Long-time Illinois sports fan Betsy Barringer at her home in Savoy on Wednesday.
THE ILLINI FAN
‘I have my tickets ordered. That is about all I can do right now’
Betsy Barringer attends every Illinois football game at Memorial Stadium.Same for Illini men’s and women’s basketball games at State Farm Center.
Along with other multiple sporting events for other Illinois teams at their various facilities in Champaign-Urbana. And the life-long Illini fan has for decades.
“I attend as many as possible,” Barringer said.
Just not in the last month, with the coronavirus pandemic canceling the seasons for every remaining winter sport and spring sport at Illinois.
Which caused the 79-year-old Savoy resident to miss watching any Illinois men’s basketball games in the NCAA tournament, too.
“It has been an absolute bummer,” Barringer said. “We were so close. I really feel bad for the players and coaches.”
The passion for Illinois started in junior high, shortly after her family moved to Paxton.
“We had our first TV,” she said, “and I remember watching Johnny ‘Red’ Kerr and Illinois basketball.”
Ever since, the enthusiasm for the former speech and language therapist — who worked at schools in Rantoul, Ludlow, Gifford and Royal during her career — has never waned.
Which is why she is eager to get back to watching Illinois sports in person when it’s safe to do so. In fact, she’s already making plans for Illinois football and basketball games next school year.
“I have my tickets ordered,” Barringer said. “That is about all I can do right now.”
The postponement of spring sports is also affecting Barringer on a family level. Her grandson, Drew, is a senior catcher on the Champaign Central baseball team that likely won’t play a game this season.
“This is a tough one with Drew being a senior,” she said. “He worked so hard after shoulder surgery to be able to play baseball. My heart goes out to all the senior athletes at both the high school and college levels.”
Louisville pitcher Luke Smith, a Champaign native, was enjoying a superb 2020 season with the Cardinals. The Centennial graduate and Parkland College product had put together a 3-0 record with a 3.42 earned run average in four starts this spring before Louisville’s season was canceled last month because of the coronavirus pandemic.
THE DIVISION I PITCHER
‘I’ve had the dream of playing professional baseball since I can remember walking’
Luke Smith and his Louisville baseball teammates gathered together the night of March 12, minutes after learning their season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.“I won’t lie to you: we cried,” Smith said. “It was a sad day. Those first couple days after were heart-breaking.”
The 22-year-old Smith, a 2016 Centennial graduate, former Parkland product and Champaign native, has stayed in his adopted hometown of Louisville, Ky., the past month. He and several of his Cardinals’ teammates are still in the city along the Ohio River that sits right on the border of Indiana and Kentucky, playing catch, putting together improvised workouts and conducting classwork online.
“One of the biggest things was just having a group of guys here that you could hold accountable and stay on track with baseball,” Smith said. “Also, I didn’t want to bring anything back to Champaign. Louisville has been hit pretty hard with the virus, so I want to keep my family safe.”
Louisville had put together a 13-4 record so far in the 2020 season and was ranked as high as second in the country before play was halted. The Cardinals’ last game happened on March 11 with a 13-4 home win against Chicago State, with Smith last pitching on March 8. The 6-foot-3, 175-pound senior right-hander threw 6 1 / 3 innings, only allowing three runs on five hits and striking out five during Louisville’s 16-4 home win against Wake Forest. Smith had slotted himself into the Sunday starter for the Cardinals this season and ended up with a 3-0 record to go along with a 3.42 earned run average in 23 1 / 3 innings, striking out 18 and only walking four.
“I felt like I had some big shoes to fill in the Sunday spot, and I didn’t want anyone to think Sunday was going to be a day off,” Smith said. “Bringing that mentality to it and the emotion I like to pitch with, I was feeling really good.”
The intensity Smith pitches with brought him national notoriety last June. Pitching in the College World Series against Vanderbilt, Smith directed a string of obscenities in the direction of Vanderbilt first baseman Julian Infante after ending the top of the eighth inning in an emotionally-charged game featuring two of the four remaining college baseball teams in action during the 2019 season. Louisville led 2-1 at the moment, only to end up losing 3-2 when the Commodores scored twice in the top of the ninth, an inning Smith started but did not finish.
“Obviously, that moment is something I’m not proud of,” Smith said. “It’s tough to be remembered for that moment and not the pitching performance I had, but I knew who I was as a person. I was never affected by the outside noise of people saying whatever they wanted. I knew I had the support of my family and friends and people in Louisville and Champaign.”
Not that he didn’t hear about it from any opposing fans during the 2020 season. His first start happened on Feb. 16 at Mississippi in front of 8,969 fans, an eventual 7-6 loss by Louisville and the only start this season where Smith was awarded a no-decision.
“Ole Miss was pretty ruthless,” Smith said with a laugh. “But that was one of the coolest places I’d ever played. I was looking forward to that moment, and that helps build me up rather than tear me down.”
Smith’s baseball future is on hold at the moment, too. With the NCAA granting an extra season of eligibility to all spring sport athletes affected by the pandemic, Smith is waiting to see where he might pitch during the 2021 season, depending if he gets selected in Major League Baseball’s upcoming draft.
“The NCAA granting us another year of eligibility was a huge bonus to me,” Smith said. “I know that gives me some more leverage about what to do, and I have no problem coming back to school next year if that were the case. I’ve had the dream of playing professional baseball since I can remember walking, so it’s just a waiting game to see what they’ll do with the draft.”
Much like Smith waiting to see when he will return to Champaign. He keeps in constant contact with his parents, Sara and Tim, but planned on seeing them at various college baseball stadiums this spring. Instead, he’s resorted to Zoom calls and FaceTime calls just to see their faces.
“I talk to them every day, and I do miss them,” Smith said. “My family is very supportive of the work I’m putting in, and we’re just taking this all in stride.”
Unity football coach Scott Hamilton has compiled a 244-64 record in 26 seasons coaching the Rockets, who are scheduled to open the 2020 season at 7 p.m. on Aug. 28 at Chillicothe IVC.
THE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACH
‘At some point, you start to wonder if we’re going to have a season’
Scott Hamilton is used to the details high school football coaches have to contend with in the offseason.The veteran Unity coach, who is 244-64 in 26 season coaching the Rockets and was inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2017, knows April usually consists of making sure his football athletes that aren’t involved in a spring sport take part in a workout program.
“Most of our kids here are either two-sport or three-sport athletes, so we don’t have a lot of single-sport kids, but we may have half a dozen or a dozen in the spring,” Hamilton said. “We see them every day and kind of monitor grades and monitor whether they need to add a few pounds or lose a few pounds. Basically, we use this time to evaluate how kids are growing and developing.”
Later in the spring, Hamilton works with the Unity Junior High School teachers for any current eighth-grade student interested in playing football to explain details about Unity’s weight-lifting program.
“We’re missing out on that right now,” Hamilton said. “The other big thing that we’re missing out on is just trying to get things organized as we move into the spring and summer. Worse than that, it’s not even knowing what we’re going to be doing or what we can do yet in the summer.”
Blame the coronavirus pandemic.
In the past, Unity goes up to the football fields at the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul — the former site of Illinois football training camp — and holds a three-day camp in June. July usually sees Unity at a few 7-on-7 team events in the area and other camps. That is on top of three days a week spent lifting weights and going through conditioning in the summer.
“I think I can get it organized, and I think our kids are going to be eager to do stuff if we ever get back,” Hamilton said. “I’m 51 years old, and I can’t remember any time in the past where I went two days without sports, let alone four weeks and counting without sports.”
Hamilton said two other times in his lengthy and successful coaching career at Unity has led him to anxiety and stress he’s currently dealing with.
“Both were times when our contract wasn’t settled, and you had that thought in the back of your head of, ‘Are you going to be able to practice? How is this going to work?’” Hamilton said. “When Sept. 11 occurred, you made some adjustments with some things, but there was never really a thought of not having a season.”
The though of not having a football season at Unity in 2020 is one that has crossed Hamilton’s mind in the last month. Not that he wants to think that way.
“I try to keep the negative thoughts out, but at some point, you start to wonder if we’re going to have summer workouts and if we’re going to have a season?” Hamilton said. “Then you start to wonder if the University of Illinois is not going to have a football season, does that mean a town 7 miles to the south of their campus is not going to have a football season? You try to stay positive and as a coach, you always preach to control what you can control the best you possibly can. This is a different situation, though, of not having any control.”
Hamilton has added a regular-season game to the 2020 schedule during this down time. With St. Thomas More opting for 8-man football starting in 2020 and leaving the Illini Prairie Conference with only nine football schools for the 2020 season, that left an opening on Unity’s schedule. The Rockets filled it by securing a Week 7 game to play at Pierce City (Mo.), roughly a 430-mile trip for the Rockets to make into southwest Missouri. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10.
“I searched open date sites on seven different state associations, and they were the only one that was open that week,” Hamilton said. “You only get to do this nine times, and I just didn’t want to take a forfeit win. We’ve played at a lot of different places in the state, but this will be our first out-of-state trip to play an out-of-state opponent in my tenure. They’re 33-4 in the last three years, so it’ll be a really good test for us.”
A test that Hamilton hopes happen. The Illinois High School Association hasn’t officially canceled spring sports this school year, but with Friday’s announcement by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to cancel in-person instruction at schools through the academic year, it’s almost a foregone conclusion no spring sports will take place. The IHSA is set to have a virtual board meeting on Tuesday, where it’s anticipated they will officially cancel spring sports.
Unity’s football season is set to kick off at 7 p.m. on Aug. 28 at Chillicothe Illinois Valley Central, with the Rockets’ first home game at Hicks Field slated for 7 p.m. on Sept. 11 against Prairie Central.
“We had a pretty special Week 1 game last year,” Hamilton said, “and I would assume we’ll have a pretty similar atmosphere for our first home game this upcoming season, too.”
Veteran Illinois sports information director Kent Brown works from the makeshift office he’s set up at his St. Joseph home.
THE SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR
‘By far, the hardest part is not seeing our staff in person each day’
Coordinating interviews. Meeting with the TV broadcast crew. Same for the radio crews. Along with a required NCAA meeting among coaches, administrators, TV personnel and other sports information directors.That is how veteran Illinois sports information director Kent Brown planned to spend the latter half of March with coach Brad Underwood guiding Illinois men’s basketball back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013.
“Things move so fast during the NCAA tournament,” Brown said, “but it is really one of the best things about working in college athletics.”
Brown, who has held his role at Illinois since 2000, instead spent the third weekend in March hunkered down at his St. Joseph home since the coronavirus pandemic canceled the NCAA tournament.
“It’s hard to put into words how much we were looking forward to working the NCAA tournament this year,” Brown said. “The opening weekend of the tournament is incredibly exciting, not only because the team you work with is playing, but you have the opportunity to watch the other games going on at the site as well. It’s been such a battle to get back to the tournament, but I’m extremely confident in Coach Underwood and his staff keeping us in this position moving forward.”
The pandemic has put Brown’s athletic communications staff in a different position than they anticipated this spring. They’re all working from home, setting up interviews with the variety of media requests they receive and conducting virtual meetings.
“It’s a pretty tech-savvy group, so adapting to Zoom. Teams and Skype was pretty easy,” Brown said. “By far, the hardest part is not seeing our staff in person each day. I really miss being around each of them, along with the rest of my DIA colleagues. We have a great group of people working in the DIA, and video meetings don’t quite allow the proper interaction.”
Brown and his staff helped set up daily media calls with each Illinois coach and a respective student-athlete from each of the Illini’s sports teams during the first three weeks while working from home. Then, various teleconferences were arranged with former Illini standouts after Illinois announced its fourth Hall of Fame class on April 7.
This, along with a partnership with The News-Gazette where senior Illinois athletes are spotlighted, has helped the staff come up with content during a time where no live sports are taking place.
“The partnership with The News-Gazette has helped since the stories are printed both in the paper and published on FightingIllini.com,” Brown said. “We were happy to be able to work together on that initiative.”
Brown, however, will be happiest when he’s not working solely from home and when Illinois athletic events are taking place again. Even if it comes amid new media guidelines that may surface as a result of the pandemic.
“We haven’t really put a lot of thought into this yet, as much of this will be dictated by the direction given by public health officials, campus leadership and the governor’s office,” Brown said. “I do see, however, increased use of virtual interviews using one of the many apps available now. If social distancing will be required for media covering our events, then we’ll probably need to be much more selective in who we offer credentials since we have limited space. Did I mention how much I miss being around my colleagues, our coaches, student-athletes and even the media? I’m getting lonely in my basement.”
Clay Craft, the 7-month-old son of Salt Fork softball coach Elizabeth Craft, plays at home this week while wearing a Salt Fork softball onesie.
THE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
‘The girls came in eager from Day 1 and willing to work towards getting better’
If sports weren’t interrupted because of the coronavirus pandemic, Clay Craft would have seen his mom coach softball for the first time already this spring.Even if the 7-month-old son of Cole and Elizabeth Craft might have had other interests. Like naps. Or playing with toys.
“I am getting to see a lot more of his firsts now that we are together,” Elizabeth said. “Honestly, I have loved the time I have been able to spend at home with my son.”
It looks like Clay will have to wait until 2021 to see his mom lead the Salt Fork softball team. The Illinois High School Association hasn’t canceled spring sports yet amid the pandemic, but is expected to on Tuesday after a board meeting.
Softball has consumed much of Elizabeth’s life the last two decades. A former standout at St. Joseph-Ogden who was The News-Gazette’s Player of the Year in 2011 and 2012 before embarking upon a college career at St. Louis where she started every game during her four seasons with the Billikens, the 26-year-old Craft is in her fourth season in charge of the Storm.
All three previous seasons have netted positive results, including consecutive Class 1A regional titles, with Salt Fork reaching the Sweet 16 last May.
“My goal when taking over the coaching position was to build a dominant program in Vermilion County,” Craft said. “Each year, we have made it a step further in the postseason, and that just shows how well the program is progressing.”
Even if this season has presented challenges no coach, no matter their experience, has ever witnessed. Salt Fork essentially had an entire new team from the one that went 23-7 last season, with only four returnees.
“It was going to be a year of challenges and overcoming obstacles (before the pandemic), but the team chemistry was good from the start and that is a big part of success,” Craft said. “The girls came in eager from Day 1 and willing to work towards getting better. The team and I were excited for the season and curious to see how well we matched up with our competition. They were working hard and not going through the motions during the first two weeks of practice.”
On a relatively young team with a batch of newcomers, Craft has leaned on her two seniors, Kayleigh Davis and Baylee Birge, during this uncertain time. Davis is a four-year starter for the Storm, with Birge contributing last season as a junior after transferring to Salt Fork.
“I have loved coaching both girls, and they have brought many things to the team that we will miss next year,” Craft said. “It will be hard to see them go, as it is every year, but especially hard if we don’t get a chance to step on the field and play.”
Craft, who is a math teacher at Westville High School, is using the stay-at-home order to savor new moments with her son and husband. But she is eager to coach the Storm again whenever that time comes.
All the while trying to recognize items she may have taken for granted in the past.
“I wish that we could return to normalcy so we can see family and friends and be able to run to the store without second-guessing the trip,” Craft said. “My house has never been more clean or more organized, but I do miss having a schedule and seeing my co-workers, students and athletes.”
Long-time St. Joseph-Ogden athletic trainer Casey Hug, second from right, hugs former SJ-O standout Brandon Trimble during the 2016 Class 2A boys’ basketball state tournament.
THE ATHLETIC TRAINER
‘I love the small-town atmosphere of high school sports’
By the time March arrived, Casey Hug had sat through more than 100 high school basketball games this past winter. It’s his job to do so, with the certified athletic trainer from Carle in his 14th year filling that role for St. Joseph-Ogden.
“I was ready for a break,” Hug said, “but I am definitely missing spring sports.”
Hug hasn’t had the chance to work any SJ-O sporting events this spring with the coronavirus pandemic closing schools for the rest of the academic year. The IHSA will likely cancel the spring sports season on Tuesday after a board meeting.
A normal spring would see Hug start his day off at the clinic around 6:30 a.m., then have a break from around noon until 3 p.m. before heading to SJ-O to be there for weight-room activities, games or meets.
“My typical spring week is four to six days of event coverage,” Hug said.
That hasn’t happened in the last month. Hug said he has picked up a few shifts working security for COVID-19 drive-up testing and in the emergency department.
“That will probably pick up if things start to get even more crazy,” Hug said. “I’m trying to help some former players and patients out as best I can with videos and pictures of rehab exercises.”
Instead, the 44-year-old who originally hails from Lincoln, Neb., is spending time at home with his wife, Kathy, and his daughter, Taylor, who is a freshman at SJ-O.
And doing his best not to annoy the women in his life too much.
“My wife is working from home, so she stays plenty busy,” Hug said. “I usually sleep in and wake up around 8, drink coffee and eat breakfast. By around 9, she tells me to get out of the house, so I go work in the garage or yard. Luckily, I like doing wood-working projects and have started plenty without finishing very many and have plenty to work on.”
The sly sense of humor Hug possesses is again on display when it comes to interacting with his teenage daughter.
“My daughter likes to help by telling me what I did wrong,” Hug deadpanned. “I am enjoying helping her with her home-schooling, and by helping, I mean staying as far away as possible. I think most parents are starting to understand just how much teachers have to deal with on a daily basis.”
On a serious note, Hug is eager for SJ-O sporting events to resume, but he’ll most likely have to wait until August at the earliest.
“I feel like our softball and baseball teams at SJ-O were going to be really good,” Hug said. “I really miss watching Bailey Dowling and Hannah Dukeman play. They are two of the best competitors I’ve ever been around.”
Hug, who also worked as an athletic trainer at Rantoul for three years before arriving at SJ-O in 2006, said while he enjoys the games and meets he gets to attend, it’s the relationships he’s built up in the past decade-plus that he truly cherishes.
“I love the small-town atmosphere of high school sports and the way the community rallies around the kids,” Hug said. “I had the opportunity to go to other schools during this time, but have chosen to stay here. I think I have the best school to work at, and the relationships I have made can’t be duplicated.”
Long-time Illini fan and writer Robert Rosenthal works from his home office in Champaign earlier this week.
THE LOCAL SPORTS WRITER
‘I left one career behind, I started another one and before I can even begin, it’s placed on a permanent hold’
This spring has, in a word, felt insane to Robert Rosenthal. And that’s even without the coronavirus pandemic.
The life-long Illinois fan recently moved to Champaign after living in the St. Louis area for the last 24 years, where he worked as a landscape architect.
But in January, he and his wife, Pam, made the decision to move to Champaign after Pam landed a job in his old college stomping grounds.
“Nothing about the move has been normal,” Rosenthal said. “When we closed on the sale of our condo in St. Louis, the title company wasn’t allowing anyone to come inside their office, so we signed all of our paperwork outside, at a table, sitting 6 feet apart.”
Then, upon arriving in Champaign, the internet service Rosenthal chose to have installed at his house wasn’t allowing their workers to enter homes.
“They had to leave everything at the front door and give me instructions on how to set it up,” Rosenthal said. “It’s been a bunch of things like that.”
Having reliable internet is vital to Rosenthal’s new full-time job: sports writer.
When the 1996 Illinois graduate and his wife returned to Rosenthal’s old college stomping grounds, that meant Rosenthal was ditching landscape architecture to pursue what was his passion: writing about Illinois athletics, in particular Illini football.
Rosenthal started a blog — Alioneye.com — in 2009 and then started writing for IlliniBoard.com starting in 2013, the website he still writes for.
So he had big plans for April with Lovie Smith’s program set to hold the majority of their spring practices this month. Until they didn’t, with all organized team activities put on hold because of the pandemic.
A regular spring would have seen him write roughly 25,000 words during the month between depth charts, mailbags and practice reports.
“I had planned to really expand on typical this year, but with the move being mixed in there, I probably couldn’t have done all that I was planning,” Rosenthal said. “But with the move now fully in the rearview mirror, man would I love to be going to football practice.”
And getting an early look at the 2020 roster, which he said is the culmination of five years of rebuilding under Smith. Especially with the number of veteran players at the Illini’s disposal.
“Lovie recruited his first class in 2017, played 22 of them as true freshmen, and now they’re all seniors,” Rosenthal said. “He has a senior quarterback, three senior wide receivers, four seniors on the offensive line, two senior defensive ends, two senior linebackers and two senior cornerbacks. And a senior kicker, senior punter and senior long snapper. This is supposed to be the year.”
The season opener is scheduled for Sept. 4, a Friday night game against in-state FCS opponent Illinois State. If the season happens as planned.
“Because this is supposed to be year, I fear it won’t happen,” Rosenthal said. “I think many Illini football fans expect the worst at this point, and the 2020 season not happening would be just about the worst thing that could happen.”
Whenever Brandon Peters, Mike Epstein, Luke Ford, Ricky Smalling, Jake Hansen and the rest of the Illinois football team can gather for a game, Rosenthal is taking a different approach than he might have in the past. Even under these unusual circumstances for someone who first started watching Illinois football games back in 1980 because his dad was a fan and whose main reason for wanting to attend Illinois wasn’t because of its superb academic reputation, bur rather so he could be in the Block I and Orange Krush.
“Whenever the next Illini athletic event happens, it will be my first event covered where writing about it is my career, not my hobby,” Rosenthal said. “The launch of the new and improved IlliniBoard has been put on hold until there are teams to write about, so I’m in this big long holding pattern right now. I left one career behind, I started another one and before I can even begin, it’s placed on a permanent hold. So the next practice or game, for me, will simply mean that I can begin.”
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Sunday Special | Impact of coronavirus on local sports community (April 19, 2020) - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette
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