The transition from fall to winter sports is underway with much to learn before making assessments on basketball and wrestling teams. Meanwhile, let’s tie up some loose ends.
Spending Thanksgiving with an assorted bunch that included a retired Stillman Valley educator, a 1987 Leaf River grad, a 1957 Byron grad and athletic hall-of-famer and a retired Rockford engineer, much of the dinner time conversation settled around high-school sports. Actually, Thanksgiving all over the country is often geared towards sports, with the televised pro football games being the centerpiece.
Growing up in a football environment, I appreciated that. However, the older I get, the more I realize that way too much emphasis is put on football, to the point of being our national religion.
Guilty as charged, as I found myself in a football-induced coma from watching high school and college games non-stop on Friday and Saturday. It was almost like being on a drunken bender.
I needed a break from my channel changer and took respite at the Blackhawk Center, checking out some bad tournament basketball. This early in the year, basketball is always bad.
Getting back to my Thanksgiving social intercourse, I learned that the mighty Byron football program transitioned from six-man and eight-man football in the late 1950s.
Regarding Leaf River, which closed its doors in 1989, I found out they have quite a history of musical greatness. Under the direction of Sid Anderson, LR was IHSA Class D music state champs two years straight in the mid 1970s.
Additionally, the Demons, as they used to be called, had a state champ in the mile in 1959 with Steve Newcomer; and that was in a one-class system. While verifying this on the IHSA website, I also noticed Mt. Morris had a state mile champ in 1932 with Pete Longman.
Interestingly, Pete’s time of 4:25 was a second faster than the 4:26 run by Steve. To this date, the best-ever performances in a one-class system for Ogle County distance running are third and second in the two-mile run by Craig Young of Stillman Valley in 1973 and ’74.
Speaking of people with the surname of Young, Larry Young drew a packed house to the Oregon Depot a couple weeks ago, as he spoke of his experiences umpiring baseball. Larry is a true testament to persistence and diligence to a desired profession, one that the odds are severely stacked against a person.
My favorite story was the one he told of getting into what appears to be a heated argument with manager Gene Lamont in an MLB game stoppage, but in reality it was a discussion between the two friends about going out for dinner after the game.
For us old-timers, Kirkland’s Gene Lamont is a story in itself, one of the great athletes to hail from northern Illinois. When you think about Kirkland, all you have is Lamont.
Sure, Polo’s Terry Jenkins had a couple of state playoffs appearances in football and a basketball regional title as a coach there in the mid 80s. But Kirkland has never been able to muster anything substantial other than being the home of Lamont.
In the past week, I had two different area wrestling coaches lament to me on the difficulty of the 1A sectional is and the unfairness of really good kids missing out on trips downstate, while those from lesser sectionals make it.
You can’t argue that claim. However, in all sports other than football, the IHSA arranges the post season geographically, even using a computerized method for accuracy.
It’s just the way it is, and the IHSA will never get into the business of ranking teams, and gerrymandering assignments based upon this. It always been about geography and always will be.
However, there was a variable to this in basketball for several decades. The Chicago Public League, which is as good in basketball as they are bad in football, always received an automatic bid to the state tourney.
Not anymore. With the incorporation of four classes in basketball they are now geographically funneled into regionals/sectionals with suburban schools.
One of my basketball travel plans is to make a trip to Scales Mound to see the state’s top small-school attraction on their home gym. Had planned to go last year, but Scales Mound is so far off the beaten path and as you get older, it is easy to talk yourself out of long winter drives.
I did make it to the farthest point northwest in Illinois a few years ago to see Polo play in a sectional at East Dubuque, so a precedent has been set.
One final travel note – one my way to Peoria to cover the state cross country meet last month, I made a slight detour north of Princeton to visit one of the few remaining covered bridges in Illinois. I’m glad I did, as a week later, a truck driver got lost and plowed his 18-wheeler into it.
Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and 160 years old, it may have to be demolished because of the damage caused.
Andy Colbert is a longtime Ogle County resident with years of experience covering sports and more for multiple area publications.
