Even though Timothy Christian recently opened a new building on its Elmhurst campus that includes a gymnasium, a link to the the old gym and the school’s basketball history remains. Two, in fact. They’re both seated at the scorer’s table.
This season marks the 50th year that Ken Huizinga and George Bosman have been working the clock and scorebook at Timothy Christian basketball games at multiple levels.
Even though they retired from teaching years ago and are in their early 70s, they are scheduled to work 53 games together this year, not including the postseason.
While they have been working at the scorer’s table together for 50 years, they have known each other for even longer.
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They went to kindergarten and grade school together in Chicago’s Englewood community area, before attending different high schools. They reunited at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights for two years, before finishing at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.
“We have a great relationship. It is really a lot of fun,” Bosman said.
They spent their entire teaching careers at Timothy Christian, teaching a number of different subjects at the middle school before retiring, and coached many different levels of basketball, both boys and girls.
Not surprisingly, they are neighbors and live on the same street in Elmhurst.
They sent all their children to Timothy Christian, and were even at the scorer’s table to watch some of them play basketball for the Trojans.
Huizinga’s sons, Jon and Matt, are former players and current assistant coaches for the Timothy Christian boys basketball team.
“That was a lot of fun keeping the time for those guys when they were playing,” Ken Huizinga said. “We had the best seat in the house.”
Getting close to the action was one of the reasons they started working at the scorer’s table.
“We just did it because we liked it,” Bosman said. “We started in 1967. It was an activity to do. We could watch the game and not have a lot of distractions. (We could) enjoy the game and talk the game.”
There are plenty of memorable games that Bosman and Ken Huizinga were involved with over the years.
In 1977, there was a Class A regional championship played at Timothy Christian between top-ranked St. Michael and Walther Lutheran.
There was a basket that should have been allowed just before halftime, but was not in the scorebook, and ultimately Walther Lutheran won a one-point game.
Bosman was on the book for the mistake, and was involved in contacting both schools later to try to correct the incorrect result.
The schools replayed the second half at a different gym, with no spectators, and Walther Lutheran won again by a one-point margin. Bosman was not on the book, but Ken Huizinga did operate the clock at the replayed game.
“It ended up being a good witness, for just owning up to the fact that we made a mistake,” Bosman said. “As Christians, you want to do what is right.”
Ken Huizinga recalled another game in the 70s when the scoreboard’s buzzer was not very loud and they needed to use a track starter’s pistol to signal when the clock hit zero. It was Bosman’s job to shoot the pistol.
“He held the gun up in the air, right next to my ear,” Ken Huizinga said. “He blasted the thing, and I got some burns and I could not hear for a while.”
With so many stories and so much experience, Bosman and Ken Huizinga do not have any plans to step away from the scorer’s table anytime soon.
“They have never stepped away from the school,” said Matt Davidson, superintendent of Timothy Christian schools. “Not only do you see them at the scorer’s table, but they also run a Saturday morning girls basketball clinic. … These guys are pillars here at Timothy Christian.”
Patrick Kelly is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press
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