As a basketball star at North Chicago in the 1970s, he was known as Gerald Coleman.
As North Chicago’s successful boys basketball coach, he’s become King Coleman.
And now that he’s boys cross country coach at North Chicago, Coleman could start answering to yet another name:
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The Pied Piper.
The numbers do not lie. Coleman said he has 38 boys currently running cross country, with another seven or eight ready to join the team as they complete their summer jobs at Great America.
Do the math: The IHSA enrollment figure for North Chicago is 770. Assuming half that number are girls, that leaves 385 boys in the school.
With a team total of 45, that means 11.68 percent of the boys in the school are running cross country.
If we apply that 11.68 percentage at Zion-Benton, which has 2,677 students and about 1,338 boys, a participation rate of 11.68 percent in cross country would mean 156 boys in the program.
At Warren, where total enrollment is 4,275, the total would be a ridiculous 249 boy runners.
At North Chicago, the number is not ridiculous for a very good reason.
“Every one of them,” Coleman answered when asked how many cross country runners are basketball players. “I don’t have a wrestler or a cheerleader. They’re all basketball.”
As basketball coach, Coleman is a big believer in having his players in top physical condition. Running cross country, and the weight training that goes with it, is a perfect fall match for the winter basketball season.
Coleman has 45 runners even though North Chicago’s actual cross country schedule is the minimum.
“Our first home meet is Sept. 8,” Coleman said. “We just participate in the five conference dual meets.”
The Warhawks don’t compete in the Lake County Meet or any of the big Saturday invitationals that are held throughout the area in September and October.
What they will be ready for is the start of basketball season in November. And in that sport, they’ll clearly be ready to go the distance.
Friday’s opening night for Lake Forest’s 2015 football season: It’s also night of the unveiling of the Images of Excellence mural that is located on the side of a building adjacent to the football field, which is visible from the field’s stands.
This is Year 5 for the Images of Excellence, which honors outstanding students and student-athletes from the school’s most recent graduating class. The mural includes photos of each of the honorees.
This year’s 19 honorees from the Class of 2015 include Evan Boudreaux (basketball), Bailey Ehrens (soccer), Wes Janeck (football and lacrosse), Katie Karahalios (lacrosse), Jack Traynor (football and basketball), Elise Wong (field hockey), Clare Wieland (swimming and water polo), and Abby Warren (field hockey).
Also honored are Daniel Smith (water polo and swimming), Madeline Sheridan (poms), Hunter Moore (soccer and lacrosse), Allison Milligan (band), Corey Knudsen (wrestling), Kate Hanson (basketball and lacrosse), Matt Gruenes (baseball), Brooke Green (basketball and soccer), Quinn Gaughan (golf and volleyball), Laura Blake (class president) and Luke Gibson (student council president).
The mural will be unveiled at halftime of the Scouts’ varsity game against Dunbar.
Twitter: @JeffBonato
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