When you get right down to it, the McLegends Classic has always been about the kids.
It’s a chance for the best high school seniors from the Southland to play together against some of the legendary players from the past.
It’s a chance for the younger kids from the Southland to watch them and maybe aspire to be an all-star.
And, of course, there’s Ronald McDonald.
For two of the McLegends, former Rich Central stars Kendall and Keith Gill, Saturday’s 13th annual game is about the kids as well.
Especially their own — Kendall Gill’s two young sons Phoenix and Kota, and Keith Gill’s youngest son Keith Jr.
“We want them to see where we grew up, where we played and made names for ourselves,” Keith Gill said. “I’m really excited about it.”
McLegends weekend gets underway at 6 p.m. Friday at Rich Central, when the Lady McLegends, featuring Hillcrest grad and Northwestern standout Nadia Bibbs, meet the 2016 Senior Girls All-Stars.
The McLegends men’s team, coached by Tai Streets and featuring former Thornton, Indiana and NFL standout Antwaan Randle El, will play the 2016 Senior Boys All-Stars at 2 p.m.
For the Gill brothers, it’s a chance to go back in time. They haven’t played on the Rich Central court together since 1986, when the Olympians made it to state and mightily challenged King in the Class AA state championship game before falling 47-40.
“I have visited Rich Central, but to play again there is going to feel good,” Kendall Gill said. “Seeing the red and the light blue and seeing the court and where we got our start, it’s going to be great.
“I can remember walking into Rich Central’s gym for the first time and thinking it was as big as a 20,000 seat stadium. I thought, ‘Wow, one day I’m going to play here.’ And lo and behold, that’s what happened.”
Unless they’ve been under a rock, most everyone at the game will know where Kendall Gill has been since 1986.
He went on to have a standout career at Illinois from 1986-1990, and played in the NBA for the Charlotte Hornets, Seattle Supersonics, New Jersey Nets, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks before retiring in 2005.
Since then, he has been an NBA analyst for Comcast SportsNet and NBA TV.
It’d be pretty tough to wow Streets, a former Thornton football and basketball and NFL standout in his own right. But Kendall Gill does it.
“I grew up watching Kendall Gill,” Streets said. “I remember watching and loving Illinois basketball and he was a big part of that. Then of course, there was his success in the NBA. So it’s going to be crazy coaching him a little bit.”
Keith Gill graduated from Rich Central the year after Kendall, and has been a success story in his own right. He was a member of the Kankakee Junior College men’s basketball team that during his freshman year was ranked No. 1 in the nation and advanced to the NJCAA national championship game. He also played at Central Missouri before an injury ended his basketball career.
Since then, he has become involved in the restaurant and real estate business, and owns Timberland Ranch in Crete, where he raises horses.
There is a mutual admiration between the Gill brothers, who coach their kids together.
“It was a treat, my brother and I growing up playing sports together,” Kendall Gill said. “We were always on the same team, and we got the opportunity to play on probably the best teams ever at Central and go downstate.”
And as Kendall rode his opportunities to NBA fame, his younger brother used it as an inspiration to seek success in life as well.
“Before, I didn’t have real large goals, but when I saw the way he lived I wanted to live that way,” Keith Gill said. “It made me work much harder.
“When we were growing up, there was a group of us who were all friends, but there was something in Kendall that was different from us. We would play basketball and then we would go out and mess with girls or have fun. Kendall would go and get his notebook and write down his drills that he had to do and go out and get another extra five jump shots.
“That’s something you can’t teach. I tell all the young kids today that you can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t work at it you won’t get anywhere. If you work at it you’ll see the results.”
On or off the court.
Twitter @tbaranek