Coach Norman Dale....Not

It is an incredible honor for me to stand before you tonight.

I grew up in Bethalto, only a block away from the gym. I watched my first CM basketball game when I was five. I would watch the whole game, come home that night and replay it in my basement with a miniature rim and basketball. When I was seven my Dad put up a rim in the backyard and I spent every free moment shooting…and shooting….and shooting.

I lived to wear the purple. I lived for the day I could represent my town on the basketball court.

The problem was….I was 5-10 when I was in eighth grade. When I graduated, I was 5-9.

My nickname was Cold Gravy…because cold gravy doesn’t run….and neither did I.

But I could shoot. All those hours in the back yard meant I could do that one thing.

As a junior, the dream was fading. We were into January and I started JV, but never got on the court in the varsity game. One night, in O’Fallon, in the JV game, the rim looked huge to me. And I couldn’t miss. Scored 23 points…..

During the varsity game we were losing….and I was at my regular place….at the end of the bench. My buddy….Mike Eddy….jabbed me with his elbow and said that coach wanted me.

My coach, Jim Carey, was a former Marine…he was a very intimidating guy.

Well I nervously ran up to him and squatted down next to him. He looked up and said----“What the Hell are you doing here?” Eddy had set me up. I went back to my seat.

I think it was the assistant coach who waited a few moments----then said to Coach Carey----“You know, Dreith did hit a lot of shots in the JV game. We’re losing. We can’t buy a bucket.”

Carey thought----what the Hell?-----and shouted “Dreith!”

Eddy nudged me-----“Coach wants you…..”

Right, I thought.

“Dreith!” screamed the Coach. I stumbled and ran down the bench. He put me in.

I don’t know if it was luck……or all of those hours in the backyard. But the next five times down the floor I caught the ball and launched it. And every one of the shots went in. We rallied….and won.

The next night I was at the gym at 5:15, dressing for the JV team when the assistant coach said that Coach Carey wanted me in the office. That was never good news.

He told me to go home. That I should come back in an hour or so. I was starting the varsity game.

I have to tell you ladies. I have been fortunate to be named as a college president three times….I have witnessed the birth of three sons….but nothing compares for me to the night that I was announced as a starter for the Civic Memorial Eagles. I started the rest of the season….and my senior year. We won a few, but never came close to winning a regional, much less a sectional.

I have followed Bethalto basketball ever since….it is about toughness and hard work. And no one exemplifies that better than your coach.

There is a famous story about your coach, Jonathan Denny. He was the point guard and leader of his teams success in the 1990s. Denny badly twisted his ankle in practice two days before the conference championship game. Aaron Suessen wasn’t around those days. Coach Steve Carey was the closest thing to a trainer on hand and he would have Denny come in at 6:30 every morning for ice treatments….and actually met him in class each hour to bring more ice to put on the sprain.

It was as big as a basketball.

No way he could play on Friday.

Wrong. As Coach Carey put it-----Denny was tough.

He put up a double-double (double figure points and assists) on one leg…..CM beat O’Fallon to win the conference championship.

His coach talked to me today. Said the ankle was probably broken…but they didn’t dare have it x-rayed.

Coach Harmon also recalled a game when the Eagles were down by 10 with two minutes left. He called a timeout and drew up some plays…..but Denny interrupted him. “Coach----get me the ball and tell everyone else to get out of the way.” CM rallied and won another conference championship.

Coach Harmon is in Florida-----but he will be listening to the radio tonight. He expects you to demonstrate the same toughness your coach did in the big games.

There are some that think you don’t have a chance tonight. Highland is Goliath….you are David.

They forget last year’s script. They beat you three times…..only to run into Civic Memorial toughness in the regional championship.

My favorite movie is Hoosiers. I still cry when I see the pre-game speech to Hickory as they prepared for  a Goliath-like opponent.

Gene Hackman tells his team he loves them. Then he asks the minister to come in to pray over the team.

The preacher quoted from First Samuel…..

“And David reached into a bag and pulled out a stone.

And he slung it.

And it hit the Philistine in the head….

And he hit the ground.”

Amen.