President Dean Spanos solidified the leadership and direction of the San Diego Chargers when he named John Butler, Football Participant `68, the Chargers executive vice president-general manager on January 5, 2001.
"John Butler knows what it takes to win in this league," said Spanos. "He's had success in the draft and has been responsible for building championship teams. His record in Buffalo speaks for itself.
"This is a critical time for this franchise," Spanos continued, "and we feel that John Butler is the best man to lead us back to the playoffs."
"I'm excited at the opportunity that Dean and Mr. Alex Spanos have given me," said Butler. "My job is to help this team get back in the playoffs and back to the Super Bowl.
"I couldn't be happier. I had a chance to sit down with Dean (Spanos) and I could tell the commitment to win was so strong."
Butler is a veteran of 16 NFL seasons, including the past 14 with the Buffalo Bills (1987-2000). He originally entered the NFL with the Chargers in 1985 as a staff scout, a position he held through the 1986 season. In 1987, Butler became Buffalo's Director of College Scouting and was elevated to Director of Player Personnel in 1989 where he oversaw the entire Buffalo scouting operation. In 1993, Butler was named the Bills executive vice president and general manager, serving in that capacity through the 2000 season.
The pervasive theme of Butler's resume is winning. During his tenure in Buffalo, the Bills went to the playoffs 10 times and had an astounding 140-83 (.628) record during his 14 seasons with the team, second only to San Francisco's 156-67 (.699) record during that period. Buffalo's 10 playoff appearances are one shy of the 11 appearances by Minnesota, San Francisco and Denver. The Bills went to the playoffs following five of his eight seasons as general manager (1993-2000) and had a 74-54 (.578) record, ninth overall in the NFL. Only Minnesota, San Francisco, Miami and Green Bay went to the playoffs more times (six) than the Bills during that stretch.
During Butler's time with the Bills, he gained a reputation as one of the finest talent evaluators in the NFL. Whether through the draft or via free agency, Butler and his staff consistently assembled one of the league's most-talented rosters. Eighteen of the Bills 23 draft picks from the past three years were still on the roster after the 2000 season and 30 of the 53 players on the active roster were Buffalo draft choices.
"It's not only me," said Butler when asked about his past success with the draft. "I've had a lot of great people surround me and go to work with me. It's just not one person that does something. It's an organization. It's your people. It's your scouts. It's working together, and it's coaches. I've been very fortunate over the years to have those type of people that believe in the philosophy I believe in...how we want to approach things...how we want to get it done. I don't want to take credit for that. We have a philosophy and that philosophy is what I use."
Under Butler's guidance, the Bills excelled through the draft during the '90s. Seven of Buffalo's top nine selections from 1991-99 started for the Bills, while the eighth, cornerback Jeff Burris, left via free agency to become a starter for Indianapolis, and the ninth, cornerback Thomas Smith, also left through free agency and is starting for Chicago.
Butler's first-ever selection for Buffalo and his top choice in 1988 was running back Thurman Thomas, who was chosen in the second round after 27 other teams had passed on him. Buffalo's top choice in 1989 wasn't until the third round when the Bills selected wide receiver Don Beebe, who went on to perform on six Super Bowl teams. Butler then looked to his alma mater, the University of Illinois, for the Bills' number one choice in 1991 - a cornerback-turned-safety named Henry Jones, Football `91. Jones earned Pro Bowl honors in 1993, his first season as a starter. It also took John Fina, Buffalo's top choice in 1992, just one season to become a starter at left tackle. In 1993, Butler and his staff looked to the Atlantic Coast Conference to select cornerback Thomas Smith from the University of North Carolina. Cornerback Jeff Burris from Notre Dame was Buffalo's top selection in 1994 and set a Bills' record for most punt return yards in his rookie season.
Butler and his staff found outstanding players in the last six NFL drafts (1995-2000) despite not selecting higher than 14th. Offensive lineman Ruben Brown from the University of Pittsburgh lived up to his 1995 first-round selection (14th overall) by being voted to the Pro Bowl in each of the past five seasons (1996-2000). In 1996, Butler selected wide receiver Eric Moulds with the 24th overall selection. Recognized as one of the top receivers in the league, Moulds earned Pro Bowl honors in 1998 after setting a franchise single-season record and leading the AFC with 1,368 receiving yards. Moulds once again earned Pro Bowl honors after ranking fourth in the AFC with 1,326 receiving yards.
Running back Antowain Smith, the team's top selection in 1997, finished his rookie year as the NFL's third-leading rookie rusher. Marcellus Wiley, the team's second-round selection in 1997, took over the Bills starting defensive end spot for the departed Bruce Smith in 2000 and finished with 65 tackles and a team-high 10.5 sacks. Linebacker Sam Cowart was the Bills top selection in 1998 and led the team in tackles in 1999 and 2000. Cowart was named to his first Pro Bowl following the 2000 season after recording 130 tackles, 5.5 sacks and two interceptions.
Cornerback Antoine Winfield, Buffalo's top selection in 1999, has recorded 98 tackles and three interceptions over the past two seasons (1999-2000). After choosing Winfield in the first round of the 1999 draft, the Bills selected wide receiver Peerless Price from the University of Tennessee in the second round. Over the past two years, Price has caught 83 passes for 1,155 yards and six touchdowns. Buffalo's first-round pick in 2000, defensive end Erik Flowers, finished his rookie season with 20 tackles, two sacks and one interception.
Butler has also gained recognition for his ability to take advantage of free agency. Butler brought in wide receiver Billy Brooks in 1993, who caught a team record 11 touchdown passes in 1995. The 1995 signing of linebacker Bryce Paup, the NFL's 1995 Defensive Most Valuable Player, and nose tackle Ted Washington, who went to two Pro Bowls, were particularly notable. In 1996, Butler acquired linebacker Chris Spielman from the Detroit Lions. In just his first year with the Bills, Spielman set a new team record with 206 tackles. During the 1998 offseason, Butler signed Canadian Football League MVP Doug Flutie and then negotiated a trade with Jacksonville to acquire Rob Johnson, giving the Bills one of the best quarterback tandems in the league. Also during the 1998 offseason, Butler bolstered Buffalo's roster by signing fullback Sam Gash, who earned two Pro Bowl berths, and offensive lineman Joe Panos from the Philadelphia Eagles.
Prior to entering the NFL, Butler was a member of the United States Football League's Chicago Blitz staff, serving in a number of capacities, including Director of College Scouting for three years. He also coached the tight ends and offensive line at various times, serving under head coaches George Allen and Marv Levy during his tenure with the Blitz. In fact, Butler has the unique distinction of serving with three head coaches who have each posted over 100 NFL career victories - Allen, Levy and Don Coryell.
"He knows personnel, he works hard, he builds morale, he gets the best out of everybody in the organization," said Levy. "He's a unique individual and, believe me, I don't respond this way very often. I think the world of the man."
Before his time in the USFL, Butler coached collegiately for three seasons (1979-81) under Randy Rodgers, Football `69, at the University of Evansville, Indiana.
John Robert Butler was born August 13, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Urbana High School. He served in the Marine Corps for four years before enrolling at San Bernardino Junior College, where he played football for two seasons. He transferred to the University of Illinois where he played for one year before having his career cut short by a knee injury. John and his wife, Alice, have a daughter, Andrea (Jan. 26, 1985).
Peoria's Tony Johnson recognized as top community leader
PEORIA, Ill. --Peoria Pirates, of the Arnea2 Football League, Assistant Head Coach Tony Johnson, Football Participant `89,was selected as one of the Peoria area's top business and community leaders under the age of 40 in 2001.
The award's committee--comprised of representatives from InterBusiness Issues, News Radio 1470 WMBD and Caterpillar Inc. with sponsors RLI Corporation, OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, Illinois Central College and Lippmann's Furniture & Interiors--honored Johnson for the 8th annual community recognition "Leaders Under Forty."
Johnson has been on the coaching staff of the Peoria Pirates since their inaugural season in 1999 when they were affiliated with the IFL. A Peoria-area native who grew up in nearby Farmington, Johnson was an Academic All-American in football at the University of Illinois from 1984-1988 where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration/Marketing. Johnson played offensive tackle, appearing in the 1985 Peach Bowl, along with serving as President of the NCAA Volunteers for Youth Program.
Johnson developed the "Treasure Life Program" which brings a positive life message to students to be "Pirates" by filling their "treasure" chest each day with some of life's most valuable traits, values and experiences.
Johnson works for Caterpillar Inc. While assigned to Caterpillar's Brisbane, Australia office, Johnson volunteered his time in developing and promoting the sport of American football. He served as President of the Queensland Gridiron Football League and also coached the Australian National Team.
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Former Illini Paul Toliuszis is making a name for himself in the Florida amateur golf ranks. Paul won the 2001 Florida Mid Amateur Championship in October, as well as advancing to the Quarterfinals of the 2001 FSGA Match Play Championships in the Championship Flight.
Check out the results at the Florida State Golf Association Webpage
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Former Illini D.A. Points wins first BUY.COM TOUR title in playoff
Sept. 30, 2001
By Mark Mitchell
PGATOUR.COM contributor
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- For experiencing such a complicated ending to the BUY.COM Inland Empire Open, D.A. Points had a pretty simple idea of how he wanted to play in the $425,000 event.
The 24-year-old BUY.COM TOUR rookie said he just wanted to stay loose and try hard to not try hard.
It worked as Points earned the first victory of his career by making birdie on the third extra playoff hole to defeat Rod Pampling and Mark Wurtz.
There was nothing easy about the process to claim the $76,500 winner's paycheck that vaulted Points from 128th to 38th on the money list.
The three players ended regulation play at 21-under par. On the first playoff hole, Wurtz splashed his approach shot in water bordering the par-5 18th hole to make par. Pampling and Points each made birdie and proceeded to matched pars on the second extra hole.
Back at No. 18 for the third extra hole, Points two-putted from 65-feet for birdie while Pampling missed an 8-foot effort that would have extended the playoff.
"This week I got out of my own progress and stayed out of my own way," Points said after firing a 68 to get in the playoff.
Having made nine cuts in 15 starts prior to this week, there was no indication he was about to turn the corner and arrive at the winner's ceremony on Sunday.
"This year, I wasn't sure," Points said about winning this season. "I have always been a really strong ball striker, but was just waiting for the putts to fall."
Pampling continued the steady play that finds him third on the money list despite not winning a tournament this season. He has finished in the top three in three of the last four tournaments and wrapped up a PGA TOUR card for next year. The $279,338 earned this year is a BUY.COM TOUR record for the most money won without a victory.
"I knew it was going to be a tough day," said Pampling. "All I could do was take care of myself and see how it was at the end of the day."
Earlier in the final round, the leaderboard resembled rush hour on the Santa Monica Freeway. There were numerous players bunched without any of them breaking out of the log jam. At one point on the final nine holes, six players were tied for the lead with eight others within two shots.
Matters were made worse by gusts of wind that kicked up a dust storm causing a five-minute suspension of play. After the delay, periodic winds made scoring difficult.
The low round of the day was posted by Kelly Gibson (64).
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Nolan Nawrocki walked on to the Illinois football team and lettered for the Fighting Illini in 1998 and 1999. Hailing from Chicago (St. Rita HS), he played as a defensive back and later a linebacker for the Orange and Blue. A journalism major, Nawrocki formerly wrote for the Fighting Illini newspaper, published by the Univ. of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.
by Nolan Nawrocki
Snow covered the ground on the south side of Chicago. I would race home from school, bundle myself in layers of clothing and rush to the park with my brother to join friends for a game of tackle football. At the age of 8, I was the youngest player from the neighborhood lacing my shoes before the game. Playing with guys, some of whom were twice my size and age, I was given few opportunities to prove I belonged on that field. I could be standing wide open in the endzone, and the quarterback would dump the ball off to an older player. I would scurry back to the huddle, run another route and hope the ball would be thrown my way.
The spirit of the underdog thrives off of hunger, determination and an eagerness to prove critics wrong. I have been an underdog all my life, fighting for honor, respect and glory. Whether it was making a tackle at the park, walking on to the University of Illinois football team or trying to realize my dream of becoming a professional football player, the odds have been stacked against me. It has never stopped me from reaching for my goals until now.
It was Oct. 28, 2001, the first day of the inaugural XFL draft. I was in California with my girlfriend of six years, accompanying my brother on a business trip. The XFL had signed 1,600 athletes to professional football contracts and placed them in a draft pool of eligible candidates to be selected. As one of those athletes, the XFL draft was an opportunity to move a step closer to realizing my dream, a steppingstone to reach my ultimate destination -- the NFL. Seventy names were called the first day of the draft. My name was not one of them.
On the following day, the skies were clear as waves crashed against the side of a 19-foot Boston whaler in San Francisco's Sausalito Bay. Inside the boat's cabin were a half-dozen roses, five red and one white. Tied to the white rose was a two-tone gold ring.
I hoped two dreams would be realized that day. My girlfriend Christie walked down the aisle as a flower girl when she was 5, dreaming of the day she would get married. From an equally young age, I watched Walter Payton fight off defenders with a dogged determination and relentless drive, dreaming of the day I would compete at Soldier Field.
I had no control over being drafted, but I made certain one dream was coming true on that cool, autumn day. I woke up that morning, told my girlfriend I was going to work out and headed straight to Sausalito Bay with my brother. There we rented a boat, sped to Angel Island and looked for a place to hang a sign I had made before leaving Chicago. After spotting some trees high on a cliff, we quickly climbed the side of the hill and hurriedly tied the sign to the trees with rope. As I was tying a knot in the rope, a gust of wind swept across the hill, knocking a branch across my forehead and opening a two-inch wound.
By the time we reached the mainland and drove back to our hotel, three hours had passed. Thinking we had been exercising, my girlfriend was not too happy by our extended absence. She was even more disgruntled when I came back looking like Frankenstein, blood trickling down my forehead. To explain our absence, I told her I had dropped a dumbbell on my head and had to stay at the gym to fill out an injury report. Her blood was boiling, but I managed to calm her anger. I told her I had called a boat company on the way back and rented a boat for us to visit Alcatraz.
After showering quickly, we headed back out to Sausalito Bay, boarded the boat and set out toward Alcatraz. As the boat jumped waves, I kept one hand on the railing and tried to keep the other hand still to snap pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. Soon Alcatraz was within our sights, as well as the jewel of the bay, Angel Island. The engine slowed as the boat neared the island.
High on a cliff was a blue bed sheet tied between two trees. Painted on the sheet in white letters were the words, "Will you marry me Christie?" Not wearing her glasses, Christie didn't notice the sign, at least not until I stood up, walked to the cabin and pulled out the roses. I pointed to the sign, dropped down on one knee, removed the white rose and presented it to my future bride.
While my personal life was sailing smoothly, my football career felt as though it had hit a bed of rocks. The draft was complete the following day. A total of 560 players had been drafted, but my name had never been called. It was disheartening to learn, but overcoming adversity was not foreign to me. I thought back to the advice I received in training camp during the summer of 1998.
Former Illini WR John Wright Sr. (1965-67), now CEO of the Wright Financial Group, walked into the team meeting room carrying a black, leather bag containing two items -- an unloaded 9 mm Colt, semiautomatic handgun with a laser sight and 10 bricks of tightly packaged bills totaling $1 million. He picked up the gun, turned on the gun's laser pointer, aimed it at the wall and said, "Our philosophies in life are like a laser. We are an energy source, and our philosophy guides us just like a laser guides a bullet. If you point that laser on the wall, and you squeeze that trigger, all that energy from that bullet is going to go right where that laser is. If your philosophy is controlling all of your energy, you can do amazing things when you focus your aim. The difference between a flashlight and a laser is nothing more than focus."
Wright picked up a few bricks of money, each $100,000, and tossed them into the crowd of players. After he relocated the bricks that players tried hiding, Wright said anybody in the room was capable of attaining the wealth in his bag. He said success boils down to mental toughness.
"The definition of mental toughness is the ability to be at your best on command -- skill in controlling your emotions," Wright said. "If you really believe that and work at it, you can be at your best on command. But that's a trained skill, nobody was born mentally tough. ... If you don't like the way something is in your life, you have a choice of how you are going to respond. Mental mush accepts life as it is. The mentally tough individual evaluates what he does not like and seeks to change it."
After Wright had finished speaking to the team, I walked out of the meeting revitalized. I was not happy with my third-string position on the team, and the great thing was, I had an opportunity to change it. The next time I buckled my chin strap, I was going to make sure I did everything in my power to earn a spot on the field. I found a new sense of purpose.
Two weeks later, the team was preparing to play our first opponent -- defending Pac-10 champion Washington State. While I had practiced as a safety at Illinois, head coach Ron Turner thought I would serve the team best by imitating WSU All-Pac-10 LB Steve Gleason on the scout team that week. I relished the opportunity. WSU employed an attacking, blitz-intensive defense, and Gleason was the center of its attack.
As I pulled Gleason's No. 34 jersey over my shoulder pads before practice, Wright's words kept reverberating through my head. I had played three years on the defensive scout team and had nothing to show for it. I didn't like the way things were, and now was the time to change it.
The blow horn sounded, signaling a change of period. The team had just finished stretching and completing a special-teams period. The next period was group "run" -- a period that allows the offense to execute its running plays against the upcoming opponent's defense. It is nine-on-nine -- no receivers needed -- first-team offense vs. scout-team defense. It was my time to shine, to show coaches and players that I wasn't happy with my role, and I was ready to step up to heightened responsibilities.
The play was called. My job was to blitz the B gap between the guard and tackle on the snap of the ball and disrupt the backfield. As Illinois QB Kurt Kittner called the cadence, my anger grew. I had given so much of my life to Illinois football. I dedicated countless hours in the weight room, spent hours at practice every day and nights watching film. Playing college football was no different from working a job and going to school. I gave at least 20 hours a week to the team, and where had it gotten me?
Kittner shouted, "Red 19, Red 19, set, hut."
The ball was snapped. Like a launched missile, I shot between guard and tackle, stunned the fullback five yards deep in the backfield as he was coming out of his stance, and grabbed the jersey of the tailback being handed the ball.
The OL coach sounded his whistle in frustration and yelled, "Line it up. Back on the ball."
We walked through the play, allowing the linemen and fullback to learn their assignments and pick up the blitz.
Every time a blitz was called, I fought my way into the backfield. If I wasn't blitzing, I was reading, reacting and looking for someone to attack. I played like a bear that had just watched his cubs' carcasses being dragged from a lion's jaw. In the game of football, you are either the hunter or the hunted, the seeker or the sought. I am a Darwinist. I believe in the survival of the fittest. I enjoy hunting, and I craved the opportunity to "hunt" on Saturdays.
The NCAA allows 65 players to travel to away games. About 120 players usually comprise the Illinois team. After every Thursday's practice, a list would be posted in the locker room of the 65 players who would be traveling. As players would file into the locker room after practice, starting players would walk by the list and yell in jest, "Yesssss, I made the traveling team," without looking at the list. While humorous, it burned me that I wouldn't be on the list.
After Thursday's practice prior to the WSU game, special-teams coach Greg McMahon visited me at my locker. He said coach Turner liked my intensity in practice all week and wanted me on the field. For the first time, I joined the traveling team.
When game time arrived, I was eager to get on the field. I was told to be ready to run downfield on the kickoff unit. I envisioned myself sprinting 40 yards full speed, eluding blockers and delivering a thunderous blow reminiscent of NFL special-teams kamikazes Steve Tasker and Larry Izzo. Like a movie, I kept rewinding that scene and playing it over and over again in my mind. On the sideline, I felt like a mental-health patient strapped to a bed in an insane asylum. Constrained to the white chalk on the sideline, I desperately wanted to get on that field, but I would have to wait until our next game against Middle Tennessee State.
When I was a freshman, my mother snapped photos of me standing on the sideline around an Illinois defensive huddle, which included future NFL defensive players Simeon Rice and Kevin Hardy. When the photos were developed, I was embarrassed she had taken them. I told her to save her film for when I was playing in a game, not standing on the sideline. After three years of waiting, she finally got the opportunity. With the team riding an 18-game losing streak, I was going to step on the field during a live game for the first time since high school.
As we took the field for kickoff, adrenaline rushed through my body. I raced downfield as fast as I could and continued straight through the endzone as we were coached to do when the ball was kicked past the uprights. Most walk-ons quit before they ever experience a live snap. Many scholarship athletes flunk out, quit or transfer without ever stepping on the field in the heat of battle. My mother knew how much I had dedicated my life to get to this point. Without her strong support and the support of my father, I very well may never have been on the field that day. My success was their success. As we were breaking the huddle before the kickoff, a tear formed in my mother's eye and streamed down her cheek as she focused her camera. As I took the field, the camera clicked. She snapped as many photos as she could.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock, we were in control 48-20. Fans rushed the field and tried to tear down the goalposts. We did not win a national championship or clinch a birth to the Rose Bowl, but the losing streak had come to an end. My journey was just beginning.
Two games later, we were set to play Iowa. The ball was kicked off to us to start the game. My job was to help double-team a 6-2, 250-pound Iowa fullback sprinting full speed downfield. As I peeled back to make the block, I saw the ball being kicked through our endzone and slowed down. While the whistle was being sounded, the player kept running full speed and trucked my teammate who was to have joined me in the double-team block. The next time they kicked off, it was my turn. Like the first time they kicked off, I started on the front line of the kickoff-return team, peeled back 20 yards and saw the same Iowa player preparing to smear my teammate. Right before they were about to meet head-on, the Hawkeye noticed me coming at him full throttle, too late to avoid. I buried my helmet under his chin and brought his acceleration to a burning halt, knocking him straight off his feet and opening a wide lane. Illini KR Rocky Harvey scooted behind my block and returned the ball 47 yards.
After playing on special teams that year, I earned my first college letter. Because I redshirted my freshman season, I had a fifth year of eligibility remaining. I was set to graduate in four years and had to make a decision. Would I continue playing my fifth year and work toward my goal of playing professional football or graduate and step into the workforce?
In my first four years, the team's records were 5-5-1, 3-8, 0-11, and 3-8. I had never been to a college bowl game. Twenty-four seniors were returning the following year, the strongest senior class that had been at Illinois since I arrived. We all had one thing in common: We wanted to go to a bowl game. My decision was simple. I would enroll in graduate school and complete my final year of eligibility.
When the spring football season began, I knew time was running out. That spring, I participated in more plays than any other linebacker. Due to injuries to two starting linebackers, I was working with the first-team defense. In the spring game, I led the defense with seven tackles and two forced fumbles. I felt as though I was slowly creeping closer to realizing my dream of playing professional football.
Before my final season, the senior class decided it was going to implement some new team rules to help us get to a bowl game. Along with banning alcohol consumption during the season, we agreed upon attending a nonstop 24-hour military program at the Experimental Training Center in Homer, Ill. -- about 25 miles southeast of Champaign.
I awoke at 4 a.m. on July 24, 1999, and began my trek to Champaign from Chicago in the dark. After two hours of traveling, I met the team at Memorial Stadium, and we headed to the center. The program is used to train soldiers and law-enforcement officers. Among the activities planned, the whole team had to complete a rigorous obstacle course without touching the ground. If any player touched the ground, the whole team had to restart the activity.
Ten different players took turns trying to complete the course, each touching the ground. With every attempt, we learned a new way to conquer an obstacle. Soon a system was set in place. Players would complete one part of the obstacle and wait to assist the next person before moving on. With the sun blistering to the tune of 96-degree heat, we finished the task in six hours. The activity forced the team to work together and continually experiment by trial and error until a surefire solution was achieved.
According to program director Andy Casavant, the program is memorable to many people because, in addition to teaching teamwork, it forces participants to accomplish feats on their own. Participants are given nothing beforehand, and facilitators will not answer any question in regard to an assignment. Just as in football, people must achieve as individuals before putting it all together as a collective unit.
"Of experimental base training, the main purpose is to allow the participants to discover, through the experience, answers," Casavant said. "Contrary to popular teaching, the less we say, and the more you do, the more you learn, and the better it is. Participants have to learn and do everything on their own, which is important because we know just from adult learning methodology that, as a trainer or teacher, when you get involved, even if you have good intentions, you still reduce the student's feeling of accomplishment. They like to know that they did it."
Two other tasks in the program involved scaling a five-story wall and completing a series of high-wire tasks on a platform three stories high with nothing but ground below. From an early age, I have always had a natural fear of heights. That same fear caused one 6-7, 305-pound offensive lineman to hyperventilate as he began the task. I did not hyperventilate, but the task was equally petrifying to me. Instead of concentrating on my fear, I listened to the instructors and focused on the task. Worrying about the consequence of falling only hindered my performance. I learned fear is only a factor if you let it be. To complete a task successfully, you must be able to block out negative energy and concentrate on the task at hand.
With everyone healthy during the season, my role diminished to playing only on special teams again, and I was back competing with the scout team. While I did not compete as much as I would have liked on Saturdays, I was competing against our first-team offense every day in practice. In my final season, I played against the most productive offense in Illinois history, which averaged 407 yards a game and scored 388 points. In my time at Illinois, I regularly competed against OG J.P. Machado (New York Jets), C Tom Schau (Green Bay Packers), OG Ryan Schau (Philadelphia Eagles), FB Robert Holcombe (St. Louis Rams) and TE Matt Cushing (Pittsburgh Steelers). I banged heads with them every day, and they all went on to play professionally. I hoped to join them at the next level.
Shortly after the XFL draft, the Arena Football League announced it would be hosting tryouts for its newest team, the Chicago Rush. I quickly contacted the Rush and continued to train my body for hours every day.
I lifted weights for more than an hour every day, five days a week, and ran for another hour. I sought out former landfills, such as the hill Walter Payton used to climb in Arlington Heights (now Nickol Knoll golf course) and the hill known as Mt. Trashmore that the 1995 Northwestern Rose Bowl football team surmounted in Evanston. Climbing that treacherous hill united a Northwestern team that hadn't gone to a bowl game since 1949 and made it the college football story of the season. Drenched in sweat, I would run up and down the hills 10 times initially, gradually working my way up to running it 20 times as Sweetness did. The workouts were so exhausting they left me dizzy and vomiting, as Payton claimed they would do to him.
I also sought out the advice of speed coach Tim Graf in Joliet. After correcting my running technique, I decreased my 40-time two-tenths of a second to the mid-4.4s. I weighed 226 pounds and bench-pressed 225 pounds 27 times, the same number that NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Brian Urlacher performed the lift at the NFL's Indianapolis Scouting Combine.
I had the speed and strength, but I did not have much game experience. Every time I'd try to get my foot in the door of professional football, people would ask for game films, and I hadn't played much more than special teams. The other issue was my height and weight.
While I did not meet prototypical NFL size standards for a linebacker (6-2, 240) at 5-10 3/4, I hoped my above-average strength and speed would compensate for the difference. Sam Mills (5-9, 225), Zach Thomas (5-11, 235), Dat Nguyen (5-11, 231), Dexter Coakley (5-10, 228), London Fletcher (510, 241) -- the list of dominant, undersized NFL linebackers goes on. My dream was to add my name to that list.
When the Arena tryout came, roughly 100 players were in attendance. Team personnel evaluators quickly tested our speed and strength before moving on to the real test. They wheeled out a stack of shoulder pads and helmets and began lining players across from one another. On the sound of a whistle, I had one of two objectives -- touch the cone behind a blocker or prevent a defender from getting to the cone. Each player rotated between the positions of fullback and linebacker.
Every time I lined up in a two-point stance on defense, I ran full speed, bull-rushed or ripped past the blocker and tapped the cone. Every time I crouched down in a three-point stance on offense, I fired off the ball and met the oncoming linebacker on his side of the line of scrimmage. None of them got near the cone. The team video-recorded our play and advised all players not to contact the team. They would review the tape. If they were interested in you, they would find you. A month passed. I was never contacted.
While I knew they only planned to take a few of the 100-or-so players at the tryout, I felt as if I had come close to domination. Had my lack of playing experience been too much for me to overcome?
You choose your battles. You choose the path you take in life. I believe in choosing goals and going after them wholeheartedly. I spent the last six months running, lifting, consulting speed coaches, reading books about conditioning and technique, contacting different agents, sending articles about myself to teams. I visited the Chicago Bears' summer camp in Platteville, Wis., for the first time and took note of linebacker drills. I played racquetball, basketball, practiced tae kwon do and boxed -- all to improve my quickness, hand-eye coordination and flexibility. With my head down and legs pumping, I pushed my rusted 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 up a hill as I had read Tampa Bay FB Mike Alstott had done to strengthen his legs in college. I ran up toboggan sleds so steep that my legs could be pumping full speed and I would only be moving at the pace of a jog.
As Vince Lombardi said, "The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender." I worked hard and with the creation of the XFL and the expansion of the Arena League, two new professional football teams were coming to Chicago at the same time I happened to be graduating. I thought it was destiny -- that I was meant to play football in Chicago. I tried everything I could to get a chance, but it has not come.
It's a time that inevitably comes in every athlete's life. The helmet transforms from a weapon and shield to protect the head to a symbol of pride and loyalty adorning a player's living room or office. New battles are waged. The time comes to put one dream to rest and begin realizing another. For some, it comes in high school, for others, after injury or a lengthy professional career. For me, it has come sooner than expected. What's important to me is that I tried. I didn't want to live my life with any regrets, wondering what could have been.
In high school, I looked at NFL draft statistics. More than 90 percent of athletes drafted into the NFL came from Division I programs. If I was going to play in the NFL, my chances would be greatest if I played against the best competition in the country. Not receiving any Division I scholarship offers, I quickly made up my mind. I would walk on to a Division I program. It would require taking out many college loans, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. If I couldn't play with the best, I wanted to know it.
After settling on Illinois, my high school football coach at St. Rita, Todd Wernet, told me I should be prepared to face a situation similar to the one experienced by the title character in the movie "Rudy" -- overcome by bigger, stronger and faster athletes. When I arrived in Champaign, I was surprised to find that I was one of biggest and strongest players in the defensive secondary. I had played linebacker in high school and had trained all summer long for this opportunity. My size and strength were up to par with most college safeties. What I quickly realized is that another factor is more important than size -- the ability to run.
On my first day of practice, the team had already completed summer camp. It was the first day walk-ons were dressed in helmets and shoulder pads. Special-teams coach McMahon was working on a double-team drill -- a drill players like to call "suicide" for walk-ons. The walk-ons take their turn running downfield before facing two blockers, one who is coming straight on and setting up the walk-on to be blindsided by another blocker. While walk-ons are preparing to elude the oncoming blocker, they very often are decleated before they ever see the blind-side block. With players like future NFL LB Kevin Hardy delivering these blocks, it was not uncommon for walk-ons to get knocked five yards in the air or get somersaulted before landing on their backs.
The first time I donned the orange and blue helmet, I raced downfield as hard as I could, ran past the blind-side blocker and crashed into the oncoming blocker. As he was falling on his back, the blocker grabbed onto my shorts to brace himself, and ripped them right off. Coach McMahon ran to the site of the collision, screaming, "Yeahhhhhh, I like this kid! What's your name, son?" He directed an equipment manager to get me a new pair of shorts.
As a freshman, team doctors tested players' body composition. To play in the defensive secondary, a player's body fat is expected to be 5-8 percent in order to have the stamina to play an entire game. After learning my body fat composition was 12 percent, I quickly changed my diet and began working to decrease my body fat. I started eating lean chicken, vegetables and raw oats. Met-Rx, Myoplex and many other sports supplement drinks became a regular meal on my menu. I completely eliminated fast food from my diet -- no more McDonald's, Burger King or White Castle. When I reported to summer camp the following year, my body fat was measured at 5 percent. In the weight room, I became the all-time leading strength leader at the safety position. Weighing 201 pounds, my combined total of 1,170 pounds for the squat (550), power clean (275) and bench press (345) was more than any safety had ever lifted at Illinois.
Keeping my body in peak physical condition became a religion to me. To be efficient in any endeavor, you need the right tools. My body became an instrument to my success on the field. I wanted to make sure that I was doing everything to provide myself with the optimal opportunity for success. I even geared part of my college education toward improving my sport performance. I took several courses focusing on the anatomy of the body related to sport performance. I wrote several papers and articles about physical training. I contacted NFL players, such as Tampa Bay S John Lynch, and picked their brains for knowledge that could enhance my performance. I read books, bought special training equipment and did everything in my power to move closer to my goal.
Former President Calvin Coolidge once said, "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not, Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not, Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not, The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race."
Coolidge's words sit framed on my desk, and I look at them every morning when I rise. As an avid believer in persistence and determination, it has been extremely difficult letting go of my dreams. If I had given up after high school, I would never have become a two-year letterman, four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and Fighting Illini all-time strength leader. I watched the plight of Kurt Warner and how he beat the odds to become a Super Bowl MVP. I know there's a sliver of a chance that I might be able to follow in his steps and in the steps of every NFL athlete who has overcome adversity to get where he is. But reason has finally overcome me.
In my Arena tryout, I had roughly 15 full-contact collisions with opposing players. After not buckling a chin strap for more than a year, it took my body about five days before I felt fully recovered from the impact. In my 13 years of organized football, the worst injury that I sustained occurred in seventh grade. Games were played at a local park, which was poorly maintained. After making a tackle, a piece of glass lodged in my hand as I pushed myself off the ground to stand up. I quickly removed the glass, but my hand was bleeding uncontrollably. I ran to the sideline to have it taped so I could get back in the game, but my coach quickly summoned my father. The wound was going to require stitches, the only serious injury I have sustained in football.
I have never broken any bones or torn any ligaments, at least not to my knowledge. In college, I've had double vision in one of my eyes, had my shin gashed by metal cleats and felt my arms and neck go numb on several occasions, but I've never taken myself out of a game or practice since that childhood game. It is the nature of the gladiator to assume and withstand pain in the heat of battle. If the opportunity had arisen to play professional football, I would just as quickly have withstood more pain for the opportunity. In retrospect, however, the game takes a tremendous toll on one's body.
After 15 years in the NFL, Hall of Fame C Jim Otto could no longer get out of bed without assistance when he was 36. I will soon have a wife to support, and it will be as important to her as it is to me to show concern for my body. Along with a new family, I have other goals and larger contributions I would like to make to society. While it has not been easy letting go of my football dreams, I am excited about the new opportunities and challenges that abound beyond football.
The lessons I have learned in football are invaluable, and I will take them with me in whatever I do. According to sociological research, Chicago is one of the most segregated communities in the country. Neighborhoods are divided by race and ethnicity, and tensions brew from those divisions. On the field, it doesn't matter what color your skin is or what neighborhood you came from. All that matters is that you work together and get the job done. In my five years at Illinois, I was exposed to different cultures and different races and learned that race provides no indication of what type of person someone is.
I have learned the importance of suppressing one's ego for the good of the team. When I arrived at Illinois, few players were quick to acknowledge me. Walk-ons come and go in college sports. Twenty-six walk-ons started their careers at Illinois when I did. Two finished. In five years, many passed through the locker room, so it's natural that players don't give walk-ons much attention until they have shown they are committed to the cause. I could have walked away after four years like several scholarship players who forwent their final year of eligibility. Instead I contributed to bringing Illinois to its first bowl game in five years. I helped rookies break down film, encouraged them to put in extra time in the weight room and helped them adjust from being a high school sensation to a college role player. I was not an All-Big Ten performer, but I was a senior, and I exerted what leadership I could to the team.
In college football, if you are not 10 minutes early to meetings, you are considered late. If you miss a block, the ballcarrier gets smeared. Not completing your assignments hurts the team more than it hurts you. And if you don't make those blocks, you don't see the field. Competition is fierce. You prepare and execute, or you don't play. Playing college football has taught me what it means to prepare and to overcome competition.
When I came to Illinois in 1995, the team was coming off an impressive Liberty Bowl victory. In my first two years, we did not go to a bowl, and our coach was fired. A new coaching staff was hired, and we did not win a single game the next year. Losing takes a toll on a person's self-worth. During that 0-11 season, head coach Ron Turner said he was embarrassed to go out in public. He hated losing as any fierce competitor does and didn't even want to visit the barber to have his hair cut. He didn't want to deal with the questions. He just wanted to bury himself in his work and get things right. As times worsened, many players quit or transferred to other schools. When I came to Illinois, there were so many players on the team that I had to share a locker with another player as many walk-ons did. During that winless season, fewer than 100 of the 124 lockers were filled. I have been through the good times and the bad at Illinois. I stayed loyal to my team. As we struggled, my commitment only grew stronger. I saw it as an opportunity and dedicated myself more to the cause.
Since I was 13 years old, I have been lifting weights to improve my athletic performance. I read research stating you lose 5 percent of your strength with every week you do not train. Since that time, a week has not gone by where I have not trained. Anytime I have gone on vacation, I found a place to exercise. If not, I would wake up in the morning and run or do push-ups, sit-ups and other exercises not requiring equipment. Every year when many teammates are in Cancun on spring break, I have been at home, in the gym, on the track, trying to advance one step ahead of the competition. Through sports, I have not only learned how to stay dedicated to a cause, but have learned a new appreciation for health. My football career may be over, but I will still train hard and eat healthy foods.
Life will never match our plans exactly how we want, but that doesn't mean you cannot continue to fulfill other dreams. As former Illinois coach Lou Tepper preached, life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it. There will always be something we wished we had or hadn't done. Life is always going to throw you setbacks, but it's not important how many times you get knocked down. What's important is that you get back up, counter those punches with more jabs and more hooks and keep trying to land that knockout shot.
It was late in the final quarter of the MicronPC.com Bowl in Miami. My knees were bent, back arched and arms hanging above my knees in linebacker form. My eyes were glued on the hips of the tailback. On the snap of the ball, the tailback took a step to the right. I mirrored his movement, shuffled a step to the right and saw the C gap opening between the tackle and end. I sprinted to the gap and met the ballcarrier as he stepped through the hole, making the final tackle of the millennium for Illinois in what would be a 63-21 victory over Virginia. When the game ended, I looked up in the stands at my waving family and knew it might be the last time I stood on the fighting grounds of a coliseum.
It was unclear whether I would have a chance in the NFL, but I had come a long way since my days as an 8-year-old standing uncovered in the corner of the endzone, only to be ignored by the older players. With my football aspirations now behind me, I think back to all the adversity I have overcome. I think back to a quote I heard by Justice Benjamin Cardozo in a psychology class my sophomore year in college: "In the end, the great truth will have been learned, that the quest is greater than what is sought, the effort finer than the prize, the victory cheap and hollow were it not for the rigor of the game."
I think of how my children, when conceived, will heed my past actions as much as my words and hope they, too, will never give up on themselves. I think not of my loss, but of my gain. One chapter of my life has been written, and I am ready to begin forging another. As I walked off that field, I was energized by the thought that I had walked down the long road, fought the hard fight and never stopped trying. I may have made my last tackle, but I will take all that I've learned and continue to tackle obstacles, continue to fight adversity and continue to prove critics wrong.
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Marcus Griffin
College: Illinois
| 2000-01 Statistics
Year: Senior
Height: 6-9
Weight: 235 lbs.
Position: Forward
Birthplace: Peoria, IL
Highlights
Third-Team All-Big Ten pick by the media as a senior
Seond-leading scorer (11.3 ppg) for Illinois last season
His 85 blocks rank second on the Illinois career list
Scouting Report:
Really creates his own shot in the lane ... Gets deep position very well ... Good footwork on turnaround, nice little half-hook ... Fabulous drop step and up and under ... Goes quickly into his shot, beating the double team before it ever arrives ... Has a soft release but needs to work on his accuracy ... Has a propensity for missing far too many close range, easy shots and putting an end to this bad habit is an absolute must ... Okay as a rebounder, he has always had a reputation as one since his high school days but has never been able to establish himself as a dominant one ... Where he excels is as a shotblocker, he has exquisite timing and the lateral speed on defense to stay in front of his opponent ... Highly regarded prospect out of junior college as well as high school ... Teammate at the prep level with fromer Illini teammates Frank Williams and Sergio McClain.
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Former Illini hopes his pitching machine is a shot in the arm
By BOB ASMUSSEN
The News-Gazette
Former Illini hopes his pitching machine is a shot in the arm
The St. Louis Cardinals have tried using Rick Ankiel in the majors. They have tried sending him to Memphis. They have tried simulated games for the troubled pitcher.
Maybe, they should just call Jeff Martin.
The former Mahomet-Seymour and Illinois pitcher is easy enough to find. He spends his days selling cars at Twin City BMW. But a luxury car won't fix Ankiel's problem.
Martin's invention, The Pitching Coach, might do the trick.
Developed after 1 1/2 years of work, The Pitching Coach is a machine meant to help with throwing mechanics. When Martin gains his patent, expected soon, it will be the first device of its kind.
Just in time for a guy like Ankiel, who has a bad case of the wilds. "He's got some mechanical flaws that he could possibly work on," Martin said. "It might be if he worked with it, and he got it out of the mental thing and just worked on his mechanics, it might overcome a lot of the different things. He's got a great arm."
Martin knows about great arms. He had one as a high school senior at Mahomet-Seymour, earning News-Gazette Player of the Year honors in 1992 and getting drafted by the Seattle Mariners.
His great arm started to fail at Illinois. Twice, Martin had elbow surgery. He hurt his shoulder. A promising career ended prematurely. Would The Pitching Coach have saved Martin's arm? Maybe.
"It can help prevent injuries," Martin said. "It can maximize one's ability."
Martin first started thinking about The Pitching Coach during rehab for his arm injuries. The Illinois coaches had the players work on drills to improve mechanics. The drills were used to keep the motion in line each step of the way.
The Pitching Coach is designed to mirror the Illinois drills. Built on a metal tripod, the machine has a spring-loaded bar that releases when a pitcher has the proper mechanics.
"It puts you in the power position," Martin said. "You're not using just your arm, you're using your whole body."
When he was pitching, Martin had a tendency to rush his pitches. That meant his body was out in front of his arm, putting stress on his elbow and shoulder.
It's the same problem Randy Johnson had early in his major league career. And Pedro Martinez. The Pitching Coach can help fix it. "People with the best mechanics right now are Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Aaron Sele, Mike Mussina," Martin said. "They're controlling their bodies and they can control their pitches. That's what pitching is, being able to control it. It's not being able to blow everybody away all the time."
The Pitching Coach should also eliminate a player's tendency to fall to one side of the mound after letting fly. Remember Philadelphia closer Mitch Williams nearly hitting the ground after every pitch? That isn't a good habit to develop.
"If you have an improper follow through, it does a couple things wrong," Martin said. "It inhibits your control. You want all your momentum going toward your target. And it can cause injury. You have all that force going at once."
Martin hopes to put his invention on the market during the summer. Retailing for $999, The Pitching Coach will be targeted to colleges, high schools and pro teams. That's a good-sized potential market. The Pitching Coach is being produced by Loda Electronics. Soon, the product will have its own Web site, www.thepitchingcoach.com, which will include a virtual demonstration.
Martin doesn't know why there isn't already a machine to help with pitching mechanics.
"A lot of people say, 'Pitching is 90 percent of the game. It's the most important thing,' " Martin said. "It's weird that most of the tools that you find in a catalog are for hitters and fielders. There are very few items on the market that are for pitchers, to actually teach throwing. This is the first one that teaches you everything."
Someday, maybe The Pitching Coach will be featured on a Fox Sports commercial. With Rick Ankiel as the spokesman.
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Sullivan and Cook Taken in 2001 NFL Draft
Five Illini sign free agent contracts
Jameel Cook along with Marques Sullivan have been selected in the 2001 NFL Draft
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University of Illinois offensive tackle Marques Sullivan and fullback Jameel Cook were selected in the fifth and sixth rounds, respectively, of the 2001 National Football League Amateur Draft, Sunday afternoon.
With the 144th pick in the fifth round, the Buffalo Bills selected Sullivan, who will join former Illini John Holecek and Henry Jones on the squad. Sullivan was a four-year starter for Illinois who earned Playboy preseason All-American honors last season. He was a two-time All-Big Ten second-team selection and led the offensive line with 71 knockdowns in 2000.
"I am very excited about heading to Buffalo," Sullivan said. "I think it will be a good opportunity for me and I hope to have a chance to play. I feel like I am prepared for the league because of the great experience of four years in Coach (Ron) Turner's system. It was unfortunate not to be drafted on Saturday, but I think I am in a good situation now."
Jameel Cook was the second Illini drafted as the 174th pick of the sixth round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Cook switched to fullback midway through the 1999 season to give Illinois another offensive threat out of the backfield, catching six touchdown passes in his career. He totaled 60 catches for 506 career receiving yards and 526 yards rushing with the Illini.
"I couldn't be heading to a better situation than Tampa Bay," Cook said. "Coach Dungy told me earlier that it's just myself and Mike Alstott at fullback and the sky is the limit. I can't thank Coach Turner enough because the Buccaneers run a similar offensive system that we ran here. I can take what I learned from he and Coach (Jim) Helms and just go and get better. Plus I will be playing just three or four hours from home (Miami, Fla.)."
Following Sunday's draft, five Illinois football players signed free agent contracts with NFL teams. Defensive end Fred Wakefield signed on with the Arizona Cardinals, tight end Josh Whitman will head to the Buffalo Bills, cornerback Trayvon Waller inked with the New Orleans Saints, offensive guard Ray Redziniak will play for the New York Giants and long snapper Nathan Hodel signed on with the Carolina Panthers.
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NORTHERN ILLINOIS NAMES EX-ILLINI TWO-SPORT MAN GEORGE McDONALD AS
RECEIVERS COACH
DeKALB, IL --- Northern Illinois
University head football coach Joe Novak announced Monday (June 4)
that former University of Illinois football and track standout George
McDonald will take over as the Huskies' wide receivers coach,
replacing Sidney McNairy who resigned to pursue opportunities in
professional football.
The 25-year-old McDonald will join the
Northern Illinois program next week after spending spring practice at
Bucknell (PA) University as wide receivers coach under head man Tom
Gadd and a year at Ball State University as a graduate assistant for
ex-Huskie offensive coordinator Bill Lynch.
"George is a sharp, young man with a
promising future in coaching," Novak said. "He was a two-sport
athlete at Illinois and a great receiver and return man there. There's no
doubt that he can utilize the knowledge from his playing days and relate
to our kids. (Current NIU offensive coordinator) Danny Roushar knew
him when he was at Illinois and Bill Lynch speaks very highly of
him."
At BSU last autumn, McDonald worked with
the Cardinals' Multiple I offense in his first collegiate assignment.Ball
State won five of its last seven games against a schedule ranked the 30th
toughest in the National Collegiate
Athletic Association Division 1-A ranks. Lynch's ballclub wound up No. 34
in NCAA team rushing (164.8 ypg. average).
McDonald is the third new face on the 2001
Northern Illinois full-time staff, along with offensive guards and centers
coach Frank Kurth and runningbacks assistant DeAndre Smith
who replaced Paul "Rocky" Alt, now head coach at
Otterbein College, and Jay Boulware, now an aide at the University
of Arizona, earlier this spring.
"This certainly is a great opportunity
for me to work at Northern Illinois," McDonald said. "(Coach)
Joe Novak is well-known in the coaching community. I know they have some
quality wide receivers in the Huskie program and, hopefully, I'll be able
to help them improve. The Mid-American Conference is a great coaches'
league. As a young coach, you could not ask for a better learning
opportunity." Asked who will win the upcoming Huskie-Illini football
game in Champaign on September 8, McDonald replied: "Northern
Illinois, of course."
Recruited by Lou Tepper at Illinois
in 1994, McDonald lettered in football (4) and track (2). During his
Illini grid career, he made 57 career receptions for 589 yards and four
touchdowns, plus returned 57 career kickoffs for 1,276 yards in 44 games
(1995-98). In track, McDonald ran as a frosh and a senior, earning
First-Team All-Big Ten Conference honors and winning the league's 60-meter
dash indoor crown with a school-record :06.74 timing in 1999.
His name appears all over the KO return
section in the U of I football record book. McDonald holds three Illinois
kickoff return standards---(1) single-game returns (5, vs. Michigan State
in 1996), (2) single-season returns (31 in 1996), and (3) single-season
yardage (736 in 1996).
In addition, the former Illini wide
receiver ranks No. 7 on the school's career kickoff return average list
(22.4-yard average in 1995-98) and No. 9 on the single-season KO return
average (23.7 ypr. in 1996). McDonald also rates No. 2 in career Illinois
KO return yards (1,276). In 1996, he led the Big Ten in kickoff returns
and finished 26th nationally in that statistical category.
McDonald wound up third in team receiving
as a junior with 27 catches for 330 yards and two TDs in 1997. That season
he caught a career-best six passes for 47 yards and scored on an
end-around rush vs. Louisville, grabbed a 22-yard scoring aerial vs.
Southern Mississippi, caught three passes for 69 yards---including a
career-long 46-yarder---vs. Wisconsin, and pulled in a 28-yard TD
reception vs. Iowa.
In 1996, McDonald made 12 catches for 79
yards and finished second on the team behind Robert Holcombe in
all-purpose yardage with 816. As a red-shirt frosh at Illinois, he moved
from runningback to receiver and managed 10 receptions for 126 yards.
As a prep at Buena Park (CA) High School,
McDonald also starred in football and track. Selected by MVP of the
Freeway League in suburban Los Angeles, he was listed as an All-America
pick by Tom Lemming and All-Far West selection by SuperPrep
on the gridiron during his senior year in 1993 for coach Bob Rau.
McDonald spent most of his final campaign as an option
quarterback---rushing for 983 yards and 16 TDs, plus throwing for 500
more. In track, he was a three-time loop champ in the 100 and twice in the
200.
McDonald received a bachelor of science
degree in planning and administration from Illinois in May, 1999, and
started on a master's degree in sports administration at Ball State. He is
engaged to Sara Sorrell of Muncie, IN.
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Jeff Laski (Tennis '00) Teams With Current Illini Brian Wilson to Win Doubles Championship at the USTA F-14 Futures of Seminole, FL.
First Round
Jeff Laski/Brian Wilson d. (4)Ivan Miranda/Ruben Torres 6-4, 6-3
Quarterfinals
Jeff Laski/Brian Wilson d. Vikrant Chadha/Nick Rainey 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 7-6(2)
Semifinals
Jeff Laski/Brian Wilson d. (2)Emanuel Couto/Pedro Pereira w/o
Finals
Jeff Laski/Brian Wilson d. Jaymon Crabb/James Sekulov 6-3, 6-2
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Women's coach leaving Augustana
Author: Dearrel Bates/ QUAD-CITY TIMES
Lisa Robinson, who has played and coached basketball her entire life in the state of Illinois, has headed West.
Robinson, a former prep standout at Annawan, Ill., who had an outstanding playing career at the University of Illinois, has resigned her position as women's coach at Augustana College.
She already is working at the University of Wyoming, where she will become an assistant to Cindy Fisher. She and Fisher were on the same staff as assistants at Illinois State University.
"This was the third time I was offered a job on Cindy's staff, and I felt this was the time to do it,'' Robinson said from her new office in Laramie, Wyo., where she was still unpacking Monday.
"I found out I missed Division I basketball more than I thought I would, although I certainly hate leaving Augustana. Augustana was a neat fit for me, and I learned a great deal in my two years there. I wouldn't trade those two years for anything.''
Robinson came to Augustana two years ago after spending time as the head girls basketball coach at Normal Community High School while earning her master's degree at Illinois State. Prior to that, she was an assistant coach at Illinois State.
At Illinois, she was a Kodak honorable mention all-American in 1982 and was named to the Big 10 all-tournament team. Robinson also was a two-time GTE/CoSIDA academic all-America selection.
Her four years as a standout with the Illini came after a prep career at Annawan where she was an all-stater.
"Coming back to coach at Augustana, being so close to home and family, was a great opportunity for me and I'll always be grateful,'' Robinson said. "I felt good about the things we were doing at Augustana and I think we were on the right path in getting the program back on track.''
In Robinson's two years at Augustana, her teams went 11-14 and 9-16.
Augustana women's athletic director Liesl Fowler said a search for Robinson's replacement has started.
"Lisa did a nice job in advancing our program during her two years here,'' Fowler said. "She put us in the position where I believe we can contend for a spot among the leaders in the CCIW during the very near future."
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Benion And Siebert Inducted into Hall of Fame
Former wrestlers honored by Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association
Former University of Illinois wrestlers and national champions Ernest Benion and Eric Siebert were inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Hall of Fame in a ceremony Saturday night.
Benion, the NCAA national champion at 158 pounds in 1995, was a member of the Illinois squad from 1994-97. During that time he was a two-time NCAA finalist, three-time All-American and three-time Big Ten placewinner. Benion currently resides in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Siebert won the NCAA title at 150 pounds in 1998, capping a career that included earning two All-American honors in 1997 & '98 and was a four-time Big Ten placewinner. Siebert is currently coaching wrestling and teaching at Carl Sandberg High School in Orland Park.
Illinois head coach Mark Johnson and assistant coach Steve Marianetti are currently members of the IWCOA Hall of Fame. Johnson was inducted in 1987 and Marianetti in 2000.
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Former Illini Football Players Currently on NFL Europe Rosters
Rameel Conner, DE - Barcelona Dragons (Miami Dolphins)
Tony Francis, CB - Frankfurt Galaxy (Carolina Panthers)
Eric Guenther, LB - Frankfurt Galaxy (San Diego Chargers)
Lenny Willis, WR - Amsterdam Admirals (San Diego Chargers)
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Former Illini Brown and Perry announce FCA Youth Rally
NCAA champion Perry, former gridder Brown working with local middle school youth
Former University of Illinois standout student-athletes Chris Brown (football) and Carl Perry (wrestling) are working closely with Champaign-Urbana youth as part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) "One Way 2 Play. . . Drug Free" campaign. Brown, a four-year starter for the Illinois football squad at guard and center, and Perry, the 2000 NCAA champion at 141 pounds, are serving as coaches of the "One Way 2 Play . . . Drug Free" teams in local grade school and middle schools in a pilot program designed to introduce youth grades four through eight about avoiding drug use and establishing strong moral Christian values and beliefs as they ready themselves for high school. Brown works full-time for the Illinois FCA and Perry is in his first season as a student assistant coach under Illinois Head Wrestling Coach Mark Johnson.
The FCA "One Way 2 Play . . . Drug Free" Youth Rally is scheduled for Tuesday, March 27 from 6-8 p.m. at Parkland Gymnasium, 2400 W. Bradley on the Parkland campus. The rally will feature FCA National Spokesperson Steve Fitzhugh, along with the "FCA Shoot Out" featuring skills challenges in various sports for all ages. The event is free and open to the public.
Fitzhugh is a nationally-known motivational speaker. A former NFL standout with the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns, Fitzhugh is the national spokesperson for FCA, serves as executive director of PowerMoves, leading students to success and significance and co-founded "The House," an after school teen drop-in center in Southeast Washington D.C. A native of Akron, Ohio, Fitzhugh is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio where he captained both the track and football teams while earning his B.A. degree in Public Administration.
The OW2P teams conduct a series of rallies, retreats, day camps and form small P.I.T. crews (Pray-Invite-Tell) along with signing pledge cards asking youth to show faith, commitment and accountability. The FCA Sports Day Camp, hosted by Brown and Perry, is scheduled for July 23-28. In addition, FCA traditionally hosts a rally surrounding an Illinois football game. The Illinois FCA Day is planned for Saturday, October 6 when the Fighting Illini host Minnesota at Memorial Stadium.
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Colangelo made the right move by leaving Bulls
By Jim Ruppert
State Journal Register
Back in 1968, the NBA wasn't the same as we now know it.
There was a very laid-back television contract. Millionaires wore suits and ties on Wall Street, not tank tops and baggy shorts on Madison Street. Sailors had tattoos, and women had pierced ears.
Chicago had a second-year franchise after three failed attempts to make pro basketball go in the Windy City. And the Bulls had a young executive named Jerry Colangelo, who had caught the eye of others.
Milwaukee and Phoenix were granted NBA franchises in January of 1968. The Bucks and Suns both made offers to Colangelo to come on board.
"I was very blesses to be in the position to be part of the start of the Chicago Bulls franchise back in 1966," Colangelo said recently during a visit to Springfield as part of the campaign for the National Italian Sports Hall of Fame, which Colangelo chairs. "That was one of the most exciting years I've had in sports, and I've had a lot of exciting years."
"But making pro basketball happen in Chicago and getting the Bulls off the ground... we won 33 games and made the playoffs that first year. And I had no idea that I was a young guy in a sport that was about to explode. Opportunities started to present themselves. Both the Milwaukee and Phoenix ownership's offered me opportunities to come in as the general manager, and I was 27 going on 28."
"And I remember Bill Gleason, who was one of the columnists in Chicago who always gave me great support, telling me at the time, `Jerry, you can't leave. You're a Chicago kid. You can't leave. You belong here.' I told him, `Bill, it's my time, and I need to go."
And so Colangelo headed for Phoenix, where at one time or another he was general manager, coach and president of the Suns.
In 1987, Colangelo led a group of investors to purchase the franchise for $44.5 million, and now he serves as chairman, CEO and managing general partner.
"I've been in Arizona now 32 years," says Colangelo, who has the tan to prove it. "I've raised my family there. It's been a wonderful experience for me. A lot of great things have happened professionally."
Yes, the Chicago Heights Bloom High School and University of Illinois graduate watches the NBA standings. Sure, he sees the Bulls with the worst record in the entire league - by four full games. But don't expect the Bulls' first marketing director to try to bail out his friend, Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
"Obviously I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for the Bulls," Colangelo says. "But don't forget, they're the ones that put the dagger in my dreams of winning the championship back in '93. I still fall asleep from time to time thinking about (John) Paxson hitting the shot that put us away."
"I wish the best to the Bulls, but I have my plate full worrying about my own franchise. Franchises."
Yes, there's more than the Phoenix Suns on Colangelo's plate. The man who owns the second-longest tenure with an NBA franchise, behind only Boston's Red Auerbach, is in the baseball business, too, like Reinsdorf.
Colangelo is the managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks. It makes sense for the former two-sport standout at the U of I, who was captain of the 1961-62 basketball team and a 1960 baseball letterwinner.
In June of '93, after Paxson's shot had given the Bulls their third straight NBA title, Colangelo was approached by Phoenix attorney Joe Garagiola Jr. and others about heading Phoenix's bid to get a baseball expansion team.
"My original thought was no," Colangelo said. "My plate was full, I thought baseball had a myriad of problems in front of it at that time. But it tweaked my interest."
"And then for the next four months, I did as much due diligence as I could. One of the things that helped me a great deal was there was a book by John Helyar called "Lord of the Realm," and it was basically a 25-year history of collective bargaining in baseball. It was a historical perspective of what had transpired in baseball over that 25-year period. That helped tremendously."
"I spoke with owners and management people in baseball to get their perspective and I came to certain conclusions back then that although the pendulum had swung over and things don't look very good, I felt that the timing might be right in a sense that the swing might be going in the other direction. In other words, it had bottomed out."
"So I made the decision to go forward. We were awarded the franchise in '95."
The rest had become baseball history. After a 65-97 season in 1998, the Diamondbacks won 100 games the next year. They spent a lot of money, acquiring and signing Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling and Steve Finley. Now the Arizona franchise is one of baseball's best.
Good thing Colangelo didn't listen to Bill Gleason back in 1968. The NBA, Major League Baseball and Jerry Colangelo have all come a long way.
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Urbana seeking respect in girls basketball
From: Chicago Sun-Times
Author: Taylor Bell
Urbana- A curious visitor asked Urbana girls basketball coach Aimee Smith and star players Heidi Harnisch and LaToya Bond if they knew where the school's only state championship trophy (1951 cross country) or only state runner-up trophy (1941 basketball) were located. "I didn't know the school had only won only one state title, but I'm going to look for that trophy," Harnisch said. "I didn't have a lot to cheer about when I was growing up. "Last year, we played with heart but we didn't believe we could win. We didn't have focus or confidence. Now the feeling in Urbana is we want to prove that Urbana is something and we want recognition."
In three years, Smith, 26, a Prospect graduate and a disciple of Illinois women's coach Theresa Grentz, has turned the program into a state contender. Urbana is 21-2 and ranked No. 9 in the state going into its regular-season finale Thursday against Champaign Centennial. The Lady Tigers are seeded No. 1 in their sectional while Centennial, which lost an earlier one-pointer to Urbana, is No. 2. Urbana gained statewide recognition when it beat perennial powers Chicago Washington and Galesburg.
"Urbana hasn't had much commitment to athletics, but we're doing a lot to change that image," Smith said. "We've never been to state. I'd rather be the underdog. If you've never been there and don't know what its like, maybe you won't feel pressure or be distracted by the media and other things." "When we beat Washington and Angelina Williams, as good a team and as good a player as I've seen, it was a big confidence booster," said Bond, a 5-7 junior who scored 19 points against Williams. "We learned if we go out as a team and play together, we can beat anyone."
Said Smith: "Harnisch can hold her own with the top players in the state and Bond is one of the best juniors. We are a blue-collar team, very unselfish. But our tallest player is 6-1. We make up for it with quick quickness and god man-to-man defense."
Urbana features a balance attack led by Harnisch (13 ppg), a 5-10 senior, Bond (11 ppg), 5-4 senior Nikki Thomas (10 ppg), 6-1 foreign exchange student Sophie Tirtiaux (10 ppg) from Belgium, and 6-foot junior Jenna Unangst (6 ppg). Harnisch is the leader, quick to encourage her teammates when they are struggling. She was supposed to move when her father, a professor, took a position at the University of Nebraska, but she wanted to graduate with her class. So she lives with a guardian, a family friend.
Smith credits former coach Mary Hannig for getting the program back on its feet. Urban was 24-8 in her last season. And she credits Grentz for inspiring her to join the coaching profession, and teaching her "how to be successful in everything you do and why you need to do what you are doing." "Coaching is as much fun as I thought it would be," Smith said. "It is more challenging. The most fun is when you get to coach in close games. You get a chance to prove you can coach. People congratulate me but I think if I didn't have the group of kids I have, it would be more difficult."
This isn't a big surprise. Harnisch's middle school team won a state championship. Smith recognized there was talent coming up when she coached the junior varsity while completing her master's degree. With three starters back from last year's 14-12 squad, she was optimistic.
Grentz has been a huge influence. Smith played basketball at Prospect and wanted to become a coach. But she enrolled at Illinois to become a math teacher. She walked on as a sophomore after playing pickup games with varsity players who encouraged her to try out. She started a few games as a junior but didn't play much after Grentz arrived.
"I stuck it out to learn from her. It was a great experience," Smith said. "I always wanted to coach and she inspired me. She is a great teacher, a great motivator."
"We don't see her as only eight years older than us," Harnisch said. "She is very mature, knows what she is doing and is a real competitor. She has a lot of Grentz in her."
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Bardo's world of experience
Illini benefit from perspective of former player who has been around the block
From: Chicago Sun-Times
Author: Herb Gould
To outsiders, the demise of the Continental Basketball Association, was a sad tale of economic reality, like the Montgomery Ward closing. To those for whom the CBA was an important chapter in their lives, it was like the death of a friend. "It hurts my heart because I know how important it was for me," said Stephen Bardo, a member of Illinois' 1989 Final Four team who spent parts of five seasons in the CBA. "That was my saviour, I learned how to play there."
When No. 4 Illinois visits Indiana on Saturday (3:30 p.m., Ch. 26, 670-AM) Bardo- who now does color commentary on the Illini's radio broadcasts- won't be the only CBA alum present who owes much to that minor league. Mike Davis, Indiana's interim coach, was an assistant with the CBA franchise in Wichita Falls, Texas, that moved to Chicago and played at the UIC Pavilion as the rockers in 1994-95.
"He wasn't making a lot of money, but he was really good to all the players that came through there," said Bardo, who played for the teams in both cities. "Mike brings a nice mix of thingsfrom the pro game and the college game, and its starting to show." "He gives the college guys a different insight because he has a pro background. He has a more relaxed approach to the game because he has that experience, and his players are thriving on that."
No one is having more fun, though, than Bardo, who's making the transistion to broadcasting after playing in Japan the last four years. "I feel so fortunate, but I'm done (playing)," said Bardo, who also spent time in the NBA and Europe. :The team I was on in Japan, Toshiba, went from worst to first. We were in last place when I got there, and we won the championship last spring. And then to come home and be able to be around this Illini team, it's been incredible."
Bardo lives in the suburbs with his wife, Leslie, a public-relations executive, and their two sons, Stephen, 9, and Landon, 2. He also does voice-over NBA broadcasts for ESPN International. He travels once a week to Bristol, Conn., to do commentary on NBA games that are sent overseas-but only when that doesn't conflict with Illinois' schedule. The current Illini have taken to Bardo, asking him any number of questions about college basketball and beyond.
"To play at the level he did for as long as he did, you have to respect a guy like that," forward Lucas Johnson said. "I try to pick his brain as much as I can. He really knows the game."
A four-year starter at Illinois, Bardo averaged 9.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists as a 6-7 senior point guard. He was selected in the second round of the 1990 NBA draft (41st overall) by the Atlanta Hawks. He also played briefly for Detroit, Dallas, and San Antonio in the NBA, Quad City in the CBA, and a variety of foreign teams.
"According to Steve, he made All-American at Illinois I don't know how many times. It may be all four years by the next trip," Illini coach Bill Self said with a laugh. "No, having Steve around is great for our players. They talk to him all the time. He's a real mature, calming influence-and yet (this season's success) means a lot to him. He has his competitive juices flowing."
Self plans to have Bardo talk more formally with the Illini as postseasons pressure begins to build. "He'' be able to help this team because he's been through what these guys are hopefully trying to go through," Self said. The competitiveness Illinois has shown in come-from-behind victories over Seton Hall and Wisconsin has impressed Bardo. "The main similarity between this team and our '89 team is that they have a mentality that they're never out of a ball game, and that was the way we were," he said. "We were down 19 to Missouri and down to Georgia Tech, and we came back and won."
The biggest difference between this season and the '89 team? "This is more of a traditional team," he said. "They have position guys: point guards and centers and so on. We were just a bunch of 6-5, 6-7 greyhounds. We were a lot more athletic than this team, but they have a lot more depth."
Another thing that has impressed Bardo is how down to earth the Illini are. "They treat me with the utmost respect, but I know they're tired of hearing about that '89 Final Four team," he said. "They want to do something about it, and there's nothing I'd rather see. We had our turn. Now it's their time."
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Meet Ryan McPartlin (Hank Bennett)
Meet Ryan McPartlin (Hank Bennett)!
On April 24, Ryan McPartlin makes his daytime debut in the role of Hank Bennettt. Ryan sat down with us on his very first day of taping. Despite the huge adventure he was about to embark on, he couldn't have been more relaxed. In our exclusive interview, find out who told Ryan his screentest was fantastic, which 'Passions' actresses he'd like to be paired with, and why he needs his own personal trainer. Read on to get to know Ryan up-close and personal!
How did the role on 'Passions' come about for you?
It's pilot season, and during pilot season there are a lot of auditions. So, instead of feeling like a professional actor, I was feeling like a professional 'auditioner.' I was going a few times a week for auditions, so, my nerves were not very stressed. I came in to read for 'Passions' but they told me they weren't sure I was right for the role. I didn't even think I was going to get a callback. But then the callback came! I was thinking that for my first audition, I went in with my hair down, baggy pants, and sandals. So, this time I decided to wear my suede jacket and have my hair up. It was just a simple difference in my look that put the connection in their minds. I read for the producers and then they wanted to screentest me. I tested with McKenzie. She's such a great actress that it feels natural to just have a conversation with her. I felt comfortable.
Did McKenzie give you any tips?
I had about five minutes to talk to her before the screentest. We just read the lines together. She told me not to worry and I said I'd be fine. I asked her how she likes working at 'Passions' because I figured this was the last step before I might become part of this family. She told me the cast is great and that they're like family. She said everybody is really nice and friendly-and that I wouldn't feel like the new kid at school that's the outcast. That made it even easier to do the audition with her.
What was your reaction when you found out you got the part?
It was funny because the day after I did my screentest, I was on the phone with my mother. The other line beeped and I asked my mom to hold on. I never put my mom on hold but I was waiting to find out! It was my agent on the other line and she told me I got the part. I got back on the line with my mom and told her I'd call right back. My agent asked if I was excited, and I said was in disbelief. When I told my mom, she was so excited. And then the word got out to the whole family, so the calls starting coming in. Finally, I told them I couldn't talk anymore because I had to run to the restaurant to wait tables. They said--no, you don't. You got the job. But I still didn't believe it! So I went to the restaurant that night and waited tables!
Today's your first day. Were you nervous?
I stepped on set and I was really anxious. I wasn't nervous though, because this process has been going on for a while. But I was anxious to work. And that was the first lesson I learned about being on a soap opera-don't be too anxious to get on set. Bring stuff to do and work on your lines. The nerves will probably hit in about forty minutes before I do my first scene.
Who in the cast has been particularly welcoming?
First of all, McKenzie-right from the get-go. There's a familiarity with her, like I've known her for years. And Ben actually approached me after my screen-test, when I was on the way out. He said my screen-test was fantastic-that I had done a really good job. That was really important to me, because Ben is a veteran actor. It's been a really comfortable fit with everyone I've talked to.
What have you been told about the character of Hank?
I know a lot about his background, just from conversing today and from the internet. I got on the internet right away and checked out Hank's background. I'm going to follow the guidelines that have been set up so far, and see where it goes. We'll start off on one foot and see where we end up.
What do you hope to bring to the character?
I'm a positive guy. Even if Hank has a dark past, I think it all has to intertwine with my positive attitude. You always get somebody much more with a smile.
How did you decide to become an actor?
I was a speech communications major at the University of Illinois. After I was injured playing football, I went to Australia and studied there for six months. I came back to school for six months, finished up college, and graduated. And then I went home and told the family I was going out to Hollywood to be an actor. They knew I had an interest in it because of a lot of the courses I'd taken, but they didn't know how serious I was. I worked as a bartender in Chicago for another six months, saved up every last dime, and then moved out here. I struggled for the last couple of years and now it's nice to have steady work. Although, there's the actor's mentality of never knowing what's going to happen! I'm always on my toes.
What else have you done before this job?
I recently did 'Three Sisters,' which should be airing soon. I come in at the end and take out AJ Langer's character. I kind of break up one of the other character's confession of his love for her. So, I'm the bad guy! I also did 'The Nanny,' which was my first job on television. I did an independent film that's up for distribution right now. I was one of the leads in that. It's a football movie, so it was perfect for me. I did an Abercrombie and Fitch campaign a couple of years ago. It's been a wild ride.
Did you watch soaps at all before getting the job? Were you familiar with 'Passions?'
My soap growing up was 'Days of our Lives.' I remember back when John Black was Roman. Once I got to college, I stopped watching because I had classes. But those summers were spent watching Days! I've been watching 'Passions.' The first time I saw it, I thought this is a strange show. And then the next day, I was wondering what was happening on the show. I was already a fan. I get such a kick out of it! The funniest thing was, when I first got the part, I didn't know too much about the character. One of my roommates played football for the Chicago Bears for a year and a half. This is a 6 foot 4 African American guy who's really tough. The next day, I told him I got this job on 'Passions.' And he just goes, "Are you gonna be Hank?" He said, "Let me just tell you. The Crane family is going to have something against you. And I bet you're going to be matched up with Sheridan. You've been working with the FBI or something." I couldn't believe he'd been watching the show! He filled me in on everything! He just reeled off everything.
What are your first impressions of 'Passions?'
I was just trying to see who I'd be matched up with for a love interest! And I'd be happy with any of the women on the show. This is a good looking group!
You're a personal trainer. How did that come about?
I was working in a restaurant and I wanted to get out of waiting tables. I've always been into fitness and athletics. I wanted to think of a way that I could start training people, and eventually help athletes improve their performance. Personal training was a great way to start that and then move on. I took the course, paid the fees, worked hard, and then two days after I got this job I found out I'd been certified. I do plan to do some training in the future. I don't want my certification to go to waste.
What's your own fitness routine?
I change it up so many times. As a personal trainer, I can set up a routine for other people. But for myself, I'm in as much need of a personal trainer as anyone else. I need a structure that someone else can set up and keep me to!
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love going to the movies. The reason I came out here, the one movie that really did it for me, was 'Braveheart.' It made a serious impact on the way I viewed film and the film industry, and on what I wanted to do with my life. It heightened every emotion that I have. I thought to be able to do that would be an absolute miracle for me. Other than movies, I love being active. And I love spending time with close friends.
What three words would you use to describe yourself?
Number one is passionate. I really do feel passionate, sometimes to a fault. Number two would be sensitive. Not in your "new-century sensitive male" way, but sensitive to others. I really feel I can connect to others and feel the pain they're feeling. And number three is motivated. But I'm so many different things. Three words is hard!
What's something people would be surprised to know about you?
I'm a huge Parrot-head, a die hard Jimmy Buffet fan. Tickets go on sale tomorrow and I've been thinking about it all day. It's just a great laid-back culture that says don't take everything so seriously.
How do you think your life will change now that you're on 'Passions?'
I don't even want to think about it. A number of things go through your head, but you like to keep the dream alive that not much is going to change-except for maybe paying my credit card bill! That's the most exciting thing to me.
What are you most proud of in your life?
I would have to say my relationship with my family. It's tough to keep a family together, let alone have a really close one where you're all very sincere friends. The times I look most forward to in my life are spending time with the whole family together. And about a month from now, I'm going to be uncle!
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Jameel Cook
War Room analysis
Strengths: Is a great athlete for fullback -- made transition from halfback to fullback as a sophomore at Illinois. Has solid hands, and runs smooth routes out of the backfield. Understands the passing game, and could develop into a real threat as a receiver. Is an aggressive runner, and is a physical player.
Weaknesses: Hasn't found his position yet, was a "tweener" between running back and fullback in college. Is not a great blocker or premier runner. Has a lot of work to do in terms of positioning as a lead blocker. Doesn't always finish blocks.
Bottom line: Cook is worth the risk if still around in the sixth round. He could pan out to be a contributor as a short-yardage receiver, and he has the size and aggressiveness to improve as a blocker.
Dan Pompei analysis
He is a fullback/running back tweener. Good blocker for his size. Shows toughness. Has hands to help as a receiver. Has quick feet. Might not have the size to be a fullback at the next level.
Player Bio
Cook is more football player -- sans position -- than anything else. In college, he moved from halfback to fullback, but hasn't shown the lead blocking ability needed to play the position in the NFL. He is not a big man for a fullback. His greatest skill is catching the ball out of the backfield and could play an important role as a third down back while he learns to block. He is a projected late-round pick that should stay with a team that can utilize his receiving skills. --Profile by STATS, Inc.
Ray Redziniak
War Room analysis
Strengths: Has a great feel for the position. Usually sends defenders backward on initial contact. Shows good footwork and balance. Is an excellent blocker on short pulling plays. Takes proper angles to the point of attack, and adjusts well to moving defenders. Is a tough guy.
Weaknesses: Lacks great size and tools. Doesn't have great speed, and struggles in the open field as a run blocker. Usually needs help in pass protection. Purely is an inside blocker who is a liability on the edge.
Bottom line: Redziniak gets the job done with work ethic and nastiness. He has developed into a technically sound and powerful player. He doesn't have the tools to be a great player but will give 100 percent on every play.
Dan Pompei analysis
Tough, hardnosed battler. A lunch pail blocker. Uses good technique and takes good angles. Has good leadership qualities. Lacks athleticism.
Player Bio
A durable lineman who made 30 consecutive starts heading into the 2000 season, Redziniak is a tough hardnosed blocker who gets the job done, but lacks the superior size and speed to excel at his position. As a pass protector, he is a liability, he probably won't be strong enough to handle most NFL defensive linemen without help. Redziniak is strictly an inside player who is adequate as a run blocker but might struggle when asked to do more. --Profile by STATS, Inc.
Marques Sullivan
War Room analysis
Strengths: Outstanding height/weight/speed combination. Has solid athletic ability. His feet are excellent. Is quick out of his stance and does a good job of blocking moving targets. Blocks with good leverage. Has a nasty streak.
Weaknesses: Does not dominate in the running game, which could be a problem because he might be forced to play guard in the NFL. Needs to improve his pass protection to play left tackle or improve his strength to play right guard.
Bottom line: Sullivan is an athletic big man who could sneak into the second round, but he will struggle at first with the strength of the NFL game.
Dan Pompei analysis
Has good athletic ability and size. Shows good footwork. Gets good leverage. Is nasty. Doesn't get enough movement in the running game. Has been beaten up by good defensive ends. Probably won't be a left tackle.
Fred Wakefield
War Room analysis
Strengths: Is intelligent and a student of the game. Shows good athleticism. Is a former tight end. Is quick off the ball, and always plays hard. Is active against the run, and does a nice job of knowing responsibilities. Has a lot of upside.
Weaknesses: Has marginal speed, which limits pass-rushing ability. Also needs to bulk up and add strength to stack up against the run. Doesn't play the run or the pass especially well.
Bottom line: Wakefield will be a good experiment. He has great natural athleticism and has the frame to add some weight. He knows the game and plays with great intensity and intelligence. He has the chance to develop into a sound pro if he gets the right opportunity.
Dan Pompei analysis
Has a long, tall frame that makes him intriguing. Has bulked up. Lacks great edge speed. Does not play the run with power. Is a crafty player who never stops hustling.
Player Bio
Wakefield, one of the tallest ends in the draft, relies heavily on his knowledge of the game. Having been a tight end early in his career, Wakefield shows some athleticism and versatility. He finished the 2000 season with nine sacks and one interception. He is not considered among the top ends mainly because of his lack of speed. He will be an experiment who will be tough to pass up on draft day because of his potential for enormous size. He has one of the best upsides in the pool. -- Profile by STATS, Inc.
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By: Chris Pool
Date: 2/6/2001
Kyle Kleckner thought yesterday was going to be just another school day. He was wrong. He was handed a note during the middle of the day that made him make one of the biggest decisions he's had to make in his young life.
I really believe this was fate. Yesterday, Kyle Kleckner, a 6-1 185 pound athlete from Downers Grove, Ill (North) was walking the halls in between classes when he was approached by his father (Downers North teacher). "My Dad walked up to me with a note in his hand. It said "From the desk of Robert Jackson. University of Illinois." Kyle Kleckner said. "I looked at the note and it said "scholarship offer." I was totally blown away." Kleckner said.
What was the first thing that came to Kleckner's mind? "I was stunned. I went and sat in an empty classroom for two periods thinking about what I was going to do. Like I said before, it wasn't about Big Ten vs. MAC with me. I wanted to play and everybody at Northern Illinois has been great to me. I established a good relationship with all the coaches at Northern Illinois. After talking with my coaches and family, I decided it was in my best interest to accept the scholarship from Illinois.
Academically, athletically, and socially, Illinois is the best fit for me. I feel I can play at this level (Big Ten) and plus I get a chance to play on the "Big House" and Penn State. I can't wait to get started." Kleckner said.
Kyle Kleckner was the Great Lakes recruiting "Player of the Year." There wasn't a single (D-1) player who meant more to his team than Kyle Kleckner. Kleckner finished 2000 with 2,600 all-purpose yards and 32 touchdowns. Kleckner was also voted the team Captain for the Daily News all area team.
You won't find a tougher competitor than Kyle Kleckner. The stories about Kleckner's competitiveness are legendary in Downers Grove. Kleckner will go out and score three or four touchdowns in a football game and then drop 30 points in a basketball game a day later. There's no second place with Kleckner, it's 110% all the time. Illinois is getting a steal here. Remember his name. Kyle Kleckner will be making some noise at a stadium near you very soon. I really believe this was fate.
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New Kansas City Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil has hired former Illini Head Coach Mike White and former Illini QB Jason Verduzco. White will be responsible for Vermeil's off-the-field administrative activities. Verduzco was hired as an offensive assistant-quality control coach.
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Source: Dallas Morning News
Author: Rick Alonzo
Passing the genes
Darius Harper follows father's path
The whispers follow Darius Harper everywhere he goes.
"'Look,'" said teammate Ian Cunningham, repeating a frequently heard phrase, "'there's Derek Harper's kid,'"
Cheryl Diaz Meyer / DMN
Derek Harper, left, and son Darius have both caught the attention of Hebron's opponents.
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Darius is a sophomore point guard on the Hebron basketball team and the son of former Mavericks point guard Derek Harper. Having a famous father brings a lot of attention to Darius, especially at road games when his father is in attendance.
"All the kids flock around him [Derek] wherever we go and get autographs," Hebron coach Mark Bishop said.
But Darius is also drawing some attention to himself this season. He ranks among the district's leaders in scoring at 16.6 points per game and assists at 5.0. And despite playing guard, Darius also leads Hebron (10-14, 2-3 in District 9-4A) in rebounding with 8.0 per game.
One look at Darius (6-1, 190) and you can see he has the genes of his dad, who was 6-4, 206 when he retired. Hebron football coach Brian Brazil noticed Darius right away and tried to recruit him to play on the school team.
"He's really muscular," Brazil said. "A lot of people would look at him and not think he's a sophomore in high school."
Darius said he has never played football because he's been too busy playing basketball. That makes sense, considering he grew up watching his dad play for the Mavericks, New York, Orlando and the LA Lakers.
Derek said he plays some intense games of one-on-one with Darius during the summer, but the rivalry takes a break during high-school basketball season.
"When I'm fresh, I can take him," said Derek, 39. "I'm not in shape right now, but I can beat him for the first 12 or 15 minutes. I always told him I'd be 50 or 60 years old before he could beat me. I think he took offense to that. It will make his day when he can beat me consistently."
Until then, Derek said he tries to teach Darius, 16, more about the mental aspect of basketball than the physical side. Darius already possesses a soft outside touch - he's making 33 percent of his 3-point attempts - and the ball seems glued to his hands while maneuvering through the lane. Colleges such as Texas and Notre Dame already have begun to take notes, according to Bishop. Darius needs to hone the ability to recognize the right time to "turn it on" and take control of a game, Derek said.
For his part, Derek stays away from Hebron's practices. Derek, a vice president for a health and fitness Web site since November, has missed just a few games this season, but he said he's comfortable with Bishop and doesn't want to interfere.
Of course, that doesn't rule out a few tips when players come to the Harpers' Carrollton home, which includes Darius' mother, Sheila, and his sisters Danielle, Dana and Daria.
Hebron, which opened in 1999, has no seniors and has the typical struggles of a young team. Darius is one of three sophomore starters.
Denton Ryan, the reigning Class 4A state champs, visited last week. Darius stole the spotlight when he faked right, drove left along the baseline and hit a double-pump reverse layup. He also hit several 3-pointers, posted up smaller guards and displayed deft ball-handling. Darius had 23 points, but Ryan won, 74-57.
"We're always in the games," said Darius, who had a season-high 30 points against North Dallas. "We're just not finishing, making easy layups and free throws and stuff like that. After we get past that, we'll start winning more games."
Halfway through the district season, Hebron remains in the playoff race. And Derek Harper is just like any dad watching from the stands with his fists clenched and his pulse racing.
"It's emotional for me as a parent,'' Derek said. "Quite naturally, I get caught up in the games. I want to see him do well.''
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Source: Decatur Herald & Review
Author: Tim Cain
Ex-Illini player now heads Globetrotters
A University of Illinois graduate is central to the resurgence of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Mannie Jackson sends one of his three traveling Globetrotter teams to Eisenhower High School for a game Wednesday. The team's chairman and majority owner is thrilled to send his investment back to the area where he went to college.
But why did the three-year Illini basketball letterman (1958-60) decide to invest his money in the Globetrotters?
"Like any number of sports acquisitions, there were a number of reasons," Jackson said by phone this week from his Phoenix, Ariz., base. "The brand is certainly one of the most significant of any around, and at first I was mainly interested in
the story rights and the licensing and merchandising.
"But the ongoing great interest in the brand of play is one of the pleasant surprises."
The lineup of the team being sent to Decatur is a pleasant surprise as well.
"You're going to see a very, very strong basketball team," Jackson said. "You're going to see the single best entertainer this organization has had for the last 20 years in Matt 'Showbiz' Jackson (in his 14th year with the team). We were leaving a
game the other night, and I told the person I was with, 'I'd pay to see this guy.' "
Other players who will appear in Decatur include Herbert Lang, formerly of Centenary College, who won the NABC Slam Dunk Contest at the 1998 Final Four, Cory Hightower, who was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs last summer and was cut by the Los
Angeles Lakers before this NBA season began, and Kentucky's Wayne Turner, who holds the NCAA record for career games played. Turner has played in the IBL and CBA and with the Boston Celtics.
"This is a team that would be very difficult for any team to defeat," Jackson said.
"The Globetrotters are very pleased with the advance sales," said Eisenhower athletic director Bob Smith, "and I'm very optimistic we'll sell out. They tell us the majority of tickets to their games sell about five days before the game.
"And I'm getting 15 to 17 calls a day on it."
Eisenhower's gym holds 2,950 people, and early this week, more than 800 advance tickets had been sold.
At the beginning of this season, the Globetrotters played a handful of top Division I college programs, including a loss to national champion Michigan State.
Much fuss was made over that loss, ending a lengthy Globetrotters winning streak. But Jackson barely noticed.
"I've said to people that Michigan State team on a good night -- just as our team on a good night -- could beat the Lakers by 25 points. There's four lottery picks on that team," he said.
And there are plans to continue the games against college teams.
"We'll do it again. We have many more requests from schools than we can handle.
"Next year, I hope we can play Illinois. I think if we were to play there, we'd sell the place out."
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Another Win For Steinberg
It was a big year for Mark Steinberg. The IMG agent negotiated Tiger Woods' $100 million deal with Nike, watched his client win three straight majors and complete the Grand Slam, then celebrated with his wife at the birth of their first child.
The new year is off to a good start, too, considering Steinberg has only one other client on the PGA Tour -- Steve Stricker.
Steinberg and Stricker were at the University of Illinois together, where Stricker was an All-American on the golf team and Steinberg was a reserve on the Illini basketball team that included Kendall Gill. "I don't think he played all that much," Stricker said. "But that was a good team, so he had to be pretty good."
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Kriby Wilson Names USC Wide Receivers Coach
Assistant comes to Trojans from the NFL.
Kirby Wilson, who spent the past 4 years coaching in the NFL after working 9 years in the college ranks, has been named USC's wide receivers coach, new Trojan head coach Pete Carroll announced today.
"Kirby was with me in the NFL, and I saw him not only as an outstanding coach but as a great competitor and disciplinarian," said Carroll. "He was one of the toughest and most demanding coaches on my staff. He'll be a valuable addition to our Trojan program."
Wilson was the running backs coach with the Waskington Redskins in 2000 after spending the previous 3 years (1997-99) with the New England Patriots under Carroll. Stephen Davis rushed for 1,000 yards in 2000 at Washington, as did both Curtis Martin in 1997 and Robert Edwards in 1998 at New England.
Before that, Wilson coached the running backs at Iowa State for 2 years (1995-96). Under his guidance, All-American Troy Davis led the nation in rushing both seasons.
Wilson, 39, began his coaching career in 1985 at Pasadena (Calif.) City College, where he was the wide receivers coach. He then returned to school to earn his bachelor's degree from Eastern Illinois before resuming his coaching career.
He became the running backs and wide receivers coach at Los Angeles Southwest Community College for 2 years (1989-1990). The next 2 season (1991-92), he was at Southern Illinois where he coached the linebackers the first year and was the defensive coordinator and secondary coach in the second year.
He was Wyoming's secondary coach the next 2 seasons (1993-94) before moving to Iowa State. The 1993 Cowboys played in the Copper Bowl.
He was a running back and wide receiver at Pasadena CC for 2 years (1979-80), then was a wide receiver and kick returner at Illinois for 2 seasons (1981-82). The Illini played in the 1882 Liberty Bowl.
He played defensive back and kick returner in the CFL, first with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1983 and then with the Toronto Argonauts in 1984.
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Stricker tops Fulke for big prize
By
DOUG FERGUSON
Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Australia (January 7, 2001) Not even eligible for Accenture Match Play Championship three weeks ago, Steve Stricker completed an unlikely journey with a gutsy performance today to defeat Pierre Fulke of Sweden and win the $1 million prize.
Stricker, No. 90 in the Official World Golf Ranking and the 55th seed in a 64-man field missing Tiger Woods and a slew of other top names, never trailed in the 36-hole match and survived a grueling day at Metropolitan Golf Club when Fulke's putter betrayed him.
Stricker closed out the match on the 35th hole, 2 and 1, when the 29-year-old Swede failed to save par from a greenside bunker on the 35th hole.
It was Stricker's first victory since 1996, and the $1 million prize might be enough to get him into The Masters.
Stricker hugged his caddie, a buddy from Wisconsin, and choked back tears as he realized how far he had come in one lucrative week.
"I just figured I would win a couple of matches and get ready for the West Coast,'' Stricker said. "But lo and behold, I started feeling good about my game. I was scrambling really well, and my attitude and thinking was pretty sharp.''
As he talked about his 4 1/2-year victory drought, Stricker started crying.
"Excuse me ... this means a lot,'' he said. "It's just beyond my expectations.''
The field was the weakest of the seven official money World Golf Championship events to date, as Woods, David Duval, Phil Mickelson and top Europeans like Colin Montgomerie decided against a long trip to Australia so close to the holidays.
Stricker could not afford to skip out on a chance to win $1 million, and he made the most of his opportunity.
He became the lowest seed to win the Accenture Match Play Championship in the three-year history of the event, but so fickle is the format that the highest seed to ever win was Darren Clarke last year at No. 19.
Even if the top stars were at Metropolitan, Stricker still might have walked off a winner. He putted as well as Woods did in winning the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, making 13 of 18 putts from between 4 and 20 feet to either win or -- in many cases -- halve the hole.
Fulke, who earned $500,000 and all but clinched a spot on the European Ryder Cup team, likely will think back on all the chances he squandered over the final 18 holes.
Two-down to start the second 18, he missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the sixth with a chance to trim the lead. The Swede, one of the top putters on the European Tour, missed another 4-foot birdie try on the 12th that would have squared the match. He also missed a 12-foot putt on the 14th as Stricker hung on for dear life.
Stricker, who made a 20-foot par putt on the 11th to protect his lead, saved par from the bunker on the 16th with a slick, hard-breaking 4-foot putt.
After so many chances, Fulke finally crumbled when he could least afford it, pulling a 4-iron into the bunker and missing the 15-foot putt on the 17th to lose the hole and the match.
Stricker took the lead in the morning round on the 15th hole when Fulke ran into bunker problems, and the 33-year-old from Wisconsin never trailed again.
For the week, Stricker played 118 holes over six matches and trailed for only nine holes, a remarkable display.
Even more remarkable was that Stricker had not played on the PGA Tour since missing the cut in the Bell Canadian Open, which took place the second week of the NFL season. He had not made a cut since July 16 in his hometown Greater Milwaukee Open.
In the consolation match, Toru Taniguchi won 4 and 3 against a lethargic Ernie Els to earn $400,000 for third place, and World Ranking points that could go a long way toward the Japanese player getting into The Masters. Els earned $300,000 for finishing in fourth place.
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THIS SEASON, PLAY HARD AND SHOW YOU CARE
Author: Rick Morrissey
They had considered establishing a college scholarship fund in his name, but that didn't seem to quite capture the essence of the boy.
It's ok to call Matt Heldman a boy even though he died at 23. He had a child's love for a game, so for that reason the only thing that made sense was to remember him in his element, on a basketball court, shoes squeaking. It made sense to remember him carrying the tools of his trade: a surreptitiously key in one hand, a ball in the other, a basket in front of him.
What do you give the kid who had everything he needed? Matt Heldman always kept score, so you give him a scoreboard, simple as that.
Libertyville plays host to Warren on Friday night, in another game on another winter day in another December, the cycle repeating itself in a hoop junkie's heaven. This game will have a certain glow to it, though, thanks to the new scoreboard, paid for with money donated after Heldman's death 14 months ago. The attached sign will read, "In Loving Memory of Matt Otis Heldman, Class of 1994." It will carry the implied message that all who look upon that scoreboard, whether winning or losing, have a responsibility to play hard and care.
Heldman did that at Libertyville and then at Illinois, where by sheer determination and force of will he turned himself into one of the best guards in the Big Ten. Friday night will be about remembering all that and forgetting the tragedy that took him on Oct. 10, 1999.
On that day, Heldman and his father, Otis, were killed on a Libertyville street when the car Otis was driving plowed into a minivan carrying two people, who also died. Police said Heldman's car was traveling 90 m.p.h., and witnesses said Otis Heldman appeared to be racing another car. Police never found the other driver.
Again, none of that will matter Friday night, although the loss still carries a razor's edge. The important thing will be the scoreboard and a basketball player's life, a boy's life.
"I hope they'll think of Matt for his strength and his character and all the things he stood for -his drive, determination and competitive spirit. His humor and his kindness," said his mother, Linda. "I'm hoping the scoreboard will inspire other young students and athletes in their journey. He spent so many hours in the gym."
Linda Heldman will attend the scoreboard dedication before Friday night's game, watch the video tribute to her son, listen to former teammates and coaches and try to limit the tears to a small tributary. She'll try to keep the good memories in front of her, like a good defender would.
She'll remember the time then-Illinois coach Lon Kruger implored his players--guards included--to rebound against Indiana. She'll remember a 6-foot, 167-pound broom handle of a guard leading the team with 11 rebounds that game.
She'll remember the maturity of a boy who wrote a letter to his teammates before the high school state tournament his senior year, telling each of them they had something important to add to the pot. He must have been right because the Wildcats made the quarterfinals.
She'll remember Matt's junior year, when Libertyville finished 13-12 in the regular season but ended up two points short of going Downstate. Important games always seemed to get upgraded to probable with Heldman around.
The 1998 Big Ten championship, the 34-point average in the 1993 state tournament--those will be some of the highlights Friday night, and for good reason. But the everyday stuff, the gym rat stuff, that's the heart of the story. People still remember Matt lodging rocks in gym doors so he could sneak back in at night or on weekends to practice his shooting.
The lesson, kids, is in the resolve, not in breaking and entering.
"He would get up at 6 in the morning, go to the high school gym and a teacher wanted to kick him out," Linda said. "But the n the teacher finally said, `To heck with it. He's not doing anything wrong really.' Matt got janitors on his side too."
"He was a very disciplined athlete," Linda said. "He was dedicated to his craft. I know he would be very proud of what so many people have done for him here."
It has been a hellish year for Linda, who lives in Arizona now. For the longest time, she couldn't watch basketball because the memories were too painful, the wounds too raw. The game had given their family its gravity. Matt and his father, a former college player, would wage war against one another daily in the driveway. A way of life died along with them.
But earlier this season, basketball reached out and pulled Linda back. One of Matt's teammates at Illinois, Awvee Storey, had transferred to Arizona State. Linda went to a game to show support.
"That was very hard," she said. "It's a reminder of your son. They've got little guards there too."
It's still hard. Matt had just finished playing professionally in Greece and Finland when he died. Where there once was a basketball player, a new scoreboard rises. It will have to do.
Maybe heaven is, indeed, a playground. If it is, it's good to know they've got little guards there too.
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Source: Internation Basketball Association Webpage
Author: Sean McLaughlin - Director of Operations
MARCUS LIBERTY REPLACES REGGIE WILLIAMS AS GOLD HEAD COACH
(Mitchell, SD) Marcus Liberty was announced as the new South Dakota Gold Head Coach at a 3PM press conference held at Mitchell's City Hall. Liberty replaces original Head Coach Reggie Williams who resigned from the International Basketball Association team on Monday.
"This will be a great experience for me becoming head coach," said Liberty, "The main thing now is to get everybody on the same page and get this first game (Friday, December 15 @ Des Moines Dragons) out of the way. I am going to stress team defense and we will definitely be a running team."
Liberty had been serving as a player/coach for the Gold prior to his promotion. Liberty joined the team after spending last season with the Las Vegas Silver Bandits of the International Basketball League. Liberty first joined the professional playing ranks as the 42nd overall pick in the 1990 National Basketball Association draft by the Denver Nuggets. Liberty played in the NBA from 1990-1994, which he split between the Nuggets and the Detroit Pistons. Liberty's best season came with the Nuggets in 1991-92, when he averaged 9/3 points and 4.1 rebounds over 75 games.
Liberty has also played in the CBA, Turkey, Greece, Sweden and Japan between 1994-1999. Liberty was tabbed the top player in the nation while he prepped at Chicago's Martin Luther King High School by Sports Illustrated before enrolling at Illinois.
"While we wish Reggie Williams the best of luck with his future endeavors, we are excited for Marcus with his recent promotion, said General Manager Rick Lindner.
"Marcus has been a positive role model for our players since he arrived during training camp and I am confident that the transition to head coach will be easy for him. We feel that he will be able to lead the team in the right direction."
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Source: Pioneer Press
Date: November 22, 2000
Author: Casey Moffitt, Staff Writer
Big Picture
Oak Park graphics company making splash nationwide
Visual Impack Media has been making a big splash in large-scale graphics and billboards across the country since 1998, and now the Oak Park business is looking to make some at home.
Brian Ford, president of Visual Impact Media, said his company has been installing large-scale signs, graphics and window enhancements for corporations in the Chicago area as well as Texas, Florida and Ohio. He began his own business in 1998 after working for 3M for 15 years.
"I had a good knowledge of the products and good synergy with advertising agencies from working with 3M," Ford said. "I'm basically doing what I did then."
While working with 3M, Ford worked on billboard installation on freeways and large-scale graphics in places such as Times Square.
Visual Impact Media installs all of the suspended graphics, lettering and window enhancements for Bank One branches. Is has also installed wrapped graphics for Amtraj trains.
Ford, who is an Oak Park resident, said he wants to maintain his accounts with large corporations, but now wants to supplement that business with the locals.
"We want to reach out to the Oak Park and River Forest business community," he said. "We're aggressively going after major clients, but we're looking locally, too."
Ford moved his business office to downtown Oak Park, on 1016 North Blvd. in July. He said the space is very nice to display some of the large murals and window enhancements Visual Impact Media installs.
Business has been busy, Ford said. Visual Impact Media has three people in Oak Park, but Ford said he has about 15 others who work for him across the country.
"Corporate America wants to talk to customers in alternative ways," he said. "They're finding that large format graphics is one way to do that."
In a Bank One branch in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood, Visual Impact Media installed suspended ceiling graphics which depicted area landmarks. They show large images of the Uptown Theatre and the Post Office to tie the branch into the community.
Visual Impact Media also drum scans large digital photographs, and installs floor graphics and pillar wraps.
"It's neat and unique stuff," he said. "We've gotten good response and we can make it tasteful."
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Dr. Jack Groppel is an internationally recognized authority on the application of sport science to human performance, and an expert in fitness and nutrition. A world renowned professional speaker, Dr. Groppel has shared the speaking platform with world frigures ranging from Presidents George Bush and Gerald Ford to Secretary of State Colin Powell, and actor Christopher Reeve.
Dr. Groppel developed the Corporate Athlete? concept for his training program while serving as an associate professor of kinesiology and bioengineering at the University of Illinois. From 1981-1991, his Corporate Athlete? program helped both business executives and athletes increase performance levels. In 1992, he combined his program with Dr. Jim Loehra and fitness expert Pat Etcheberry to form LGE Performance Systems.
Dr. Groppel's most recent book is "The Corporate Athelte" which Leonard Lauder, Chairman and CEO of The Estee Lauder Companies called: "must reading for everyone who wants to manage his or her business, career, or profession effectively while living a balanced life." Dr. Groppel has also written more than 400 articles about fitness, nutrition and stress.
A Fellor in the American College of Sport Medicine, Dr. Groppel is also a certified nutrition specialist at the American College of Nutrition, a former Research Associate to the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and the current Chair of the National Sport Science Committee of the United States Tennis Association.
The Corporate Athlete? Training Program helps business people to increase their capacity at 11 levels- mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. LGE offers training solutions ranging from executive training programs and on-site corporate training to keynote presentation and experiential teambuilding programs. LGE's corporate headquarters and world-class training center are located in Orlando, Florida with addition sites in San Diego, Chicago, and New York. Corporate clients include Salomon Smith Barney, the Estee Lauder Companies, Bristol-Myers Squibb, L'Oreal, Merrill Lynch, Pfizer and IBM.
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Darrin Fletcher and son, Casey, present a check for $50,000. |
Former University of Illinois Baseball All-American and current Toronto Blue
Jays catcher Darrin Fletcher, his wife, Shelia, their son, Casey (8) and daughter, Preslie (4) presented a check for $50,000 to the Fighting Illini Scholarship Fund at halftime of the men's basketball game against Penn State on January 20th. Fletcher, who played at Illinois from 1985-87 and earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors in 1987, holds a .276 career batting average and has 110 career home runs over 12 major league seasons. The 1994 National League All-Star hit a career-high .320 last season to go along with a career-high 58 RBI for the Blue Jays.
At Illinois Fletcher was a three-time All-Big Ten pick and a first-team All-American in 1987. He holds Illinois career (.392) and single season (.497) hitting records and was a sixth-round draft pick of the LA Dodgers in the 1987 Major League Baseball draft. During his major league career Fletcher has spent time with the Dodgers (1989-90), Philadelphia Phillies (1990-91), Montreal Expos (1992-97) and Blue Jays (1998-present).
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Six former Illini basketball players will be honored this year by the storied Proviso West Holiday Tournament. The Proviso West Holiday Tournament has been around now for 40 years and has become the state's premier holiday tournament. In it's 40th year, the tournament has decided to name it's "40 Most Influential" participants. The recipients, who were chosen by thousands of votes from the fans, include 29 former players, 7 coaches, 3 administrators, and one newspaper writer.
Of the 29 players, six of them are former Illini. They include: Neil Bresnahan Basketball '80, Levi Cobb Basketball '80, Kiwane Garris Basketball '97, Rick Howat Basketball '71, Marcus Liberty Basketball '91, and Efrem Winters Basketball '86.
The group will be honored between the semifinal games of the 2000 Holiday Tournament at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29. A permanent display will be erected in the main concourse of Proviso West's athletic complex.
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Ten former Illini football players are excelling in the NFL and are included on the 2000-01 Pro Bowl Ballot. The Pro Bowl is held every year at the end of the season to honor the leagues top players. The starters for this game are voted on by the fans. Several Illini over the years have been selected to play in the game, including Kevin Hardy '96 and Simeon Rice '96 last year.
The ten Illini on the ballot this year are Ken Dilger '95, Jeff George '91, Howard Griffith '91, Hardy, Robert Holcombe '98, John Holecek '95, Brad Hopkins '93, Henry Jones '91, Neil Rackers '00, and Rice.
To vote for these former Illini for the Pro Bowl, just go to www.nfl.com and click on "Pro Bowl Ballot" under "HEADLINES" on the left hand side of the page.
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Ashley Berggren goes up for a shot as an Illini. |
The following is an article that gives an update on Ashley Berggren, Basketball '98:
Ashley Berggren to return to Illinois
Illini play Reebok Lady Stars on Sunday
With 26 years of coaching, Illinois Head Coach Theresa Grentz has many high moments - a national championship and the Olympics to name a few. As competitive a coach as she is, one of the most rewarding moments of her profession is seeing old players come back.
Sunday one special player returns to Assembly Hall when All-American Ashley Berggren, a member of the Reebok Lady Stars, takes on her old school, the Illinois Fighting Illini. Tip off is a 2 p.m. at the Assembly Hall.
"There's not a more glorious feeling then when they come back," said Grentz. "Ashley has done well in her training. It will be a delight for her to come back to the Assembly Hall."
Ashley Berggren played alongside current assistant coach Krista Reinking in the first years of the Grentz era at Illinois. In just two short years, the Illini, led by Berggren, changed from a dormant program into a Big Ten champion. In Berggren's final two seasons, Illinois won 44 games and reached two straight Sweet Sixteens. In December of 1998, the Illini reached as high as No. 5 in the national poll.
"They started it," said Grentz of the now powerful Illinois program. "Ashley, Nicole (Vasey), Krista and others all bought into it. They did what ever it took for us to win and played unselfish basketball."
By Berggren's senior year, Huff Hall was full night in and night out. That was the case on Dec. 28, 1997, the day of "the shot." With just two seconds left and Illinois' game with Purdue tied, Berggren hit a short jumper in the lane to give Illinois a 78-76 win, the first of a school-record eight straight Big Ten wins and the start of a streak of 18 consecutive wins at home.
The native of Barrington, Ill., left Illinois as the school's all-time scoring leader with 2,089 points and is currently sixth all-time in career rebounds (779).
In addition to playing against the current Illinois team, Grentz says Berggren will spend time with the players this weekend. A team with lofty goals of Big Ten titles and national championship can't help but learn something from a player who was there when it all began.
Here are the results from the game:
Berggren Wins Another Game at Assembly Hall
Iveta Marcauskaite leads all scorers with 27 points
Illinois' all-time scoring leader Ashley Berggren returned to Assembly Hall today and left with another victory. Berggren and the Reebok Lady Stars handed the Illini an 89-78 loss in their final exhibition game of the season.
"I have mixed feelings," Berggren said. "I'm a competitor and I love to win, but it's my alma mater and I want to see them succeed. They have a very young, talented group, and I expect them to do great things as always."
One of the talented, young members of the squad is Iveta Marcauskaite. The freshman led all scorers with 27 points on 11-16 shooting from the floor and 5-8 from the line. She also added a team-high 10 rebounds.
Berggren scored the first basket of the game before the Illini went on an 18-0 run. With a little less than eight minutes left in the first half, the Lady Stars had gotten back on track and brought the score within two at 25-23. A few Illinois points off of Lady Star turnovers led to a 43-37 Illini advantage at halftime.
The Lady Stars came out tough in the second half taking their first lead since the first basket of the game at the 15:09 mark in the second half. The Stars went up 50-49 on one of six three-pointers in the game by Stacy Frese. In all there were six lead changes before the Lady Stars' Mary Shaw hit a three with 4:54 remaining to give the Stars the lead for good at 76-73.The Stars went on to score 10 unanswered points en route to the 89-78 victory.
Amy Amstatz led the Stars with 24 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Berggren, the sixth leading rebounder at Illinois, led all rebounders with 15 while hitting 8 of 17 from the floor and 2 of 4 from the line for 18 points. Frese also added 18 points going 6-9 from behind the arc. Along with Marcauskaite, Allison Curtin, Anne O'Neil and Shavonna Hunter were also in double figures. Curtin and O'Neil scored 13 points each while Hunter added 10. Curtin and Dawn Vana each grabbed seven rebounds for Illinois as well. O'Neil also recorded five assists. For the second straight game the three guards played for over 30 minutes each. Curtin logged 36 minutes while O'Neil and Hunter each played for 34.
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Dave Wilson receives his 1980 helmet. |
Dave Wilson, Football 81', returned to campus for the 2000 Illini football game versus Ohio State and celebrated the 20th anniversary of his record breaking performance against the Buckeyes back in 1980.
On Nov. 8, 1980, an unranked Illini squad led by a relatively unknown quarterback entered Ohio Stadium against the heavily favored and seventh-ranked Buckeyes. Ninety-one points, 621 Illini passing yards, 69 pass attempts, 43 completions, 36 first downs, 97 offensive plays and six touchdown passes later, 87,952 partisan Buckeye fans gave Illini quarterback Dave Wilson a standing ovation as he walked off the field and into the record books.
All Wilson did that day was break the NCAA single-game passing yardage record by 50 yards, tie the NCAA record for pass attempts with 69 and completions with 43, while setting the NCAA record for passing yardage in a half with 344 in the second. His 76 offensive plays tied another NCAA mark. The six TD passes set a Big Ten record as did his 585 yards in total offense.
Ohio State had jumped out to a 28-0 lead when Illini coach Mike White and Wilson opened up a passing attack like few had ever seen. In the second half alone, Wilson completed 23-37 passes for 344 yards and five touchdowns to pull the Illini within a touchdown of Ohio State three times.
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Dave Wilson and Assistant Director of Development Mike Hatfield. |
Wilson's performance overshadowed a fine performance by Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter, who completed 17-21 passes for 284 yards and four touchdowns of his own. Wilson completed passes to 10 different receivers with three topping 100 yards in receptions.
Dave was recognized on the field during the 2000 game against the Buckeyes and was presented with his helmet from the 1980 game from the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.
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The following is an article on Tim Lavery, Football/Baseball '99:
Lavery on the mend
By: CubsNow.com
Date: 10/13/2000
A shoulder injury in 2000 cost Cub prospect Tim Lavery a chance to build on a solid 1999 season. Lavery, a left-handed pitcher, was the Cubs' 11th round pick in the June 1996 free agent draft out of the University of Illinois.
The 21-year old Lavery sat out most of his second professional season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder.
The Naperville Central High School graduate did rehabilitate in time to make five appearances (all starts) for the Cubs' Rookie League affiliate at Mesa in the Arizona League. Lavery was 0-2 with a 4.80 ERA. In 15 innings, he gave up 17 hits and eight earned runs.
There were some encouraging statistics. Lavery fanned 13 batters while surrendering just three walks and one home run ball.
The Downers Grove, Ill., native fashioned a promising 1998 at short-season Class-A Eugene (Ore.) after being drafted by the Cubs. In 15 games (including two starts) for the Northwest League team, Lavery was 3-2 with three saves and a 3.63 ERA. In 39.2 innings, Lavery gave up 42 hits, 16 earned runs, 17 walks, two homers, two wild pitches and three balks.
The Cubs have liked Lavery for a while.
The Cubs picked Lavery in the 14th round in the June 1996 free agent draft out of high school but lost him to the Fighting Illini where he would play baseball and football.
Lavery made some progress on the gridiron, starting five games at quarterback in 1997 but following the season he decided to concentrate solely on baseball.
In 1998, Lavery went 3-3 with a 7.69 ERA in 14 games for an Illini team that finished 42-21 and ranked No. 23 in the final Baseball America poll. Lavery concluded his Illinois career by going 6-6 with a 5.93 ERA before being drafted by the Cubs for the second time.
If Lavery's shoulder is strong, look for him to start 2001 in full-season Class-A.
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Karen Brems Kurreck gets ready for a race. |
Karen Brems Kurreck, Gymnastics '84, has been an internationally known cyclist for the past several years. She graduated in 1984 with a degree in computer science and worked as a software engineer until 1995. After graduation, she slowly got into cycling, but she made up for lost time in a hurry. Included on her cycling resume is 1994 World Champion - Individual Time Trial and the recent 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Australia.
Click here to go to Karen's homepage, which includes her Olympic diary, complete career statistics, and other great information about her.
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The Illini and the NFL have traditionally had a close relationship together. There are serveral Illini currently playing in the NFL as there always has been throughout the lifespan of the league. In fact, if it were not for the efforts of George Halas, Football/Basketball/Baseball '18, and Red Grange, Football '26, pro football would not be were it is today.
Click here to read more about the current Illini in the NFL and the history of the Illini in the NFL.
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ILLINI TRACK ATHLETES AT 2000 SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
Four Illini competed in the 2000 Summer Olympic Track and field events. The following is an article about Marko Koers, Track/Cross-Country '96, who made it to the semifinals in the 1500 meter run:
Marko Koers Advances At Summer Olympics
Illini alum makes 1,500 meter semifinals
University of Illinois alumnus Marko Koers has advanced to the semifinals of the men's 1,500 meter run at the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney. Koers, who is running for his home country The Netherlands, placed eighth in the third of three qualifying heats in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:39.16. Koers, who posted the 14th fastest time overall in the preliminaries, is one of 24 athletes to qualify for the semifinals which will be run Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. Sydney time.
Koers is scheduled to run in the second of two semifinal sections. Athletes in Koers' section include Hicham El Guerrouj, the 1,500 meter world record holder from Morocco, and the United States' Gabe Jennings.
Koers was a four-year letterwinner for the Illini from 1992-1996. He was a three time NCAA Champion, claiming titles in the 800 meters (indoors) in 1993 and the 1,500 meters in 1993 and 1996. He is the all-time Illinois and Big Ten record holder in the 1,500 meters, running 3:33.05 at the 1996 NCAA Championships.
Here are the complete results of all four Illini that competed at the 2000 Summer Olypic track and field events. Congratulations to all Illini competitors!
Marko Koers, Track/Cross-Country `96 (Netherlands)
1,500 Meter Run
Preliminaries
8th in 3rd of 3 heats (14th out of 41 runners overall)
Time: 3:39.16 (Qualified for Semifinals)
Semifinals
8th in 2nd of 2 heats (9th out of 24 runners overall)
Time: 3:39.42
Perdita Felicien, Illinois Sophomore (Canada)
100 Meter Hurdles
Preliminaries
6th place in 4th of 5 heats (27th out of 38 runners overall)
Time: 13.21
Bobby True, Track `99 (Liberia)
800 Meter Run
Preliminaries
6th place in 3rd of 8 heats (45th out of 61 runners overall)
Time: 1:48.79
Tonja Buford-Bailey, Track `94 (United States)
400 Meter Hurdles
Preliminaries
5th place in 5th of 5 heats (18th out of 33 runners overall)
Time: 57.02
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Loren Tate Inducted into Monticello High School Hall of Fame
Loren Tate, who was a participant on the Illini baseball team in the 1950's and an Honorary inductee into the Varsity "I" Association in 1982, was inducted into the Hall of Fame at his high school alma mater in Monticello, IL. The festivities were held in conjunction with Monticello Homecoming on October 6, 2000. There was a reception at the high school followed by the homecoming game with Clinton in which Monticello won. Loren was an infielder for the Illini but gained acclaim as a pitcher after graduation in the Eastern Illinois (E.I.) Baseball League. In 1958, Loren led the E.I. in pitching and hitting with a 14-1 record (including 2 no hitters) and a .489 batting average. Tate has been associated with the Champaign News-Gazette since 1966 and has been doing the Illini sport radio broadcasts since 1979.
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Baseball Alumni Reunion
The 2000 Baseball Alumni Game was played Saturday, Sept. 23rd, at 1:30 p.m. at Illinois Field. The game took place in the afternoon prior to the football game against Michigan, in which the 2000 team was honored for winning the Big Ten Tournament. Other activities for the weekend included a cookout before the football game and a golf outing on Sunday.
Several former Illini returned, including reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Jason Anderson '01 (New York Yankees) and former big leaguer Donn Pall `85. Other current pro players scheduled to return include D.J. Svihlik '00 (New York Yankees), Craig Marquie '00 (New York Yankees), Jon Anderson '99 (Boston Red Sox), Mitch Walk `01 (San Francisco Giants), Dusty Rhodes '98 (New York Yankees), and Brian McClure '96 (Detroit Tigers).
Other former Illini that returned for the weekend included Bill Antonacci '96, Rich Capparelli `89, Bob Christensen '91, Ken Crawford '94, Dave Crouse '66, Lee Eilbracht '47, Bill Foss '69, Peter Frew '95, Glen Guth '73, Brian Hecht `97, Vince Heinz '00, Dan Humay `67, Doug Irwin '93, T.J. Jackson `99, Michael Jurack '94, Paul Koch '66, Mike Kraft `92, Todd McClure `99, Dan O'Neill `99, Dick Pawlow '59, Tom Powers '89, Jim Reed '67, Tim Richardson `83, Mike Rodgerson '67, Bill Schlueter '66, Frank Schwartz '59, David Siefert '93, Todd Smiser '94, Joe Sprengard `00, Peter Steger '79, Tom Stewart '76, Shawn Targgart '99, Greg Thienpont '84, Keith Toriani `94, Jason Wollard `96, and Tom Zidlicki `98.
Click here to look at some pictures from the Alumni game.
The following are the results from the Alumni game:
Baseball Alumni Take Varsity, 3-2
Varsity has their chance, but alumni hold on for the win.
The Alumni Baseball team featured the greatest number of current and former professional players who have returned to Illinois Field in a number of years, and it showed as the alums pulled off the upset, defeating the 2001 Varsity, 3-2, this afternoon at Illinois Field.
Both teams started slowly, as the combination of wooden bats and starting the count at 1-1 on each batter took its toll on the offense. Alums Jason Anderson, Tom Zidlicky and Rich Capparelli paired up to hold the Varsity hitless in the first three innings while the alumni offense waited for something to break.
It finally did in the top of the sixth, when Dan Humay led off with a walk off Illini freshman Glenn Kamis. Todd McClure then picked up the RBI four batters later, putting the alums up 1-0.
But the Varsity came back in the top of the seventh, plating two runs, one by Joffre Colbert after a three-base error, and the other scored when shortstop Brian Raymond drew a bases-loaded walk that scored Andy Schutzenhofer.
The alums came back in the top of the eighth, plating two runs off righthander Ryan Parks to take the 3-2 lead.
The Varsity had its best opportunity to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth when Patrick Arlis led off with a triple. But Trevor Frederickson, Raymond and T.F. Meagher were all unable to get him around off alumni closer Joe Sprengard.
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Men's Tennis Alumni Reunion Match is a Grand Slam
Tiley Era Players Return to Celebrate Still Another Big Ten Championship
The University of Illinois men's tennis team enjoyed a festive weekend before embarking upon its fall competition schedule. Players from Coach Craig Tiley's first seven UI squads assembled in Champaign-Urbana Friday September 22, 2000, through Sunday, September 24th for fun, food, fellowship and some friendly competition.
The weekend's activities was highlighted by the presentation of Big Ten Championship rings to the 2000 team during half-time of the Illinois-Michigan football game at Memorial Stadium Saturday evening. The reunion began with a reception at the Stadium Club Friday evening, followed by the varsity-alumni tennis match at Atkins Tennis Center, which started at 11 a.m. Saturday. The two sides had plenty of victories to talk about over the weekend. Under Tiley, the Orange and Blue has put together a record of 137-59 (.699), including a 74-14 (.841) mark the last three seasons. Illinois has won 45 consecutive Big Ten matches and has captured four conference titles in a row. The Illini finished the 2000 season ranked No. 6 in the nation, and the duo of Cary Franklin `00 and now-senior Graydon Oliver won the NCAA Division I Men's Doubles Championship last May in Athens, Ga. Among those returning to campus were Franklin and other current touring professionals, including Gavin Sontag `99, Jerry Turek `97 and Jeff Laski `00. Illinois opens fall competition Sept. 29-Oct. 1 when it hosts the Nike Fall Invitational at Atkins Tennis Center.
The entire list who returned to campus were Corbin Archer `98, Brady Blain `98, Ryan Clark `93, Rob Cordes `94, Charly Crawmer `94, Franklin, Laski, Matt Snyder `00, Sontag, Jakub Teply `99, Turek, Jon Zych '94, Brock Franklin - Trainer '00, and Darren Siedschlag - Trainer `98.
Click here to look at some pictures from the Alumni Tennis Match.
The following are the results of the Varsity-Alumni tennis match:
Varsity defeats Alumni, 5-2, in reunion matchup.
Illini Tennis Just Keeps Getting Better And Better
The University of Illinois men's tennis team proved on Saturday, September 23, 2000 what many people already know--that the program is getting better and better. The current Illini were victorious over the alumni today in a 5-2 dual match.
The alumni team was not just a bunch of weekend tennis players. Three All-Americans, Cary Franklin, Gavin Sontag and Jeff Laski, all of whom are trying their hand on the professional circuit, were among the returnees.
The day began with doubles, where Fighting Illini freshmen Brian Wilson and Philip Stolt took down former UI players Matt Snyder and Ryan Clark, 8-4. Cary Franklin, who completed his eligibility last spring and is finishing his degree this semester, paired with former Illini Jerry Turek to oust juniors Mike Kosta and Jamal Parker, 8-1. The junior tandem of Nathan Zeder and Ben Schreiber took an 8-4 win over alums Brady Blain and Corbin Archer, while sophomore Alex Hobson and junior Alex Muresan claimed an 8-2 victory over Charlie Crawmer and John Zych. By winning three of the five doubles matches, the varsity won the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead over the alumni.
"It was really fun out there today," said senior All-American Graydon Oliver. "We knew it would be competitive because that is why we have been so successful--we are competitive by nature."
Graydon Oliver outlasted Franklin at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-7(6), 10-6. Laski pulled of a 1-6, 6-3, (12-10) victory over Zeder at No. 3 singles to give the alumni one of their two points. The other came when Crawmer defeated Hobson, 6-0, 6-7, 14-12 at the No. 8 spot.
The trio of freshmen made an incredible debut as they all won their matches to give the varsity squad the remaining three points it needed to claim the match. Newcomers Philip Stolt downed Snyder, 6-1, 7-5, at the No. 5 position, and Amer Delic dominated alum Jerry Turek, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4. Brian Wilson completed the freshman perfection with his 6-0, 6-3 win over Corbin Archer.
"It was kind of an opener for us freshmen," said Stolt. "We kind of got a feel for what a college dual match is like, and we took it really seriously. They're not in as good of shape as we are- we've been in training."
"This was a fun environment today," said Head Coach Craig Tiley. "It was very competitive, but enjoyable at the same time. I also think that today showed the very high quality of our new freshman. As for the alumni, it was great to have them back- they're still part of the family."
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Eighteen Alumni Compete At Alumni X-Country Meet
Three teams tie for victory
Eighteen alumni from the University of Illinois men's cross country team, as well as current Illini harriers competed on Saturday, September 16, 2000 in the Alumni Meet at the South Farms in Champaign, IL.
Each alum was paired with one or two current athletes for the 3-K race. Each alum predicted what their time would be. Then, that alum and current runner would try to run as close to the predicted time as possible. There was a three way tie among the alumni, as Barry Pearman (1993-'96), Greg Schultz (1996- '00) and Rob Winfield (1995-'97) all came within four seconds of their predicted times.
The fastest overall time went to alum Jason West (1991-'92), with the second fastest alum time posted by 1975 NCAA Champion Craig Vigin (1973-'76).
The entire list od alums included Mark Avery '78, Richard Brooks '76, Kerry Dickson '83, Bill Fritz '78, Scott McClennan '00, Steven Mueller '78, Elizabeth Nordmeyer (manager) '92, Pearman, Mark Rogers '77, Chris Saunders '96, Schultz, Len Sitko '92, Virgin, Jason West '93, Charles White '78, Mark Wieneke '86, Richard Wilson '79, and Winfield.
The alumni event was held to coincide with Varsity "I" weekend, in which former UI letter winners are honored.
Here are the official results from the run:
Alumni Runner/Varsity Runner Predicted Time Actual Time
Mark Avery/Caleb Grinter 11:30 11:14.5
Richard Brooks/Mike Lucchesi 13:00 13:16
Kerry Dickson/Peter Schroll 11:30 12:10.3
Bill Fritz/Nick Gow 18:00 16:21
Steven Mueller/Andrew Kurtz 18:00 16:21
Elizabeth Nordmeyer/Patrick Bradley 13:30 13:05.5
Mark Rogers/Ryan Eason 11:30 10:38
Chris Saunders/Adam Palumbo 12:30 12:28.9
Len Sitko/Brent Pfeiffer 11:00 10:53.4
Craig Virgin/Justin Mitchell 10:00 10:15
Jason West/Tim Seiwert 9:50 10:02.1
Charles White/Dan Horyn 13:30 13:23
Mark Wieneke/Rich Lin 13:30 13:28
Richard Wilson/Ed Umansky 14:00 13:05.5
Robert Winfield/Aaron Wahls 12:30 12:26.8
Barry Pearman 12:30 12:28.9
Greg Schultz 12:30 12:28
Scott McClennan 10:00 10:15
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Flyin' Illini Reunion
The Division of Intercollegiate Athletics was proud to hold a very special event on June 24, 2000. On that Saturday, a reunion was held for the 1989 Flyin' Illini men's basketball team. More than 7,000 Illini faithful bought tickets to watch the Flyin' Illini reunion group take on an Illini all-star team in a charity basketball game. The fans got autographs, reminisced about great moments in Illini history, and had a lot of fun as the Flyin' Illini brought back some of the same glimpses of magic that led to such a wonderful year and a final four berth back in 1989.
The Flyin' Illini beat the all-stars 72-65 in a hard fought but fun contest. Proceeds from the event went to an endowment of an Illinois basketball scholarship in the name of the 1989 Flyin' Illini.
Click here to listen to some audio of the players reactions to the event,
OR
Click here to look at some pictures from the event.
OR
Click here to read more about the event.
The rosters included the following former Illini:
1989 Flyin' Illini - coached by Dan Roan
Nick Anderson
Stephen Bardo
Kenny Battle
P.J. Bowman
Tyler Cottingham
Kendall Gill
Pat Kennedy
Mike MacDonald
Ed Manzke
Brian O'Connell
Mark Shapland
Tom Sloan
Travis Smith
Managers
John Allen
Ryan Baker
Gary Brunner
Lynn Carroll
Andrew Haring
Coaches
Jimmy Collins
Mark Coomes
Illini All-Stars - coached by Chris Widlic
Kameno Bell, Football `92
Chris Gandy, Basketball `97
Howard Griffith, Football `91
Kevin Hardy, Football `96
Jerry Hester, Basketball `98
Brad Hopkins, Football `93
Dana Howard, Football `95
Brian Johnson, Basketball `98
Rob Judson, Basketball `81
Simeon Rice, Basketball `96
Shawn Wax, Football `91
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Several Illini Compete at Olympic Track and Field Trials
The Illini were well represented this year at the Olympic Track and Field Trials as several current and former Illini battled for the right to represent their country in the 2000 Summer Olympics. Historically, the University of Illinois has been well represented in track and field at the Olympic games and the year 2000 is no different. Four Illini will make the trip to Sydney this year to compete in the Olympic Track and Field Competition. Tonja Buford Bailey, Track '94 will compete in the 400 meter hurdles for the United States, while Perdita Felicien, currently a sophomore at Illinois, will compete in the 100 meters for Canada, Marko Koers, Track/Cross Country '96, will compete in the 1500 meters for The Netherlands, and Bobby True, Track '99, will compete in the 800 meters for Liberia.
Also competing at the trials were Sherman Armstrong(400-meter hurdles), currently a senior, Stacy Ann Grant(high jump), Track '99, Yvonne Harrison(400 meter hurdles), Track '98, Gia Lewis(discus), currently a senior, Darren McDonough(pole vault), Track '96, Celena Mondie-Milner(200 and 400 meters), Track '90, Dawn Riley(100 meter hurdles), Track '96, Hope Sanders(800 meters), Track '95, and Jason Van Swol(800 meters), currently a junior. Congratulations to Tonja, Perdita, Marco, Bobby, and all Illini competitors!
Here are the complete results for all Illini at the Olympic Track and Field Trials:
RESULTS FROM U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS
EVENT ROUND ATHLETE PLACE TIME
Women's High Jump Prelims Stacy Ann Grant 1 5-10 3/4 Q
Finals Stacy Ann Grant 6 6-0 3/4
Women's 200 Meter Dash Prelims Celena Mondie-Milner 17 23.55
Women's 400 Meter Dash Prelims Celena Mondie-Milner 15 52.35 Q
Semis Celena Mondie-Milner 11 51.98
Women's 800 Meter Run Prelims Hope Sanders 19 2:04.76
Women's 100 Meter Hurdles Prelims Dawn Riley 20 13.49
Women's 400 Meter Hurdles Prelims Tonja Buford-Bailey 4 55.64 Q
Yvonne Harrison 5 56.05 Q
Semis Tonja Buford-Bailey 2 55.30 Q
Yvonne Harrison 6 55.59 Q
Finals Tonja Buford-Bailey 3 54.80 Q
Yvonne Harrison 6 55.67
Women's Discus Prelims Gia Lewis 20 145-5
Men's 800 Meter Run Prelims Jason Van Swol 26 1:53.23
Men's 400 Meter Hurdles Prelims Sherman Armstrong 3 49.53 Q
Semis Sherman Armstrong 7 48.94 Q
Finals Sherman Armstrong 7 50.04
Men's Pole Vault Prelims Darren McDonough -- NH
RESULTS FROM CANADIAN OLYMPIC TRIALS
EVENT ROUND ATHLETE PLACE TIME
Women's 100 Meter Hurdles Prelims Perdita Felicien 2 13.25 Q
Finals Perdita Felicien 1 13.15 Q
Note: Both Marko Koers (The Netherlands) and Bobby True (Liberia) will compete in the Olympics, although neither athlete had to compete in trials to get there. Koers won the Dutch National Championship, securing a spot in the Olympics where he will compete in the 1,500 meter run. True was invited to be on the Liberian National Team, and will compete in Sydney in the 800 meter run.
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A Footnote to History: Judge Harlington Wood
Federal Judge Harlington Wood Jr. has circled the earth three times, finding himself in the middle of dramatic history more than once. Now at 80 the lifelong Springfield resident with four presidential appointments is doing anything but retiring. He says he has too much work to do to retire, and he's got a creative itch to scratch.
Professionally, Wood is most well known for his involvement while serving in the Department of Justice in two separate Native American standoffs: the first at Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, which began in late 1969 and ran through the summer of 1971, and the second in 1973 at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Wood's duties also include assignments to a Caribbean Island disrupted by activists protesting NATO gunnery practice. He has acted as a negotiator in the nation's capitol for peace demonstrations in 1971, as a liaison to the governor of Florida during the 1972 national political conventions in Miami, as an adviser in France, South Korea, and Yugoslavia on drug matters, and has dealt with civil disturbances in Puerto Rico. Wood also participates in a professional exchange program with judges and attorneys in former communist nations.
During the Vietnam War, Wood was charged with negotiating peace demonstrations with such disparate groups as the National Organization for Women, the American Nazi Party, and the Southern Christian Leadership Council. "We wanted to make sure that all the protesters who objected to the Vietnam War had full exercise of their First Amendment rights in Washington, but keep the thing as well as could be within the law, not tear up the town or shut it down," he says. "Nobody ever thought the Nixon administration was helping them. We were helping them pull off a good demonstration, if they would just police themselves and be responsible citizens about it. Their views about the war didn't concern us. That's not my business. I never understood the Vietnam War either."
Jerry Fines, a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Danville, was with Wood during those years, and literally has been following Wood throughout his career. He remembers Wood got along with everybody. "He was trying to be fair to all of them," Fines says. "Harlington is a very loyal person. He has a lot of friends across the United States, and actually, throughout the world. He keeps in touch with his friends, of all walks of life, not just hotshots and presidential appointees."
Wood is the son of a Sangamon County judge, and his father's bench is enshrined in Wood's office in the downtown federal building. It sits amid a museum-like collection of artifacts-busts, statuettes, paintings, sketches, and photographs-reflecting a fascination of horses, Native American history, and all things Western that began long before his assignments to Alcatraz and Wounded Knee.
Family members claim there's Native American blood in his lineage, and Wood's brown eyes and high cheekbones give credence to that claim. At age 6, while visiting Denver, he saw Chief Evergreen Tree, a Pueblo Indian, in full regalia in an enthralling performance. In a memoir, Wood recalls, "He knew the forests, mountains, and plains, as well as the wolves, and the eagles, and birds above in the big sky. He could imitate them all, which he did to make a living." Wood was so taken with Chief Evergreen Tree that he invited him to visit Springfield. And he did visit, regularly.
When Wood reached college age, his parents registered him at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. "I didn't see a single horse anywhere," he recalls. So he packed up and headed to the University of Illinois. He had been there plenty of times for ball games and had admired the college's cavalry brigade and polo team. He signed up, becoming the polo team captain in 1941 and 1942. Coming out of ROTC as a second lieutenant, he served four years in the U.S. Army in the American, European, and Asiatic theaters of operation, ending his military stint at the Japanese surrender in the Philippines. He returned to school, and in 1948 earned his law degree and a pilot's license.
After graduating, Wood practiced law alone for awhile and later with his father until 1958 when President Dwight Eisenhower appointed him U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. In 1961 he returned to private practice with his father.
Years later, Wood helped to reactivate and then served as Brigadier General of the Illinois Seventh Cavalry, Illinois State Militia. On a cold February 12, 1973, astride his horse leading the cavalry at a Lincoln's Day gathering in Athens, Wood met the speaker, U.S. Senator Charles Percy. That evening the senator called Wood at home and offered him the federal judgeship he now holds.
During the Cold War, the young lawyer toyed with a run at Congress. Weak in international affairs, Wood decided to visit Germany and Russia. On his first visit to Moscow in 1961, he headed for Red Square and joined the long, solemn line leading into the tomb of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. In a memoir for Forbes American Heritage in 1999, Wood writes: "As I was leaving, I glanced back for a last look and noticed that no one else had followed . . . when I stepped out onto the sidewalk, I discovered a commotion going on. In the few minutes I had been inside, soldiers had swarmed into the square, dispersed all those still standing in line, and closed the entrance." Earlier that day, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had denounced Stalin. "Stalin had been hauled out that night, placed in a fresh grave in the burial plot out back, and covered with concrete," he recalls.
He ends that memoir with this observation: "I think of Lincoln's tomb in my hometown, where people from all over the world come to pay homage to him. He too is buried deep under protective concrete. There all similarities end."
On that same venture, in Germany, Wood visited the office of West Berlin Mayor Willie Brandt. Brandt wasn't there, but the young American attorney was impressed to see a bust of Abraham Lincoln in the office.
In 1969 Richard Kleindienst, President Nixon's Attorney General, tapped Wood as executive head of the U.S. Attorneys for the U.S. Justice Department. Wood's father objected, and Wood tried to decline the offer, but Kleindienst refused. " 'You've been called to serve your country,' " Wood recalls Kleindienst saying, poking the top of his desk with his index finger. " 'This is where you belong, with us in this job. And that's all there is to it.' He could be very persuasive."
In 1970 Wood was promoted to associate deputy attorney general with broader responsibilities, including the U.S. Marshals. It was in this role that he drew duty at Alcatraz Island in 1972. Indian protesters took over the island, seeking to reclaim the land.
"It made a dramatic protest because of where it was situated right out there in the middle of the bay and it gave them a good forum," he says. The protesters obstructed the beacons that guide ships through the gate, creating a dangerous situation. "I was sent out there to figure out what to do about that. I really had no idea. I didn't want to have to go out there. You'd have to have MacArthur to take that island, you know. It would be a big fight. I didn't want to put on a fight out in San Francisco Bay with American Indians. We were trying to figure a way out. We were just waiting for a break."
And they did get a break. The Indians came ashore with a boatload of copper tubing stripped from the prison they intended to sell to a junk dealer. "It was still federal property," Wood recalls. "We got some warrants and went down and arrested them while they were still on the pier . . . And so that was over."
In 1972 Nixon named Wood assistant attorney general in charge of the civil division at the U.S. Department of Justice, and in March 1973, Kleindienst sent him to Wounded Knee, the same site where, in 1890, the U.S. Army massacred some 300 Sioux. Now it was again the site of another shooting siege, a standoff with armed members of the American Indian Movement (AIM)-the largest armed conflict in the United States since the Civil War.
While the standoff lasted 71 days, Wood's involvement as chief government negotiator came at a point when a deputy attorney general ordered Wood to mobilize marshals and the FBI and enter the compound by force.
From his memoir: "I caught my breath and stated that I had to respectfully disagree . . . What was being proposed to me about the use of force, I argued, could result only in numerous and unnecessary deaths on both sides . . . AIM believed in its cause and all had vowed to die rather than be taken. I believed in view of their heritage, that they meant it . . . Dee Brown's description of the first Wounded Knee (in the book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee) tragedy flashed through my mind. I absolutely would not preside over a possible second massacre at Wounded Knee, even if it meant submitting my resignation then and there and returning to private practice in Springfield."
During a recent interview, Wood recalls: "That's when I told him (the deputy attorney general), you know, politely insubordinate that I just wouldn't do it. I told him politely, I just couldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. So I expected to be fired and sent home. "I asked him if I could go talk to the attorney general about it. He said, 'No, go ahead.' " Wood caught the attorney general as he was getting into his car going to the airport. He tagged along and told Kleindienst what his orders were. "He looked kind of surprised at that. He said, 'You go back out there and do it your way. Not that way.' "
There were two armed camps. Marshals surrounded them in a perimeter about 20 miles around. They were inside Wounded Knee and they had plenty of guns. The dispute was essentially this: The leader of the reservation Indians was seen by some to be abusing his power and aligning too favorably with the federal government. Those who were not in alignment with the reservation leader had sought the outside help of the American Indian Movement AIM.
The Indians refused to come out, and the FBI warned Wood his life was in danger if he went in. It was feared Wood would be taken hostage. "If I didn't go, there would be a fight and if I went and something happened there would be a fight. But I didn't think anything would happen. I just trusted them," he says.
Wood met with an activist minister, the Rev. John Adams, who was accepted by members of AIM, and they went in together. "As soon as we approached, three or four Indians with rifles came out from behind their roadblock and motioned us with their rifles to get out of the car and stand along side the road," he says. "After we got out, the leadership, Russell Means, Dennis Banks, and the others came out from around the roadblock. They didn't act belligerent. I walked over and put out my hand and from there on things were fine. They said, 'Come on back here. We want to hold a meeting.'
"When we came back out, I drew up a plan to try to end the thing. That's when I met their lawyer. I told him my objective was to stop the fighting and stop the shooting so nobody would get killed while we're working this thing out. We would take up their grievances and get the Civil Rights Division and Bureau of Indian Affairs involved to work out their problems, to negotiate a settlement," says Wood.
The 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee ultimately ended with no real resolution, much the same way Alcatraz did. Still, Wood says, it had the potential to be as tragic as the 1993 standoff in Waco, Texas, between 80 followers of David Koresh and federal agents, which ended with fire tearing through the compound and death to all.
Looking back, Wood regrets he was unable to resolve the Wounded Knee conflict, but he's very proud of having avoided the use of force. "You know it was the biggest situation I got in this side of the war. I give myself a little credit-I refused to go out there and use force to subdue the Indians, he says"
The Alcatraz and Wounded Knee occupations, either directly or indirectly, are credited with helping move the U.S. government from accepting a policy of Indian self-determination. During all this, Kleindienst was distracted. He had been sworn in as attorney general just five days before the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington. Kleindienst served for 11 months amid disclosures that presidential staffers had conspired to conceal White House involvement in the burglary. He resigned and was never charged with an offense related to the break-in that led to Nixon's resignation. Kleindienst died recently at 76 in Arizona, Wood was summoned to eulogize him.
In 1973 Nixon appointed Wood as U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Illinois, a post he held until 1976, when President Gerald Ford appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the post he holds today.
By Janeen Burkholder
This article was reprinted from Springfield Magazine, August 2000. To order that issue or subscribe, call (217) 523-3445, E-mail sbscribe@springfieldmagazine.com, or mail your request to 527 So. Grand Avenue West, Springfield, IL 62704.
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Twenty-five former football letterwinners gathered in Chicago to attend the Big Ten kickoff luncheon Thursday, July 27. The group was hosted by Director of Athletics Ron Guenther, Shawn Wax, Dike Eddleman, Steve Greene and Mike Hatfield. The attendees included former Illini: Tom Hicks, John Mulchrone, John Gillen, Ken Gillen, Ron Ferrari, Mike Murphy, Tim McAvoy, Dan Gregus, Don Passmore, Mark McGowan, Mark Butkus, Brian Ward, Bob Miller, Scott Kehoe, Brad Hartmann, Jim Juriga, Luke Sewall, 1983 Big Ten MVP Don Thorp, Rick Renfro, Mark Dennis, Mark Kelly, John Elliott, Mark Zitnik, Mark Day and Chad Copher.
Coach Ron Turner was able to meet all of the guys prior to the luncheon. He then made us all proud with his comments from the podium about Illini football history and tradition, and the upcoming season. The Illini contingent took honors for the biggest and best group of former players (there were over 1900 attendees at the luncheon), and also took home three of the four raffle prizes (Bob Miller won hotel accommodations and tickets to the Rose Bowl parade and game, Mark Kelly won a SONY TV, and George Rouse (FISF member) won two airline tickets to anywhere in the US.
This was the first time many of these former teammates had seen each other in years...and many of them are making plans to attend a game or two this fall. It would be great if all former Illini would take a few minutes and make the effort to track down a former team mate YOU haven't seen in years, and tell them "hello"...and to "meet you in Champaign" this fall!
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The Chicago Public League Basketball Association's dinner was held June 6 at Maggiano's, 516 N. Clark St. Hall of Fame inductees
include former Illinois forward Ken Norman (Basketball '87) from Crane High School and ex-UI
center George Montgomery (Basketball '85), who attended Corliss High School.
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Jimmy Blondell (r) in a scene from the movie Liar's
Poker. |
Jim Blondell, Football '88--Jim lettered as a defensive tackle for the
Fighting Illini from 1985-87. He is now displaying his talents as an actor.
He has a leading role in a recent film called "Liar's Poker." The film won
six awards at the Chicago Alternate Film Festival, including the "Best Debut
Performance" for Jim, or "Jimmy," as he is known today. Here's what the
director had to say about Jimmy:
"Jimmy Blondell (Vic) literally smolders on screen in Liar's Poker, his
debut performance. Born in Chicago, Blondell moved to LA to pursue his
acting career where, working as a bodyguard and running a nightclub, he ran
into Santo. His strength and presence made him perfect for the role of Vic,
so he joined Santo's Venice Actors' workshop about two years before
production began. Look out for Blondell in The Den, a contemporary action
drama he developed with Santo, which they plan to shoot next year. Already
attracting critical acclaim and a Best Newcomer award for his role in Liar's
Poker, he's one to watch."
The movie has recently been released at Blockbuster Video.
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| Jimmy Blondell
(second from left) with a few of his acting buddies |
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