, she was geared up for it with kind of a fresh new per-spective on things.”

It was at Zones that Cully was able to PR in the 50 free and become USA’s runner up. When asked what she thinks about when she is swim-


ming, she said, “I just think of my strokes and how I swim them.”

Katie took to swimming like an Otter to water, starting at a very young age in Marion and Carbondale. Scott frequently conducts research on test plots at the RLC campus, so the large indoor Aquatics Center there re-ally caught his eye. At the same time, Johnston was looking to give the Cullys some passes to the pool.

“I just wanted to get into the pool,” Scott said. “I thought it would be a good opportunity for Katie and it just happened that they were starting the team right around then. It all worked out pretty well.”

She was 8 years old when she first joined the team in 2008. By January of ’09 Cully was sweeping the 8-un-der division at meets.

“I think [RLAY] is a very competitive program,” So-nya added. “Swimming as a sport is competitive. I think it’s every kid’s dream to go in and do really, really well. But it’s a sport where you’ve got to put the hours in at the pool. Laura works them out, that’s for sure.”

“She catches on really well,” Johnston said of Cully. “For example if I show her new drills, she might be not able to do them the very first time, but within a few min-utes, as she keeps thinking about it, she’s got it. Her skills and her swimming ability makes you forget that she’s only 10 years old. With some of her skills, she has surpassed what teenagers have to work hard to accom-plish. When you sit here and watch her swim, you can forget that she’s a baby in the swimming world.”

For more information about the RLAY Otters, visit online at www.rlayotters.swim-team.us.

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InFocus

By Ceasar Maragni

I had a good cry recently after learning that a friend had lost his battle with can-

cer. I knew it was coming. So did his family, many of his friends, fellow coaches and former players. Still, when I heard he had died, it was sobering news nonetheless.

SIU baseball Coach Dan

Callahan was a good man, on many different levels, and will be missed by more people than he would have ever imagined. He will be missed most of all by his loving wife Stacy, his daugh-ters Alexa and Carly, his father Gene and mother Ann and sis-ters Lynn and Cheri. Although they too knew this day was com-ing, the magnitude of the loss of a husband, father, son and brother that died far too young, because of a disease that is far too cruel, can be overwhelming.

I call cancer the monster.

I’ve seen the horror and dev-astation that the many varia-tions of this disease can inflict on its victims. I’ve seen friends and loved ones survive the monster and I’ve seen friends and loved ones succumb. The monster can come silently and suddenly into the lives of the old and the young, the rich and the poor. It can inflict unimagi-nable pain and suffering that leads some victims to plea for their own death to escape the

horror of it all.

But many, like Coach Cal, choose to fight the good fight, unselfishly in most cases, not always because they fear dying, but rather, they fight the mon-ster with all their might, for more precious time with the ones they will leave behind. That’s the route Coach Cal chose. For those who were blessed to have him in their lives, they con-sidered his brave, cou-rageous fight for his life as ‘typi-cal Cal.’ His widow Stacy told longtime Saluki broadcaster Mike Reiss during a bedside visit to Cal the day before he died, that he never complained. That didn’t surprise Reiss, who said, “That was Cal. It was always about oth-ers, it was never about him.” That pretty much sums up the kind, fun-loving man that most people knew. He was the most cooperative, thoughtful, kind and loyal coach I have known in 40 years as a jour-nalist.

In the movie “A League of Their

Own” Rock-ford Peaches Manager Tom Hanks spoke this line to his weeping right fielder Bitty Schram, “There’s no crying in baseball!” That may be true on the big screen, but for my-self and many others who knew and loved Coach Cal, that’s not so. We cried because we care. We cried because he cared about us. Rest in peace friend. We’ll miss you.


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