In Bethalto, basketball is a family affair

They say you can’t go home…

And while I don’t ever see myself moving back…I often check in to see what’s changed. And let me tell you, when it comes to Bethalto basketball, I found many things look the same.

Understand, I lived Bethalto basketball. From my first game at age five….to senior night back in 1975…..I have always felt honored to wear purple and stand for the school song. I have always had the passion for the school and its sports program. It is not because of a vaulted winning tradition. The 64-year record shows CMHS has only won 44-percent of time. The passion is simply my wonderful memories of the people who have worn the uniform.

I idolized Dave Taynor….the undisputed best basketball player in the school’s history….and have greatly admired a growing list of young men who have represented CMHS since the school was born in the early 1950s. Ricci Stotler was the consummate athlete as was Stephen Jones….then there was Ric’s son Nick and Stephen’s dad, Dennis. Yes, it is a family affair. I marveled at the talent of Jonathon Denny and Dustin McGuire. I believe that Eric Frankford and Jakob Lowrance were the best pivot men in the school’s history but I played with a pretty good one when I suited up with Jeff Stephens. I’ve watched them all. And I have greatly enjoyed them.

That’s why I exposed my sons to CM basketball and this week I took my oldest grandson along so he could start to understand the significance of the tradition.

What I found most compelling about my visit this time around were the folks who never miss. When I walked in to the gym, I saw Doug Sabastian sitting in the upper deck. Doug and a fella named Phil sat at the half court line for over 50 years. We talked. Doug can’t get up and down the steps anymore….so he doesn’t live on the stripe….but he is still present.

Sitting on the rail was John Logan. The 90-year-old Logan was the Eagles coach from 1953-1959 and has the honor of being the instructor who taught my mother in driver’s education class when she was a student at CM. John also coached the team again in the 1980s.

I saw Homer Henke, an avid supporter of the program and well-known area auctioneer and politician. And of course I sat with my surrogate father, Bob Kallal, who long ago was inducted as a member of the Illinois High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame for his support of the CM program.

The AD, Steve Carey, used to provoke the hell out of me back in the day. He was a great ballplayer and has become an even better athletic director. His brother, Doug, is the skipper of the team. On the bench was a who’s who of Eagle basketball. Mike Eddy was a teammate as was Gary Bruening. Two other former Eagles, Jared Reynolds and Ross Laux once played for me when I coached grade school teams. There’s literally a hundred years of CM history on the coaching staff.

But I digress…..and I buried the lead. CM lost by over 20 points to a very good Highland team.

That wasn’t the story for me.

The story was, the team that I grew up loving is still alive and doing quite well.

The more things change…..the more they stay the same in Bethalto, Illinois.

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