Henry Vaughn accepts the check from CJHS students Kim Martin, Tinley Smith, and Megan Drennan on behalf of the CJHS student body and faculty. (William McPherson, Photo)
50 Influencers of Rend Lake College: Bob Carlock, Making the Marketplace
April 17, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Reece Rutland -Rend Lake College Media Services
INA, IL – Throughout the history of Rend Lake College, no one has been referred to as “the right-hand man” more than Bob Carlock. But, to distill the long-time vice president’s legacy down to that of a side kick to three RLC presidents does him some injustice. His 20 years as Vice-President of Finance and Administration saw a number of major milestones in the college’s history.
Bob Carlock (RLC Media Services photo)
Carlock earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and Finance and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) Degree from Eastern Illinois University. An early ingredient in his management style was created at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. As a personnel specialist with the U.S. Army, he interviewed incoming recruits to determine their job classification.
With military experience under his belt, the future vice-president had a few other professional endeavors before finding his home on the Ina campus.
He was an Adjunct Instructor in Marketing, Management and Finance at McKendree College from 1978 to 1983 before taking a role as Division Chairman for Business and Social Science at Tarkio College from 1984-86. While at both colleges, Carlock owned and managed Carlock Distributing Company, based in his hometown of Hillsboro.
At Rend Lake College, Carlock served as the Director of the Business Resource and Assistance Center, Director of the Center for Business and Community Services and Director of the Small Business Development Center. He was appointed Interim Dean of Finance and Administration before being permanently appointed to the position (now titled Vice President) in 1992. He also served as Director of the Rend Lake College Foundation for several years.
Carlock pioneered the college’s Textbook Rental program, which made a large portion of textbooks available to students for $28 each rather than the purchase price of $75 to $100 for the same book. This endeavor – largely considered to be counter-productive for educational institutions – has been highly successful at Rend Lake College and is a model for the refashioning of textbook systems at other colleges.
He worked with college administrators to purchase the former Jent Outlet Mall and transform it into the RLC MarketPlace in Mt. Vernon. What was once a declining outlet mall on the verge of becoming a severe eyesore in the RLC district’s largest community is now a thriving community all its own, which soon could be adding hundreds of thousands of dollars each year into the college’s coffers – meaning RLC will be able to fund projects a college its size normally would not be able to handle.
“The MarketPlace . . . of all the things we’ve done, I’m most proud of it,” he said.
The revenue generated from rent paid by various state agencies, grant programs and individual businesses at the MarketPlace will be able to be added to the regular revenue stream for the college in less than a decade. This could mean $600,000 or more each year for the college.
He also made RLC the first community college in Illinois to establish a supplemental loan program for students who had difficulty finding short-term money for college needs. Carlock developed the establishment of a $5 million insurance reserve fund which allows RLC to have available insurance coverage in the event of a liability that goes beyond the general insurance coverage. In addition, the fund provides interest of $150,000 per year for tort liability purposes. The fund provided $1.3 million for the addition and renovation of the Administration Building.
He initiated the Illinois Community College Insurance Consortium. Along with seven other community colleges, a partially self-insured health insurance program was formed that works efficiently and economically with a premium raise of only 6.5% in 2006.
And, he established the Section 125 Cafeteria Employee Benefit Plan, which allows employees to take advantage of pre-taxable benefits for medical and day care expenses.
In 2006, he received the Bronze Major Gift Award for contributing more than $10,000 to the Rend Lake College Foundation.
He initially retired from the VP post in 2008 after serving 17 years in the position.
However, during the uncertainty of state funding in 2010, Carlock was called out of retirement to take up his old mantle of as Vice President of Finance and Administration on a one-year, non-tenure contract. He re-retired in 2013 after guiding the institution through a tough economic climate.
RLC President Terry Wilkerson said of Carlock, “You have been an anchor out here. I would challenge anybody to: No. 1, come back, and No. 2, to come back and keep working hard. It has been a pleasure, Bob, both personally and professionally.”
Carlock was even recognized with House Resolution 1106 – legislation congratulating Carlock on his retirement.
With Carlock at the helm of marketing, the college experienced five years of growth and sat record enrollment at the time, according to HR 1106.
“The faculty, staff, and students of Rend Lake College, as well as the citizens of this State, owe Bob Carlock a debt of gratitude for the services that he has rendered to Rend Lake College and the State at large,” the Resolution reads. “… we congratulate Bob Carlock on the occasion of his retirement and wish him many happy and healthy retirement years…”
In addition to recognition for his efforts at RLC, Bob Carlock became a name in local, state and national community service and development. He associated himself with various civic organizations, including the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, of which he is a former President; Franklin County Chamber of Commerce; former President for two years of a statewide Community College organization of Chief Financial Officers; the Illinois Community College Board Economic Development Association; National Council for Resource Development, and the Jefferson County Certified Cities Program on which he served as Chairman, among others.
“I’ll miss all the people I’ve worked with and the challenges of the job,” Carlock said at his retirement. “I want to emphasize any accomplishments during my tenure were the result of the Rend Lake College team and not just myself.”
On April 15th Think Of Jackie Robinson Instead Of Taxes
April 15, 2017 By Leave a Comment
On this Sept. 28, 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Jackie Robinson stole home under the tag of New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra in the eighth inning of the World Series opener at New York’s Yankee Stadium. (AP Photo/John Rooney, File)
Watch Out for Telephone Scammers Claiming to Represent Fallen Police Officers
April 15, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Wainwright remembers WTC visit, on eve of Sept. 11
April 13, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Five years later, Wainwright being mobbed by his Cardinal team mates after picking up the final out of the World Series. (Reuters news service)
A historic church near Benton survives despite decades of inactivity
April 11, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Two-time Regional Baseball Champion Coach Rich Campbell entering RLC Sports Hall
April 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment
RLC Sports Hall of fame class of 2017 inductee, former baseball coach Rich Campbell (Rend Lake College Media Services)
by Bob Kelley, retired Sports Information Director, Rend Lake College
INA, IL – Winning baseball and Rend Lake College have been synonymous for the better part of a 50-year relationship. Which should tell you, the Warrior program has been in pretty good hands during that stretch.
Consider some of the “managers” calling the shots from the dugout.
RLC Sports Hall of Fame Charter Member Mike McClure earned his status and established the program’s reputation with nine consecutive winning seasons, mostly in the 1970s, 312 victories and a .638 winning percentage.
He was succeeded by Head Coach Kirk Champion, whose fourth and final team was 40-19; “Champ” for many seasons was a AA and AAA Minor League Pitching Coach for the Chicago White Sox and today is Director of Instruction for Player Development, responsible for overseeing how the entire organization he has been a part of for 29 years teaches defense, hitting and pitching. He was the Pitching Coach for Team USA in 2001, 2009 and 2011 World Cup competitions.
In three seasons, Paul Evans guided Warrior squads to 201 wins, winning 67.9 percent of the time, and within one victory of an elusive berth in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) World Series; he left to become Assistant Coach for Missouri State University, née Southwest Missouri. The Bears have made nine post-season NCAA D-I Tournament appearances, including eight in the last two decades and a 2003 World Series berth, in his 29 seasons there. He was named National Assistant “Coach of the Year” in 2015 by D1Baseball.com.
Jim McGuire continued the tradition at a .655 winning clip over four seasons before leaving to become an Assistant Coach at Middle Tennessee State. Today he is in his fifth season as the Blue Raiders Head Coach, recognized in 2015 with Conference USA Keith LeClair “Coach of the Year” laurels after a 32-win campaign.
There have been many other success stories.
But only one Head Coach of 10 total has guided the Warrior Nine to a pair of Region XXIV Championships. Only one individual has three Sectional titles to his RLC coaching credit.
And for those accomplishments and more, former Head Coach Rich Campbell will be joining McClure in the RLC Sports Hall of Fame. Induction Ceremonies for the 18th Class will be Saturday, April 22, at 5:30 p.m. in James “Hummer” Waugh Gymnasium on the Ina campus.
Campbell will share the spotlight with All-America Women’s Golfer Danielle Kaufman (2003-05) and the record-setting 1983-84 Men’s Basketball Team (25-7).
Had he stuck around for one more year before being lured away by the business world, “Soup” could have become the program’s biggest winner as well. His 302-225 record (.573) covering nine seasons – 1992-2001 – ranks second to the 10-year slate of McClure.
Campbell was named Louisville Slugger Region XXIV “Coach of the Year” following championship seasons in Spring 1997 and 1999 and an American Baseball Coaches Association / Diamond Sports Company NJCAA D-I Regional “Coach of the Year” in 1999.
During his stay, he recruited and coached at least 64 players who continued their careers at the four-year level, and signed 11 professional contracts. Among those standouts: Second Baseman Dan DeMent (1996-98) and First Sacker Mike Breyman (2000-02), both of whom preceded him into the Hall of Fame in Spring 2009 and Fall 2009, respectively.
Yet another inductee, this time from the Class of 2013, Pitcher Craig Sands (1987-89), served as Campbell’s Assistant Coach the first two seasons.
According to the profile of the 30-year-old mentor in the Spring 1997 Warrior Program, “His fifth season… brings with it high hopes, considering perhaps his deepest pitching staff yet, several key returnees off last spring’s 35-14 squad ranked 30th in the country at season’s end and a promising recruiting class.”
Campbell’s fifth Warrior club did not disappoint with a 39-19 record capped by his second Sectional crown and his first Region championship. RLC started the spring 7-0, then ran off eight straight wins to improve to 16-3 and climbed to 31-11 before dropping a couple of one-run decisions, another by two runs and five in a row altogether before ending the sudden skid with a 16-run outburst in its regular-season finale.
It seemed the late-season slump might have been a precursor of things to come when the Warriors dropped their Sectional Tournament opener, 8-6. But then the bats woke up and the hurlers rose to the occasion.
Home runs by sophomore first baseman Chris Hargett and freshman outfielder Jeff Houston powered a 10-hit attack and freshman Eric Asbury (10-1) tossed a two-hitter in a game reduced to six innings by the 10-run rule, 11-1 over host Wabash Valley College (WVC). It was more of the same in a rematch with first-game conqueror Southeastern Illinois – 13 RLC hits, including three-run homers by Hargett and freshman second baseman Jacob Wallace, who also had three runs batted in (RBIs) in the rout of WVC; sophomore southpaw Ryan Spille gave up four singles in his complete game cut to just five innings by the margin of victory.
In the winner-take-all game four showdown, after WVC inched to within 9-8, DeMent bashed a two-run home run in the eighth and Wallace and sophomore outfielder Chris Beggs turned it into a 16-8 celebration rout with a two-run single and three-run dinger in the ninth; sophomore Adam Biggs pick up the save with three innings of one-hit relief.
Soup’s team was Mmm Mmm Good in the Region Tournament, considering the 3-0 route it took to the title. Game one was anything but easy, however.
Homestanding John A. Logan scored four times and took a 6-4 lead in the eighth of the opener, before RLC tied it in the ninth and won thanks to Hargett’s leadoff round-tripper in the 11th. Beggs went 4-6 with three RBIs and Hargett was 3-5 with three runs scored in an 18-hit attack; Sophomore Greg Sprehn worked five innings in middle-relief for the win, his eighth, and Spille got the final out with a strikeout for the save in a 7-6 verdict.
Great Rivers Athletic Conference (GRAC) Champion Belleville Area College (BAC, now Southwestern Illinois College), 11-3 during the regular-season against league foes and 46-14 overall, was a 9-5 and 25-9 victim the next two days. Sophomore catcher Mike Thompson and freshman third baseman Corey Cinnamon divided six of the 11 Warrior hits and Biggs went the distance for the 9-5 win; the victors were up, 5-3 after six, before scoring four more times in the seventh. The third game was no contest as RLC clubbed a season-best 28 hits and scored in every inning but the ninth, including nine in the third and six in the sixth; Thompson was 5-8 with three extra-base hits and six RBI, while Wallace, DeMent and freshman shortstop Dan Firlit enjoyed four-hit games and both Cinnamon and freshman outfielder Beau Parton had three safeties.
The Warriors upped their post-season winning streak to seven by traveling to the Chicago suburbs of River Grove and defeating Triton, 8-2 in the second game of the Great Lake District Tournament to eliminate the hosts. The Region XXIV reps, who finished with 10 hits, led 2-0 before adding five runs in the sixth. Biggs threw a shutout until the seventh and ran his record to 8-3 with the complete-game.
Indian Hills (Iowa), a 10-2 winner earlier versus Triton, awaited in the final game of the day. Spille faced just five batters over the minimum over eight innings, whiffing eight and allowing just five hits and one earned run. But a team that had averaged better than 15 hits per game in eight post-season outings was stymied on four hits and struck out 13 times, in a 2-1 setback. RLC scored after two were out in the ninth but left the tying run on third and the potential winning run on first.
Revenge against the same Indian Hills foe the next day was not to be, despite holding the Iowans to one hit for five innings. Hargett supplied a two-run homer in the first, his 10th, Parton led off the fourth with another blast and DeMent made it 4-0 with a home run in the fifth, only to let Indian Hills break loose with six unearned runs in the sixth.
All-Region pick DeMent boasted a record 16 triples and batted .408 en route to career records of 29 and .415. Biggs posted a 1.73 earned run average, a forerunner to his career ERA (earned run average) record low of 1.99.
The team hit .329 that spring, .319 overall (team scores were not counted in the fall, but individual statistics were). Behind DeMent were Beggs, .368; Cinnamon, .361; Hargett (50 bases on balls), .336; Houston (12 HR), .321; Wallace, .320; Firlit, .310; and Parton, .291.
How good were the 1997 Region champions? Good enough for their 1997-98 successors to be ranked No. 4 in the country in the NJCAA Division I Pre-Season Baseball Rankings “on the strength of seven returning everyday players and two veteran starting pitchers.”
That team carried the weight of high expectations to a 33-17 mark in 1997-98, settling for second behind GRAC Champion BAC for the second time in three seasons, before failing to advance out of Section play. Leave it to the 1998-99 gang, loaded with first-year collegians, to win the Warriors’ fifth Sectional and third Regional.
That team likewise featured outstanding pitching behind Freshman Neal Frendling, a 16th-round draft pick the previous summer by the Devil Rays, and Zack Brinson. All-GRAC / All-Region Tourney honoree Frendling took care of business before signing with Tampa Bay with a record of 11-3, 3.35 ERA and 136 strikeouts (Ks) in 118 1/3 innings; Brinson was 7-2, including the Region Tournament ”Most Valuable Player.”
A robust offense could count on third baseman Tommy Pearce, lone Warrior on the regular-season All-Region squad, and All-GRAC with his .429 batting average (BA), 15 homeruns (HR), 66 RBIs, with 27 multiple-hit games, including three or more on 13 occasions, and .732 slugging percentage; pitcher and first baseman Luke Miller, .391, with 20 multiple-hit games to go along with three complete games on the mound; catcher Joe Flick, .323, 15 HR, 65 RBI, .617 slugging percentage; right fielder Dan Albers, .358; designated hitter Derrick Langfels, .351; left fielder Matt Eldridge, .331; outfielder Matt Davis, .289; and center fielder Dustin Vugteveen, .287 (.299 spring).
The first three batters to face Frendling in the post-season scored, but he settled down for a nine-inning, complete-game victory over Lincoln Trail College (LTC), 8-5, behind a 12-hit attack by his teammates. Host Logan smacked RLC, 14-3 in five innings, but the Warriors went up 4-2 in game three against LTC and held on for an 8-7 win to wrap up Sectional honors. Freshman Jimmy Linder, the lone lefty on the hill staff, got the save by retiring all five batters he faced, four on strikeouts. Defensive specialist Corey Alsop went 3-4 for the second time in a six-game span.
In similar fashion in the Region XXIV Tournament, RLC defeated GRAC Co-Champions Southeastern Illinois College (SIC), 9-3, and BAC, 2-1, before getting thumped by BAC, 14-4.
Frendling won the opener, per usual, backed by three hits each from Pearce, Miller and Eldridge, among 16 hits. In game two, the Warriors left the bases loaded in the first off an all-conference pitcher and immediately trailed 1-0 when BAC‘s leadoff batter was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly. It stayed that way until the ninth, when Albers reached on a one-out walk and Davis crushed his second home run of the spring.
Unfortunately, the crush of the celebration at home plate following the game-winner damaged the knee of our hero. Davis was finished for the remainder of the festivities.
BAC took advantage the following day to force an extra game, scoring in six of eight innings against the unbeaten Warriors. No sweat. Campbell & Co. rolled into the NJCAA Interregional as MVP Brinson picked up his second Regional triumph, 6-3, thanks to a save from Frendling (1 2/3 innings, no hits) and 15 hits. Back-to-back home runs by Flick and Vugteveen in the second gave the champs a 2-0 lead, which they expanded to 6-1 four innings later when the first four batters hit safely and all scored. Flick and Miller joined the two hurlers on the all-tourney team.
A first-ever trip to the Juco (Junior College) World Series depended on a happy homestand for a Warrior team hosting the Northern District Tournament for the first time. It seemed even more probable after Frendling took care of business, striking out 13, scattering nine singles and winning, 3-2. Run-producing singles by Miller and Flick followed two bases on balls to start the third and gave their team a 2-1 lead; tied at 2, Vugteveen won it with a lead-off homer to left-center in the bottom of the sixth. Easy with the home plate celebration.
End of road, though, as the homebodies could not improve on win No. 37, falling to Muscatine (Iowa), 7-3, and Triton, 7-2, despite 11 hits, including three by Shortstop Simon Auter. Muscatine advanced with a 5-2 verdict over Triton.
About the only accomplishment to elude Campbell’s teams was a GRAC crown. Campbell & Friends boasted three runner-up finishes – 12-4 in 1993-94, one game behind John A. Logan; 8-4 in the rain-shortened 1995-96 season, behind BAC at 11-3, and 9-5 (tied with Olney Central) in 1997-98, trailing BAC by one.
McGuire was responsible for bringing Campbell to RLC as his Assistant Coach in 1991-92. He succeeded McGuire a couple of weeks before the start of the 1992 Fall campaign.
Prior to that, he was a Warrior nemesis. Campbell was a two-time All-GRAC pitcher for rival John A. Logan, highlighted by a 10-1 sophomore season. Surrounding his introduction to the league, he was an undefeated junior hurler for the Hamilton (Ohio) Class 3A State Champions and capped two seasons under Coach Itchy Jones for the Southern Illinois University Salukis with 8-3 credentials as a senior.
His coaching career got its start with two years at Eastern Illinois University as Pitching Coach for Dan Callahan.
Campbell met his match while at Rend Lake College. Mrs. Campbell is the former Karen Liggett, a former Lady Warrior softball player. They were married November 1, 1997. Daughter Hannah Nicole joined the family October 2, 1998; Madison, now 15, completed the family three years later.
He left coaching to become a Financial Representative for Country Mutual Insurance Co. in Monroe County. For the past 11 “seasons” he has been the award-winning Agency Manager in Carterville for Country Financial, with a team of 23 representatives in a six-county Southern Illinois radius.
Thompsonville teacher passes on love for performing
April 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Several members of the Annie Junior cast. (Samantha Sullivan photo. Please give her a call at 499-6465 to have her photograph you event.)
“Team Chemistry” Warrior cagers of 1983-84 take 25-7 record into RLC HOF
April 8, 2017 By Leave a Comment
by Bob Kelley -retired Sports Information Director, Rend Lake College
Members of the 1983-84 Rend Lake College Warriors Basketball team should all be decked out in white lab coats when assembled en masse for their induction into the RLC Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 22.
Chemistry was their “thing” back in the day.
Before we go on, let’s make one thing perfectly clear: these players did not lack for talent. In fact, all nine sophomores who grew close together for two years on the Ina campus, plus one late addition, accepted offers to continue their playing careers following their departure from the Juco (Junior College) ranks, the most from one class in 50 seasons of Warrior basketball.
And to be honest, we are not really sure how many, if any, of the guys ever wore a white lab coat… or even took a Chemistry class.
What we can tell you: all had to go to class often enough to graduate before moving on, even though they could be observed spending every minute of their free time, or so it seemed, in the gymnasium. They liked playing the game. And it appeared as if they liked each other as much as any athletic group could.
Maybe the closeness started with something as simple as the offer of a fried bologna sandwich to anyone who took Travis Helm up on his offer to visit his tiny hometown of Orchardville in the northeast sector of the district. Or maybe it was the opposites-attract bond that quickly grew between teammates Tim Wills, the homegrown local kid, and city-slicker Robby Jones, one of the many transplanted Hoosiers, and spread throughout.
Perhaps it could be attributed to one of the individuals, who shall remain anonymous, willing to be harassed by his classmates more than the rest, for the good of the team.
Truth be told, they liked each other. They spent a lot of time together. They devoted long hours mastering their trade, challenging one another to get better. They accepted coaching. They took care of business by doing their jobs and sharing the ball.
Team Chemistry. It worked like a charm.
Nine team records were theirs when they left town. A 10th belonged to nine of those same players as freshmen.
No individual records. Enough said?
Mitch Haskins coached a team-record 22 wins out of this close-knit group their first campaign and a 25-7 mark the next, his third at the helm. Eight of their 20 losses in two seasons were to teams which advanced to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Finals in Hutchinson, Kan. Their three conference setbacks in 1983-84 were by a total of five points.
In addition to the standard for wins and winning percentage (.781), the 1983-84 Hall-of-Fame Gang established new marks for consecutive wins (nine); free throws made (587), attempted (790) and percentage (.743); greatest average point differential per game (16.0); greatest margin of victory (74 vs. Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center, 108-34), and greatest margin of victory over community college opponent (57 vs. Oakton, 97-40).
An equally impressive average defensive yield of 63.3 points per game was just 1.0 higher than the record set by their 1982-83 predecessors.
Perhaps the most amazing feats to the credit of Haskins & Co. were 83-81 and 84-82 losses, both in overtime, to a dominating Wabash Valley College (WVC) squad which boasted eventual NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division I signees in 6-foot-9, 230-pound Dan Bingenheimer (Missouri), 6’ 9” Brian Helm (Cincinnati) and even seldom-used 6’ 7” Quinn Wirth (Wyoming), plus 6’ 2” Andre Jackson (Southern Indiana).
Warrior strongman Jim Price (Cloverdale, Ind.), a 6’ 4 ½” forward, was the lone player to average double-figures at 16.3 points per game (ppg) and also led with 6.5 rebounds per game (rpg). He was rewarded with his selection to the eight-man All-Region XXIX Team (second-leading vote-getter behind Bingenheimer), First-Team All-Great Rivers Athletic Conference (GRAC) and Warrior Most Valuable Player as voted by his playing partners. He was joined the next two seasons at D-II Indiana Central University by another RLC insider, 6’ 5” Jamie Raley (Leitchfield, Ky.), named “Most Improved” after posting 8.8 ppg and 4.8 rpg.
Heady 6-foot playmaker Wills started all 67 games during his Juco career, a feat made even more noteworthy by his ridiculous average of 32:30 per game. Think Coach Haskins wanted Wills on the floor directing his team?
Wills was rewarded with All-GRAC First Team status, a berth in the All-Region XXIV All-Star Game and “Most Dedicated” nod by his peers. He doled out 263 assists (8.2 per game), nearly five times more than his closest rivals, averaged 6.4 points and made 82.5 percent of his free throws (80-97), which ranked No. 2 to Jeff Cochren and his .849 accuracy (79-93). Wills scored at a 9.8 ppg clip (second) as a freshman but concentrated on making everyone around him better as a sophomore, when his turnover rate was just under three per game.
Helm was the outside sniper; no telling what his total might have been had the 3-point arc been introduced four years earlier. The 6’ 2 ½” Helm (Wayne City legend with 2,003 points playing as a senior for RLC Sports HOF Inductee Jerry Wilson) and the 6’ 3” Cochren (Huntingburg, Ind.) each produced 9.8 ppg. Little known fact: the Warriors were 30-5 in games in which the unflappable Helm was in the starting lineup (7-1 late as a freshman).
Orchardville’s own capped his Juco career as the second-leading scorer for the winning East quintet in the Region XXIV All-Star Game prior to the repeat Region Tournament championship title claimed by WVC. Helm had 12 while playing alongside Price and Wills one last time.
Cochren put up 22 in the second loss to WVC; in year one, he led the team in scoring eight times and had a six-game stretch in which he averaged 16.3 ppg and hit 50-77 field goals (9-10 vs. Kaskaskia). Both he and Wills were All-Tournament in the Lincoln Land Holiday Classic as freshmen.
“Frog” Jones (Evansville, Ind.), a gifted, 6’ 2” all-around threat who earned his moniker thanks to his leaping ability, was Second Team All-GRAC as a freshman, made the six-man All-Region Tournament Team and was voted MVP by his teammates. He averaged 9.8 ppg then, scoring one less point than Wills, a team-high 6.1 rebounds and second-best 2.1 assists; he was the RLC leader 18 games in rebounding, half that many in scoring. But he played only the final 19 games as a sophomore for academic reasons. His minutes and individual stats suffered after rejoining a team that adjusted to playing without him the first 11 games.
The late-season development of 6’ 8” center Barry Wright (Newburgh, Ind.) the previous season had a great deal to do with the Warriors setting the school record for most wins at 22, capturing a first Sectional crown and placing third in the Region XXIV Tournament. Wright had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the second WVC game as a first-year collegian and had 11 rebounds in both wins over Belleville Area, including the Sectional Championship triumph. He led the team both seasons in blocked shots, with a total of 47, and pulled down 14 rebounds in the record rout of Oakton.
Point guard Dean Merder (Jasper, Ind.), 6’ 3”, was a steadying influence off the bench for 63 games during his career, never more so than when he hit six three throws in the final 2:06 and had 10 points overall in a 60-51 win over Southern Baptist (Ark.) five games into his Juco career.
One of the four tallest players to play for RLC at 6’ 9”, Jeff Wilkinson (Princeton, Ind.), played sparingly but enjoyed one shining moment in a 14-rebound, 13-point effort in the record romp versus the Kentucky Job Corps Center.
Sophomore transfers Todd Stoermer (Rockport, Ind.) and Mark Kerley (Benton), both 6’ 5”, added much more than just depth. Stoermer was one of three players who started all 32 games, averaging 8.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 1.6 apg. Kerley led the team in scoring twice, with 18 and 16, and on the boards twice.
And the freshman class was headed by 6’ 5” swingman Kevin Riggan (Mt. Vernon) and 6’ 1” guard Fred Taylor (East St. Louis), as well as 6’ 4” Derrick Leonard (St. Louis, Mo.), 5’ 10” William Watts (Madison) and 6’ 4” redshirt Garrett Miller (NewBern, N.C.). Riggan led RLC with 14 against the Job Corps.
Price, with 20 points or more in seven games and 10 or more rebounds in seven, was the Warrior leader in 19 and 18 games, respectively. Helm, who hit .580 from the field with the majority coming from outside, was the top scorer in five contests; Cochren and Raley were No. 1 in three each, Kerley twice, Wills and Riggan once. Other rebound pacesetters were Raley (five games, including 13 vs. the St. Louis Boys Club), Wright and Stoermer (four each), Jones and Kerley (twice) and Cochren and Wilkinson (once).
How good were these Warriors offensively? As a team, they connected on 50 percent or more of their field-goal attempts in 21 games, with three others at 49 percent. The Warriors topped the century mark five times and had 90 or more in four other games.
From the charity stripe, they were even better. Cochren and Wills ranked 1-2 in Region XXIV, and Helm was not far behind at 81.0 percent. Price, battling inside, had far more chances than anyone else and made 75.9 percent, with 26 in succession over a five-game stretch, seven shy of the team record.
Defensively, the HOF-bound crew held 11 opponents under 60 points. Only four times did teams score as many as 80 points against RLC, and the two overtime setbacks to Wabash Valley accounted for half of those; Haskins & Friends won the other two such games. The Warriors held 17 foes to 45 percent shooting or under from the field, four others under 50 percent
Included in the record-nine-game winning streak was an unprecedented third Land of Lincoln Holiday Classic Championship in Springfield, at which Price shared “Most Valuable Big Man” honors following his career-high 31-point effort in the finale and Cochren was a member of the seven-member All-Tourney Team for the second year in a row.
A 102-60 rout of Concordia Seminary at home to end the month of January also produced Haskins’ 400th career coaching win in the high school and college ranks.
RLC was runner-up to undefeated WVC in the second year of the GRAC thanks to two-game sweeps of John A. Logan, 80-57 and 73-57, and Southeastern Illinois, 82-69 and 79-70, and a split with Kaskaskia.
In addition to being a valued part of this season of accomplishments, Assistant Coach Chuck Doty could boast of his distinction for helping Warrior quintets claim two conference championships. He was a freshman reserve when the 1976-77 quintet shared the Southern Illinois College Conference title under HOF Coach Jim Waugh. (He was 18-for-19 as a sophomore from the charity stripe.) In 1981-82, the first season with Haskins in charge and Doty at his side, the Warriors tied the school record with 21 wins and captured a share of the final SICC championship before it gave way to the GRAC.
There were very few “downers” during the record-setting campaign. Even though the veteran cast, coming off a 22-13 freshman showing, was not expecting to get off to a 2-3 start, it is not difficult to explain. Two losses were to perennial powerhouse Three Rivers (Mo.), the 1979 NJCAA National Champion at 37-3; the Raiders also finished third in 1978, fifth in 1980 and seventh in 1981 despite a 39-2 slate. The two-time conquerors would go on to finish 38-3 (seventh) in 1983-84.
The record was a less-than-impressive 6-4 after the Warriors went on the road and lost at Kaskaskia, 65-64, but even then it took an incredible performance to beat them. The Blue Devils literally shot the lights out the first half, sinking 18 of 24 attempts (75 percent), for a 41-27 advantage. A real power outage extended halftime to one hour and 40 minutes, before the hosts escaped with the win thanks to 70 percent sniping overall (28-40).
Wabash Valley would be the only other regular-season foe to defeat Rend Lake College. And this was half of a two-year WVC dynamo which would advance both seasons to the NJCAA Finals in Hutchinson, Kan., run roughshod over the fledgling GRAC and finish 32-6 and 31-7; five wins over RLC stretched a winning streak to 13 games in head-to-head competition.
Unfortunately, the Hall of Fame inductees may have been looking forward too much to a third encounter with their nemesis. A 25-6 season ended in a thud: a shocking 59-51 loss to Southeastern Illinois in the Section IV Tournament opener, with the losers finding the range at a paltry 40 percent clip. The upset victims went 6:30 without scoring midway through the second half, then made just one field goal in the final 2:49.
No individual records, granted. Individual recognition, yes. All nine two-year contributors, along with Stoermer, were signed or played at the four-year level, a single-class record for Warrior cagers before and since.
Price and Raley put their Hoosier-Kentucky rivalry backgrounds behind them for two more seasons as teammates at Indiana Central University. Merder and Cochren returned to their Southern Indiana roots to play for Haskins’ alma mater, Oakland City (Ind.) College. Wright accepted an athletic grant-in-aid to play for University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and Wilkinson did likewise at Union College (Ky.). Jones originally stuck with Cochren and Merder at Olney Central before finishing his career at Indiana State-Evansville. Wills and Helm both accepted offers from Freed-Hardeman College but their stay in Tennessee was very brief, with Wills finishing his career as a two-year starter and Academic All-America for Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Stoermer used his unique Juco career as a combo WVC/RLC Warrior as a springboard to University of Indiana Southeast. The next season after their graduation from RLC, Riggan was a starter at guard for defending NCAA Division II National Champion Jacksonville (Ala.) State University and Taylor was one of the leading 3-point shooters in the country as a junior for NAIA contender McKendree College and an All-America candidate as a senior.
West Frankfort Man Granted Patent for New Gate Design
April 6, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Swofford, with his new patented gate design. (William McPherson – West Frankfort Gazette)
