Teutopolis may be 218 miles from the Loop, but it is close to the hearts of Illinois high school girls basketball fans. That’s one reason I wanted to make the drive one gray December Saturday down to the town in the south-central part of the state. The other reason? No. 1 Fenwick was making the trip as well.
The first thing that strikes anyone about T-town is that it’s not a one-stoplight town. It’s a one stop-sign town. There’s one clothing store that not only has the basics like underwear and socks but Teutopolis Wooden Shoes shirts. Another shop sells appliances. That’s about it. The high school lies on the east side of town, along with a few farm machinery dealers.
Class photos going back to the early 1950s line the walls outside the gym. Coach Dennis Koester, whose teams have won a Class A-best five state titles, works out of an office that–well, let’s just say it’s in need of a good decorator.
The gym, with the “T” and wooden shoe in the center of the court, looks like something out of the movie “Hoosiers.” For the record, Fenwick left that day with a 49-37 victory and its then-No. 1 ranking intact. Me? I left with a full stomach. While writing my game story for the Tribune, I was treated to a plate full of goodies in the school cafeteria by the Wooden Shoes booster club.
— Alan Sutton.
TRACKING GREATNESS
One the most vivid memories of my first year in Chicago was the 1978 boys state track meet and watching Sandburg’s Tom Graves breeze across the finish line in the Class AA 2-mile run in 9 minutes 6.91 seconds.
Graves was such a dominant runner that Fenton’s distance standout, Jim Spivey–whom I would watch in the 1996 Olympics–dropped down to the half-mile for the state meet. Graves came back to win the mile in 4:09.37. That was quite an introduction to Illinois track.
I figured the likes of a Tom Graves would appear every so often, but I was wrong. He was one of the all-time greats, and every year I appreciated his performance more. Twenty-three years later, I saw Graves’ performance eclipsed by York’s Donald Sage.
Sage ran a Class AA record 8:42.89 in the 3,200 meters and 4:07.56 in the 1,600 for what has to be considered the greatest distance double in state history. The performance by at the state track meet will live on in my memory, as will York coach Joe Newton’s first track title and the performance of Lemont’s one-man team, Nick Bromberek.
Over the years memories fade and it’s hard to compare teams and athletes. How would the 1977 East Leyden football team do against the 1998 Wheaton Warrenville South team? How would Providence’s Nick Passolano do against Mt. Carmel’s Joe Williams on the wrestling mat? We can only speculate. In track and field, the stopwatch and the tape measure do the comparing for us and enhance our memories.
Reid Hanley.
A DREAM TAKES WING
As I drove to Indiana’s Lake Village Airport on a damp December morning to meet, interview and fly with Mark Hardy, a teenage airplane pilot, I became extremely nervous. I dread flying, and the thought of flying in a single-engine airplane with a teenager hardly eased my fear.
After getting to know Hardy, a senior at Richards, my fear subsided. Hardy carried himself with maturity and confidence beyond his 17 years. He had earned his glider and single-engine airplane pilot licenses through the Aviation Scholarship Foundation, a program geared for teens from the South Side and some southern suburbs.
He had worked hard to become a solid student, football player and track athlete at Richards but also dedicated himself to the aviation program for 3 1/2 years. He did so with the support of his devoted grandparents, Ben and Kathryn Harvey, who raised him in Robbins. Hardy credited them for his work ethic, considered stellar by his coaches and flight instructors.
From my brief flight with Hardy and from the time I spent with his family in December, I learned of his dream to become a commercial airline pilot. He has since earned an aviation scholarship to attend Western Michigan. I believe someday as I board a commercial airplane, I’ll be greeted by Hardy, the pilot in command. This time, I’m looking forward to it.
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Marlen Garcia.
TWO TO SAVOR
Thinking about the year 2000, I always will remember two very special athletes who were blessed in unique ways, enabling them to overcome some serious adversity.
Todd Townsend was a basketball player at Morgan Park who was forced to live on his own as a junior because of severe family problems. After subsisting at times on syrup sandwiches, he wound up being taken in by Kathy and Joe Schwaba’s family in Winnetka a year later, and Kathy Schwaba became his legal guardian.
When the IHSA ruled that Townsend’s transfer to New Trier failed to meet its eligibility requirements, a pro bono legal team headed by Hinsdale attorney Peter Rush won a controversial court battle to regain Townsend’s eligibility. Todd helped New Trier to the Class AA basketball quarterfinals, and his senior year turned out like something out of a fairy tale.
Then there was the inspiring tale of Stagg softball catcher Samantha Eyman, who was born without a left hand. Sitting for almost two hours and listening to this remarkable teenager talk about how she has tackled life head-on swept you away from the mundane, inconsequential matters we sometimes call problems. Watching her catch-and-switch technique and seeing her smash a line drive, throw out a runner, tie her shoe, do 12 pull-ups, polish her nails, drive a stick-shift vehicle–all with one hand–was an eye-opening and humbling experience.
You notice the sparkle in her eyes and the radiance of her smile, and you begin to understand another form of happiness. At 17, Samantha Eyman has fully accepted her situation in life–and likes it. She is happy with who she is. Instead of hiding the fact she is different, she accessorizes the left wrist and wears a ring on her partial thumb. This spring, for the first time, she let a guy hold her left hand.
“If anybody has a child like this, don’t be afraid,” she said. “Look at what’s happened to me. Take it as a blessing. I’m 17, and if I died tomorrow, I’ve had a terrific life. I think God gave me just one hand for a reason: to show people how to overcome it.”
He couldn’t have picked a better messenger.
Bob Sakamoto.
WEEDING OUT A WINNER
Winning pitcher: Steve Kornatowski. Save: Dandelions.
The box score of Lane Tech’s 6-4 decision over Clemente on May 18 did not contain that line. But it could have. Kornatowski kept most of his 113 pitches knee-high in his four-hit, eight-strikeout victory. As a result only one of 21 Clemente outs came on a fly ball. Most came on infield grounders.
The dandelions? Well the grassy part of the infield at Lane’s home field in Horner Park was cushioned with thousands of stems of dandelions gone to seed. The stems broke the impact of hard-hit grounders and acted like mini-trampolines.
“My infield was good to me today,” Kornatowski said. “It slowed down grounders and gave my infielders nice, high, easy hops.”
He also credited his fielders and his catcher Adrian Cabrera. But he was the only pitcher all season to credit dandelions for part of his success.
Bill Jauss.
A WISE RUNNER
There’s a good chance, 20 years from now, twice as many people as really were there will claim they were at Hanson Stadium on Sept. 30. For the few hundred on hand that day, Talib Wise and the Simeon Wolverines staged a dramatic comeback that will certainly have people talking for years to come.
In a critical Public Illini South match against Dunbar, Simeon was trailing 36-12 at the half.
Wise, who had missed the first three games of the season in an ongoing transfer controversy, had gained only 10 yards in the first half but took out his frustrations on the Dunbar defense in the second. The senior scored on runs of 3, 20, 66 and 75 yards while amassing 270 second-half yards to lead Simeon to a 50-44 victory in one of the more thrilling games any football fan could ever hope to see.
Pat Rooney.
A WONDERFUL WATER MARK
For St. Charles swimmers, nothing short of a victory would do as they entered the final event of last November’s girls state swimming finals trailing host New Trier by two points.
Saints fans were nervous as Ashley Seymour toed the mark to start the 4×100-yard freestyle relay. The Trevians grabbed a quick lead with a strong swim from sophomore Jackie Goldman. But St. Charles’ Christine Anderson closed the gap in the second leg and Laura Lipskis kept it neck-and-neck going into the final 100 yards.
That’s when Kristen Brennan lowered the boom with a powerful final lap to help the Saints pull away and win the event in a state record 3:26.01 and claim their sixth consecutive state championship.
Brennan closed a spectacular high school career with four state championship medals last fall–including the 50 and 100 freestyle and was part of a 4×50-yard freestyle relay that set a national record of 1:34.54. All told she won 12 first-place medals from individual and relay events during her career.
Jack McCarthy.
A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER
On Feb. 4 Lincoln-Way’s boys basketball team went to Joliet with the SICA West championship at stake. Although Joliet wrapped up the title that night, Lincoln-Way senior Jeff Oberg, a 6-foot-1-inch forward, left everybody in the gym cheering.
On an alley-oop pass from guard Adam White, Oberg reached back with his right hand, grabbed the ball and then slammed it home. That sparked cheers and a buzz that lasted for several minutes.
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Later, after fielding a few questions about the victory, Joliet coach Bob Koskosky changed the topic, marveling at Oberg’s dunk and the crowd’s reaction. He then made a point of finding Oberg and offering him congratulations.
Lincoln-Way eventually upset No. 2 Hillcrest in the Joliet sectional, but Oberg’s dunk should be at the front of the Knights’ 1999-2000 basketball highlight reel.
Ken O’Brien.