The Extra Champions Have

The other day, I was driving and listening to ESPNU on the radio. They were having a discussion about what college coaches look for in athletes. The obvious was that it starts with physical characteristics- size, strength, speed. The consensus of most of the coaches was that while many athletes share impressive physical characteristics, champions have a different set of psychological or personal qualities. Listening to this discussion, it became obvious to me that high school, college, and pro coaches all are looking for some very important intangibles in their athletes.

Passion- This past winter, Loyola’s Porter Mosher talked about his experience working as an assistant for the legendary coach, Rick Majerus. Mosher described coming back from a recruiting trip, and describing players he had observed. He would describe how they moved, their athleticism, and how they could shoot. According to Mosher, Majerus would at some point interrupt and ask, “Yes, but does he love the game?” Majerus view was that to become a champion you had to invest incredible time and sweat. And you could not put the time and sweat needed unless you loved what you were doing.

The point of Majerus, to become a champion, basketball must be a priority. To become great, it has to be something you WANT to do.

Roger Bannister

Roger Bannister passed away yesterday. Bannister on May 6, 1954 became the first person to break the 4 minute by running 3:59.4. In my humble opinion, this was one of the most significant sports events of the 20th century. Obviously many have broken this time since then. But Bannister's performance had a significance for not only athletes but all of us in our lives.

Before Bannister's race, there were many runners who came very close to breaking the 4 minute barrier but fell just short. Their were some who felt it was impossible. When Bannister broke the record it was an inspiration. The message from his performance is that we are all capable of more than we realize. Often our greatest barrier is our own mental state- we don't believe we can do something, so we can't do it.

Galesburg girls basketball had won 7 Regional titles in a row from 1988 thru 1994. In the summer of 1994, while at basketball camp at the University of Michigan, we gave the players a handout entitled, "Going Beyond Tradition." The message was that in winning 7 Regionals but never winning a Sectional- had we reached a point where we thought the Regional titles were good enough? Were we beginning to think we weren't capable of winning a Sectional title?

Parents & Players

This is a series of tweets by Alan Stein Jr- a basketball trainer- regarding his thoughts on parents and athletes.

Alan Stein, Jr.‏ @AlanSteinJr Feb 24

Parents who shout instructions to their child during a game do a few things: 1) Undermine the coach 2) Confuse their child 3) Sound like an ass Remember, just because something is UNDERSTANDABLE doesn’t mean it is ACCEPTABLE. Good intentions doesn’t equal ‘right.’

Alan Stein, Jr.‏ @AlanSteinJr Feb 24

I will be attending my daughter’s kindergarten game and my son’s 2nd grade game today. You won’t hear a peep from me the entire time. When each game is over, all you will hear from me is, ‘I love to watch you play.’ Support Coach

ACL Injuries

Alan Stein- basketball trainer- has put together a good article on ACL injuries. There are two videos attached to the article also.

https://coachingtoolbox.net/filingcabinet/alan-stein-reducing-acl-issues.html?utm_sq=fo23n5hsss&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=WinningCoaches&utm_content=Basketball

Brad Bennewitz- Voice of the Streaks

My grandparents lived in Galesburg. They had a second floor apartment at 153 East North St. They had no TV until the late 1960’s. They had a small den with a huge wooden cased radio that took about two minutes to “warm up.” They were huge Streaks fans. They had no car and not a lot of money so they never went to games, but they went to the den and listened to all the games on WGIL. They could quote things Coach Thiel said in the pre-game and post-game interviews. And they knew their Streaks. And they enjoyed the broadcasts so much.

Brad Bennewitz is the one who has been “painting the picture” of Streaks football and boys basketball for years. He is not a good play by play announcer, he is a great play by play announcer. He is polished and professional in his presentation. And he is entertaining to listen to. Brad is an expert, but he doesn’t come across as an expert. He never gets in the way of the game.

Alumni Game- Saturday, January 27

Streaks Alumni Game will be Saturday, January 27 vs. Stillman Valley at 3:30pm at Thiel Gym. The game is part of the Galesburg Shootout- 3 varsity girls games, 4 varsity boys games, 2 freshmen games, and 2 soph games. 

Events of the day...
Starting at Noon- Soup luncheon sponsored by the Streaks boys/girls basketball teams. You can come anytime and get a nice lunch while supporting Streaks basketball.

2:00-3:00pm- Reception for Alums in the Learning Center. It will be a chance with others who are back. 

3:30pm- Streaks vs. Stillman Valley

7:00pm- Reception for Alums in Cherry Street's side room. 

Hope you can make it back!!!

Jimmie Carr- I Was So Excited I Couldn't Sleep

Jimmie Carr as a senior

 The 1959 Streaks basketball team was ranked #1 for much of the year, and went onto take Third in State. When veteran Streaks fans talk about the ’59 team, it always turns to the story about the transfer of Bumpy Nixon from Quincy to Galesburg.

Very few Streaks fans realize the story about the “other transfer” that made the ’59 team. Something big happened at Mary Allen West School on one day in December of 1950. Early in the day, a young African-American boy from Texas walked into enroll in fourth grade. Shortly after, another African-American boy from Arkansas walked into enroll in fourth grade. Jimmie Carr was coming from Texas, and Otis Cowan was coming from Arkansas. That day, their fourth grade teacher, Miss Witherspoon recognized the unusual event. She instructed the boys that since they were both new and both lived in the same neighborhood, they should plan to become friends. As wise as Miss Witherspoon was, she didn’t realize that she was greeting one of the greatest guard tandems who would ever play for Galesburg High School.  

Rainee Sibley- Energy Giver

 Rainee Sibly graduated from Galesburg HS in 2013, and from Illinois State University in 2017. Today she is working in Galesburg in the social service field.

Rainee played varsity basketball for three years at Galesburg. During her career, we were running “the System.” It was perfect for her, it involved going all out for about 30-40 seconds. And Rainee could get after it. During her three year varsity career, she averaged about 2.5 points per game. But she was extremely valuable.

I was asked once, if I was going to pick a team from the players who I have coached, who would be fifteen players I would put on that team. I didn’t answer the question. When I think about that question, my answer would change from day to day. I don’t know the answer. But I know that if I was putting together a team, it would be very, very hard not to include Rainee Sibley on that team. She only scored 2.5 points per game- why Rainee?

Hungate- Girls Basketball Dynasty

Mary Kay Hungate

 There have been many good girls basketball teams in western Illinois over the last 40 years. And there have been some “dynasties” during that time- schools/teams which had extended championship teams.

Whenever a great team or a new “dynasty” comes along, some seem to react like it is the first time there has been a great team in the area. When I think of some of the great runs by teams, there were Moline’s teams in the late ‘80’s and again around 2008. UT had some great teams in the ‘80’s. Quincy was a power house for years in the mid-‘90’s. Limestone was great in the ‘80’s and again in the ‘90’s. And of course, we would like to think our Galesburg teams of the ‘90’s and early 2000’s would qualify as great teams. As I list these teams off the of my head- I am sure I have failed to mention some, there is no insult intended. So, there is indeed a rich history of girls basketball in western Illinois.

While all of these teams had great success, when you think about “dynasties” in the area, the teams you have to start with are Mary Kay Hungate’s teams in the 1970’s and ‘80’s at Richwoods. They were a power house every year she coached- no exceptions.

Her teams were intimidated. Yes, they had talent but other teams had talent too. They were very well coached. I have never seen teams who had a better understanding of what was a good shot and what was a bad shot than her teams did. The big thing was that Richwoods under Hungate was intimidating. She created a program that was ahead of everyone the area. She demanded a greater commitment and got it. Everything was first-class. Even their uniforms were better than other teams.

Whitney (Snyder) Martino- Leadership

Whitney (Snyder) Martino has been an assistant principal at Aurora West High School since 2011. It is not a surprise for Whitney to be in a leadership position. As a student and athlete at GHS, she was willing to step up and take charge of situations.

Whitney had an outstanding career at GHS. As a sophomore, she was first post off the bench for a team that made it to the Elite 8. As a junior and senior, she started and scored 8.5ppg per game and got 6.5 rebounds per game. Her junior year, the Streaks took second in State, and her senior year, fourth. Not bad.

After graduating, Whitney went to the University of Iowa. (Everyone is entitled to one mistake!) At Iowa, Whitney got involved as manager for the women’s basketball team.

Whitney has always brought an energy and enthusiasm to what she does. It is not surprising to see her rise to a position of leadership in education.

Massey- You went off to Iowa to school, and spent 4 years wishing you would have been a Badger. But you made the best of it. You became a manager for the women's basketball team. Why did you decide to do this? Was it competitive getting to be a manager, or were they looking for people? 

Whitney- Within the first weeks at Iowa it was clear that I missed playing basketball and being a part of a competitive team.  I was a little lost without the structure of practice, games, weight training and travel. I knew I didn’t have the skill or size to play for a program as large as Iowa, however I thought maybe I could walk-on or work my way up as a practice player.  I reached out to Coach Lisa Bluder who was in her first year as the head women’s basketball coach.  It ended up being the perfect storm of opportunity.  She was just beginning to build her staff and encouraged me to think about a role as the basketball manager.  I immediately accepted and as a result, I spent 5 years with a full athletic scholarship as the Iowa Women’s basketball manager.

Start of Season

In Western Big Six action for the first week:

At Rock Island- Rock Island 58 Galesburg 24
At Alleman- UTHS 49  Alleman 40
At Moline- Moline 54 Quincy 48

Rock Island is now 6-0 with a win on Wednesday over Lake Zurich at the Lake Zurich Tourney. Rocky ventured up to the suburbs to play for Thanksgiving. Rocky will host Rock Falls on Saturday.

Moline is now 3-2 with the win over Quincy. Moline played in the Pontiac Thanksgiving Tourney where they lost to Eureka and Washington before winning over Pontiac and Prairie Central.

UTHS is now 2-2 with the win over Alleman. They beat East Peoria and lost to both Sacred Heart Griffin and Rockford East in the Galesburg Toureny. This Friday they will play Springfield and Metamora. UT was without Brandi LaFountaine, their 6'0" post, the first weekend as she was at State for swimming.

Quincy sits at 1-1. They defeated Jacksonville before losing to Moline.

Alleman left the Galesburg Tourney for the Geneseo Tourney. The Geneseo is primarily a small school tourney. Alleman is now 2-4 with the loss to UT. At Geneseo, Alleman lost to LaSalle-Peru, Annawan, and Geneseo but beat St. Bede and Sherrard.

Dunlap was the other team that left the Galesburg Tourney. They played at the Limestone Tourney. They went 4-0 to win the Limestone Tourney. They had wins over Peoria ND, Manual, and a 67-8 win over IVC. They defeated Lincoln in the championship game.

Jaque (Howard) Gohlinghorst- Going in GHS Hall of Fame

Jaque as starting point guard on Elite 8 team.

Jaque (Howard) Gohlinghorst is going into the GHS Athletic Hall of Fame this weekend. Jaque dressed varsity all four years at GHS, and was the starting point guard for the 1998, 1999, and 2000 teams.

During Jaque’s three seasons as the starting point guard, the Streaks enjoyed our best stretch ever. The three teams went 27-6, 33-2, and 34-4 for an overall record of 94-12. The team took second in the WB6 her soph year and then won the conference her last two years.

The lowest ranked any of these teams- 7^th in the State her soph year. As juniors, Galesburg was ranked #1 in Illinois, and as a senior, ranked #2 in Illinois. And it is important to realize that this was when Illinois had only two classes- so this ranking included all of the Chicago suburban schools.

Jaque’s last game each season was played at Redbird Arena. She was on teams that finished 4^th, Elite 8, 2^nd, and 4^th in State. Think about it- the “worst team” she played on finished in the Elite 8!