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| Mary Kay Hungate |
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.
Hungate
had huge expectations. She had a returning starter on a team that had gone to
state. She told the player if her ft percentage that was under 70% did not
improve, she would not start her the next year.
Hungate
was a GHS grad. After she left Richwoods, I asked her to come and speak to our
Galesburg players. I asked her to simply describe what her players did in the
off-season, and what their approach was in-season. She talked for an hour- her
message to the players- “don’t let anyone outwork you.”
I had a
chance to ask to people about their perspective about Hungate and the Richwood’s
years. Jane Miller was a reporter for the Journal-Star, and Cindy Stein (now
coach at SIU) played on her first team.
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| Jane Miller Sands- retired reporter |
Massey:
What were your first impressions of the Hungate and Richwoods?
Jane: I
didn’t cover Richwoods until the end of Nora’s freshman year so I wasn’t in on
the early years of the program. I did hear about Kendra Gant and of course saw
Paula Buscher and Linda Martin at ICC but I never saw them play in high school.
But of course, Nora’s sophomore year they won the state title so it was quite
apparent the talent level as a whole at Richwoods was above and beyond. When their
first player off the bench got a Division I scholarship, you know what
kind of depth that team had. They were always well prepared, naturally,
but they just had so many gifted athletes.
Massey:
Do you think Hungate fully got the credit she deserved, or being a female did
she not get as much credit for her achievements?
Jane:
You know, in the realm of girls basketball, I didn’t see a lot of different
treatment. I mean, Lorene Ramsey was coaching in the area and the respect she
commanded trickled down, I think. There were some good female coaches in Peoria
at the time and I don’t remember anyone thinking lesser of them. I’m sure they
faced some difficulties that I didn’t see but publicly, I wasn’t aware of
it.
Massey:
Richwoods had some good teams right from the start of Hungates tenure, but it
just seems like things took off. Her teams at the end of her tenure were not
competing to be the best in the area, their sights were on State Championships.
How did she take them to a different level?
Jane:
Yes, and I’m sure they would have gotten there regardless because of the kind
of coach Mary Kay was, but you have to remember the talent level in Peoria at
that time was off the charts - Jodi Rathbun, Jonelle Polk and Carla McGhee,
Cindy Bumgarner - these kids all went on to star at top-level Division I
programs. Then at Richwoods there was Nora and Tracy Krick. That was
an extraordinary time. The bar was constantly being raised. What made Mary
Kay different? Her absolute devotion to being completely prepared at all times.
And yes, there was a plan for everything. It really was her life. She really
did create the culture of the winning tradition that exists at Richwoods to
this day. Ralph Gallo is still on the staff and Todd Hursey ran the video
camera during the Nora years. It’s a pretty straight line.
Massey:
What are some of your best memories of this era?
Jane: I
have a lot of very great memories from that time. I guess one of the top ones
was going to Washington D.C. with Nora and Mary Kay when Nora won the Dial
award for female high school athlete of the year in 1985. The banquet was
impressive and we got a tour of the White House. I covered every Richwoods game
Nora’s last two years, which was a lot of fun. She was so talented, but Mary
Kay always made sure Richwoods didn’t embarrass anybody. And just the
experience of being able to cover all those kids I mentioned above. Since
I was new covering girls basketball, I didn’t realize what a special time
that was - those girls were superstars - and I thought it was going to be that
way all the time! I feel very fortunate to have been a witness to all of
that.
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| Cindy Stein- Head Coach at SIU |
Massey: What were your memories of the new
coach coming into Richwoods?
Cindy: I was going into my senior year at
Richwoods when they hired Coach Hungate. For those of us that were hitting our
senior year, it was our 3rd coach in 3 years so we were a bit
skeptical. It became very clear from day one that she knew what she was
talking about and she was serious about winning and she brought a new approach
to us being disciplined in the fundamentals, in doing things the right way,
paying attention to details and taking care of academics. The most
profound thing was that she really cared about us and knew how to talk to
us. She was very easy to relate to and never really had to yell to get
her point across. We knew we had some raw talent. Coach Hungate brought
the work ethic needed and discipline and was a great teacher of the
fundamentals. She also brought 2 a day practices, suicides and the conditioning
piece that was always missing. Although, we hated that part, we knew it
was to make us better because now we were doing it for a purpose instead of
someone just mad at us.
Massey: Every coach tries to create a
championship culture, obviously Hungate did create a championship culture. How
did she establish this culture?
Cindy: Coach Hungate brought an air of
confidence of what she was doing that carried to the players. She always
talked about “ these are the things we are going to do to beat this team, when
we attack this team here, we will win, we have to shut these two players down,
etc” We never talked about losing. We just talked about our
expectations of wining and how we would do it. So when we lost, it would
be devastating because we never thought we would.
Massey: In my forty years coaching, I have
never seen teams with more discipline than her teams exhibited. Everybody
seemed to understand what was expected, how did she get this done?
Cindy: I never heard Coach Hungate ever tell
someone ‘not’ to take a shot but there were certain people that she wanted us
to get the ball to. I know I would take a crazy shot or two and she never
yelled at me about it, but I would get that look……… like a stare where I needed
to read her mind pretty quick. She would be very subtle at the time out
with “hey Cindy, why don’t you try looking for a good pull-up off two feet
instead of one.” She really emphasized not missing layups, shooting
80% from FT line, and knowing where your best shot was from. Our plays
were all designed to get certain people more touches. I still coach many of
these same principles and ideals when I coach my SIU team.
Massey: How did your experiences with Coach
Hungate influence you in your career?
Cindy: Influence me today: As I
mentioned there were some offensive things that I still carry on. I think
one of the things that she demonstrated really well was that we can practice
extremely hard but if something that happened was funny….laugh. It wasn’t
so strict that we also didn’t have fun. And that she cared about us off
the court. I try to make sure that I am very similar in my approach to
practice, games and running our program at SIU. Coach Hungate was also
very calm during stressful times (although her voice would get pitchy) but it
was a great example to me.
Massey: You have to have a lot of great
memories.
Cindy: I have so many great memories at Richwoods. I
had so much fun with so many great people. I think the thing that stands
out, was that I never knew how good I was until Ty Franklin (our AD/baseball
coach) pulled me aside my junior year and said ‘you know you can get a
scholarship for softball or basketball’. And of course I had no idea so
he sat me down and told me about Title IX and that I could get college paid
for. Well, being from a family of 5 kids, this was great news. I
had never really thought about college at all or if I could go due to
finances. He also told me that a new coach was coming in that he thought
would really help me. He was so right! Coach Hungate took many of
us to college games to watch the women’s teams and opened up a whole new world
to us. She also took me to several college campus to look at and see the
campus and talk to the coaches. Her willingness to assist me in these
things were huge because both my parents worked and didn’t always have the time
to do it. I owe Coach Franklin and Coach Hungate so much for the time
they invested in me. Without their mentorship I would not have had the
opportunity to go on and play at Illinois Central College and the University of
Illinois. They also solidified my strong desire to be a coach and
help young people and try and make a difference through the athletic
arena.
I also want to mention that I remember big games vs
Limestone, Galesburg, and Peoria High. I remember Coach Hungate teaching
us our warm-up and we had to do behind back passing and some “show boat” stuff
as some opposing coaches said and loving every minute of it. I remember
singing on the bus on the way to and from games and laughing with my
teammates. Good times!!
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