Walt Matune finally has made it Downstate.
It’s not the way he or his son, Keith, wanted it to happen. Their dream was that Walt would get there by coaching his Downers Grove North basketball team to the Elite Eight in Champaign.
Downers North, though, never made it past the sectional semifinals under Walt before he retired as head coach in 1992.
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Then it was up to Keith.
“There was always that understanding when he retired and I started coaching,” Keith said, “that, ‘Dad, we’ll get it done for you one of these days.'”
Keith always figured he’d get it done as a basketball coach. Instead, he and his Lake Park boys gymnastics team will be “Downstate,” which means reaching a state finals, Friday and Saturday in the state meet at Barrington.
Keith has his father to thank for that, though there was a time he didn’t feel particularly thankful. That was in 1983, when he was cut from the Downers Grove North freshman basketball team.
Keith, who had tagged along with his dad to the gym almost since he could walk, was devastated. He was just 4 feet 10 inches and 72 pounds then but believed he was at least skilled enough to make the B team.
What hurt most, though, was that after a freshman coach delivered the bad news, his dad didn’t talk to him about it.
“He assumed I understood why,” Keith said, “but I was just a kid.”
In retrospect Keith acknowledges he should have sensed what was coming when he was in junior high and Walt got him to try North’s summer gymnastics program after basketball camp. He figures now that his dad probably was trying to guide him into a sport in which he had a chance.
Keith was an awful gymnast at first but became proficient enough to earn a partial scholarship to Radford (Va.) University, where he grew to 5-7 and became a star. He tried out for basketball once there, too, and again got cut.
He still didn’t get the sport out of his system until 1999-2000, when he became the freshman B team basketball coach and an assistant gymnastics coach at York. He admits that coaching basketball was in part an attempt to prove he could make it in his dad’s sport, and after going 21-3 that season he walked away from it to focus on gymnastics.
“I had accomplished all I wanted to,” said Keith, who had soaked up a lot of coaching know-how in high school as a team manager/statistician for his father.
He later became York’s head boys gymnastics coach and took over at Lake Park in 2004, converting a doormat into a state team trophy contender in just four seasons.
He also teaches social studies, government and history, just as his father did, for though he is his own man he still is his father’s son. Even in gymnastics, he mirrors Walt’s coaching philosophy, emphasizing a team concept, discipline and motivation.
He also wears a tie to competitions, just like his dad did.
“It’s my tribute to him,” Keith said. “People think I’m way overdressed, but that’s OK.
“He was someone who did it the right way, and I try to do it as well. And still, in my own mind, I don’t measure up to half what he was able to do as a coach and teacher.”
It’s hardly surprising, then, that Keith couldn’t wait to call his father after Lake Park clinched a state meet team berth — its second ever — by winning the Lake Park sectional title Saturday.
“I said, ‘The family is finally going Downstate,'” Keith said.
His dad, who retired from teaching in 2002, has flown in from California for the occasion. He’s not looking for any credit, but Keith won’t be shocked if Walt mentions again that this gymnastics thing turned out OK after all.
“It all kind of worked out well when he didn’t make the basketball team,” said Walt, who did discuss that cut with his son about a decade ago.
Keith agrees wholeheartedly.
“In his own quiet way he put me on a path that has rewarded me many times over,” he said of his dad. “While I might not have appreciated it at the time, I’m extremely grateful today.
“Every journey has its start, and with me and gymnastics it started with basketball.”
And now it has led the gymnastics coach and the old basketball coach Downstate.
“Well, it’s going to be proud,” Walt said of the occasion. “I’m sure I’ll be emotional about it.”
That’s one area, though, where the father definitely won’t match the son.
“For him to see me at the state tournament will be very special,” Keith said. “I guess his approval is the only one I ever wanted, the only one that mattered.”
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Boys gymnastics state meet
At Barrington High School,
616 W. Main St.
Friday’s schedule
*Team championships, 6 p.m.
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Saturday’s schedule
*Individual preliminaries, noon
*Individual finals, 7 p.m.
Top team qualifiers
In order of top sectional scores
York, 162.5; Lincoln-Way East (co-op), 162; Palatine, 158.2; Lake Park, 158.05; St. Charles North 157.95.
Top individual qualifiers
In order of top sectional scores
All-around
Steve Deutsch, Glenbrook South, 57.0; Keith Lage, Naperville Central, 56.4; Christian Carmona, York, 56.05.
Floor exercise
Tim Krueger, Wheaton North (co-op), 9.7; Matt Eckardt, Palatine, 9.65; Jonathan Snyder, Conant, 9.6.
Pommel horse
Steve Deutsch, Glenbrook South, 9.65; Keith Lage, Naperville Central, 9.4; Dan Hutton, Lincoln-Way East (co-op), 9.35.
Still rings
Christian Carmona, York, 9.65; Steve Deutsch, Glenbrook South, 9.55; Keith Lage, Naperville Central, 9.55.
Vault
Tim Krueger, Wheaton North (co-op), 9.75; Steve Deutsch, Glenbrook South, 9.7; Sean Johnston, St. Charles North, 9.65.
Parallel bars
Tim Krueger, Wheaton North (co-op), 9.55; Christian Carmona, York, 9.5; Steve Deutsch, Glenbrook South, 9.4.
Horizontal bar
Jonathan Snyder, Conant, 9.65; Dan Hutton, Lincoln-Way East (co-op), 9.65; Steve Deutsch, Glenbrook South, 9.35.
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Read Barry Temkin’s blog, “Upon Further Review,” at chicagosports.com/temkin