Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Three intellectually and athletically gifted Fighting Illini women's student-athletes—all born three decades after Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972 was signed into law—admit that they've only read stories and viewed documentaries about the pioneering women who preceded them.

And yet, redshirt volleyball senior Diana Brown (Columbus, Ohio), track and field junior Noor Abdellatif (Antioch), and senior gymnast Mia Takekawa (Sacramento, Calif.) all share a sense of indebtedness.

"I mean, it's kind of crazy," said Abdellatif. "Just trying to be equal, they had to go through all those challenges and experience all of those hardships. They fought for what they wanted the outcome to be. It's just amazing how persistent they were."

Brown says that something worth doing is never easy.

"For women to be able to play sports back then, a lot of things needed to be broken down, including the stigmas and opinions," she said. "Compared to them, it seems like my life is really easy. There's so much in history that has been broken down and built up. To see where we are now, I appreciate what all has been built up. I think we can all learn a lesson from that."

Though Takekawa hasn't personally engaged with anyone who fought for women's rights in the 1970s and '80s, her cousin (Sarah Takekawa) played soccer at Saint Mary's College of California in the early 2000s. Over the years, Mia has heard some stories from her.

"I looked up to Sarah when I was thinking about college athletics," she said. "I've definitely had more financial privileges and a lot more media attention than she had 20 years ago. But, in terms of the people that paved the path for me here at the University of Illinois, it's definitely important to know where we started, where we are now, and where we still have to go."

Until just recently, the trio was unaware of what happened in April of 1977 when Illini track and field athletes Nessa Calabrese and Nancy Knop formally charged UI's Athletic Association with discrimination against women in the operation of its programs. The wide-ranging suit asserted that the AA spent six-and-a-half times more money for its men's sports than it did for its women's teams, awarded financial aid to male freshmen but prohibited it for women in their first year, and provided scholarship assistance to men over a five-year academic period as compared to only four years for women.

"It must have taken a lot of guts for them to do what they did, knowing that in that kind of environment back then that there could have definitely been backlash," Takekawa said. "Because of their actions, we are now able to have the privileges that we have today, to be able to compete and have equality. It is extremely important that today's athletes and women in general to be able to continue to speak out about things that still aren't necessarily equal."

And, in their opinion, how is the University of Illinois' current athletic department living up to those equity requirements today?

"As far as I can tell, women are getting equal treatment in terms of finances, but equality in benefits probably still has room for improvement," Abdellatif said. "For example, you don't see women's sports getting praised as much as the men's sports here. On social media, our successful women's sports deserve as much praise as say men's basketball. We'd certainly like people to follow women's sports more than they do."

"In our country," Brown added, "football and men's basketball are put ahead of every other sport. I totally understand that they bring in a lot of profit and that allows other sports to be part of the program. Our university has done a nice job in getting new (training) facilities for our softball and baseball teams. They do very well in taking care of us and I feel as though we are given a lot of the same opportunities, such as (access to) our athlete cafeteria. I think that our university tries as hard as they can to promote gender equality in a world where it's really hard to do that."

"Our coaches are great with their support, as is the rest of the staff with academics and financial assistance," Takekawa said. "Sure, the money-maker sports—football and basketball—have the facilities and all that, but we get new equipment when we need it. We may not get all the flashy things, but, day-in and day-out, we do get a lot of support."

Many women's student-athletes are still on the ground floor when it comes to the issue of name, image and likeness (NIL) benefits, though both Brown and Takekawa have had opportunities come their way.

I'm very appreciative of the opportunities I've gotten from Campus•Ink (apparel)," Brown said. "They are really trying to make it all about the athlete instead of just the clothing. I work closely with one of their designers and we're trying to come up with apparel that really, truly represents me. To be honest, I have high aspirations after my collegiate career ends, so I was kind of focusing more on that instead of pursuing the NIL deals that other athletes have."

Takekawa admits that her sport has one of the highest profiles among collegiate athletes regarding NIL.

"I've done a few deals, so I have been pretty lucky to be able to take advantage of NIL," Takekawa said. "Gymnastics is one of the few sports in which the women's side is more popular than the men's side."

All three women are taking utmost advantage of their University of Illinois educations. Brown graduated last May, majoring in molecular and cellular biology and minoring in psychology. Abdellitif is studying kinesiology and hopes to become a physical therapist, while Takekawa is majoring in bioengineering and is on a track targeted towards therapeutics. Following her graduation in 2023, she'll pursue a career in pharmaceuticals.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Except for Antarctica, every other continent on Planet Earth has at one time been represented by women's athletes who've worn the Orange & Blue of the Fighting Illini.

The list of more than 100 Illini who've hailed from countries outside of the borders of the United States is headlined by Hall of Famers Lindsey Nimmo Bristow from England and Perdita Felicien Campbell and Emily Zurrer from Canada, but there are countless other foreign athletes who've also flown the University of Illinois' colors.

UI Director of Athletics Josh Whitman says that the international student-athletes with whom he's been associated seem humbled to have had the opportunity to compete in America.

"By and large, our international student-athletes are very grateful to be here," Whitman said. "It's fun to watch them grasp the American athletics experience and come to understand the platform they've been provided. They're a lot of fun to be around because they're incredibly humble and they're very motivated to take advantage of and really enjoy the full spectrum of the opportunity that exists in a place like Illinois. I think that anytime someone gets the chance to experience something that's truly different than what you're accustomed to or what you grew up knowing, it always gives you a different view on that opportunity."

Executive Senior Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator Sara Burton harkens back to the international student-athletes she encountered as a soccer player at Knox College.

"Certainly, what was modeled to me through their behavior and their words was that they weren't taking that opportunity for granted in any way, shape or form," Burton said. "They really looked to maximize that opportunity. And I think that is congruent with today's international student-athletes. I've worked with several personally. In fact, I have a thank you note here from one of my women's basketball student-athletes who shared a point of gratitude for our support of her around some specific travel needs related to her visa. That's something that doesn't go unnoticed with our international student-athletes. They take great pride in having an opportunity to compete and perform on behalf of Illinois. There's just a great deal of gratitude around those opportunities and they look to maximize them."

One of UI's very first international athletes who had an unusually high profile occurred in 1988 when Coach Mike Hebert added Bolsward, Holland's Petra Laverman to the roster. She earned first team All-Big Ten honors two years later. And two years after that, in 1992, Hebert threw a second net into The Netherlands to land first team All-American Kirstein Gleis.

The Illini track and field program has had a sizable number of foreign athletes. One of the very first was heptathlete Carmel Corbett Welso from New Zealand. She was a three-time All-American in the heptathlon and high jump. Canada has been especially kind to the Illini track program, sending future Olympians Felicien and Yvonne Mensah to Champaign-Urbana.

The Great White North has also dispatched top-notch athletes to soccer (Zurrer and Leisha Alcia), volleyball (Lorna Henderson), and other sports.

Besides Bristow, Europe's contributions to U of I athletics have included Swedish track Olympians Jenny and Susanna Kallur, Lithuanian volleyball standout Rasa Virsilaite and basketball starter Iveta Marcauskaite, and Czech Republic hoops star Petra Holesinska.

Among current 2022-23 Illini rosters, slightly more than a dozen current female student-athletes hail from foreign countries, including three swimmers (Suvana Baskar from India, Jenri Buys from South Africa and Paloma Canos Cervera from Italy), three basketball players (Geovana Lopes from Brazil, Aicha Ndour from Senegal and Liisa Taponen from Finland), three gymnasts (Amelia Knight from the United Kingdom, Mia Scott from England and Kiera Wai from Canada), and two Canadian soccer athletes (Ashley Cathro and Joanna Verzosa-Dolezal).

Leisha Alcia (Canada), soccer

Sara Anastasieska (Australia), basketball

Camille Baldrich (Puerto Rico), tennis

Carmel Corbett Welso (New Zealand), track & field

Gayathri DeSilva (Sri Lanka), tennis

Ilkau Dikman (Turkey), swimming & diving

Perdita Felicien Campbell (Canada), track & field

Kirsten Gleis (The Netherlands), volleyball

Shivani Ingle (India), tennis

Yvonne Harrison (Puerto Rico), track & field

Lorna Henderson (Canada), volleyball

Nikita Holder (Canada), track & field

Petra Holesinska (Vracov, Czech Republic), basketball

Jenny Kallur (Sweden), track & field

Susanna Kallur (Sweden), track & field

Ashley Kelly (British Virgin Islands), track & field

Petra Laverman (The Netherlands), volleyball

Ashleigh Lefevre (Australia), soccer

Iveta Marcauskaite (Lithuania), basketball

Yvonne Mensah (Canada), track & field

Lindsey Nimmo Bristow (England), tennis

Pedrya Seymour (Bahamas), track & field

Kornkamol Sukaree (Thailand), golf

Pimploy Thirati (Thailand), golf

Rasa Virsilaite (Lithuania), volleyball

Emily Zurrer (Canada), soccer

Suvana Baskar (India), swimming & diving

Jenri Buys (South Africa), swimming & diving

Paloma Canos Cervera (Italy), swimming & diving

Ashley Cathro (Canada), soccer

Siyan Chen (China), golf

Amelia Knight (United Kingdom), gymnastics

Geovana Lopes (Brazil), basketball

Aicha Ndour (Senegal), basketball

Mia Scott (England), gymnastics

Liisa Taponen (Finland), basketball

Tracy Towns (Canada), cross country/track & field

Joanna Verzosa-Dolezal (Canada), soccer

Kiera Wai (Canada), gymnastics

Perdita Felicien Campbell was a three-time NCAA hurdles champion and was named 2001 and 2003 NCAA Track Athlete of the Year. She earned All-America honors 10 times while at Illinois. Felicien was a two-time world champion in the 100-meter hurdles and two-time world silver medalist. She set UI, Big Ten and NCAA records in 60 meter and 100-meter hurdles. Felicien represented Canada at 2000 and 2004 Olympic games and is a 10-time Canadian champion. She set the Canadian record in the 100-meter hurdles in 2004, which still stands today. Felicien was the first Canadian woman to ever win a medal at the World Championships. During her career, she won gold and silver at both the World Championships in the 100-meter hurdles and World Indoor Championships in the 60 meter hurdles. Felicien was inducted into the Athletics Canada Hall of Fame in 2016.

Lindsey Nimmo Bristow is the most acclaimed women's tennis player in Fighting Illini history after being named the 1993 Big Ten Player of the Year and earning All-Big Ten honors three times from 1991-93. Nimmo was the first Fighting Illini women's tennis player to earn All-America honors, doing so as a senior in 1993. A native of Sutton Coldfield, England, Nimmo also earned the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1993 for excellence as both an athlete and student as she was named Academic All-Big Ten three times. She finished her Illini career as the school's record holder for career wins and wins in a season (48), compiling a career mark of 103-33 and season record of 48-7 in 1993 and was her team's most valuable player each of her final three years. Nimmo was named CoSIDA Academic All-American in 1993. Nimmo remains as Illinois' only Big Ten Player of the Year in women's tennis. She currently lives with her husband, Dal, in Naperville, Illinois.

Emily Zurrer earned All-America honors three times in 2006 (1st/3rd/3rd teams), 2007 (2nd/4th teams) and 2008 (3rd team), was a three-time First-Team All-Big Ten selection her final three seasons and selected to the All-Freshman squad in 2005. She was First-Team All-Region as a junior and senior. During her tenure on the back line, Illinois produced 42 shutouts and gave up the second-fewest goals in program history in 2008, allowing just 19. As a senior, Zurrer was the Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Year. She competed for Canada at the 2008 (starting every game) and 2012 Olympics, helping her squad to a bronze medal in 2012. Zurrer was the 2009 Big Ten Medal of Honor selection from Illinois. She played professionally in Sweden, Germany, Canada and the U.S., and now works as a realtor and fitness instructor in British Columbia, Canada.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

From her home near Portsmouth on England's southern coast, then five-year-old Jillian Anne Ellis was completely unaware as to how much a new American law called Title IX would eventually affect her life. At that time in 1972, all she knew was that she wasn't getting the same opportunity to play organized sports as her older brother, Paul.

Jill's life changed dramatically in 1981 when her dad, John, was offered the chance to move his family across the Atlantic and establish a soccer academy in the United States.

"I was 15 and about to go into my final year of school," Ellis remembered. "My parents said, 'Well, do you want to come with us to the States or would you rather stay and finish up here?' I said, 'Heck, I'm coming.' I was very excited to make the move."

Attending Fairfax, Virginia's Robinson Secondary School, Jill finally got the opportunity to play the sport that her father taught.

"When I first came over, I tried out for soccer and absolutely fell in love with it," she said. "You have to remember that soccer is the sport that every sports fan in Europe follows. It was neat for me suddenly going from being a fan to actually being a player."

Ellis excelled as a high school athlete and received an invitation to play soccer for the College of William & Mary, an institution founded in 1693 that was named after former English royalty. Receiving no financial aid until her senior season, it was strictly an opportunity to receive an education in her majors of English Literature and Composition.

Performing on the soccer pitch for the Tribe from 1984-87, Jill scored 32 career goals. As a senior, she was accorded third-team NSAA All-America honors.

The '80s were a time when women's collegiate sport was still sprouting, and female athletes received few frills beyond the ability to compete.

"We wore men's uniforms and had to buy our own cleats," Ellis recalled. "For our pregame meals, we were lucky if we went to McDonald's. It was on the very forefront of the evolution for women's soccer in college sports. However, there was a certain robustness and comradery of the athletes back then. You weren't playing for a scholarship; you were playing because you loved it. There wasn't any other motivation other than playing for the love of the sport.

"One of the things that really stood out for me was that there were no female coaches," Ellis remembered. "I mean zero. When I was playing, I don't recall ever competing against or having a female coach. In my senior year, we finally had a female assistant coach (April Heinrichs). It was literally the first time that I'd ever been coached by a female. The landscape was just barren in terms of coaching opportunities for women. Interestingly enough, I kind of fought against a coaching career initially. Soccer was more of a vehicle for me to get my education."

Soon came a career-changing moment for Ellis.

"I was working as a writer in North Carolina for a large tech company when April called me and offered me a coaching job," she said. "For a young person, I was making decent money. I had an apartment, I had heath care, I had a car. Still, I was really struggling with what I was going to do with my life. I remember calling my father and telling him that I'd been offered this coaching job for $6,000 a year. He was excited ... my mother not so much. But, for me, it was a moment of picking passion over paycheck. I took a leap of faith, jumped in with both feet, and never looked back because I absolutely loved it."

After three years as an assistant at Maryland, one at Virginia, and three more at North Carolina State, Ellis received an inquiry in the winter of 1997 from the University of Illinois about its head coaching position.

"I actually had gone home to Charlotteville to see my parents for the weekend," she remembered. "Dad left me a message that said Dr. (Karol) Kahrs had called from the University of Illinois. Full disclosure, I got out a map. There was no Google back then. I wanted to learn exactly where the school was and what kind of a school it was. I called Dr. Kahrs back. She said, 'We'd love to talk with you about our head coaching position and bring you out.' I went for a visit and I remember it was freezing cold. I met with Karol and I met with Ron, got to see what their plans were, and I really believed in their vision. The one daunting thing was that I had to put a team on the field in only about four or five months after I was hired. Looking back, had I been more thoughtful and more conservative, I probably should have thought that through. Ultimately, I liked what Ron and Karol pitched to me in terms of what we could build and I said 'Yeah, let's do this.'"

Ellis hit the ground running.

"I did a quick study and found out that there was a club team on campus," she said. "My plan was to get there as fast as I could and find out if there were some recruits who were still undecided. Once I got to campus, we held open tryouts with the club team. I was pleased with the core group. I looked for a certain level of athleticism and to identify those women who could play specific positions. The players were bright, resilient, passionate, and so appreciative of this opportunity. They went to the University of Illinois for the academics and, all of a sudden, they get to play a varsity sport with the inaugural team. That opportunity wasn't lost on them."

Ellis recalled the message to her players in one of the first meetings.

"I remember saying to the players, 'Listen, I'm going to be patient but I'm not going to lower my expectations,'" she said. "It was a message of we're going to be fit and we're going to be an aggressive team in terms of how we play. We're going to have tremendous work ethic and we're going to have each other's backs. I can't remember how many games we won that first year, but we celebrated the highs big time. It really was a great foundation on which to build ... great people with great character."

A sense of excitement abounded as the Illini approached their very first game on Sept. 5, 1997, against Loyola.

"I remember the players getting their uniforms and just being just so excited," Ellis said. "It kind of took me back to when I made my first team at (age) 15. Your jersey, when you make a team, is such a prized possession. Sure, there was a little bit of anticipation and anxiety, but one of the things that they bought into was 'We've got everything to gain and nothing to lose.' So we took the field with a very attacking mindset."

The Illini opened up with victories in their first four games, but then lost the next seven in a row. That set the stage for a Big Ten battle in mid-October against Northwestern, a match in which the Illini prevailed by a score of 3-2 in double overtime. It was a particularly memorable moment in that inaugural season.

"That was definitely a dog-pile game," she said. "As a coach, you're just so happy for the players because you know (the effort) they'd put into the game."

In May of 2022, 24 years after the eventual two-time World Cup Championship coach of Team USA departed Champaign-Urbana for a job at UCLA, Ellis received an invitation to speak at the U of I's Commencement ceremony.

"It was serendipity," she said. "It was getting back to where it had all begun and an appreciation of coming back to where I'd cut my teeth and planted my feet in the coaching ranks in terms of making it my profession. It was a huge honor. I was so privileged and proud to come back during the celebration of Title IX's 50th anniversary. It was an acknowledgment and a tip of the hat to the University for adding this sport and continuing to grow the game of women's football. Coming to America was an absolute life-changing moment for me. Growing up in England, never would I have dreamed of having a career in sport."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

The much-awaited new millennium introduced an additional sport to the University of Illinois' varsity women's athletics lineup, but plenty of other prominent storylines occurred during the first 10 years of the 21st Century.

About one year after softball made its debut in March of 2000, Eichelberger Field became the home for a plethora of talented athletes.  

Women's golf got a big boost in 2004 when construction of the Demirjian Indoor Golf Practice Facility was announced. A beautiful new tennis area, the Khan Outdoor Complex, followed three years later.

Individually, names like Felicien, Alcia, Hunt, Mensah and Bizzarri grabbed multiple headlines.

Here is a chronological look at several of the most memorable Illini women's moments from 2000-09.

Jan. 2, 2000: Women's basketball romped past No. 5 Georgia, 82-65, at the Assembly Hall.

Mar. 11, 2000: UI's softball team made its varsity debut, splitting a doubleheader at Coastal Carolina. Due to the lack of a home field, Coach Terri Sullivan's players were never seen by the majority of Illini faithful.

Mar. 17, 2000: Illini women's basketball defeated Utah in an opening-round game of the NCAA Tournament, 73-58.

Apr. 15, 2000: Groundbreaking ceremonies for Eichelberger Field.

June 13, 2000: Sophomore Jessica Aveyard, Illinois' first-ever swimming All-American, won the Dike Eddleman Award as UI's top female athlete.

Aug. 31, 2000: Karol Kahrs retired after 36 years of service.

Sept. 15-Oct. 1, 2000: At the Olympics, Illini swimmer Ilkay Dikman (Turkey) and Perdita Felicien (Canada) competed for their home countries.

Nov. 8, 2000: Illinois soccer played and won its first-ever NCAA Tournament game, defeating Xavier, 2-0.

Mar. 15, 2001: Illini women's swimming and diving made its very first appearance in the NCAA Championships, ultimately tying for 35th place.

Mar. 30, 2001: In its first-ever Big Ten games, Coach Terri Sullivan's Illini softball team swept Michigan State, 4-1 and 10-2. Illinois finished with a 12-8 conference record.

Apr. 27, 2001: UI's 4x100-meter shuttle hurdle relay quartet of Jenny Kallur, Camee Williams, Susanna Kallur and Perdita Felicien set a world record (52.85) at the Drake Relays.

Apr. 29, 2001: Illini women's tennis nipped Northwestern for the Big Ten title.

May 1, 2001: Volleyball's Betsy Spicer was named the female recipient of the Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor.

May 10-12, 2001: At Ann Arbor, Illini softball went 2-2 in its very first Big Ten Tournament.

May 12, 2001: Illini tennis beat Virginia Commonwealth, 4-2, to claim its first NCAA Tournament victory.

May 19, 2001: Perdita Felicien ran the world's fastest time in the 100-meter hurdles (12.75).

Nov. 26, 2001: Don Hardin named Big Ten volleyball's Coach of the Year; senior Shadia Haddad named conference's Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

Dec. 28, 2001: Illini women's basketball topped No. 12 Michigan, 85-81, at Ann Arbor.

March 8, 2002: Sixty-meter hurdler Perdita Felicien captured UI track and field's first-ever NCAA indoor title with a collegiate-record time of 7.90.

May 6, 2002: Illinois' Jessica Aveyard named Swimmer of the Year by the Illinois Swimming Association.

May 10, 2002: Shortstop Lindsey Hamma and outfielder LeeAnn Butcher became Illini softball's initial first-team All-Big Ten selections.

June 1, 2002: Perdita Felicien wins the NCAA 100-meter hurdles title.

Oct. 12, 2002: Illini volleyball topped Coach Mike Hebert's sixth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers, 3-2.

Nov. 7, 2002: Illini soccer defeated No. 11 Penn State, and four days later beat No. 13 Purdue.

Jan. 10, 2003: UI's Allison Prather set the UI record in one-meter diving (270.85).

Jan. 26, 2003: Illini women's basketball defeated 10th-ranked Minnesota, 94-80, in Champaign.

Feb. 23, 2003: Illini women's tennis team shocked top-ranked Duke, 4-3.

May 15, 2003: The Illini softball team captured the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, a 5-3 win over Georgia Tech.

June 14, 2003: Perdita Felicien won the NCAA 100-meter hurdles crown with a time of 12.74.

June 26, 2003: Illini athletes swept both the Big Ten's Jesse Owens Male and Suzy Favor Female Athletes of the Year awards. NCAA tennis champ Amer Delic and wrestling titlist Matt Lackey shared the prize for the men, while NCAA hurdles champ Perdita Felicien was the women's award winner. The trio was named UI Athletes of Year on June 4.

Aug. 28, 2003: Perdita Felicien registered victory in the 100-meter hurdles at the World Track & Field Championships.

Sept. 23, 2003: Former Illini great Tonja Buford-Bailey was hired as UI's assistant track coach.

Nov. 9, 2003: Illini soccer prevailed over Michigan, 2-0, to win the championship game of the Big Ten Soccer Tournament, its first-ever conference title.

Nov. 21-23, 2003: Illini women pioneers, including some from the 1930s, gathered on campus for the 3D Celebration reunion.

Dec. 12, 2003: Illini soccer goalkeeper Leisha Alcia named an All-American.

Feb. 20, 2004: Ilkay Dikmen broke Illinois swimming's 100 breaststroke record (1:02.11).

Apr. 3, 2004: Illini gymnast Cara Pomeroy posted the school's first-ever perfect score, a 10.0 on the parallel bars at the NCAA South Central Regional.

Apr. 17, 2004: Illini softball beat No. 9 Michigan, 3-2, to claim its first-ever victory over a Top Ten team.

Aug. 22, 2004: Illini track and field alumnae Susanna Kallur (Sweden) and Perdita Felicien (Canada) competed in the Olympics, advancing into the 100-meter hurdles semifinals.

Sept. 11, 2004: Coach Don Hardin's Illini volleyball team upset top-ranked Southern California in five sets at the Illini Classic.

Sept. 18, 2004: UI held groundbreaking ceremonies for its Demirjian Golf Practice Facility.

Oct. 30, 2004: Illinois' Cassie Hunt won Big Ten cross country's individual championship.

December 2004: In the month of December, Illini women's basketball traveled to Louisiana State and defeated the 21st-ranked Bulldogs, 71-65 and then followed up with a 78-63 win over No. 16 UCLA.

May 3, 2005: Tennis standout Cynthya Goulet won the Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor.

May 15, 2005: Illinois won the Big Ten Women's Track and Field Championships for the fifth time in its history. There were three individual championships and five second-place finishers.

Oct. 30, 2005: Women's cross country's Cassie Hunt won the 2005 Big Ten title with a time of 21:00. As a team, the Illini placed second.

Feb. 18, 2006: Illini swimmer Barbie Viney won UI's first individual Big Ten title in 24 years, posting a record time of 49.06 in the 100 freestyle.

Feb. 26, 2006: UI's Yvonne Mensah was named Athlete of the Meet at the Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Apr. 6, 2006: Longtime Illini women's golf coach Paula Smith announced retirement. On June 8, former Illini Renee Heiken Slone was named as Smith's replacement.

May 2, 2006: Soccer star Christen Karniski named female winner of the Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor.

June 1, 2006: Softball star Jenna Hall became Illinois' first-ever All-American. She ended her record-breaking season with .481 batting average, a .651 on-base percentage and an .847 slugging percentage, all UI records.

Oct. 1, 2006: Two goals by Ella Masur rallied the Illini soccer to an upset win over No. 9 Penn State, 3-2.

Mar. 22, 2007: In Theresa Grentz's final game as Illini coach, host Kansas State beat Illinois, 66-51.

Apr. 20, 2007: Groundbreaking ceremony for UI's Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex.

May 11, 2007: Jolette Law, longtime assistant coach at Rutgers, was named head coach of the Illini women's basketball team.

May 13, 2007: Illinois tied for the Big Ten women's outdoor track and field title, 129-129 with Michigan. Yvonne Mensah captured four gold medals, winning the 100, 200 and triple jump, as well as anchoring UI's victorious 4x100 relay.

Feb. 16, 2008: Illini softball upset UCLA, 6-2, handing the Bruins one of only nine losses they'd incur that season.

Mar. 7, 2008: Clutch free throw shooting by Lori Bjork and Rebecca Harris clinched a 68-64 Illini women's basketball win over top-seeded Ohio State at the Big Ten Tournament, qualifying Illinois for the championship game.

Apr. 4, 2008: Longtime women's track and field coach Gary Winckler announced that he would step down. Tonja Buford-Bailey was designated as Winckler's replacement.

April 24, 2008: Allison Buckley became first Illini women's gymnastics' first All-American.

Apr. 25, 2008: Illini women's tennis stunned Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship quarterfinals.

Apr. 30, 2008: Illini shortstop Angelena Mexicano crushed her 24th home run of the season to break the Big Ten single-season record.

Nov. 16, 2008: Illini soccer beat Missouri in game two of the NCAA Tournament on penalty kicks.

Nov. 24, 2008: The Illini women's cross country team placed 10th at the NCAA Championships.

Dec. 1, 2008: Volleyball coach Don Hardin announced his retirement. Eleven days later (Dec. 12), his coaching era ended with a third-round NCAA Tournament loss to California.

Aug. 8-24, 2008: Susanna Kallur (Sweden) and Emily Zurrer (Canada), competed in track and field and soccer, respectively, at the Olympic Games.

Jan. 8, 2009: Illinois named Kevin Hambly head volleyball coach.

Apr. 16, 2009: Illini women's gymnastics made its first-ever appearance at the NCAA national championships, placing 12th. UI's Bob Starkell was named as the nation's Women's Coach of the Year.

June 11, 2009: Emily Zurrer, Illini soccer star, won the Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor.

June 13, 2009: Angela Bizzarri captured UI's first-ever NCAA title in a distance event (5,000 meters in time of 16:17.94).

Aug. 6, 2009: Former Illini coach Gary Winckler was named to the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame.

Oct. 16, 2009: A crowd of 7,632 watched rookie coach Kevin Hambly's 10th-ranked Illini sweep past former coach Mike Hebert's No. 6 Minnesota Golden Gophers in Big Ten action at Assembly Hall.

Nov. 23, 2009: Angela Bizzarri won the NCAA individual national championship, earning her National Cross Country Athlete of the Year honors (Nov. 25) and the Honda Award (Dec. 9).

Dec. 16, 2009: Volleyball's Laura DeBruler was named a first-team All-America.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Though her closet is now filled with more items featuring purple and white, former Illini basketball standout Kate (Riley) Smith proudly treasures her undergraduate education at the University of Illinois as a primary reason for the success she's enjoyed during her prestigious career in business and higher education.

Today, Smith's title at Northwestern University is Assistant Athletic Director for Career Enhancement and Employer Relations. She directs the Wildcat athletic department's NU for Life Program.

The Edina, Minn. native lettered twice as a forward for Coach Laura Golden (1989 and '90) and twice for Coach Kathy Lindsey (1991 and '92). She also shined in the classroom. So exceptional was Smith as a business administration major that Illini administrators named her as the school's female honoree of the Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor in 1992.

That award is one of the most precious jewels on Smith's glittering resume.

"I was recently part of an awards ceremony at Northwestern," she said. "I realized there are only 28 student-athletes out of 9,000 in the Big Ten that win the Conference Medal of Honor. Thirty years ago, it would have been only 20. The prestige of this award is such an honor and one that I certainly did not expect or anticipate. I had no idea that I was being considered. It's something I will forever be grateful. I had always prided myself in being both a student and an athlete. I had always been a very dedicated student, so to be acknowledged among all of your peers ... to this day there's a little bit of 'how did that happen?'"

Upon her graduation from UI's College of Business, Smith was focused on developing a career in corporate marketing. Following a brief period in commercial real estate, she ultimately worked for some of America's consumer biggest brands. 

"My dream was to work in marketing at the intersection of sports on the consumer side of business," she said. "Marketing is about influencing attitudes and opinions about brands, and I was intrigued by that."

Smith opted to pursue her MBA at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and it proved to be a real game-changer for her, accelerating her path in marketing. During a 14-year career with Proctor & Gamble, General Mills and PepsiCo, she eventually advanced to become senior director of marketing for Gatorade.

A decade ago, Smith pivoted in her career and returned to Northwestern to become the Kellogg School's Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid. She remained in that position until September of 2021.

With the emergence of COVID and after 10 years of working in admissions, Smith began to imagine a career that eventually brought her full circle.

Last February, NU Vice President for Athletics and Recreation Dr. Derrick Gragg brought Smith on board to join his Wildcat athletics staff.

"In my own journey, I have so appreciated all of those people who helped develop me and my career path," she said. "Just as all the schools in the Big Ten have such great cultures and communities, the culture at Northwestern is fantastic as well. I most enjoy sitting with the student-athletes and talking about their goals, their dreams and helping them map out their potential career. It's kind of full circle, being back at a Big Ten institution."

In April of 2017, on the 25th anniversary of Smith winning the Big Ten Medal of Honor, she returned to Champaign-Urbana to speak to Illinois' student-athletes at the OSKEE Awards.

"As I was writing my speech, I wanted to say thank you to some of the people who had shaped and influenced who I was," she said. "That brought me to Jenny Arnold, a 12-year-old girl who was my super fan during my playing days as an Illini. For some reason, she decided that I was her favorite. She made signs and celebrated me. I got to know her and, for at least a decade, ultimately became a pen pal of her after I graduated. When Jenny became a young woman, we fell out of touch. As I wrote the speech, I was determined to find her and see what she was doing. I discovered that she had passed away from breast cancer. When Jenny developed terminal cancer, she wrote a book that was titled 'Learning to Live Legendary.' What her message was for me was doing whatever you want to do in life and do it in a way where you make an impact and help and support others.

"To me, legendary doesn't mean infamy," Smith continued. "It means that you're doing something that has a positive impact on the world around you. As I was giving the speech that night, one of the student-athletes in the audience recognized that Jenny's sister was her Fellowship of Christian Athletes' advisor. Her sister (Sara Arnold Hurst) and I eventually had an hour-long conversation about Jenny and her adult life, becoming a mom and what it was like to lose her. It was just an amazing moment to have that reconnection through her sister. Jenny had chosen me as someone that she admired."

"This is where sports provide you with experiences, connections and opportunities that I don't think come organically in other ways," Smith said.

"To me, education is everything," she said. "Obviously, I pursued my master's and I've been able to meet and work with so many people who have pursued master's degrees across different fields of study. My former dean had a great quote that said 'Who said that 21 is when you should stop learning?' Education is crucial in terms of opening your mind and teaching you critical thinking skills in whatever you study. What you study aligns more with your interest areas but the process of learning and expanding your understanding of the world around you are so important.

"You'll not compete as an elite athlete for your entire life," Smith continued. "At some point you'll pivot in another direction. What you invest in your education helps prepare you for that moment. In terms of living your life legendary, how can you apply the skills and talents that you possess and give back to the world and community around you?

"I have experienced the value of my education both at the University of Illinois and at Northwestern," she said, "and I wouldn't trade it for the world."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

In 1998, when Illinois Athletic Director Ron Guenther announced that women's softball was being added to the University of Illinois athletics' menu, it became the last program among the Big Ten's longtime members to join the party.

Two years after the Illini introduced soccer to its fans, softball became Illinois' 10th women's varsity program, filling a void in a state long known for its girls' fastpitch excellence.

"Illinois is a great softball state," Guenther told the Decatur Herald & Review. "It's in the city, in the suburbs, downstate ... it's everywhere."

The Illini AD's next step was to identify the sport's first Illini coach. Interest in heading up UI's program was significant, but youthful UIC assistant coach Terri Sullivan had been planting seeds about her interest for a while with Guenther.

"I had heard rumors that the University of Illinois would possibly be starting a softball program," Sullivan said. "I began sending letters and Ron was forwarding them on to Karol Kahrs, just letting them know who I was. They always got back to me and always had something positive to say."

Finally, Guenther set up an in-person meeting with Sullivan. 

"We were hosting regionals at UIC at the time and I met with Ron in Chicago about the position," Sullivan said. "We talked about what it would take to build a program from the ground up and he mentioned that he wanted a person with a lot of energy to get it off and running. I could tell that he was a coach's coach. And, lo and behold, I got the position. It was exactly the challenge I was looking for. I was just 29, but they had a lot of faith in me."

Sullivan was introduced at a mid-July press conference in 1998, then immediately hit the recruiting trail. 

"I remember telling Ron that I had to leave the next day to recruit," she said. "One of the biggest recruiting tournaments for college coaches was taking place in Colorado. Nearly every coach was going to be there. Rick (Raven), our equipment manager, gave me (Illini) polos to wear that were down to my elbows. I remember those first recruiting letters included (the phrase) 'building something from the ground up ... and being the first team to make history'. Our pitch was that you could go somewhere where things are already built or be a part of building something. They had to determine what was the best fit for them. It was a message that I really believed in. Besides talent, we wanted to identify players who were dedicated, coachable, enthusiastic, unselfish, etc. The people component was a big part of it for us."

Another important question the Sullivan had to immediately answer was whether Illini softball would actually field a team during the 2000 season.

"I had brought along Donna DiBiase who had been a player and a graduate assistant at UIC," Sullivan remembered. "We decided that we wanted to play. Illinois had (fielded) a club team for some time and it didn't take long for me to see that those girls were competitors who would run through a wall for you. We had something like 140 kids try out for the team and we picked enough players to play that first season. We just had the time of our lives. It was just an amazing group of young women who were on that team from the club sport and also a few who were originally there for academic reasons but who had played high school softball."

Sullivan was well aware of the extreme talent level that Big Ten softball presented. 

"There were some dominant programs in the Big Ten," she said. "Our initial goal was to compete our way into the middle third (of the conference) and then, hopefully, by year three, winning at the upper echelon. Those were lofty goals, but we never wanted to use the youth of our team as an excuse. Everybody knew it; we didn't need to tell anyone. We didn't want that to be a crutch when we took the field. I've always been a big believer in playing a monstrous, aggressive schedule. `That directly comes from my father (former Depaul and Loyola coach and AD, Gene Sullivan)."

Sullivan's 2000 Illini squad posted a respectable 13-17 record and that group was greatly enhanced in 2001 by a 15-person recruiting class that included future stars Amanda Fortune, Lindsey Hamma, Erin Jones, Janna Sartini, Erin Montgomery, Sarah Baumgartner, Katie O'Connell, Lindsey Tanner, Alicia Hammel and others.

"We had some terrifically talented players, players from state championship teams that wanted to be part of firsts," Sullivan said. "That recruiting class just had it in them. It's a prime example of how a together team can really do great things. No team ever intimidated them. It was just really fun to be a part of. If there was a challenge going on and you were playing a team that, on paper, you're not supposed to beat, we always tried to tell our players to be serious but have fun. It's going to be demanding, but we're going to have fun. We're going to be dedicated and disciplined but have fun."

The program's initial monumental victory came on Feb. 23, 2001, when Illinois visited 16th-ranked Florida State.

"Coach (JoAnne) Graf was a Hall of Fame coach at Florida State," Sullivan said. "Before the game, she told me that it was going to take a while, but to be patient and that we'd get there. In talking to the team before the game, I relayed about what she'd said and I tried to create a little bit of fire. Well, we had some real competitors on that team. I remember Katie O'Connell kind of looking at me and saying 'What are we supposed to do for the next four years?' Well, we went on to beat Florida State in that game (1-0 in eight innings) and it really set the stage for what Illinois softball would become ... playing pitch-by-pitch, inning-by-inning, believing in yourself, and having a positive attitude and energy. We did go on to have some success (a 49-23 record) but we didn't get an NCAA bid that year or the next year. We thought we had earned it and had worked hard to be competitive with everybody. The challenges were all fun ones. It's all about the players and any success the coach has comes from them. For me, to be around young people and trying to motivate and inspire them, all of the challenges were worth it."

Years later, Sullivan remains indebted to donors Lila Jeanne "Shorty" Eichelberger and Rex and Alice Martin for their generosity in establishing Illinois' Eichelberger Field and the Martin Softball Complex. The facility debuted on Mar. 27, 2001. 

"Shorty was much more than a donor," Sullivan said. "She traveled with us on the road and she became our No. 1 fan. And the Martins ... well, you just couldn't ask for better people for our team to be around."

Sullivan stepped down from her role as the Illini coach following the conclusion of the 2015 season to focus on her family. DePaul's current Assistant Director of Athletics of Academic Advising, wife of former Illini football star and administrator Shawn Wax, and the mother of a 12-year-old daughter and two older stepdaughters, says that the sky's the limit for future softball players.

"The athletes today have incredible access to training facilities and coaches and competition," she said. "My parents always told me that you can't be what you can't see. And now you're seeing women coaching at all levels, both in male and female sports, and the door has been opened for female executives. The opportunities to work, to teach, to coach and then get rewarded for it are tremendous."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

While the addition of seven varsity-level sports in the Spring of 1974 was undoubtedly a milestone moment for women's athletics at the University of Illinois, Title IX historians will argue that a more significant moment occurred three years later when a pair of courageous student-athletes filed a lawsuit charging sexual discrimination.

On April 11, 1977, at Circuit Court in Urbana, Nessa Calabrese and Nancy Knop charged UI's Athletic Association with discrimination against women in the operation of its programs. The multi-faceted suit contended that the Association spent six-and-a-half times as much for men's sports as for women's teams, awarded financial aid to male freshmen but prohibited it for women in their first year, and provided financial aid for men over a five-year academic period but for only four years for women.

There were additional complaints as well, according to Calabrese, all based on unequal treatment between women and men's athletes.

"Volleyball was my passion," said Calabrese, the former Illini two-sport star. "In those days, and I hope now, too, to play sports in college you have to be passionate about sports. There was so much sacrifice involved. We were only allowed to practice a few times a week because there were no facilities. At the gym in which we were practicing, you could barely keep the ball in play because the ceiling was so low.

"Track and field was kind of the same way. You're competing in the discus ring at the track in the stadium, but you're practicing somewhere else like a corn field. We were setting up little flags trying to figure out what's 120 feet or what's 150 feet. People grumbled and complained and tried to move the needle but were basically unable to do so. So, regarding access to facilities, it was even worse."

It was much the same in the weight room.

"Women did not have access to the weight room at the stadium," Calabrese said. "Weightlifting is a big part of any sport, but certainly track and field. The powers that be with the Athletic Association didn't even want women training in the stadium because that was for football and men's track and field, both Fall and Spring. On more than one occasion, when we were using the stadium, we were locked inside. Sometimes we had to scramble to get over the gate or the wall just to practice."

Inequality continued in terms of the equipment they were—or rather were not—issued.

"We can talk about something as simple as buying a pair of shoes," Calabrese continued. "When I started college, I believe that minimum wage was $2.05, and in those days a decent pair of shoes cost $30 to $40. All of the women basically bought their own shoes. Also, there were a very limited number of uniforms. In using myself as an illustration with track and field, different events required different types of equipment. There were two discus that I had to practice with. They were rubber, undersized in weight, and laughably, (missing) big chunks. So it was really difficult to throw with any degree of accuracy because, aerodynamically, they didn't fly right. I had one javelin with the point cut off it, so you can imagine how that would fly. The only time I could use equipment that conformed with whatever the event was, was in an actual competition."

Then there was the issue of traveling to competitions.

"Typically, a track and field team might have 25-to-30 athletes for all the different events, but we might have had 15 uniforms and a travel budget for 12-to-15 women," Calabrese said. "When we went to a state or Big Ten competition, you're asking your discus thrower—i.e. me—to run (a leg) on the 800-meter relay. I was great for about the first 50 yards, but then it's like—duh—that must be the discus thrower. But track and field is a team sport and you have to win a certain number of events to win a tournament. The size of our roster all had to do with money.

"I qualified for the national championship—I believe it was in Texas," she continued. "We weren't allowed to leave two or three days early so we could have the benefit of being at that school's facilities to practice. (Instead) we left the night before and drove all night. I literally got out of the van and as I was running toward either the discus or javelin competition, they were actually calling my name. So, this was the type of stuff that we had to contend with."

The combination of all these inequities ultimately pushed Calabrese over the brink.

"I was young and fairly naïve about the law," she said. "If you're trying to be an advocate for change and you want to do so in an unoffensive and hopefully successful manner, you at least initially try to go through the proper channels. I believe I exhausted all of those channels over a period of six-to-nine months, including meetings with the women's athletic director (Karol Kahrs). It became very clear to me that nothing was going to be done. Certain changes would have to be done over a period of years and certainly I no longer would be an athlete at that particular point in time and thus would not have legal standing."

After exhausting those channels, Calabrese arranged a meeting with attorney Ed Rawles.

"This suit would not have been settled if not for this particular man," she said. "We had a couple of conversations and he agreed to take this on for women's sports and men's minor sports. It took close to two years before it was settled. I was maybe 19 when this started and I really thought that there was equal protection, at least under the law as the law existed. I came to find out that the law is really a lot about money, strategy, being in front of the right judge, having the right attorney, and loopholes. Really, it's much more of a game than a pursuit of justice. Shout out to Ed Rawles who helped to educate me in the law and who was persistent and tenacious.

"When the Athletic Association had exhausted all of its options, we were down to a two-week window where there was a court date," she said. "The ramifications to the U of I would have been significant and an embarrassment to the university—which was never, by the way, my intention—but that's what it was going to come down to."

That's when newly appointed Chancellor William Gerberding stepped in to arbitrate the dispute.

"He was someone who had more stature and control than the men's A.D. (Cecil Coleman)," Calabrese said. "(Gerberding) met with me and I think he was really flabbergasted as to what was going on and how long it had been going on and what the potential financial ramifications as well as the reputation of the university would be. He intervened and told Cecil Coleman and Karol Kahrs in no uncertain terms that there would be negotiations and a settlement, and this would not go to court. In one or two days of negotiations, it was settled."

Terms of the March 28, 1978, settlement stipulated that the support for qualified women's athletes—by payment of room, board, book expenses, tuition and fees, and tutoring—would be handled in a similar fashion as it was done for male athletes. It also required the same grades for men and women to be eligible for competition and for grants-in-aid, and it increased financial support for coaches of women athletes and for the expense of recruiting women athletes.

Furthermore, Gerberding committed that the university would underwrite some of the possible additional costs for a two-year period.

"It is easy in the afterglow to overlook the enormous amount of courage involved," Gerberding said when the settlement was announced. "Nessa and Nancy pursued this act in the face of an indifferent and hostile environment and against the advice of many who agreed with their ideas. It was a creative moment. The position of women wasn't merely moved ahead, but fundamentally transformed, and the University of Illinois is indebted to these two women and their attorney."

So, in Calabrese's opinion, what still needs to change for women's athletes in 2022 and beyond?

"Clearly, women's accomplishments in sports and women's ability through their notoriety in sport has not only transformed certain sports, but also the world," she said. "When I watch women's athletes today, their level of skill and accomplishment is amazing and tremendous. Scholarships, particularly in this day and age when higher education is so terribly expensive, have enabled certain young women with a dream to get an education and do the thing that they love. When you see the sport participation, it really blows me away and makes me happy.

"Now, all of that being said, what has not changed is that there is still a tremendous amount of discrimination, not just in sport but also in hiring practices and women's basic rights. What we've seen, in a very glaring way, is the extent to which discrimination still exists. It's very disheartening.

"I do not understand why women do not advocate for or support or champion for other women. Women in this country are a strong, formidable force. They have the power to move mountains and so many women have moved mountains individually. But if you want to orchestrate real change, you need to be united, be respected, be strong, and be courageous. And if you can't be courageous, then contribute in any way that you can. If you don't support each other, no one else will. It took hundreds of years for women to achieve what they have and it can be taken away from you in a very short period of time you don't fight for the things that are important and fair and just."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

The third decade of University of Illinois women's athletics propelled the Fighting Illini into national prominence, including individual NCAA championships and multiple Big Ten Athlete of the Year recognitions.

Significant accomplishments by volleyball, basketball, golf and track and field helped Illini publicists spread the word about the achievements of such athletes as Tonja Buford, Renee Heiken, Lindsey Nimmo and Ashley Berggren.

Additionally, newly appointed Illini Director of Athletics Ron Guenther was responsible for a flurry of coaching hirings, including basketball's Theresa Grentz and volleyball's Don Hardin. He also oversaw the creation of two new varsity programs—soccer and softball—and the selection of coaches Jill Ellis and Terri Sullivan.

Four new athletic facilities also were built for the latter two sports, plus facilities for basketball, track and field and tennis. The Bielfeldt Athletics Administration Building also was completed. Furthermore, during the 1990s, the volleyball program began hosting its competitions at Huff Hall.

Here is a chronological look at several of the most memorable Illini women's moments of the 1990s:

February 24, 1990: Illini women's track and field team athletes claimed six individual Big Ten championships enroute to tie-for-second-place finish.

March 24, 1990: The Fighting Illini women's gymnastics team won the Big Ten team championship, something it had never achieved before. Bev Mackes was named Big Ten Coach of the Year.

May 9, 1990: Illini hired Kathy Lindsey as its new women's basketball coach.

June 2, 1990: At the NCAA Championships, UI's Celena Mondie-Milner placed second in the 100-meter dash, while she and teammates Renee Carr, Tonja Buford and Althea Thomas finished second in the 4x100-meter relay.

September 4, 1990: Huff Hall debuted as the home of Illini volleyball. On hand for the special occasion were UI basketball's famed "Whiz Kids".

February 23, 1991: Illini team athletes claimed three individual Big Ten championships enroute to a second-place finish.

March 11, 1991: Basketball's Sarah Sharp named first-team All-Big Ten; Mandy Cunningham earned conference's Freshman of the Year honors.

May 5, 1991: Sophomore Renee Heiken won medalist honors at the Big Ten Women's Golf Championships.

May 18, 1991: Freshman Tonja Buford was named the top athlete at the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships, winning the 100 hurdles and running legs on the winning 400 and 1,600 relay units.

August 22, 1991: Illini women's gymnastics Big Ten uneven bars co-champion Lynn Devers was named NCAA State of Illinois Woman of the Year.

September 20, 1991: Cross country's Laura Simmering set an Illini record with a time of 16:46 at 5,000 meters.

September 28, 1991: The U of I celebrated the 10th anniversary of women's athletics in the Big Ten Conference.

November 2, 1991: Illinois dedicated its new $2.5 million Atkins Tennis Center.

January 26, 1992: Kathy Lindsay's basketball squad upset No. 18 Northwestern, 70-58.

February 29, 1992: Illinois' Tonja Buford claimed three individual titles (55m, 200m, 55m hurdles) at the Big Ten Championships as UI won team trophy.

May 3, 1992: Illinois' Becky Biehl earned medalist honors at the Big Ten Championships, shooting a four-round total of 319.

May 14, 1992: Ron Guenther was named Illinois' athletic director.

May 23, 1992: Tonja Buford won three individual events and ran a leg on the winning 4x100 relay team, leading Illinois to victory at the Big Ten Women's Track and Field Championships.

June 6, 1992: Buford won the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships, becoming the first Illini women's track athlete to win a national title.

August 2, 1992: Buford competed in Barcelona's 1992 Olympics, just missing the finals in the 400-meter hurdles event.

November 9, 1992: Illini volleyball's Kirsten Gleis named Big Ten Player of the Year.

November 28, 1992: Illini volleyball topped No. 22 Ohio State at Huff Hall, 3-0, extending UI's Big Ten winning streak to 18 straight. Illinois went on to win its first two NCAA Tournament matches before losing to No. 2 Stanford in the regional semifinals.

December 10, 1992: UI volleyball swept past No. 7 Nebraska in NCAA Tournament play, improving its record to 32-3. The next day, a record crowd of 4,316 watched UI lose in four sets to No. 2 Stanford.

December 16, 1992: Illini volleyball's Kirsten Gleis named first-team All-America, Tina Rogers second-team.

March 6, 1993: Victories in the 55 dash, the 55 hurdles and the 200 dash by Tonja Buford led Illini women's track and field to a 41-point team victory over Wisconsin at the Big Ten Championships.

May 2, 1993: Tennis's Lindsey Nimmo was named Big Ten Women's Player of the Year, leading Illinois to a program-best second-place finish in the Big Ten.

May 7, 1993: Following 16 years of service, Bev Mackes retired as head women's gymnastics coach.

May 9, 1993: Renee Heiken shot a final-round 73 and captured medalist honors for the second time at the Big Ten Women's Golf Championships.

November 30, 1993: Tina Rogers and Kristin Henriksen won first-team All-Big Ten honors for the second straight season.

February 18 & 19, 1994: Senior swimming Jennifer Sadler set varsity records in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle at the Big Ten Championships.

February 26, 1994: Five individual titles helped Illini track and field team finish second at the Big Ten Championships.

October 21, 1994: Ground was broken for the construction of the Bielfeldt Athletics Administration Building. It was dedicated on Oct. 4, 1996.

November 29, 1994: Volleyball's Julie Edwards won first-team All-Big Ten honors.

February 26, 1995: Four individual titles, including two in the long jump and pentathlon by Carmel Corbett, helped Illini track and field team win the Big Ten Championships.

May 15, 1995: Theresa Grentz was named as the new Illini women's basketball coach.

May 21, 1995: The Illini women's track and field squad won eight of the Big Ten Championships' 19 events and crushed runner-up Wisconsin in the final team standings, 163-112.

May 31, 1995: Illinois and Nike announced a new multi-million-dollar deal.

June 2, 1995: Tonya Williams became only the second Illini woman to win an NCAA outdoor title, capturing the 400-meter hurdles event.

September 23, 1995: Erin Borske's single-march record 44 kills led Illini volleyball past Penn State.

November 24, 1995: Illini defeated UNC-Greensboro in Coach Theresa Grentz's coaching debut.

December 13, 1995: Erin Borske won first-team All-America honors.

December 27, 1995: Volleyball's Mike Hebert resigned from his post as Illinois' head coach to assume a similar position at Minnesota. On January 19, 1996, Louisville's Don Hardin was named as his replacement.

January 19, 1996: Illini basketball destroyed No. 14 Arkansas, 88-64.

February 8, 1996: The 100th anniversary of the founding of the Big Ten Conference was observed.

February 25, 1996: Six individual titles, including two by Dawn Riley, led Illini track and field team to its fourth indoor Big Ten team title in the last five years.

March 1, 1996: Illini basketball won its first-ever Big Ten Tournament game, topping Indiana, 84-70.

May 31, 1996: Illinois' Tonya Williams captured the NCAA 400-meter title.

December 29, 1996: Illini women's basketball upset No. 16 Wisconsin, 73-67, led by Ashley Berggren's 23 points.

January 8, 1997: Ashley Berggren's 23 points and 20 more from Alicia Sheeler helped Illinois blitz No. 10 Arkansas, 100-81.

January 30, 1997: UI named Jillian Ellis as the first Illini soccer coach.

February 14, 1997: The Illini women's basketball team won a Big Ten game for the 11th time in its last 12 opportunities, beating host Ohio State, 84-81. Illinois went on tie for the Big Ten title, its first ever, and battle its way into the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen.

February 23, 1997: A record-breaking crowd of 16,050 at the Assembly Hall watched Illini women's basketball host Purdue.

March 1, 1997: Theresa Grentz was named Big Ten's Coach of the Year, Ashley Berggren Player of the Year.

March 2, 1997: Illini women's basketball topped Michigan State in the semifinal round, 77-66, to qualify for its first-ever championship game appearance. Iowa defeated Illinois in the championship game, 63-56.

March 14 & 16, 1997: Illini basketball defeated Drake (79-62) and Duke (85-67) at the NCAA Tournament. They were eliminated by top-ranked UConn six days later.

March 27, 1999: Illini gymnastics' Gina Weichmann won the Big Ten championship in balance bar.

September 5, 1997: Illini soccer's first-ever game ended with a 4-0 shutout against Loyola.

October 14, 1997: Soccer's Rachel Smith scored three goals in one half against Aurora, leading Illinois to a record-setting 10 goals (10-1). This still stands as a record for largest margin of victory.

December 8, 1997: Illini basketball placed No. 5 in the Associated Press poll, its highest ranking ever. Four days later, UI lost at No. 1 Tennessee, 78-68.

December 28 & 30, 1997: Illini basketball defeated No. 22 Purdue and No. 11 Wisconsin in back-to-back games.

February 27, 1998: Ashley Berggren was named Illini MVP for a record third consecutive time. Theresa Grentz was honored as Big Ten's Coach of the Year.

March 9, 1998: Ashley Berggren named third-team All-America, becoming the first UI player to attain national honors.

March 14 & 16, 1998: UI basketball opened NCAA Tournament play with back-to-back victories over Wisconsin-Green Bay and UC-Santa Barbara. The Illini placed 14th in the final national poll.

March 21, 1998: Ashley Berggren ended her career as UI's all-time leading scorer (2,089 points).

October 8, 1998: Illini women's basketball team practiced for first time at UI's new Ubben Center.

November 5, 1998: Junior midfielder Kelly Buszkiewicz became the first Illini soccer player to win first-team All-Big Ten honors.

November 19, 1998: Basketball opened its season with 76-58 victory at No. 19 Stanford.

December 4 & 5, 1998: Coach Don Hardin's Illini volleyball team beat Southwest Texas and No. 17 Colorado to open NCAA Tournament play.

December 19, 1998: Basketball stunned No. 14 Florida, 97-77.

February 28, 1999: Illini women's basketball defeated nationally ranked Penn State for a second time, winning by a score of 77-75 on a last-second shot at the Big Ten Tournament. It lost to Purdue the next day in the championship game, 80-76.

June 23, 1999: Terri Sullivan was named Illinois softball's first coach.

July 7, 1999: Tricia Taliaferro was named Illinois soccer's second coach.

August 27, 1999: Illinois christened its new soccer field with a 3-1 victory over Marquette.

September 14, 1999: Illini soccer was included in the national rankings for the very first time, placing 21st in the National Soccer Coaches Association poll.

September 19, 1999: Illini soccer defeated No. 12 Wisconsin, 3-1, UI's first-ever victory over a ranked opponent.

November 27, 1999: UI's women's basketball team beat No. 6 Notre Dame in South Bend, 77-67. Three days later, UI lost at No. 1 UConn.

December 18, 1999: Illini basketball beat No. 20 Kansas, 61-59, in their first-ever game at the United Center.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Young teenage girls have a myriad of challenges with which to deal, including appearance and self-esteem, developing friendships and surviving bullies, peer pressure, and the physiological evolution of their bodies.

And while young Nancy Thies (Marshall) dealt with all of that, the multi-talented Urbanian who grew up at 2115 Boudreau Drive also was training to become a world class athlete in gymnastics.

At the tender age of 15, she became an Olympian, performing at the 1972 Games in Munich, Germany against gold medal winners Olga Korbut and Ludmila Tourischeva. The future Illini gymnast and Big Ten champion is credited with being the first person to perform back aerial tumbling on the balance beam in Olympic competition.

During her multi-faceted career, Nancy has worked for NBC-TV as an analyst, authored athletic-themed books, volunteered and led nonprofit organizations, and served on numerous advisory boards. She retired in 2020 as the Director of Human Resources at Corban University in Salem, Ore. Nancy married Charlie Marshall in 1981 and they have three children and four granddaughters.

In 2010, she was inducted into the World Acrobatic Society Hall of Fame, and in 2017 became a charter class member of the University of Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame.

In a recent interview, Marshall discussed the beginnings of her athletic career, capped by her performance as an Olympian.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Nineteen years after the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (Big Ten Conference) was established in 1896, its leaders created its most prominent award—the Conference Medal of Honor.

Combining the academic goals set forth by the leaders of America's first collegiate league, the prize was initially awarded in 1915 to one graduating student-athlete from each of its member institutions who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work."

In 2022, 108 years later, the Medal of Honor continues to stand as the conference's foremost accolade.

When women's athletics were first incorporated under the auspices of the Big Ten in 1982, female athletes became eligible to receive the honor. At Illinois, that first honoree was senior basketball star Lisa Robinson.

A total of 41 Illini women now belong to the Medal of Honor's exclusive club and all have distinguished themselves as outstanding contributors not only in the corporate world but also to society as a whole.

Here is a list of the Illini women who've won the Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor, what they achieved as athletes at Illinois and what they're accomplishing in 2022:

1982 - Lisa Robinson, basketball: She graduated as Illinois women's basketball's all-time leading scorer and currently is an academic advisor and instructor at the United States Air Force Academy.

1983 - Mary Ellen Murphy Martin, golf: The four-time Illini women's golf letter winner was a participant in the final AIAW and the first NCAA Championships. She also earned the NCAA Post Graduate Scholarship. Mary Ellen is now a physical therapist at Athletico Physical Therapy in suburban Chicago.

1984 - Karen Brems, gymnastics: The first Illini athlete to win awards for Athlete of the Year and the Conference Medal of Honor in the same season, Karen is a Senior Engineering Manager at Rivian (software) in Palo Alto, Calif.

1985 - Sue Arildsen Waters, tennis: Illinois' most valuable player in 1982. Her current information was not available.

1986 - Christy Flesvig, tennis: An Illini letter winner from 1983-86, she is Director of Sales and Marketing for Glidewell Director and Glidewell Dental in Newport Beach, Calif.

1987 - Jonelle Polk McCloud, basketball: Jonelle was the first Illini women's basketball player to earn first-team honors on the All-Big Ten squad (1986 and '87). Today, she manages Peoria's Proctor Recreation Center and directs J.E.M.S. Basketball (Journey to Empowerment through Motivation and Self Esteem).

1988 - Disa Johnson, volleyball: A first-team All-Big Ten selection in 1986 and '87, she now is an account service representative for State Farm Insurance in Champaign.

1989 - Chris Schwarz, volleyball: During her four seasons (1985-88), the Illini won three Big Ten titles and compiled a cumulative record of 136-17. Her current information was not available.

1990 - Celena Mondie-Milner, track & field: An 18-time All-America selection and 2018 inductee into the UI Athletics Hall of Fame, she's now Associate Vice President for Strategy and New Student Support at the University of Texas in Austin.

1991 - Lynn Devers Pounds, gymnastics: The 1991 State of Illinois Woman of the Year was the Big Ten uneven bar champ and carried a 4.97 GPA in the classroom. She is now a Senior Business Analyst and Senior Talent Development Consultant for Perficient in Charlotte, N.C.

1992 - Katie Riley Smith, basketball: A former Illini captain and Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Kate now serves as Assistant Athletic Director of Career Enhancement at Northwestern University.

1993 - Lindsey Nimmo Bristow, tennis: The 1993 Big Ten Player of the Year now is Vice President of Corporate Tax and Global Trade at AbbVie in Chicago.

1994 - Tonya Booker, basketball: A three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and her team's top assist producer in 1994. She lives in Portland, Ore., with her partner and four children. Tonya works as the Land Stewardship Division Manager for the Portland Parks and Recreation. She also coaches youth soccer, softball and basketball teams. 

1995 – Carmel Corbett Welso, track & field: A two-time All-America high jumper and one-time All-America heptathlete, she serves as Director of Research for Janus Henderson Investors U.S. in Denver, Colo.

1996 – Dawn Riley Duval, track & field: Eight times an All-America honoree in track and field and a 2022 Illini Hall of Fame inductee, Dr. Duval is now Executive Director at Soul 2 Soul Sisters in metropolitan Denver.

1997 – Kelly Scherr McClure, volleyball: Winning first-team All-Big Ten honors in 1996, she recently served as the head volleyball coach at Champaign's St. Thomas More High School.

1998 – Ashley Berggren, basketball: UI's all-time leading scorer, three-time All-Big Ten selection and 2019 Illini Sports Hall of Fame inductee, she now resides in London, England where she is the Founder and Director at All in Nature, an outdoor enrichment program for youth.

1999 – Stacey Schapiro Marks, tennis: A former Illini captain and All-Big Ten honoree, she currently serves as Vice President for Operational Excellence at Abrigo in Austin, Tex.

2000 – Tara Mendozza, track & field/cross country: Winner of All-America honors at 800 meters and the mile, she is now a Physician's Assistant at SpineOne in Lone Tree, Colo.

2001 – Betsy Spicer Brookbank, volleyball: A two-time first-team All-Big Ten honoree, the mother of four now operates Little Volleys Academy in Barrington.

2002 – Gia Lewis-Smallwood, track & field: The 2020 UI Hall of Famer and most accomplished field event athlete in Illini history once held the American record in the discus and competed at the 2012 Olympic Games. A native of Champaign, she now resides in Alexis, Ill.

2003 – Michelle Webb Voss, tennis: The most proficient doubles player in Illini single-season history is now an Associate Professor at the University of Iowa's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

2004 – Jennifer McGaffigan Green, tennis: Illinois' career victory leader in both singles and doubles now is an accountant at John Deere in Apex, N.C.

2005 – Cynthya Goulet, tennis: A 2004-05 Illini Most Valuable Player, she now is Managing Director at Chicagoland's Lincoln International.

2006 – Christen Karniski, soccer: Christen was a second-team All-America defender for the Illini. Today, she is Senior Acquisitions Editor at Rowman & Littlefield in Wilmington, Del.

2007 – Yvonne Mensah, track & field: The All-America hurdler and distance jumper is now a Senior Associate at PwC Audit and Accounting in suburban Washington, DC.

2008 – Mary Therese McDonnell, soccer: The Illini's 2007 Most Valuable Player serves as a private practice speech language pathologist in Golden, Colo.

2009 – Emily Zurrer, soccer: A member of Canada's 2008 Olympic Team and a 2022 Illini Hall of Fame inductee, she and her husband reside in British Columbia.

2010 – Angela Bizzarri Pflugrath, track & field/cross country: The most decorated women's distance runner in Illini history was a 2019 inductee into the Illini Hall of Fame. Today, she is a pediatric resident at Valley Children's Heathcare in Madera, Calif.

2011 – Hillary Haen Tennant, volleyball: The second setter in Illini volleyball history to be named an All-American is now residing in Champaign with her husband and three children.

2012 – Jenna Carosio, soccer: Illinois' Defensive MVP in 2011, she's now Superintendent of Pinkard Construction in Denver.

2013 – Alina Weinstein, gymnastics: The former Illini star was a first-team All-American on floor and second-team honoree in the all-around. Today, she is an administrator at Superconductive in the San Francisco Bay area.

2014 – Vanessa DiBernardo, soccer: The former Illini all-star and 2020 UI Hall of Fame inductee has been a member of the NWSL's Chicago Red Stars since 2014.

2015 – Liz McMahon, volleyball: She became the first Illini athlete in any sport to win the prestigious Senior CLASS Award. Today, she coordinates international key accounts at Hyperice, a company located in Irvine, Calif. that specializes in body recovery and movement enhancement technology.

2016 – Allie Bauch, softball: The outstanding second baseman, who earned first-team All-Big Ten honors and was the first Illini softball player ever to be named an Academic All-American, is now a mathematics teacher at Hoffman Estates Township High School.

2017 – Nicole Evans Cazley, softball: The Illini softball star who averaged nearly .300 and slugged 53 home runs is today a team leader at Noom in San Antonio, Tex.

2018 – Nicole Choquette, cross country/track & field: A Big Ten champion at 600 meters, she recently earned a Ph.D. degree in Agriculture and Horticultural Plant Breeding at North Carolina State University.

2019 – Ali Bastianelli, volleyball: As a senior in 2018, she earned All-Big Ten first team and All-America third team honors as a middle blocker. Currently, she plays professionally for Athletes Unlimited.

2020 – Taylor Edwards, basketball/softball: She owned a career ERA of 3.41 through 357 innings as an Illini pitcher and won a letter for UI's basketball team. In additional to serving as a client management analyst for AllianceBernstein in Nashville, Tenn., Taylor also plays professional softball.

2021 – Tristyn Nowlin, golf: A five-time All-Big Ten selection, she concluded her career with a UI record 73.40 scoring average and now plays professionally.

2022 – Megan Cooney, volleyball: A team captain, she helped Illini volleyball to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Final Four fun in 2018. Currently, she is pursuing a master's degree in speech and hearing science at the University of Illinois.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

After taking "baby steps" during their first six years of existence, Fighting Illini women's varsity teams and athletes began to sprout wings during the 1980s.

That decade is primarily recognized as the time when the University of Illinois' female athletes were officially aligned with championship competition, both with the Big Ten and nationally, but it also was a period of multiple firsts, individual accomplishments, and significant legacy.

The '80s also saw the emergence of championship-producing coaches (Mike Hebert and Gary Winckler) and future Illini Hall of Fame athletes (Mary Eggers Tendler, Celena Mondie-Milner, Nancy Brookhart Cherin, and Jonelle Polk McCloud).

1980: Long jumper Becky Kaiser became UI's first female athlete to win All-America honors, placing second at the AIAW national meet.

November, 1980: UI cross country's Marianne Dickerson placed first at the AIAW state meet.

January 13, 1981: History was made at the annual NCAA convention in Miami as delegates voted 137-117 to include women's athletic programs within the NCAA governing structure. The action sounded the death knell for the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).

March 5, 1981: With a victory at Illinois-Chicago, Coach Jane Schroeder's Illini basketball team won its 20th game, the first UI squad to do so.

August 15, 1981: With the University of Minnesota remaining as a potential holdout, Illinois and eight other Big Ten schools voted to affiliate their women's athletic programs with the conference. Minnesota joined the others on Oct. 8.

October 23-24, 1981: The first Big Ten women's volleyball championship was held at the University of Illinois.

November 1981: Illinois' women's cross country squad competed in the very first official Big Ten women's championship at East Lansing, placing ninth as a team.

January 13, 1982: The Illini women's basketball team upset No. 3 and previously unbeaten Long Beach State, 97-91, in triple overtime. Kim Brombolich and Lisa Robinson paced UI with 23 points apiece.

March 1982: Illinois' Laurie Pederson won the Big Ten 100-yard freestyle title, UI's swimming and diving program's first-ever individual championship.

March 14, 1982: In UI's initial NCAA tournament game, host Kentucky defeated Illinois' women's basketball team.

May 14 & 15, 1982: The first Big Ten women's outdoor track and field championship meet was held at Illinois. Rolanda Conda and the 800-meter medley relay team of Jayne Glade, Kathy Pannier, Conda and Gretchen Grier captured UI's first relay title.

May, 1982: Sandy Sutton became women's golf's first All-Big Ten honoree. Illinois placed fourth among eight teams at the very first conference tournament.

June, 1982: Basketball's Lisa Robinson became the first Illinois women's athlete to win the Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor.

June, 1982: UI's Rolanda Carter (800 medley), Marianne Dickerson (10,000), Vegee Elsen (4x800 meter relay), Jayne Glade (4x800 meter relay), Gretchen Grier (800 medley and 4x800 meter relay), Kathy Pannier (4x800 meter relay), Margaret Vogel (4x800 meter relay), and Becky Kaiser (long jump) all earned All-America honors for their performances at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championships.

September 18, 1982: In its first official Big Ten match, the Illini volleyball team defeated Wisconsin.

November 1982: In the first-ever Big Ten women's cross country championship meet, Marianne Dickerson earned first-team All-Big Ten honors with a sixth-place finish.

January 3, 1983: Kendra Gantt scored an Illini record 49 points as the women's basketball team topped Kent State, 82-60.

March 11-12, 1983: The first National Collegiate Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships were conducted in Pontiac, Mich. UI long jumper Becky Kaiser became the first Illini women's athlete to place in an NCAA event (third).

April, 1983: The University of Illinois's Savoy golf course hosted its first-ever Big Ten Championship. UI placed fifth in a field of nine.

April 29, 1983: A 5-4 victory over Minnesota marked Illini women's tennis's first-ever Big Ten dual meet victory.

July 8, 1983: Mike Hebert was hired as UI's volleyball coach.

September 16, 1983: Illini volleyball defeated Wisconsin, 3-0, marking the very first victory for a Mike Hebert-coached squad.

June, 1984: UI gymnast Karen Brems became the first Illini women's athlete to win the school's Athlete of the Year award and earn the Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor in the same season.

November, 1984: Kelly McNee placed sixth at the Big Ten women's cross country meet, earning first-team All-Big Ten laurels. Her team was runner-up to champion Wisconsin, UI's best finish ever.

November 24, 1984: A season-opening victory over Bradley launched Laura Golden's six-year Illini basketball coaching career.

January 18, 1985: Gary Winckler was hired as head coach of UI's women's track and field program.

May, 1985: The doubles team of Jessie Daw and Kathy Neil became the first Illini women's tennis players to earn All-Big Ten honors.

October 4, 1985: A Big Ten attendance record crowd of 2,632 watched Illini volleyball sweep Iowa.

October 26, 1985: Mike Hebert's Illini volleyball team improved its record to 30-0 with a 3-1 win against Ohio State. It went on to win its first Big Ten title.

November 1985: Volleyball's Mary Eggers was named Freshman of the Year, becoming the first UI player to do so.

December 6, 1985: Illini volleyball made its debut in NCAA Tournament action a successful one, defeating Western Michigan, 3-1. One week later, a 3-0 loss to fifth-ranked Southern California ended UI's season at 39-3.

March, 1986: Jonelle Polk became UI women's basketball's initial first-team All-Big Ten player. She repeated the honor in 1987.

March. 12, 1986: Angie McClellan scored the game-winning basket with 17 seconds left to give Illini women's basketball a 69-68 opening-round NCAA Tournament victory against Ohio University, its first ever. Three days later, No. 2 Georgia routed Illinois, 103-64.

June, 1986: Illinois women's track and field competed for the first time at the NCAA Championships, placing 49th.

November 29, 1986: A 3-0 sweep of Michigan completed a perfect 18-0 record for the Illini volleyball team and wrapped up UI volleyball's second straight Big Ten title. UI's season ended at 36-3 on Dec. 13 with a loss in the NCAA Tournament at Nebraska.

December, 1986: UI volleyball's Mary Eggers earned first-team All-America honors as well as being named Big Ten Player of the Year.

March, 1987: Illinois' women's swimming and diving team finished fifth at the Big Ten Championships, its highest placing ever.

March 11 & 14, 1987: In NCAA Tournament play, Coach Laura Golden women's basketball team beat Bowling Green in the first round, then lost to No. 3 Auburn.

May, 1987: Illini women's tennis coach Mary Tredennick became Big Ten Coach of the Year.

November, 1987: Illini volleyball advanced to the NCAA Final Four for the first time. UI lost to eventual champ Hawaii in the semifinals.

November 29, 1987: With a 73-68 win over No. 14 Vanderbilt, Illinois women's basketball claimed its first-ever victory over a nationally ranked team. Ten days later, it defeated No. 13 SIU.

March, 1988: Heather Singalewitch became the first Illinois women's athlete to be honored as the Big Ten's Gymnast of the Year.

May 22, 1988: Celena Mondie-Milner paced the women as both Illini track and field programs captured first-place finishes at the Big Ten Championships. It was the women's first conference team title.

May, 1988: The doubles team of Kathy Neil and Cynthia Chambers became the first Illini women's tennis players to compete in the NCAA Championships, losing 7-5, 6-7, 7-6.

November 26, 1988: With a 3-2 victory at Iowa, Illini volleyball finished a perfect 18-0 Big Ten record. It advanced to the Final Four, but once again lost to Hawaii in the NCAA semifinals.

March, 1989: Illini women's track & field captured its first-ever Big Ten Indoor Championship.

May 20, 1989: UI's women's track and field squad racked up a record-setting 169 points at the Big Ten Championships in Indianapolis, winning its first-ever outdoor conference title.

June, 1989: Illinois women's track and field finished in the top ten of the team standings for the first time at the NCAA Championships, placing seventh.

June, 1989: UI announced that volleyball competition was being moved from Kenney Gym to Huff Gym.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

To a great extent, Mike Hebert inherited a Fighting Illini volleyball program in 1983 that reflected second-class citizenship.

Without much support, he and assistant coach Don Hardin took it upon themselves to improve Kenney Gym's dingy atmosphere. Thanks to the efforts from the program's newly formed Networkers support group, colorful banners that were sponsored by community boosters made the century-old facility a little less drab.

His first squad in '83 was characterized by a group of marginally talented players who worked hard and carried themselves well. Though it only produced five victories in 30 matches, Hebert's crew never quit.

"I loved those players," he said. "They were good kids, but more than that I respected them for their willingness to buy into a new deal."                                      

In 1984, junior Denise Fracaro represented the transition from the old system to the new. With the addition of a freshman class that included Disa Johnson, Paula Douglass, Buff Binkley and Lori Anderson, Illinois' overall record improved to 18-15 and to a respectable 6-7 in Big Ten play.

"More than any other player," Hebert wrote, "Denise embodied the transition of the Illini program from cellar-dweller to contender."

Fracaro and sensational freshman Mary Eggers were UI's two catalysts to success in 1985, Hebert's third year in Champaign-Urbana.

"At the beginning of the season," Hebert wrote, "we just wanted to be better than we'd been in '84. None of us had any idea what was about to happen. It became a watershed season, marking the transition from a young and improving team to one that was nationally elite."

Sweeps of its own Illini Classic and tournaments at UNLV, BYU and SIU highlighted an astounding 30-0 start. Attendance at Kenney increasingly began to build, capped by a Big Ten record crowd against Iowa on Oct. 4.

"That night, people discovered how intense Kenney Gym could get if you yelled," Hebert said. "Our team thrived on the chaos and a whole new era of Illini volleyball was born that night."

The Illini's unbeaten streak stayed intact until Nov. 1st when they lost at Northwestern. A 38-2 overall record and a 16-2 conference mark earned Illinois a No. 4 seed in the program's very first foray into NCAA Tournament play. That meant they'd face top-seeded Western Michigan at Kalamazoo. Hebert's club won the first two sets, 15-9 and 15-11, then WMU won set three, 15-12. Illinois rebounded with gusto in the fourth, winning 15-2.

"I'll never forget that scene," Hebert wrote. "Everything was deathly silent in the gym except for us. We had screwed up all of Western's great plans. That was how 1985 went for us, one storybook match after another."

Southern California ended UI's glorious season a week later at 39-3, but the Illini had accomplished more than they could have hoped for.

"Suddenly we could go anywhere to recruit without having to convince people we were a legitimate team," Hebert said. "I had no more doubts about whether volleyball would work at Illinois. We had joined the elite."

Hebert knew he had a good team in 1986; he just didn't know how good. The Illini went 11-2 through the opening run of non-conference games, then began rolling up Big Ten victories, one after another. Wins at Michigan and Michigan State began the streak in late September and conference sweeps continued for the following seven Big Ten weekends, leading to a Nov. 19 match against Purdue at Kenney Gym. After losing to the Boilermakers in set one, Illinois captured the next three, clinching their first conference crown.

"It was a milestone for Illinois women's sports," Hebert wrote.

In December's NCAA Tournament, Illinois dispatched Northern Iowa and Western Michigan, but lost to its nemesis, host Nebraska.

Hebert's '87 Illini featured women's volleyball's best middle-blocking tandem in Eggers and Nancy Brookhart. The now growingly confident coach surrounded his superstars with other talented players, including Johnson, Laura Bush, Lisa Dillman and Barb Winsett.

Though a frustrating home loss to Kentucky and a disappointing defeat at highly ranked Nebraska proved to be blemishes, Illinois went on to mount yet another sterling performance against its Big Ten competition, posting a nearly flawless 17-1 record and a second straight conference title.

Illinois defeated an excellent Pittsburgh team in the first round of the '87 NCAA Tournament. That set up another intense match against Western Michigan. Trailing the Broncos 10-4 in the fifth set, Hebert feared that the Illini's bid for glory was evaporating.

"I sat on the bench, completely out of moves," he wrote. "All I said was 'Look, whatever happens, I'm really proud of you. I know you're playing your hearts out. Let's try to think about it one point at a time, just chip away. Don't get caught up in the winning and losing of the match, just stay in each point.'"

Miraculously, Illinois scored the last 11 points to win the match. Now, Hebert faced another big problem. He had less than 24 hours to draw up a game plan against top-seeded Nebraska for a spot in the NCAA's big dance. Fortuitously, Hebert's team attacked the Cornhuskers like surgeons and midway through set three, sensing a trip to Indianapolis, Illinois fans began to chant … "Final Four, Final Four", over and over again.

The following weekend, the Illini train unfortunately derailed against Hawaii.

"It went down as a 3-0 loss," Hebert said, "but we had established ourselves as a legitimate program that could play with anyone in the country."

Heading into the 1988 season, Volleyball Monthly magazine picked Illinois as the No. 1 team in the country. The Illini's pioneering class of Johnson, Anderson, Douglass and Binkley had graduated, but an excellent team that included Eggers, Brookhart and Bush was coming back. Hebert's ace assistant, Don Hardin, had earned a head coaching job at Louisville, so the team experienced a slight alteration its chemistry.

Regardless, the Illini magic formula stayed unbroken and they rolled to another perfect 18-0 Big Ten mark.

"We simply had much more talent," Hebert wrote. "The '88 team didn't have the emotion and inspiration of the '86 and '87 teams, but it just methodically went out and won with its rich supply of talent."

Three straight opening victories in NCAA play again got Illini volleyball into the Final Four, this time in Minneapolis, matching them a second straight year against Hawaii. A respectable four-set defeat at the hands of the talented Rainbows yielded a third consecutive season-ending disappointment.

Hebert would continue as head coach of the Illini for seven more seasons, highlighted by a fourth Big Ten championship in 1992. He left Illinois for the University of Minnesota following the '95 season and successfully guided the Gophers for 15 years.

In 2009, a season before he retired, Hebert began a valiant 10-year battle with Parkinson's disease. It ended with his passing on Oct. 21, 2019 at the age of 75.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

He's the answer to an Illini trivia question. Who was the first coach to lead a University of Illinois women's sports team to an official Big Ten championship?

And the way his Illini career unceremoniously began in 1983, no one—including Mike Hebert himself—would have accurately predicted the success that would eventually follow.

The shy youngster grew up in San Bernardino, Calif., but lost his dad—Air Force Captain Robert Hebert—in 1952 during a fatal combat mission in the Korean conflict.

Wrote Mike in his 1993 biography, "The Fire Still Burns", "I must have heard a thousand times from well-meaning relatives and acquaintances 'Now that your father's gone, you have to be the man of the house.' I didn't want to be the man of the house. I was a kid, eight years old; I just wanted my dad."

Hebert said that his "obligation to be emotionally in charge" was the first in a series of defining moments.

"I began to develop a strong competitive urge," he wrote, "a will to succeed."

Hebert's early passion was water sports, typical for a young person who grew up 50 minutes from the Pacific Ocean. He dabbled in other sports, and primarily unsuccessful tryouts in baseball and football were followed by moderate success in track and field as a jumper and then more lofty accomplishment as a basketball player. As a teenager, he was employed at a hamburger joint owned by brothers named McDonald—yes, those McDonalds.

After a stint at BYU for college, he transferred home to Cal-Santa Barbara and discovered the sport of volleyball. Sand courts were everywhere and, said Hebert, "In no time I fell in love with the game. I had a 36-inch vertical jump, I was quick, could hit the ball pretty hard, and was a good defensive player."

As a senior at UCSB, Hebert applied for the Peace Corps.

"The notion of helping people and at the same time expanding my horizons was attractive," he wrote. "The next thing I knew I was getting off a plane in Lagos, Nigeria. This is it, beach boy. This is no vacation; this is life. (Going from) Isla Vista to Nigeria was like jumping from a Jacuzzi into a pool of ice water."

Hebert was supposed to spend two full years in Nigeria, but a deteriorating political atmosphere necessitated an early exit for him and the other Peace Corps volunteers. Shortly after his arrival back in America, he departed for Indiana University to study for his master's degree in university administration. In Bloomington, Hebert's life underwent further dramatic change, getting married and having two daughters. In his spare time, he cranked his volleyball game up a notch, playing for Jerry Yeagley, a man more notably known as IU's highly successful soccer coach.

In 1972, Hebert and his young family moved to Pittsburgh to teach secondary school education at Chatham College. Three years later, he was teaching ninth-grade social science at Pittsburgh's Peabody High School. Hebert remained active with volleyball by playing in a YMCA league. There, he was discovered by the University of Pittsburgh and was hired as the Panthers' first women's varsity coach for $2,500 a year.

"My primary reason for taking the job was extra income for my family," Hebert wrote. "The more I coached, the more I liked coaching. A Pitt victory put me on top of the world, though I rarely had any idea why we'd won. A loss sent me to – is there a level lower than basket case?"

As the '70s drew to a close, Hebert began to check out other coaching positions. He settled at the University of New Mexico in 1980 and later hooked on to Chuck Erbe's United States' World University Games staff.

Erbe ultimately had a hand in Hebert getting his job at the University of Illinois, suggesting Hebert's name when he turned down Karol Kahrs' offer in 1983.

"I saw that Illinois, with its location and its academic reputation, offered a better opportunity for the great players I'd need to build an elite program," Hebert wrote in his book. "It was clear to me that Illinois represented a step into firmer ground in every aspect of my profession. I really had made a point of asking questions during my interview and Karol was tireless in answering them. Yet even with all my questions, I wasn't quite prepared for what I found when I arrived in Champaign in early August, just two days before the team showed up for practice."

When Hebert and his assistant coach, Don Hardin, went to check out UI's facility—Kenney Gym—he realized that he hadn't bothered to fully examine the building where his team would play.

"It was 1983," Hebert wrote, "but there had to be junk in Kenney that had been there since the place was built in 1900. When I asked about equipment, I was told that it was in 'the volleyball box', a padlocked plywood box on wheels. One problem: the box had been kicked in during the summer and the contents had been stolen. Welcome to your new job … your step up the professional ladder. We had no ball, no net, nor a place to store anything securely if we'd actually had a ball and net. It seems funny now, but at that point Don and I were seriously questioning whether we had done the right thing in coming to Illinois."

Hebert and Hardin held their first few practices at the Intramural and Physical Education Building, where at least they could check out a net and ball.

"We kept on pushing for the bare minimum," Hebert wrote. "We were making a point and our players loved it. 'God,' they said, 'we've never had anybody stand up for us.' That was a big deal for them. They knew their coaches respected them and believed in them and were willing to fight for them. Finally, one Sunday night, Don and I met at the gym and dragged every bit of junk out into a hallway. The next day, we went to practice and the pile was gone. It must have taken the maintenance staff several hours to load the stuff into a truck and haul it away. Don and I exchanged secret smiles."

From the time they first arrived at Illinois, Hebert and Hardin established where the program was going, laying down a set of principles that were going to govern the program. Wins and losses weren't even on their list at that point. They eagerly spoke to as many community groups as possible to get people talking about Illini volleyball. Just as enthusiastically, they began visiting with high school coaches in the state.

"When I agreed to take the Illinois job," Hebert wrote, "I explained to Karol Kahrs that for the first three years of the program, I would work on everything. I would coach the team, recruit the players, promote the team, sell tickets, and build public relations … whatever needed to be done to put a better product on the floor and to sell that product, I'd be responsible. But I also said that after three years, the team's going to be good enough that I can't carry that whole burden anymore. I'll have to devote all of my attention to the team and you'll have to develop a staff to take care of the publicity, marketing and promotion of Illinois volleyball. And that is exactly what evolved."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

During the course of its vigorous and sometimes contentious battle with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) experienced a dramatic shift in its stance toward the historic 1972 Title IX legislation between its annual conventions of 1979 and 1981.

From its inclusion in 1974 as a member of the University of Illinois' Athletic Association until its adoption by the NCAA in January 1981, the Illini women's varsity program aligned its championship events with the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. The AIAW, however, barely survived on a shoestring budget and was a far cry from the highly commercialized model of the NCAA.

In July of 1978, federal courts forced universities to formally comply with the equal opportunity laws and that necessitated the AIAW and the NCAA to coexist. That's when the NCAA's position shifted from a stance of indifference to one of antagonism.

Said the NCAA News in its Feb. 9, 1979 issue that reviewed the previous month's assembly: "To most delegates at the NCAA's 73rd annual convention, the proposals that were voted upon seemed less significant that an item which did not have a place on the agenda for the business sessions. That one item—Title IX—was the subject of countless hours of discussion and question-and-answer periods."

The NCAA argued that, in recent years, "this Association's member institutions have made massive new allocations of resources to their women's intercollegiate programs, on the average more than doubling the number of sports and participants. This Association is seeking a judicial determination that as a matter of law, HEW does not have regulatory authority over intercollegiate sports programs which are not federally assisted."

Wrote the Associated Press in its review of the 1979 convention: "As expected, the representatives of more than 800 colleges and universities went on record as opposing efforts by HEW 'to dictate uniform federal program goals and standards for the diversified membership of this association.' The adopted resolution encourages institutions to voice their complaints to their congressional representatives. It termed the open-ended provisions in the proposed policy which potentially create excessive and unreasonable financial obligations unrelated to the achievement of equality and opportunity. The NCAA resolution said the HEW mandates would impose a per capita expenditure requirement that fails to include 'reasonable provisions considering the nature of particular sports.'"

Charged with discrimination, NCAA President William Flynn of Boston College flatly denied those allegations.

"In our view," Flynn said, "the proposed policy interpretation is based on faulty factual premises—the most important of which is the apparent assumption that the pattern of intercollegiate sports programs which now exists is the product of sex discrimination. In the strongest possible terms, we contest the truth of this undocumented and erroneous assumption."

In May of 1979, the chief administrators of three major institutions—including University of Illinois Chancellor William Gerberding—acknowledged that the NCAA's membership's views were not accepted by HEW. Their clarifying statement reflected a softening stance to the NCAA's previous position of three months earlier: "We wish to state our full support for the continued and overdue growth in intercollegiate athletics for women and we endorse the Title IX principle of nondiscrimination on the basis of sex in intercollegiate athletics."

Centered on compromise, myriad counterproposals bounced back and forth between the NCAA and HEW in its attempt to settle the dispute.

On Dec. 4, 1979, HEW issued its final policy interpretation to provide the framework for enforcement of the athletics requirements of Title IX. Part A addressed financial proportionality. Part B centered around compliance as it related to travel allowances, compensation of coaches and the availability of equipment.

Predictably, the January 1980 NCAA Convention attracted more than 1,000 delegates and visitors to discuss the effects of the previous month's interpretations. Legal analysts sided with the NCAA and concluded that HEW's actions and public statements were ambiguous and, at times, conflicting.

"Press accounts generally have treated the policy interpretation as the definitive statement of standards which universities must meet in order to comply with Title IX", the NCAA News wrote. "In fact, it is something much less. It is not binding on colleges and universities and can create no new requirements."

Confusion among the NCAA membership spiraled throughout the balance of the 1980 calendar year. Did HEW's interpretation of "equivalent" mean "identical"? Material distributed in February of 1980 by the AIAW caused additional chaos and a power struggle ensued.

In April of 1980, a Federal appeals court ruling reversed a district court decision in NCAA vs. Califano, the suit in which the NCAA challenged HEW's Title IX implementation regulation.

Said the court's ruling, "In our view, it is clear that the members of the NCAA would have standing to sue on their own under the Administrative Procedure Act. The members of the NCAA own established education businesses; they have made substantial investments in facilities for sports and have operated sports programs as they wished, all under protection of state law."

Throughout 1980, due to the effects of fierce inflation and the dictates of Title IX, intercollegiate athletic department from coast to coast faced an ongoing financial crisis, forcing them to eliminate non-revenue varsity sports and face mounting deficits.

Meanwhile, sex discrimination lawsuits continued to be filed and the federal government's Department of Education tackled seemingly endless investigations.

Prior to the January 1981 NCAA Convention in Miami, an overwhelming call to improve women's sports programs dominated the agenda. Would the association's membership vote for a major restructuring plan to accommodate women's interests?

More than 1,300 delegates—160 of whom were women—were on hand at Miami's Fontainebleau Hilton Hotel. Proposal No. 51, the first part of the NCAA Council-sponsored women's governance legislation that was designed to expand the number of females to join the NCAA Council and Executive Committee, needed two-thirds approval on the first vote. It passed comfortably with 69.6 percent and Michigan State University's Gwendolyn Norrell became the first woman from a Big Ten institution to join the Council.

That set the stage for the consideration of Division I women's championships to be administered by the NCAA. A majority vote was all that was needed for passage. After a lengthy period of debate, Division I delegates cast their votes, but it ended in a 124-124 deadlock. An ensuing recount was 127-128 against. That prompted delegates to request an historic third vote. This time it passed by a favorable 137-117 count, ensuring that NCAA women's championships would debut in the 1981-82 academic year.

Shortly afterwards, the AIAW sued the NCAA for "unlawfully using its monopoly power in men's college sports to facilitate its entry into women's college sports and to force the AIAW out of existence." Federal judges ultimately ruled in favor of the NCAA, and the AIAW folded in June 1982.

Seven months later, Illinois and eight other Big Ten schools voted to affiliate their women's athletic programs with the conference. The University of Minnesota, a school that had close ties with the AIAW, held out for two additional months, but eventually joined its counterparts.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

In February of 2006, when Ola Bundy died at the age of 70, Chicago Tribune prep writer Barry Temkin paid the legendary Illinois High School Association (IHSA) administrator an ultimate compliment.

Temkin wrote, "Girls (of today) should know that if Ola Bundy wasn't the mother of girls scholastic sports in Illinois, she was certainly the midwife."

The small-town girl, who split her childhood between her birthplace of Allerton and her teenage home of Champaign, was known for her bulldog spirit. As a child, she tagged along with her brothers, Caleb and Eugene, to the local courts and ball fields. So tough and athletic was Bundy, the neighborhood boys frequently chose her for their touch football teams. 

As a physical education major at the University of Illinois in the 1950s, Bundy specialized in tennis, volleyball and basketball. She taught herself to play golf and eventually excelled at that, too, representing her school at the Second Annual AIAW Women's Intercollegiate Golf Tournament.

Bundy became a teacher following her graduation from Illinois in 1958, serving at three high schools: Grant Park, Thornton Fractional South and Champaign Central. In August of 1967, her appointment to administer girls' sports for the IHSA proved to be a game-changer for young ladies in the state of Illinois.

At that juncture, the IHSA only allowed female interscholastic competition in golf, tennis, archery and badminton, all individual sports that avoided contact. It was said that much of the educational establishment believed that athletic competition would damage girls' fragile frames and psyches. Bundy vociferously disagreed and, in 1972, nine additional girls' sports—including several team sports—were added to the IHSA's sponsorship.

Because of Bundy's perseverance, drive, determination and dedication, girls' sports programs at the high school level in Illinois were transformed into one of America's best. At the time of her retirement, nearly 120,000 girls were participating in sports throughout the Land of Lincoln.

In a 1995 Bloomington Pantagraph story, former IHSA executive director Dave Fry told the reporter, "There is nobody in the nation who has poured her heart and soul more into the development of interscholastic programs that have the interest of the greatest number of girls than Ola Bundy. There have been a lot of battles fought and Ola had spearheaded that … not just to create opportunities, but to protect those opportunities."

Jan Wrigley, Bundy's assistant for 19 years, said that girls' "state tournaments were her crowning moments."

When hurdles and barriers were thrown in her path, Wrigley said that Bundy became doggedly determined to accomplish her goals.

"Ola became even more resolved and wouldn't let things get her down," Wrigley said. "She knew she had to work that much harder to get things done. Ola wasn't afraid to face a challenge. Yes, she would get frustrated, but she knew she had to keep fighting. But the thing that always stuck with me about Ola was she wanted the kids to receive all the recognition, not her."

Bundy was accorded myriad individual honors during her 29-year IHSA career, including service on the U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Committee for the 1972 and '76 Games and becoming the first person inducted into the Illinois Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Her biggest honor, however, came on July 6, 1996 when, on her last day as an IHSA employee, she was inducted into the prestigious National High School Sports Hall of Fame. At that time, the only other Illinois female inductee was world track superstar Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

In typical fashion, Bundy insisted on involving others with her impressive accolade.

"It will be all the coaches and girls of Illinois who will share that honor with me," she said.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Dr. Ellen Greaves was born a bit too early to have had the opportunity to perform as a varsity athlete for the University of Illinois. However, that doesn't lessen the impact that she's been able to make in behalf of women's athletics and education in general during the 50-year period since her graduation from UIUC in 1972.

Though the youngster who grew up in Hinsdale didn't have many chances herself to compete in sports during that pre-Title IX period, she's been steadfastly determined in her role as an administrator to level the path for those who've followed in her footsteps.

"My mother, bless her heart, was not athletic at all, but she listened to every Cub game," Greaves remembered. "She and another mother from my friendship group didn't want us to not have an opportunity, so they volunteered to be our softball coaches. Well, they were horrible as coaches, but they found a better person to coach us the second year."

When Ellen got to Hinsdale Central High School, there was very little in terms of sports competition available to girls — a stark contrast to the ample opportunities offered to those of the opposite gender.

"We had a good intramural program for girls, but were limited to just a handful of tennis, badminton and archery matches," said Greaves. "It was pretty insignificant. We had these play days when five or six schools would get together … play our games and then eat a bunch of cookies. That was pretty unsatisfactory as far as we were concerned."

When a new physical education teacher came to Hinsdale in Greaves' senior year (1968) — a year when she presided over the school's Girls Athletic Association — the stakes rose significant

"We thought we were hot stuff and we thought that if the boys can have tournaments, why can't we?" Greaves said. "So we submitted paperwork to get approval from the IHSA (Illinois High School Association)."

A few days later, Greaves' advisor got a call from the IHSA that told them that their request had been denied.

"Why not?," Greaves asked her advisor. "She said 'It's because you're girls. And if you insist on doing it, they're going to punish the boys.' Of course, later I realized what was going on. They were threatening to punish the boys to control the lack of opportunities for girls. For me, that was a pivotal moment. I vowed that if there was anything I could do to ensure that girls had a chance for opportunities, I would do it."

Greaves matriculated to the University of Illinois during a time in history when students protested the war in Vietnam and fought for women's rights.

"It was an incredible time to be in college," she said. "I look it as a very positive, stimulating time. We went from having no student involvement in any university committees to having (representation) on the Board of Trustees."

Academically, Greaves was enrolled in UI's Department of Physical Education for Women. She participated in four club sports (golf, volleyball, basketball and field hockey). As a junior, with Dr. Nell Jackson serving as her academic advisor, she served as president of the Women's Extramural Sports Association and played a major role in transforming WESA into the Women's Intercollegiate Sports Association.

Mere weeks after Greaves received her bachelor's degree in June of 1972, Title IX legislation passed.

"It was sort of like a time bomb," she said. "Title IX was understated and not covered very much (by the media). I was anticipating some pushback because there was a two-year period when it went through an administrative process of defining what it meant. The NCAA proved me right when people realized what it could possibly mean for equal funding."

From 1974 to 1979, Greaves studied for her doctorate degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She was then hired as UNCG's Director of Campus Recreation and continued in that capacity until 1990. At that point, her career goals changed course, which allowed her to return to her roots in Champaign-Urbana.

"I felt that I'd done all that I could do in campus recreation," Greaves said. "I consider myself to be a builder rather than someone who coasts. I love the research aspect of higher education and I felt that it was important that people were treated fairly. Going on to law school (at the University of Illinois) just made sense."

After completing her degree in 1993, Greaves served as corporate counsel for the Illinois State Employees Association, then as the state leader for the Girl Scouts in Illinois, and then as executive director for the Professional Educators of North Carolina. Since 2007, she's headed her own company in Raleigh, N.C.: ECG Mediation & Consulting Services.

Greaves has been particularly uplifted about the future of women's athletics over the past several months.

"This past year has really been quite powerful," she said. "Last March, during the NCAA Tournament, when that basketball player (University of Oregon's Sedona Prince) videoed the weight rooms (displaying the inequities between the men's and women's work-out areas), I think it lit an incredible fire. Talk about a ticking time bomb. A lot of time, women have been taken advantage of because they didn't know what disadvantage their programs were under when they were hired. Or maybe they were hired because they wouldn't make waves. God bless (South Carolina women's basketball coach) Dawn Staley; she won't let that happen. We're at a point where there could be a revelation of differences in recruiting budgets and travel budgets, for example. Some of it is that women don't think expansively about how to spend money, and the men do think expansively."

A woman of action and purpose, Greaves recently created an endowment to support UI's efforts to attract and retain outstanding faculty. Additionally, through that significant gift in her estate, Greaves will provide opportunities for students that have financial need.

"Rather than identifying a specific unit, I want to benefit the university as a whole," she said.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

In today's world of specialization, it's extremely rare to find a women's collegiate athlete who competes in more than one sport. Even back in the mid 1970s when Title IX kick-started the rise of intercollegiate varsity athletics among females, it was highly uncommon.

During the initial decade of women's athletics at the University of Illinois, excluding those who competed in similar sports like cross country and track and field, there were only three dual-sport athletes: Marijo Dluzak (volleyball and basketball), Cathy Tex (golf and gymnastics) and Becky Beach (golf and basketball).

However, neither Dluzak nor Tex earned as many varsity letters at Illinois as did Beach, the local standout from Champaign's Central High School.

Beach grew up at Ted and Shirlie Beach's family home just a 2.7-mile drive from the facility then known as the Assembly Hall. Young Becky was a shy girl but thanks to childhood friends like former Illini equipment manager Andy Dixon, she was always encouraged to play in the neighborhood's playground sporting events.

"Andy is my brother from another mother," Beach said. "And thanks to him and my brother, the other boys just started letting me play with them. We really had a good neighborhood."

When she went to high school at Champaign Central, Beach developed into an exceptional athlete, playing key roles on the Maroons' volleyball, softball, basketball and golf teams -- the boys' golf team, that is.

"Coach (Richard) Wooley, who was the golf coach at Central, told me that he really wanted me to play on the boys' team," Beach remembered. "But I was really shy and so I said 'no, no, no.' After a while, he finally persuaded me to play. It was tough. You can imagine high school boys. They didn't want to get beat by a girl."

Even though her dad had starred for Coach Harry Combes' Illini basketball team in the 1950s, the U of I wasn't Becky's first choice.

"I was all set to go to Illinois State because that was the place to go in those days," she said. "Their athletic program for women was great. Then mom and dad and I went to see Dr. (Karol) Kahrs at her office. She said, 'Becky, why don't you go to Parkland (College) for a year (1974-75) and then we'll get you into the U of I.' So that's what I did and the rest is history."

Beach vividly remembers going to basketball tryouts at Freer Gym in the Fall of 1975.

"(Coach) Steve (Douglas) had these orange cones set up for dribbling drills and stuff," she said. "I'm like 'what is this?' Then afterwards, he posted a handwritten list outside the gym to see if we made the team or not. I was like 'Oh, my gosh, I made it! Now what?' I had no idea what a triangle offense was but it was Tex Winters' influence on him (at Kansas State) why we ran that. Before coming to Illinois, I thought all you did was run around and shoot the ball."

Unlike basketball, Beach knew exactly what to expect when it came to her joining the Illini women's golf team. After all, she'd known the coach for years.

"(Coach) Betsy (Kimpel) and Sue Young and others at the Champaign Country Club had taken me under their wing when I was first playing," she said. "Among them, they'd won a million Twin Cities (Golf Championships). Betsy was driving (her daughter) Janice and me to tournaments, so that's probably when I got to know her best."

Beach's most significant moment as a sophomore Illini golfer came in the Spring of 1976 at the Big Ten Championships when she won medalist honors at the tournament in West Lafayette, Ind. Her opening-round five-over-par 80, included a four-putt first hole. Becky credits her father's incentivising proposition for her tournament-winning second-round score of 69.

"I recall my dad saying, 'You know, if you break 70, we'll get you a car,'" Beach said, "Well, I was in really good shape to do that after 16 holes. Then on 17, a par three, I almost blew it when I had a bogey. Eighteen was a par five and I hit my third shot within six inches … and I got my 69."

Beach wound up beating Minnesota's Julie Gumlia by three strokes.

Upon her graduation from Illinois, Becky was drafted by the Women's Basketball League's Milwaukee Does, but decided instead to try her hand with the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). Funded by her parents, she competed on that circuit from November of 1982 through '83. Twice she unsuccessfully attempted to qualify for the LPGA tour. Upon returning home to Champaign, Beach served as a student teacher for a short time, then was hired as the assistant pro at the Lincolnshire Fields Country Club. She continued in that role for 32 years before leaving in 2016 to become the head pro at Stone Creek, and following three years at the Urbana course, Beach retired.

Today, she remains involved with Illini athletics by attending a variety of events and through her service as a longtime board member for the women's basketball team's support group, the Courtsiders.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

For more than 150 years, The Daily Illini has served as the journalistic voice for the students of the University of Illinois. But during the early days of the Title IX era, it was an especially vociferous advocate for the campus's women's athletes.

Known more commonly among its readers as the "D.I.", its 1970s staff writers all fought for the rights of UI's burgeoning female competitors.

On Dec. 21, 1972, just six months after the United States Congress passed the Title IX Amendment, the D.I. published a lengthy article by Debbie Retel. The piece—sub-headed "A woman stays a woman even when it comes to sports"—challenged the stereotype that competitive athletics diminished a woman's femininity.

Her story began somewhat derisively. "Sugar and spice and everything nice; that's what little girls are made of. Yet, how female does a woman remain who participates in sports. Does it matter?"

Retel quoted Vicky Brown, a coxswain on the rowing team at the University of Oregon.

"No, an individual never loses her femininity. She is an individual by herself and everyone displays it differently than someone else. She's a woman no matter what she is, be it a discus thrower or whatever."

Echoed Nell Jackson, then UI Professor of Physical Education for Women, "I feel that no femininity is lost when a girl participates in sports. In the case of a discus thrower, the sport doesn't make the girl. There's a certain movement that one goes through to do it that is neither masculine nor feminine. If it's done right, it looks good and one can enjoy the movement whether it be a male or female doing it."

Retel also interviewed Sue Pfeffer, Champaign's director of the National Organization for Women, for her story.

"To me, a woman belongs everywhere," Pfeffer said, "whether she want to throw a football, play golf, or whatever. A woman should have the privilege to participate in any sports she wants. It shouldn't be up to the AAU or the NCAA or anything else to decide. Today's woman wants to play and participate in athletics. She wants to be a tennis champ, a hockey goalie, or virtually everything else that the world of sports has to offer. And through it all, she'll be as female as ever."

Retel also wrote about the discriminatory hurdles she encountered as a female reporter.

"I had been given a press pass to help cover the Illini football game at Ohio State, but there seemed to be a question in the minds of the OSU men who run the press box as to whether I should be able to use the pass," Retel wrote. "I was standing by my seat when the Columbus chief of police came up to me and escorted me to the man in charge. This man, the Sports Information Director, felt I had no right to be there because I was a woman. The fact that I was also a reporter covering the event seemed to be an extraneous consideration. After several exchanges in conversation, the man decided that I could stay … however, I had to sit in a new seat rather than the one my ticket was for and was warned 'this had better not happen again'. Needless to say, he also threatened to write letters to my editor telling him that he should have known better. I really don't know what the man feared would happen but it seems this fear is prevalent not only throughout the Big Ten, but also in covering professional sports."

Susan Sternberg, the primary beat writer for Illini women's athletics during that first season in 1974-75, composed both positive stories about those initial teams and ones that were critical of the budget inequities between men and women.

She enthusiastically wrote in August of 1974 about the Athletic Association's decision to include women's athletes into its varsity intercollegiate program but wasn't as complimentary when it came to comparing the athletic budgets of the men ($2.4 million) to that of the women ($83,000).

"The $83,000 is nice for one year," Sternberg wrote, "but the women should work themselves up to relative equality with the men. Women athletes really are more concerned about equal opportunity than equal monetary expenditures. Probably $2.4 million for a women's sports program would be a waste of money—the women just don't need that much money. Yet, since the men have a fine athletic program at Illinois, the women shouldn't be deprived of one. They should have equal opportunity and access to the best facilities and competition. The move this year towards concurrent competition by the Illini male and female teams is a step in the right direction. You've come a long way, Illinois women athletes—and it's just the beginning."

The D.I.'s male staff writers also were supportive, especially Jeff Metcalfe.

"Many (in the UI student body) will be too set in their ways to look upon women's sports as anything but the Athletic Association's weak sister," Metcalfe wrote. "They'll continue their ritual of attending the Saturday football games. For these people, the prejudice towards women's sports is perhaps unconscious and unintentional but nonetheless devastating. The only way to break it is to consciously and intentionally point it out. For all new students, the challenge is to come to school with an open mind and not simply relegate all women to the pom-pon squad. So when the nearest propagandist hits you with the pitch about buying a football or basketball ticket say you'll be glad to just as soon as you get done watching the women's tennis meet. It'll blow their minds."

Daily Illini editorials concerning women's athletics were commonplace in the 1970s, keeping the issue of equality front and center. Most commentaries called for increased funding; some criticized then UI Director of Athletics Cecil Coleman for not acting more decisively in handing out scholarships for females. That disparagement subsided a bit during the summer of 1975 when the Athletic Association announced that 76 tuition-waiver scholarships to more than 100 women athletes would be enacted for the 1975-76 academic calendar.

Thanks to the dedication of the Daily Illini reporters, coverage of Fighting Illini women's events have continued to surge since the mid '70s. However, a November 2021 story by D.I. digital content editor Claire O'Brien suggested that there's still a wide gap between the genders.

"Though women's sports are more visible in society," O'Brien wrote, "they are still not treated as equally as men's sports. The NCAA needs to stop preaching equality and start working towards it. The world is watching."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Mary Pat Connolly readily admits that, as a teenager, she was a tad bit immature. She didn't have a clue about the history young Mary Pat Travnik was making in becoming the University of Illinois' first women's athlete to earn a full scholarship.

The lanky six-footer from Chicago's Marquette Park and West Lawn neighborhoods had made a fairly significant mark for herself as a player at Lourdes High School. Only four years earlier had she been formally introduced to the game by her eighth-grade science teacher, Bob Lenihan.

"He asked me if I'd ever played basketball before," Connolly remembered. "I said that I hadn't and then he told me that every Saturday he was going to take a group of us girls over to Gage Park to play. For an hour and a half, we'd do right-hand layups and left-hand layups, and then we'd play a game. There wasn't any other girls' team that we knew about, so we went for a whole season without playing because no boys team would play us. Then when we got to Lourdes, we didn't have a girls' team, so he asked our principal if he could begin a basketball program there."

The principal liked Lenihan's idea and four years later, during Mary Pat's senior year, Lourdes won the girls City Catholic League title.

"I recall scoring 32 points and pulling down I don't know how many rebounds in the championship game," she said. "Well, I didn't think that was anything unusual. I was always tall and a good rebounder. We had a great point guard who would always lob it to me, and no one could ever stop us. I remember the mother of one of my teammates telling us 'You girls are way ahead of your time.'"

With women's collegiate programs sprouting up around the state because of Title IX, Lenihan took it upon himself to promote his players to the college coaches. He received positive feedback from Steve Douglas, the assistant athletic director Karol Kahrs had appointed to head up UI's first-year program in 1974-75.

"I remember Bob telling me one day, 'Hey, Mary, this guy, Steve Douglas from the University of Illinois wants you to take a visit.' I said, 'Oh, okay, sounds good.' So I drove my parents' station wagon down to the University of Illinois by myself and Steve met me outside the football stadium. Then he took me to IMPE … and wow … I saw all of these racquetball courts and basketball courts and the swimming pool. I'd never seen anything like that before. After a while, he asked me if I thought I'd like to come to school here and I said 'Oh, my God, yes!' He started telling me about Title IX. He told me that I'd have to pay my own tuition that first year, but in my sophomore, junior and senior years, I'd get everything paid for … tuition, books, fees, housing. I couldn't believe it!

"My parents had six kids and we were just middle class and I thought they were going to be ecstatic. The tuition at Illinois at that time was $600. Well, that was the same as my high school tuition. So I told Steve, 'Oh, my God, I would love to come here!' So, when I got home, my parents asked me about my trip. I told them about Steve. 'He's really nice, just a gentle giant of a man. He's going to give me a full basketball scholarship.' And they're like, so what does that mean? When I told them that after that first year the University was going to pay for everything, they said 'Are you sure? I think he's pulling one on you.' I said, 'No, that's what he said!' My dad dropped me off at Illinois that Fall, and it all came true. So, I was the first women's scholarship athlete at Illinois."

Upon her arrival at Illinois in the Fall of 1975, Connolly initially practiced with UI's junior varsity squad, but her height and talent quickly prompted a promotion to varsity. She credits an upperclassman for making her transition more comfortable.

"I was pretty immature as a person that freshman year and I remember Sue Bonner taking me under her wing," Connolly said. "She was so honest and so tactful with me and I appreciated that. She was feisty and she put me in my place."

The conditions that surrounded the Illini women were pretty crude as compared to what today's athletes enjoy.

"Our locker room was at Huff Gym and we had to lift weights in the football weight room," Connolly said. "Huff was cozy, but it was better than what I'd had in high school. Then, when we moved over to the Assembly Hall, it was beautiful. By the time I was a senior, they started scheduling the girls' games ahead of the boys' games."

Travel to games wasn't anything fancy either.

"We traveled everywhere in vans and I remember us always fighting about getting to sit in the back seat," she said. "I never looked at our long road trips as a negative because that was time when we bonded with our teammates. Steve Douglas was noted for stopping at these roadside diners. Everyone would get seven or eight dollars. Then we started getting per diem and I was like 'Oh, my God, someone's handing me an envelope full of money.'"

Connolly's best Illini season came as a junior when she averaged 13.4 points and 11.2 rebounds and that drew interest from the fledgling professional organization, the Women's Basketball League.

"We were playing the state (college) tournament at Northern Illinois University and Doug Bruno (coach of the Chicago Hustle) was there watching," she said. "I was still six-to-eight credit hours short of graduating that summer when I got a call from Doug to tell me that I was going to be drafted into the pro league. He wanted me to play in the summer league that was taking place. Well, he didn't have to ask me twice. I just packed up and left."

As a pro, the rewards may have been minimal, but Connolly was grateful.

"I was making $8,000 a year and I felt rich," she said. "I was getting paid to play basketball!"

Connolly competed for three seasons, then had to find another job when the WBL folded.

She then worked as a foreman for six years for Chicago's Ryerson Steel in Chicago, but her real passion was to get into coaching. Married and raising three young sons, her first gig was as an assistant at Chicago's Maria High School. Jobs at Moraine Valley Community College and an assistant coaching position at UIC followed. When Marist High School went co-ed in 2002, the opportunity to build a girls' basketball program piqued Connolly's curiosity.

Twenty years later, Connolly—with more than 400 career victories in hand—remains as the head coach of the Marist Redhawks. Her teams have captured regional, sectional and super-sectional titles, as well as a fourth-place finish in the Illinois state tournament in 2008. She has produced numerous players who've gone on to collegiate success, including Sydney Affolter who is currently a freshman guard for the Iowa Hawkeyes. In 2021, Connolly was inducted into Marist High's Hall of Fame.

She's now in her 35th year of marriage with husband Mike and their family includes four sons, three daughters-in-law, four granddaughters and three more on the way.

"I've had a wonderful life," Connolly said. "I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to do what I got to do."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

History reveals that Bevier Hall was the site for an Aug. 22, 1974 organizational meeting that invited all University of Illinois women interested in participating in the Fighting Illini's maiden season of varsity intercollegiate sports.

Approximately 125 curious young ladies listened attentively as Director of Athletics Cecil Coleman and newly appointed assistant director Karol Kahrs provided an overview of the adventures that lied ahead.

"This male chauvinist world we've lived in for so long has not yet made room for the fairer sex in the Tribe of Illini," Coleman said that night. "That time has now come."

In actuality, the University was one of collegiate athletics' pioneering programs, elevating women to a plane level with their male counterparts about seven months before Title IX became law in the United States on Jan. 1, 1975.

The majority of Kahrs' first coaching staff—Betsy Kimpel (golf), Kim Musgrave (gymnastics), Jeanne Hultzen (swimming), Doug Ward (diving), Peggy Pruitt (tennis), Jerry Mayhew and Judy Harrison (track and field), Kathie Haywood (volleyball) and Steve Douglas (basketball)—had been plucked from UI's physical education staff. None of the seven individuals had ever directed programs at the varsity level, so a Lewis-and-Clark-type adventure was certain to ensue.

UI's very first women's varsity competitions occurred on Sept. 14 when women's tennis and volleyball launched their seasons. By the end of that first day, Illini teams had a combined record of 3-0. Tennis's Sept. 14th match against Purdue, a 7-5 victory, not only marked UI women's athletics' very first competition, but also its first home event. The volleyball team had a pair of matches that day, first defeating host Southern Illinois, 2-0, then beating Murray State by an identical score.

By far, Pruitt's tennis team wound up with the best season record among UI's seven women's programs, notching victories in all six of its dual meets. It placed fifth in April's then unofficial Big Ten Championship meet behind champ Ohio State and runner-up Michigan State.

Haywood's volleyball squad had an excellent showing as well in the Fall of 1974, winning 19 of its 28 matches. It won its own Illini Invitational that November and placed fourth at the IAIAW State Championships. Haywood resigned her post at the end of the season and was replaced by the school's first-ever African American head coach, Terry Hite.

Illinois women's golf team saw its first varsity action on Sept. 20, placing fifth among 25 teams at the Illinois State Invitational. A week later, it finished second in the IAIAW state tournament. In April, at the 36-hole Big Ten tournament, Illinois placed fourth among seven conference schools while, individually, UI's Diane Miller tied for fifth place.

Coach Steve Douglas's Illini basketball team made an inauspicious debut on Dec. 6, 1974, losing to highly ranked Indiana at the Big Ten Tournament in Iowa City.

"That first game sort of said it all," Douglas remembered. "At halftime, the score was 34-2 and we ended up losing 72-16. Of course, our girls were very discouraged afterwards. I think my pep talk was something like 'Hang in there.'"

Emotions swung dramatically at the end of its second game of the day, bouncing back to beat Wisconsin, 57-56, on a last-second shot from midcourt by Susan Limestall. Illinois wound up its first season with 10 victories in 21 games and Douglas was invited back to coach a second season, this time with a salary raise up to $2,000.

"I enjoyed my coaching experience at Illinois," Douglas said. "My three daughters loved it. They came to the games and ran around Huff Gym handing out the little programs that were made. In those days, a crowd of 100 was a lot."

Jeanne Hultzen's swimming and diving program launched its inaugural season on Dec. 7, beating Indiana State and Eastern Illinois at its invitational meet at IMPE. Three dual meets later in the season against Illinois State, Central Michigan and Indiana State also resulted in Illini victories. Four Illini swimmers—Sue Dudley, Mary Paterson, Amy Young and Marsha Kerr—were all invited to participate at the national championships, but Paterson (in the 50-yard butterfly) was the only Illini who advanced to the finals.

Though results are incomplete for Illinois' initial gymnastics season, records do show that the Illini were undefeated in three dual meets. Illinois placed fourth at the Big Ten Championships behind Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State. Coach Kim Musgrave resigned her post at the end of the year to return to her home in New Jersey.

Illinois' women's track and field team was coached by Jerry Mayhew, a graduate research assistant in UI's physical fitness lab. At UI's Armory on Apr. 5, 14 Illini freshmen saw their very first action at an eight-team meet. Paced by jumping and sprinting star Bev Washington, Illinois placed third, just behind Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois. Individually, Washington's debut was a smashing success, winning the long jump and high jump competition and finishing just a half-second behind the winning time in the 220-yard dash. At the end of the season, Washington became a national qualifier.

In May of 1975, the Urbana Golf and Country Club served as the site of the first University of Illinois Women's Intercollegiate Sports Banquet. It was sponsored by the Champaign-Urbana Altrusa Club, a professional women's organization. Athletic Director Coleman, the evening's primary speaker, praised the first-year athletes.

"If you think it was easy in getting the women's program started, I can tell you that we had our share of difficulties," Coleman said. "But the first year is behind us and we're anticipating a great future. You're in the Athletic Association because we want you there and that's not going to change. We're looking forward to many, many more years of a successful relationship. Your potential is unlimited as you are only in the pioneering stages of development."

BASKETBALL: Jae Allen, Betty Anderson, Jan Carlson, Marijo Dluzak, Susan Limestall, Barb Nelson, Linda Roberts, Susan Shade, Meg Stevenson and Dana Umbach.

GOLF: Gail Hannam, Janice Kimpel, Rhonda Leech and Diane Miller.

GYMNASTICS: Teresa Greathouse, Randy Kalal, Debbie Robinson, Pam Rosenwinkel, Maria Salinas, Karen Smith, Cathy Tex, Lee Travis and Cindy Weber.

SWIMMING: Luanne Blenke, Susan Dudley, Maria Feldman, Debbie Guinn, Sue Holquist, Marshall Kerr, Mary Paterson and Amy Yount.

TENNIS: Barb Davis, Jean Harris, Kathy Kole, Colleen McNamara, Maggie Pratt, Tina Salmone, Nancy Wentink and Kathy Wujek.

TRACK & FIELD: Susan Allen, Jane Bodi, Nessa Calabrese, Mary Dimit, Donna Filips, Janet Smith, Bev Washington, Nancy Wentink, Nancy Wertman and Mary Ellen Wilson.

VOLLEYBALL: Sue Bochte, Dale Bukenas, Nessa Calabrese, Dorothy Carver, Marie Dluzak, Kim Helfrich, Carla Holtz, Nancy King, Linn Lourcey, Mark Livingston, Joan McArthur and Peggy Moeck.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

In many ways, the origins of women's intercollegiate athletics metaphorically resembled the rapid stages of track and field's 440-yard relay. 

The first leg of the sprint began with the United States Congress's approval of the Equal Opportunities Act of 1972, more popularly known as Title IX.

Stage two was the immediate urgency of America's higher institutions to understand and properly react to the legislation that prohibited sexual discrimination within their universities.

The baton was then handed off to the directors of the hundreds of intercollegiate athletic departments to identify how they'd establish funds and identify potential women's administrators to create these new departments.

Finally, at the University of Illinois, the last leg of the race was run by new assistant director of women's athletics Dr. Karol Kahrs, an individual who, when officially appointed on June 1, 1974, was forced to hit the ground running.

With an approved budget of just $82,535 with which to work (compared to the men's athletic budget of $2.5 million) and the fall season mere weeks away, Kahrs' appointment book was chock full of assignments that had to be executed in staccato fashion. At the very top of her "To-Do" list was the arduous construction of her seven-sport coaching staff, identifying at least semi-expert instructors for basketball, golf, gymnastics, swimming, track and field, tennis and volleyball.

"We will stop thinking of women's athletics as recreation and more as competition," Kahrs told a Daily Illini writer. "Varsity-level athletes will have to be more dedicated and be willing to accept more responsibility than in the past."

Accomplishing a national search was simply infeasible and making Kahrs' assignment doubly difficult was the fact that she was limited in offering an individual salary of no more than $3,000 to anyone. Furthermore, none of the candidates would be able to offer prospective athletes any scholarship aid that initial season.

In most cases, Kahrs predictably turned to individuals with whom she was already familiar at the University of Illinois. Prior to her appointment with the Athletic Association—forerunner of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics—Kahrs had worked for eight years in UI's College of Physical Education.

She had just announced her retirement as a competitor. In a 1974 article written by Urbana Courier reporter Lou Engel, Kimpel described how she received her job offer.

"It all came about when Dr. Kahrs called me up after reading that I was going to retire from state tourney competition," Kimpel said. "It came as a surprise when they offered me the position and I think it sort of came as a surprise when I decided to accept it. The truth is that I'm rather excited. I wouldn't in any way call myself an instructor, although I do know the fundamentals and what is needed to have a good golf swing."

Kimpel served as the Illini coach until 1978 when she was succeeded by Paula Smith.

"While it wasn't going to do anything for my career, it sounded fun … something worth doing," Douglas said recently. "I had written a letter to Karol that explained my experience and she jumped at it. She thought that because I had coached women before (in Malaysia, where he had undertaken a study of the country's educational system in pursuit of his doctorate degree), I would be a good candidate. It was a delightful experience, but my original agreement with Karol was that I would only coach for a year or two, then be replaced by a female coach."

An undergrad at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, Mayhew had assisted his wife, Barbara, with the girl's program at Urbana High School. He brought on UI undergrad Judy Harrison to assist him for that 1974-75 season, but they served only one year.

Musgrave had joined the U of I's physical education staff as an instructor in dance but had only limited experience in gymnastics. She learned the intricacies of the sport from Illini men's coach Yoshi Hayasaki. Musgrave's '74-75 team was divided into two parts—the beginners, who made up about 50 per cent of the squad, and the intermediate and advanced gymnasts. She coached the Illini for two seasons.

Said Musgrave in a 1974 Daily Illini story, "The most difficulty I've had is getting the girls to work really hard. There are a couple of girls who are really serious about gymnastics, but most of them are on the team for the fun of it."

JEANNE HULTZEN: Twenty-nine-year-old Californian Jeanne Hultzen, was Kahrs' pick to fill the swimming coach opening.

Hultzen, who was assistated I nthat first seaso by volunteer diving coach Doug Ward, had just completed her master's degree in physical education at Cal State-Sacramento. 

She had most recently been responsible for the swimming program at Watsonville High School in California. She was replaced after only one season by Ann Pollack.

PEGGY PRUITT:  The head coaching position for Illini women's tennis went to Peggy Pruitt, who was studying for her PhD in physical education administration at the University of Illinois.

The University of Kentucky graduate had directed UI's Women's Intercollegiate Sports Association (WISA) team the three previous seasons. Pruitt served only one varsity season at Illinois.

KATHIE HAYWOOD:  Kahrs' seventh Illini coach was Kathie Haywood, hired to head up UI's volleyball program.

A standout volleyball and basketball player at Washington University in St. Louis, she was fortunate to inherit a UI club team that had placed runner-up to Chicago Circle in the state meet. Haywood was replaced after only one season by Terry Hite.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

When Karol Anne Kahrs joined Fred and Betty Kahrs' young family on Feb. 12, 1940, the world was a much different place for those of the female gender.

World War II dominated the headlines and men were leaving the work force to serve their country in battle. An equally large segment of women was reluctantly exiting their household duties to do their part in the factories. Karol Anne's mom was one of them and that event proved to be a turning point in her life.

"My daddy died when I was 10 and my mother had to go to work full time, so I was on my own and had a lot of free time," Kahrs told an interviewer in a 2014 video produced by the Big Ten Network entitled Title IX: Let 'Em Play. "Because of sport, she knew where I was and what I was doing."

Kahrs became infatuated with any activity that involved a ball, participating in basketball, volleyball, softball, golf, field hockey, tennis and other activities. Her 1950s heroes included female stars like Babe Zaharias, Patty Berg, Maureen Connolly and others.

"Everything about sport I just loved," she said.

From the first day she arrived at North Fulton High School in northern Atlanta, Kahrs emerged as the Lady Bulldogs' No. 1 athlete.

"The state of Georgia had a lot of high school athletics," she said. "I never knew until I got to Illinois that it wasn't the same everywhere. Illinois and the state of Utah were the last two states to have competitive high school sports for girls."

An honors student, Kahrs matriculated to the University of Georgia, earning a degree in education in 1958. She served as a physical education instructor for three years at Atlanta's O'Keefe High School, then decided to change paths and further her education. She made the trek to Columbus, Ohio, eventually leaving Ohio State University with a Master's degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

When Kahrs arrived in Champaign-Urbana in 1966, hired by Dr. Laura Huelster as Director of the University of Illinois' Women's Extramural Sports Association, she was unaware of Huelster's ultimate objective. 

"Unbeknownst to me, she really was looking to get a flavor of intercollegiate sport at Illinois," Kahrs said. "She thought that women ought to have that opportunity."

"I remember one of the things I was asked when I was thinking about taking the job was did I make friends easily," she continued. "And I said, 'always have'. Laura said, 'well, that will change here. They may not like you very much because you're going to have opportunities they didn't have and you're also going to have the opportunity to build a program here that you could be really excited about.'"

As Kahrs conversed with groups, high school principals and various other administrators, she was taken aback by some of their attitudes.

"Some of them didn't want females doing sports," she said. "In those days, most women were secretaries, nurses, librarians and teachers … that was it. They thought that sports wasn't healthy, that women wouldn't be able to have children."

Shortly after Title IX legislation passed in 1972, the winds of change began to blow from a different direction and women's athletics was elevated to varsity status two years later.

"When Title IX passed, kids were excited and very appreciative to come and try to be part of that," Kahrs said. "They didn't ask for a lot; didn't want a lot. They just wanted an opportunity to play and compete."

Yet, in June of 1974, when she was named as athletic director Cecil Coleman's assistant, Kahrs wondered just how much of an impact the university really wanted women's athletics to make.

"It was kind of fuzzy for a while as to what level we were going to try to compete," she said. "Finally, one day at a Board (of Trustees) meeting, I asked what the university was expecting. They said 'we want to be reputable and win our fair share, but we really haven't thought about it.' There seemed to be a lot of concern about how much money it was going to take to be in compliance."

Kahrs directed much of her early efforts towards getting out into the Champaign-Urbana community.

"I made it my business to meet as many people as I could," she said. "I went to all the social events I could go to. I had to have a group of 120 volunteers to run a track meet and we wanted to put some people in the stands for our events. We made it a practice not to overemphasize winning. We didn't have any idea whether we were going to be good or not good. But I knew that we could be. I don't like people to tell me 'you can't do this' or 'nobody's going to support this'. But over time, as you would expect, change does occur."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Just as George Huff is known as the "Father of Illini Athletics", so too should Ella Morrison, Jeanette Lincoln, Gertrude Moulton, Louise Freer and Laura Huelster be recognized as the "Mother" for their pioneering contributions on the women's side of sports at the University of Illinois.

Instruction in calisthenics was first offered to U of I women through the School of Domestic Science in 1874 and became mandatory for female students two years later. In 1895, when separate department of physical education were established for men and women, 25-year-old Ella Morrison of Bement was appointed as Director of Physical Culture for Women.

It wasn't until 1924 when the first female graduate earned a bachelor's degree in education under the major of physical education. A master's degree program appeared in 1942.

In 1917, Freer authored an article for the Daily Illini, writing that "there is no university where the girls derive more benefit and enjoyment from the physical education than at Illinois."

Born in Bement in 1870, just 31 miles from the University of Illinois campus, Ella Morrison became Director of Physical Culture for Women. Under her guidance, the U of I allowed club competition in sports, including basketball. She died in 1934.

Jeanette Lincoln succeeded Morrison in 1900, the same year women were first allowed to compete in the Olympic games. In 1903, the Women's Athletic Association was formed under her administration.

A native of Rio Grange, Ohio, she transferred from Oberlin College and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois. Moulton was appointed head of UI's physical education department in 1909 and later served as a medical advisor for women at the university. She returned to Oberlin in 1923 and retired in 1945. Moulton won the National Physical Education Association's Honor Award and died in 1964.

Freer replaced Gertrude Moulton as head of UI's Department of Physical Education in 1915, coming from Columbia University in New York. She directed it through an era that saw the construction of UI's new Women's Gymnasium (1930), a building that would eventually be renamed in her honor. A significant number of UI graduates would go on to make their marks in physical education throughout the nation. She retired in 1949.

Born in Iowa in 1906, 37-year-old Laura Huelster was schooled in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. She entered the University of Illinois as a freshman in 1923 with plans of becoming an English major. Huelster changed her major to physical education as a junior, the year she captained UI's women's hockey and basketball teams. After graduating in 1927 and teaching for two years in Waukegan, she returned to her alma mater and eventually replaced her mentor, Louise Freer. During her 17 years as UI's women's department head, Huelster's staff grew from 16 to 50 individuals. One of her more significant contributions was chairing a committee that ushered women's athletics from the intramural level to varsity status at the U of I. She died in 1986.

Ella Morrison 1896-1900

Jeanette Lincoln 1900-09

Gertrude Moulton 1909-15

Louise Freer 1915-49

Laura Huelster 1949-66

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

It took more than a century after the University of Illinois first admitted female students in 1870 for there to be equality among the sexes in intercollegiate athletics.

As a writer for UI's yearbook expressed in the 1905 edition of The Illio, "Better results are obtained in women's athletics every year, and it is hoped that, at some near future time, the girls will equal the boys in athletics."

It's not that Illinois was different from any of the other universities across the country. In fact, the sports chronology for women was nearly identical to its collegiate counterparts.

By 1874, a calisthenics program for women was created and by 1896 "club" sports began appearing at the U of I. It was then when Illini women hosted Wesleyan College in basketball at Urbana and beat them by a score of 28-14.

Somewhat surprisingly, women were initially more active than men in the new-fangled sport of basketball, invented by James Naismith in 1891. Women's athletes, known then as the "Illinae", wore black bloomer suits as they tossed the ball into peach baskets.

Said The Illio, "Everyone was delighted with the agility, nerve and skill displayed by the young women, and their perfect management of the game."

The campus's "he-men", it was said, looked down on basketball as a "silly game", one fit only for coeds. Their attitude eventually changed and men made it a varsity sport in 1905-06.

An organization called the Women's Athletic Association (WAA) was formed in 1903. It began with a couple dozen members and expanded to more than 200 by 1920. The number of sports offered to women's athletes expanded markedly by 1927 when four-sport seasons were established. A woman was allowed to participate in one major sport (field hockey, soccer, basketball, volleyball, swimming, baseball and track) and one minor sport (tennis, golf, rifle shooting, bowling, hiking and something referred to as apparatus).

By 1915, Louise Freer was named the first head of physical education for women. She oversaw the WAA from 1915-1949 and oversaw the first major "I" letter awards to WAA members for athletic success in 1919.

A 1923 WAA handbook suggested that women athletes get eight hours of sleep, not consume coffee or tea or eat between meals, and take a hot shower followed by a cold one after every practice and game.

During the decade of the 1930s, the first stand-alone gymnasium for women was constructed, but there was a trend away from intercollegiate competition for women because of a fear of rivalry and professionalism. Typically, several colleges competed at one site. At the same time, participation in intramurals saw increased numbers.

A Daily Illini article said that the philosophy of female physical educators was that collegiate sport and the WAA "should be recreational and enjoyed by many women." They strongly disapproved of the selection of a single group of highly skilled players.

In the 1940s, '50s and '60s, the trend of women's athletics swung toward extramural competition, primarily due to the equalization of sports opportunities for women and men.

A person who was on hand for nearly 40 years as a member of the UI's women's physical education staff was Carita Robertson. In a 1975 interview, Robertson said participation was popular because "there weren't so many things to do around campus back then."

In 1952, the WAA became the WSA (Women's Sports Association) because, as a campus leader explained, "The philosophy of the program really was sports rather than athletics. Athletics weren't accepted for women. The students coached themselves and the coach was more of an advisor."

In 1964, the organization's title changed again, this time to the Women's Extramural Sports Association (WESA) in 1964, under new director Helga Deutsch.

Karol Kahrs, director of the WESA from 1966 to 1970, said the organization's objective was maximum participation or all women students.

"Developing leadership and social abilities were emphasized," Kahrs said. "Winning was de-emphasized."

WESA evolved into the Women's Intercollegiate Sports Association in 1973 and had to drop four of its nine sports due to a lack of funds. A year later, women's sports would get a much-needed injection of support.

The final title change occurred in 1974, two years after United States Congressmen passed the Title IX Amendment in the summer of '72, signaling legal equality of the sexes and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex. In June of 1974, women's varsity athletics was adopted by the Athletic Association, forerunner of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Seven sports—volleyball, golf, swimming, basketball, tennis, gymnastics and track and field—officially launched in the 1974-75 season and life would never be the same for women's athletes at the University of Illinois.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

On June 23, 1972, the United States Congress passed and President Richard Nixon signed the Title IX Amendment, but not once in the landmark legislation were the words "sports" or athletics" mentioned in the 37-word edict.

Fifty years later, current and former women's athletes are flourishing, not only on the fields and in the arenas, but in the business world and other worlds beyond.

In 2022—the golden anniversary of the Title IX Amendment—the University of Illinois will celebrate this historic moment, recognizing not only athletic achievements by Illini women, but also celebrating their wide-ranging career successes.

Title IX regulations were in many ways derived from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the ground-breaking law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of color, race and national origin in programs that are federally funded. Shortly afterwards, Congress recognized that it also needed to reform the issue of sex discrimination, so in 1970 a House Subcommittee on Education scheduled hearings. Congresswomen Edith Green of Oregon and Patsy Mink of Hawaii teamed to author the statute, calling upon Indiana Senator Birch Bayh to introduce it to his cohorts.

When Green and Mink added Title IX-like provisions onto another piece of legislation in 1972, their motivations primarily concentrated on reforming the educational system. It did not start as an action to enable women to participate in athletics.

It wasn't until 1974 that legislators focused on sex discrimination in athletics. Nearly 10,000 public comments were submitted, many of which opposed the new law. Pressure from University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal prompted Texas Senator John Tower to amend an exemption from the law to revenue-producing sports, but it did not pass. Congress, however, did later adopt an amendment to practical provisions regarding particular sports.

In 1975, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare's Office for Civil Rights released its regulations for Title IX enforcement and its relation to athletics. It read: "No Person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, be treated differently from another person or otherwise be discriminated against in any interscholastic, intercollegiate, club or intramural athletics offered by a recipient, and no recipient shall provide any such athletics separately on such basis."

By 1980, Title IX oversight concerns were permanently assigned to the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

Four years later, in the Grove City v. Bell case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Title IX applied to education programs that directly received federal funds. That restored the law's coverage to all of an institution's activities and programs, including athletics.

In 1972, when the Title IX Amendment was established, no varsity intercollegiate programs for women existed at UIUC.

One hundred and two years earlier, in 1870, the first woman was admitted to the University of Illinois. A calisthenics program for women was introduced four years later by Miss Louise Allen, UI's first physical education instructor and the university's first female full professor. She also served as director of the School of Domestic Science. In 1895, the university established the Department of Physical Culture for both genders. Ella Morrison directed the women's program. Organized athletic activities for women started at the U of I during her tenure.

Historians point out that the sport of basketball was played by women in an organized fashion in 1896, nine years prior to the men beginning competition.

Gertrude Moulton and Jeannette Carpenter helped establish the Women's Athletic Association (WAA) in 1902 for the purpose of promoting mental and moral efficiency through physical development. They believed that it taught coordination of mental and muscular faculties. Their aim was to promote athletics and the betterment of health among the university's women.

In 1915, Louise Freer was appointed director of Physical Training for Women. Though sports weren't intercollegiate, campus competition existed in basketball, field hockey, softball, bowling, tennis and swimming. In 1923, the university conferred its first bachelor's degrees in physical education for women.

Laura Huelster assumed duties as the director of physical education for women in 1950. During her distinguished 16-year tenure, the number of faculty tripled from just 16 to about 50. In 1966, just prior to leaving her post to concentrate on teaching, Huelster hired Karol Anne Kahrs to coordinate the department's athletic program. That same year, the National Organization of Women (NOW) was created.

By 1970, Kahrs' budget grew to $5,000 and she was encouraged by Huelster to develop intercollegiate competition.

"Laura thought that women ought to have that opportunity," Kahrs told an interviewer in 2014. "I spoke to a lot of groups when I first came, principals of high schools and that kind of thing, and they didn't want females doing sports. They thought of women as secretaries, nurses, librarians and teachers … that was it. They thought it wasn't healthy, that women wouldn't be able to have children."

In the late '60s, there were 35,000 students at the University of Illinois, with approximately one third being women. They primarily majored in education and library science, with very few in engineering and business. On campuses across the United States, there was growing unrest among students about the war in Vietnam. In May of 1970, Illinois students organized a campus-wide strike and protests became increasingly violent. The National Guard was called in and, as a result, several hundred students were arrested. Out of the antiwar crusade grew the women's rights movement. Women weren't satisfied as to how they were seen in society and being treated under the law.

The passage of Title IX in 1972 significantly changed the course of women's athletics.

"When Title IX passed, kids were excited and very appreciative to come and try to be part of that," Kahrs said. "They didn't ask for a lot; didn't want a lot. They just wanted an opportunity to play and compete."

However, in 1970, campus coeds were forced to draw upon their own expenses to compete. Faculty and graduate students served as coaches and they often drove their teams to competitions in cramped university vehicles. There were no official school uniforms.

The landscape changed dramatically in 1972 when then UI Chancellor Jack Peltason created a task force to study the implementation of varsity athletics for women. In February of 1974, the committee—chaired by Huelster—recommended to the Chancellor that the school add seven women's teams to the long-existing men's program. A budget of just more than $83,000 was approved. At that time, the men's budget was $2.4 million. In early June of '74, Kahrs was appointed by director of athletics Cecil Coleman to oversee the women's program.

"One day at a Board (of Trustees) meeting, I asked them what the university was expecting," Kahrs said. "They said we want to be reputable and win our fair share, but we really haven't thought about it. There was a lot of concern about how much money it was going to take to be in compliance. That was a wake-up call."

A maximum of 76 tuition-waiver scholarships were granted to UI women athletes for the first time. Volleyball, swimming, gymnastics, basketball and track received 12 each, while golf and tennis received eight apiece.

Kahrs immediately began to search for her coaching staff, with a maximum salary of $3,000 per individual. Other than UI political science professor Steve Douglas—a former standout basketball player at Kansas State—nearly all of Kahrs' initial hires were graduate students.

In addition to helping establish competition schedules for the new teams, Kahrs made it her business to meet as many people as she could.

"I got to know all the people in the community and went to all the social events I could go to," she said. "For example, I had to have a group of 120 volunteers to run a track meet. We made it a practice not to overemphasize winning. We didn't have any idea whether we were going to be good or not good. But I knew that we could be."

The Fighting Illini women's program had only moderate success in 1974-75. In a banquet sponsored by the Champaign-Urbana Altrusa Club, a total of 52 women's athletes were presented Varsity I letters. They were the first group to receive monograms.

In 1977, basketball's Mary Pat Travnik was rewarded with women's sports' first full scholarship, triggering a paradigm shift that would eventually result in a more even playing ground with the men.

On June 13, 1981, history was made at the annual NCAA convention in Miami as delegates voted 137-117 to include women's athletic programs within the NCAA governing structure. The action sounded the death knell for the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). Seven months later, Illinois and eight other Big Ten schools voted to affiliate their women's athletic programs with the conference. The University of Minnesota, a school that had close ties with the AIAW, held out for two additional months, but eventually joined its counterparts. At that juncture, the UI women's athletics' budget had increased to more than $359,000.

When 39-year-old Mike Hebert joined the Illini staff in July of 1983 as Illinois' head volleyball coach, it sparked a run of success that no other UI women's program had yet experienced. A 5-25 record in the Fall of '83 improved to 18-15 the following year. In 1985, Herbert's team shook the foundation of Illini athletics, winning its first 30 matches behind freshman sensation Mark Eggers. During a span of eight years from 1985 through 1992, Illini volleyball won more than 82 percent of its games, four Big Ten titles, and earned a pair of NCAA Final Four appearances.

Kahrs struck hiring gold again in January of 1985 when she convinced Gary Winckler to take over duties as Illinois' women's track and field head coach. In 23 seasons, his teams won 11 Big Ten championships and was named as the conference's Coach of the Year 11 times. During's Winckler's tenure, Illini athletes won 266 individual Big Ten titles and 51 of them earned All-America recognition.

During the decade of the 1990s, several Illini athletes became tremendously successful. A conference-record four U of I women's stars earned Big Ten Athlete of the Year honors during the 1992-93 season, including volleyball's Kirsten Gleis, track and field's Tonja Buford, golfer Renee Heiken and tennis's Lindsey Nimmo.

On May 15, 1995, Kahrs was instrumental in hiring Theresa Grentz as Illinois' head women's basketball coach. Over a dozen seasons (1995-2007), Grentz became UI's winningest hoops coach, guiding the program to the school's only Big Ten title (1997) and advancing to post-season play 10 times.

Soccer and softball were added as varsity sports in 1997 and '99, respectively.

As the calendar rolled around to the 21st Century, success in many sports continued for the Illini. In 2003, Illinois athletes swept both the Big Ten's Jesse Owens Male and Suzy Favor Female Athletes of the Year awards. NCAA hurdles champ Perdita Felicien was the women's award winner. During that first decade, distance runners Cassie Hunt and Angela Bizzarri both won Big Ten cross country titles, while Bizzari also claimed NCAA title honors. Other superb athletes of the early 2000s included swimmer Barbie Viney and softball superstar Jenna Hall.

The 'teens decade of the 2000s was interspersed with numerous success stories, but perhaps the highlight came in 2017 when a number of women's stars were chosen for Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame's inaugural class. Kahrs, gymnast Nancy Thies Marshall, track and field's Tonja Buford Bailey and Perdita Felicien, golfer Renee Heiken Slone and volleyball's Mary Eggers Tendler were all honored. Twelve other women have since evolved into equally legendary status.

The 2020s have seen major upgrades to women's facilities. In addition to women's basketball's practice facility receiving a major enhancement, the soccer and women's track and field programs now claim Demirjian Park as their new home. Softball will soon move into its new $6 million Fred and Alice Martin Softball Training Center. Women's golf has had the privilege of preparing for its competitions at the Lauritsen/Wohler Outdoor Golf Practice Facility since 2015, while women's tennis has had the Atkins Tennis Facility for several years. Atkins hosted the 2013 NCAA Division I Women's and Men's Tennis Championships.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

With about one-third of the approximately 500 athletes on the University of Illinois' varsity athletic teams being comprised by young men and women of color, it was a priority for that group of student-athletes to have a mental wellness staff that had similar representation.

For the Fighting Illini Mental Health and Sports Performance staff, James Warren, Jr. is the person who looks like the minority clientele he is serving.

Warren, whose credentials include both bachelor's (psychology, '03) and master's (social work, '05) degrees from the U of I, has been on Program Manager Jim Maurer's staff since 2020. A native of Aurora and a product of Aurora Christian High School, Warren's face is a familiar one around campus and the Champaign-Urbana community. Since his undergraduate days at Illinois, he's served as a counselor for at-risk youth at Champaign County's Juvenile Detention Center for more than two decades. Warren also has been employed as a licensed clinical social worker by the county's mental health center and other local treatment organizations.

When the Big Ten Conference announced its Mental Health and Wellness Cabinet in May of 2020, Warren quickly dispatched an email to the two U of I representatives on that board. Shortly afterwards, a Zoom meeting that included him, Mauer and Randy Ballard (Associate Director of Athletics for Sports Medicine) was arranged and, as Warren puts it, "the rest is history."

Partnering with the Carle Mental Health Providers, Warren is a valuable member of an Illini mental health team that includes a psychologist, two psychiatrists and three counselors/social workers. This team of professionals is available for free counseling to any Illini athlete, though Warren estimates that only about one-third of them actually take advantage of these services.

During a portion of his undergraduate days from 1999 through 2003, Warren lived in UI's Scott Hall with several student-athletes of color. He says he recognized "the unique struggles that they had making the adjustment to not only being a student but also being a student-athlete."

He was asked to characterize the relationship between the University and its students of color.

"From my own personal experience, the U of I has provided an opportunity for success to anyone who's willing to take advantage of the resources that are there," Warren said. "Whether it be counselors, deans, or academic advisors, there are enough people here in professional roles to serve any of our students, and specifically students of color."

"In regard to understanding diversity," he said, "I'm a firm believer that at the core of counseling is that any counselor can work with any client as long as the counselor is willing to listen and be compassionate. We have to look at things from the client's perspective in terms of race, gender, sex, socioeconomic status and life experience. All of those things matter to the client, so for that reason it's important to recognize some of those diverse issues and some of those cultural issues."

Warren said that Illinois' student-athletes often feel like they have to speak for their fellow students of color.

"I think that's part of being a student-athlete," he said. "Their media exposure is significant, especially the more popular sports like football, and men's and women's basketball. You literally drive around town and their faces are plastered on billboards. Whenever they go to class or to the grocery store or even just going out to socialize, most people know who they are."

"One of the things that I deal with concerning our students of color who may come from areas where there isn't as much diversity is that people may have pre-conceived notions about them," Warren said. "One of the other things that is unique for student-athletes of color is the history of how sports and entertainment has played with individuals of color. It's almost like society says you have to be an entertainer … an athlete or a musician or something like that. Part of what we dig into with our conversions is the issue of whether others care about them as a person or just because of their ability to perform. It's not that the student-athletes don't want to perform—they do—but they don't want the performance to be seen as their only value. They want to be cared about as people."

Other issues that Warren's student-athlete clientele encounter are much more commonplace.

"In reality," he said, "there are some student-athletes with whom I work that we never discuss anything about their sport. We have services for some of the unique issues that they're dealing with within their sport, but with about 95 percent of the student-athletes that I counsel we spend the vast majority of our time talking about life or talking about relationships. Some of our discussions are simply about family or social relationship or romantic relationship stuff."

"If you look at the age range," Warren continued, "some of these individuals are literally getting away from home for the first time. Some are young people who for the first 17 or 18 years of their life may have been involved in environments with trauma or abuse. Some actually ask me, 'Now, wait a minute … so it's not normal to be abused or neglected?'"

"For some of them it's the first time that they're connecting with people from all parts of the world and getting exposed to different cultures and different life experiences. Now, as students at the University of Illinois, they're fortunate to be in a space where they can get information to recognize what's going on and actually start working through some of that stuff."

"One of the other unique things that student-athletes deal with is that their sport has provided stability for them for 10-15-20 years of their life," he said. "So, we deal with student-athletes who are either having issues with injuries or that their competition in high school is different than when they get to the Big Ten. Or perhaps it's dealing with the issue that they've maxed out their athletic ability and there isn't a way for them to turn their sport into a career. 'When me being an athlete ends, how do I figure out what my identity is?'"

At the end of the day, Warren says, "We're human beings."

"I always look at Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech," he said. "I don't know that we as a society really take the time to think about what he was really saying. We've made progress, but I still don't think we're really to the point where we live in a world where people can actually be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. And so, until we get to that world, I think it's important for us to recognize the role that race and culture plays. It's our character that defines us as people."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Coaches love to coach coachable athletes. Fourth-year Fighting Illini distance coach Sarah Haveman insists that she has one of the best in junior miler Olivia Howell.

"One of the ways that Olivia leads our program is that she's so coachable," Haveman said. "We have a high trust relationship. She trusts the training she's doing, how she's being coached, and when she's being coached certain ways. She follows instructions. Olivia has a beautiful personality, inside and out. She executes each day at a very high level. Anytime you have natural talent, a tireless work ethic, and the right environment, good things are going to happen."

Though the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on Howell's freshman season in 2020, she performed with flying colors in her second season. The Solon, Ohio native was the Big Ten's 2021 indoor champion in the mile as well as the conference's outdoor titlist at 1,500 meters. Howell earned a spot in the finals of the NCAA 1,500 and earned Second-Team All-America honors. Last year, she was named the University of Illinois' 2021 Dike Eddleman Female Athlete of the Year.

"The entire season was an amazing feeling," Howell said. "With the rough start of not having the cross (country) season, I feel like I had a lot of adrenaline going into it. With all of the struggles that we had, staying motivated during the pandemic paid off. Sometimes, it's hard to grasp because everything happened so fast, having cross and indoor at the same time, then going to outdoor. After one of the first 1500s I ran last season, I wasn't sure that I would make it to nationals. I started off the season with a 4:28, so making it into the 1,500 finals (with a time of 4:09.71 in the NCAA prelims) was definitely a huge accomplishment. I still count the little things that happened throughout the season to be just as important."

Howell says that one of her biggest highlights came last May when Illinois hosted the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Demirjian Park's new Gary Wieneke Track. 

"Being able to win the Big Ten (1,500) title on our home track was definitely a thrill," she said. "While I hardly ever look at the clock, at the end of that race I realized how fast we were going. I had beaten my PR by about six seconds (with a time of 4:12.86). To have all of my teammates there was a huge moment in the season for me."

One of Howell's biggest regrets is that her mother, Antoinette, hasn't been able to see her perform as a collegian. Her mom died from a heart attack during Olivia's junior year at Solon High School.

"She was always supportive of me and my siblings and was really encouraging with everything that we were involved with," Howell said. "My siblings and I were involved with a lot … band, drama club, athletics. Mom made sure that we were working hard and putting a hundred percent in whatever we did."

"Ever since I was quite young, Mom always had this vision for me that I would have a lot of success in running," she continued. "And knowing that she had that dream motivates me. When it's hard in a race or just any aspect of life, I just remember how much support she gave me and I use that as encouragement every day."

A studio art major at Illinois, Howell is following in the footsteps of her father, Errick, who is a graphic design artist with his own T-shirt company and designs skateboards.

As for Olivia, her favorite medium is painting. 

"Whenever I'm painting, I can get kind of lost," she said. "I'm able to express so much through my paintings. It's similar to when I'm running a race. I'm able to just get lost into the rhythm of things. Sometimes I feel a connection between the two."

Howell works on several sizes of canvases and has even painted a mural on the wall of her apartment.

"One of my roommates is from New York, one is from Chicago, and I'm from the Cleveland area … so I painted the skylines of all three cities."

The 20-year-old Howell is targeting specific track and field objectives in 2022.

"I definitely have a goal (in the mile) of 4:30 or even 4:25, because that's what a 4:09 in the 1500 converts to," she said. "Time isn't the most important to me. When we're all out there, anything can happen in a race. I do have goals of hopefully winning a national title."

According to Haveman, any of Howell's objectives are achievable.

"Olivia is such a pure competitor and she rises to her competition level constantly," Haveman said. "Last year was a great example of that, starting the season where she did and then finding herself in the national finals. She just rises to what's necessary. Olivia has a great natural race instinct and she has the talent and the work ethic to back it up."

Howell was asked if she thought a woman would ever break the four-minute barrier for the mile.

"Absolutely," she said. "Records are constantly being broken. Times just keep getting faster and nothing is too far out of reach. If you work hard at it and set that goal, I don't see it as impossible."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Last Sunday, as the Cincinnati Bengals faced off with the LA Rams in their first Super Bowl appearance in 33 years, Illini grads Mike and Michelle Martin couldn't help but think of their late son, Marcus. Mike, after an illustrious football career at Illinois, played for seven seasons with the Bengals. Years ago, Mike promised his son, Marcus, that they'd see the Super Bowl in person if their team ever made it to the big game.

So, at a Chicago tavern two weeks ago, after watching his former squad upset the Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football Conference Championship Game, Mike was determined to keep his word. Unfortunately, Marcus, who died from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 25, would only be at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium in spirit.

Sports and football, in particular, have played a big part of the Martin family. Michelle, a product of Chicago's Whitney Young High School, has been around sports most of her life. She served as a member of the Fighting Illini cheer squad during her undergraduate days at the University of Illinois.

"I was a cheerleader from elementary school through high school," she said. "When I got to Illinois (as a freshman in 1980), I really wanted to join the squad, but I had never done any partner stunts. I met up with Johnny Barnes, who I think was one of the first black Illini cheerleaders, and he worked with me. Thinking back on it now, it was crazy because we didn't have any spotters. Johnny helped me learn some of the basic lifts that I would have to do in order to be able to try out."

Michelle earned a spot on the Illini squad for the 1981-82 season but injured her knee by falling off the top of the pyramid before she could make it to the first football game.

"That's when I knew Mike Martin really loved me because he made it to our practice facility before the ambulance did," she said. "I tore my ACL and couldn't tumble or jump or do pyramids, but at least I could cheer."

Mike remembers seeing his future wife, "that gorgeous girl", at Illinois' Snyder Hall. He cultivated the relationship in a political science class that they both attended, proposed on Christmas Day 1985, and were married in June of 1986. Michelle then moved to Cincinnati where Mike was in his fourth season as a Bengals' receiver.

Martin got noticed by the Bengals after his sensational senior year in 1982 when he led the Illini with a record 77 catches for 1,068 yards. If not for an Illini coaching change in 1980, Mike may have never gotten the chance to display his pass-catching talents. The fun began on the very first play in the season opener against Northwestern, Coach Mike White's rookie season.

"Just before the offense took the field, Coach said 'Hey fellas, on this first play, let's just go deep'. It was an incomplete pass, but the (Memorial Stadium) crowd went crazy. And whenever there was a game when the opponent played bump and run, I would look at Tony Eason and just smile. Tony knew that it was time to get the ball to Mike. I relished the opportunity when a guy would try to play me man-to-man."

Mike fondly remembers Illinois' 1980 game at Ohio State when quarterback Dave Wilson threw for an NCAA-record 621 yards.

"I just watched that game the other day on YouTube," Martin said. "At halftime, when we hadn't been able to run the ball much in the first half, Mike said 'Hey fellas, how do you feel about throwing it every down?' Man, the whole locker room just erupted! So, we threw the ball almost every time in the second half—we had a couple of draws in there to keep the defense honest—but they couldn't stop us."

What happened after the clock ran out will always stick with Martin.

"Never, ever, have I left the field being the opposing team … lose the game … and get a standing ovation," he said. "I led the team in yards with seven or eight catches for a hundred and something yards (147 to be exact). That was a fabulous, fabulous day … not only for the spectators, but also for the team."

Martin operated several nightclubs in Cincinnati after his NFL career concluded in 1989 but was drawn back into football to resurrect the program at Taft High. A Bengals favorite, Martin became a popular guest on Cincinnati's 50,000-watt WLW Radio and on television as well.

In 2014, he and the family moved to Chicagoland to be closer to daughter Morgan, a 2009 University of Illinois broadcast journalism grad. Like her mother, Morgan was a member of the Illini cheer squad. Illinois recruited her as a track and field athlete from metro Cincinnati's Walnut Hills High School, but since she was engrossed in cheer and dance since a very young age, she instead chose to perform on the sidelines. Morgan's tryout with the Illini squad is often told when her family gathers.

"The weekend of cheerleading tryouts was also Mom's Weekend at the U of I," Morgan said, "so Mom and I literally had nowhere to stay. We wound up sleeping in our car. So it's a favorite story … my Mom taking me to tryouts, her legacy there, and then me making the team."

The fact that Morgan was a member of the Illini cheer team when Illinois' football squad went to the Rose Bowl in 2008 made her experience extra special.

"Being able to travel there with the team was such an exciting time," she said. "And then with my Dad being a former member of the Illini, my entire family got to be with me. Me being on the field at the Rose Bowl made it a full-circle family moment."

Morgan, who lived in L.A. for a few years, now owns a fitness and nutrition studio on 95th Street in Chicago called The LAB (Live and Believe). The business's mission is to "create a happy place for the community to live their best lives by getting results through nutrition, fitness and transformation".

"Even though it's a very different line of work from broadcast journalism, a lot of what I try to do is tell the stories of the people who are transformed through our space," she said. "I started on my own journey, and that led me to slowly but surely help other people. I'm pleased to say that, through our efforts, hundreds of people have lost thousands of inches and pounds."

Younger brother Marcus's tragic passing was a major impetus in developing Morgan's company and bringing the Martin family together in Chicago.

"Six years later, we've built this business together," she said.

In 2016, the Marcus Martin Foundation was established.

"We provide college scholarships for high school kids as well as teach fundamental football skills to the youth in the three cities where he lived—Cincinnati, DC and Chicago," Mike said. "Marcus wanted to make sure that other young people learned the fundamentals of the game, because that's how he got started."

And although Sunday's result wasn't what the Martin family has hoped for, they knew Marcus would have been proud.

"Marcus was a homer," Mike said. "He kept telling me, 'Dad, one of these days, they're going to get to the Super Bowl.' And when the Bengals won the AFC Championship the emotions just took me over. All I kept saying was, 'Marcus, your boys did it. We're going to the Super Bowl.'

So, Michelle and Mike took a part of him to the Super Bowl.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Black History Month Spotlight: Terry Hite David was Illinois volleyball's second-ever head coach, when hired in 1975, and the first African American to coach an NCAA Team at the University of Illinois.

The decades of the 1960s and '70s proved to be tumultuous times in the United States, with discussion about race and war dominating the news. An equally turbulent movement in America at the time involved women's rights. For Terry Hite David, all of those headlines surrounded her young life as a student at the University of Illinois. 

Born in Chicago, she moved with her mother to Los Angeles at the age of seven after her parents' divorce and remarriage.

After attending a city college for a year on the West Coast, she was initially attracted to attend the University of Illinois as part of the school's "Project 500" program in 1968. That plan was instituted by the university as a response to the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King. Prior to UI's effort to change its demographics, only 372 of the more than 30,000 students were black. David became one of the additional 565 African-American and Latino students who came to Champaign-Urbana in the Fall of '68.

"It was a good thing because it increased the number of black students who might not have had the opportunity to enter such a prestigious university,'' David told a Big Ten reporter in 2010. "The program did what it intended to do, but the university didn't do a very good job of preparing the community. The blacks mostly lived on the other side of the tracks on the north side of town while the whites were more affluent and had better jobs. I think the people in the area were a little scared to suddenly see so many more black people in town and the first couple of weeks were a little awkward.''

Major issues arose on campus as well when a black protest at the Illini Union saw nearly 250 individuals arrested by police.

"It was a very unfortunate situation," David said.

While pursuing her degree in physical education, David competed on the university's club volleyball team as a five-foot-six-and-a-half-inch center. Little did she know that when she graduated in 1972 that her dedication and similar perseverance from a multitude of fellow female student-athletes would eventually lead to varsity status for women's sports at the U of I.

"We had practice after classes and the coaches donated their time,'' she remembered. "It wasn't until my senior year when they held the first collegiate national tournament under the NAIAW. We advanced to the national tournament in Lawrence, Kan., but we didn't place.''

When Virgin Island representatives came to the U of I campus seeking teachers during David's senior year, she was eager to learn more.

"I went to the interview because I was adventurous and I had never been to the Caribbean area, which was a predominantly black population," she said. "They offered a two-year program and they paid your way down there and paid your way back when you wanted to return. I figured I couldn't lose.''

David continued to play volleyball in her new home country and eventually became a member of the Virgin Islands' national team.

"We established a league, the St. Thomas Volleyball Association, for recreation purposes, and got involved in the Olympic development," she said. "We also worked with some of the English-speaking Caribbean countries in establishing an English-speaking Caribbean Games."

Her notoriety eventually evolved into coaching opportunities with younger teams.

After two years in the Islands, David returned to Illinois in 1975 to pursue her master's degree in administration. That's when new Illini assistant athletic director Karol Kahrs—her former club sport coach—offered her a job as Illinois' second-ever volleyball coach, replacing Kathleen Haywood who had resigned after only one year as UI's varsity mentor. 

"That was the first year we were affiliated with the Big Ten in women's sports and we finished second,'' says David, who was 15-14 in her rookie season. "Things were starting to change quite a bit. No longer did the team have to play in their gym suits. We were given uniforms, sneakers, transportation and I had an assistant coach. And now the women were coming from other areas of study to play volleyball.''

Her second season as the Illini coach in 1976 resulted in 25-14 record and a fifth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships.

When David completed her master's degree with UI's College of Applied Health Sciences in 1975, she returned to the Virgin Islands. There she met her future husband, resumed her coaching career and began a career in elementary school administration. In 2000, she retired as a principal.

David's daughter, Michon, continued the family's love for the sport of volleyball. Michon was a member of the Islands' Junior National Team and also was a varsity member at Hampton University in Virginia. Terry is also the godmother of Megan Hodge, a former national player of the year at Penn State.

The fact that she had been the first black varsity head coach in University of Illinois history had totally escaped David until years later when she was told about the fact by one of her cousins.

"She read it in a story about black head coaches in the Big Ten,'' David says. "That's when it hit me. At the time I was at Illinois, we weren't part of the Athletic Association, so we never had any meetings with the other head coaches. I knew there were black assistants in football and basketball, but I had never thought I was breaking a barrier.''

During one of David's last visits to her alma mater in 2012, the Varsity I Association recognized her with its Merit Award.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Count Kelly and Jill Mark among the University of Illinois varsity alumni who've stepped forward and given back to their alma mater.

Because of their generous gift, a special section of the expanded Ubben Basketball Facility will soon be known as the Mark Family Women's Locker Room and Team Lounge.

When asked why they decided to give back, Kelly, a former walk-on runner and hurdler with Illinois' track & field team, and Jill, a record-setting point guard for UI's women's basketball program, wanted to give to the place where it all started for them and hopefully spur on others to pay it forward and give back to Illinois.

The former Jill Estey was recruited to the University of Illinois from Plymouth Salem High School in Michigan in the late 1980s by then coach Laura Golden, and finished her career in 1993 under the direction of coach Kathy Lindsey. She greatly appreciates what both women did for her during her career.

"I picked Illinois for the outstanding engineering program and the opportunity to play for Coach Golden at a top athletic institution. I was lucky during my basketball career to have great supportive coaches in Coach Golden and Coach Lindsey." 

It was that world-class education as a mechanical engineering major that helped Jill land a job at the Ford Motor Company in her native state. Nowadays, Jill spends her time managing her web design business in Chicagoland—Jill Mark Design—specializing in small business and personal websites.

On the court, she performed spectacularly, handing out a record 550 assists so that teammates like Mandy Cunningham, Sarah Sharp and Kris Dupps could score baskets.

It was Jill's basketball skills that initially caught her future husband's eye. Kelly tells the story.

"After a (track) practice, some teammates and I went over to IMPE to play basketball," he said. "On the last court, the women's basketball team was playing a pick-up game against a bunch of guys. I saw Jill play for five minutes and told a friend next to me 'You see that woman…I want to marry her.' About a month later, we met at a sorority/fraternity mixer at Joe's Bar before the Ohio State football game in 1991…and the rest was history."

Kelly, a product of Batavia High School, understood the value of his education as a business marketing major, but he maintains that athletics was the core of who he was.

"I was a kid who came in and busted my ass, worked as hard as I could to try to be good, but never really got to the varsity level," he said. "Athletics is a tremendous teacher for life in regard to being knocked down and getting back up, being coached, learning from your mistakes and focusing on improvement. It's always been a core of who Jill and I are."

After earning his MBA from Harvard University, Kelly joined Motorola where he most recently oversaw the company's global services and software business. This past summer, he retired after 22 years, allowing him to spend more time with Jill and the family as their kids go to college, traveling and enjoying the outdoors.

When someone asks Kelly where he went to school, a tour of his office displays the pride he has for the University of Illinois. "Illinois is what matters. That's what started us. That was the cauldron that created our family and everything we've achieved together in life."

Jill says she's grateful that she and her husband can help a little in improving the experience of future Illini women's basketball players with their gift.

"We wanted to do something that was memorable to us," she said. "Being able to give back to the program that gave me so much means a lot. Back then, we didn't have anything close to the facilities that they have now. Hopefully, our gift will allow athletes the opportunity to be in an environment that is supportive and to experience something that most people won't be able to experience."

Kelly and Jill always tell their children, Sydney and Ryan, to "Dream Big…Never Follow. It is the way we have tried to live our life."

"You've got to go for the things that you really want and love in life. The University of Illinois gave us the opportunity to dream big and never follow. It set the stage for our life. We just encourage everyone to look back and understand what school did to set them up in their life. we recognize that and that's why we gave back. We just want other folks to have the same opportunity to do what we've been able to do in our life."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

This past August, a record 8,300 freshmen began classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. According to national statistics, an estimated 50 percent of them are first-generation learners, i.e. students who are the first to attend a higher education institution.

Thirty two years ago, back in the Fall of 1989, former Fighting Illini basketball star Deon Thomas became a pioneer for his family. He knows first-hand the trials, tribulations and pressures that thousands upon thousands of first-year undergraduates endure, including some 60 Illini varsity freshmen in 2021-22.

Now at age 50, the path to Champaign-Urbana for that then teenager from Chicago’s Simeon Career Academy High School was anything but easy. Thomas and his younger brother Clifton had navigated numerous hurdles and consequences as youngsters growing up in the Windy City’s Englewood and Chatham neighborhoods. Family elders mandated that they be in their apartment when the street lights came on at dusk.

“We grew up in the projects, so it wasn’t a place where you wanted to be hanging out at all times of night,” Thomas recalled.

At one point, his father had left the family and his mother was suffering from drug dependency, so the boys were separately dispatched to stay with grandparents. Deon spent several of his teenage years with his father’s mother, Bernice McGary. Paying attention to his education was an absolute requirement.

“We didn’t dare mess up in school,” Thomas said. “If they got a phone call from anybody at the school saying something other than how great we were doing, we were going to be in a world of trouble.

“My Grandmother Bernice would always tell me, ‘Baby, you’re bigger than the village’ (the village was what his community was called). She was the one who was always looking ahead and looking for more and saying that there was more out there for me that what was in our 10-block radius.” 

As a youth, Deon was an above-average student.

“I was on the honor roll all through elementary school and basically all through high school,” he said. “Fortunately, I had great teachers in elementary school as well as in high school. Mr. Bledsoe, Miss Plummer and Mr. Collins were three of my teachers in elementary school who did their best to keep me focused. When I got to Simeon, it was Miss Washington (a history teacher); she was like a mom to me when I wasn’t at home. She really cared about her students.” 

Thomas respected her so much that he sacrificed a good portion of the time he spent on UI’s campus during his official visit as a basketball recruit.

“I’ll always remember sitting in the library at the University of Illinois and writing my history paper because Miss Washington wanted it on Monday,” he said. “She said she didn’t care that I was going on a visit; she wanted her paper done by Monday.”

Thomas said that his coach at Simeon, Bob Hambric, “also steered me in the right direction.”

“You couldn’t play basketball at Simeon and get in trouble or miss class or do any of those things,” he said. “I understood that I could change my life through playing basketball and that it would give me an opportunity to go to college. This will be hard for people to believe, but I didn’t go to the University of Illinois to play basketball or to make it to the NBA. It was never basketball centered for me. It was academics centered. I wanted to graduate from the University of Illinois and go on to become a lawyer. Even when I got drafted, I wanted to play long enough so that I could earn enough money to go to law school and eventually become a judge. That was my sole reason and focus for playing basketball.”

Deon knew that he was blessed to receive a college scholarship, so he went to great lengths to share his experience in Champaign-Urbana with his brother and other members of his family.

“My time at Illinois was huge for me,” he said. “I was able to bring my brother down to campus and several of my cousins were able to come to my games with my grandmother. That was their first exposure to a college campus.”

He is particularly proud of his younger brother’s accomplishments.

“After Clifton finished high school in South Haven, Mich., he went into the Marines, then he became a police officer for 10 years,” Thomas said. “Now he owns his own security company and he’s working on his second master’s degree in cyber security.”

It was a special day for Deon when Clifton and Grandma Bernice attended his U of I graduation ceremony.

“I knew my grandmother was proud that day,” Thomas said. “It wasn’t so much about what she said; it was the look on her face. She didn’t have to say anything.”

Today, the Illini Hall of Famer and basketball program’s all-time leading scorer serves as his alma mater’s associate director of development in Chicago. He says he sought the position so that he could pass on his life lessons to current and future Illini student-athletes.

“One of the things I love most (about my job) is that I can raise money to help kids who are like me,” Thomas said. “They’re exactly like me. If it wasn’t for the donors and the development officers to raise money and cover scholarships, I wouldn’t have had my scholarship. If I hadn’t had that scholarship, I couldn’t have brought my brother and cousins down to Champaign. They would have never seen the campus at the University of Illinois. If I hadn’t played basketball at Illinois, things would definitely be a lot different for me.”

As the Thomas clan’s first college graduate, Thomas says he’s gratified he could break the ice for his family.

“Well, as least I made a chip in it,” he said. “Several of my younger cousins have gone on to college and I’m sure their kids will go on to college when they grow up.”

“I don’t want people to think that I’m special,” Thomas continued. “I was given opportunities. What I hope all universities will do is to not form opinions about people in terms of where they’re from. If you give people an opportunity and you show them something that’s different than where they live, people can do better. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether you’re black or white. There are white people who live in rural areas that go through some of the same things that I went through. If this is supposed to be the land of opportunity, then we need to do a better job of providing those opportunities.”

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

More than 500 young men and women proudly wear the varsity uniforms of the Fighting Illini each year, but in 2021-22 four of them also dress in a totally different type of attire. 

Gymnastics’ Ethan Boder, wrestling’s Joey Braunagel, and track and field’s Will Merrick and Brian Keyes all bear significant responsibilities beyond their athletic and academic pursuits at the University of Illinois. This special quartet of Illini athletes also wears United States military uniforms as members of UI’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).

While all of them are following in the footsteps of family members who’ve served, each has used his own personal circumstances in becoming ROTC participants at the U of I.

For Boder, a graduate of Knoxville, Tennessee’s Catholic High School, he originally narrowed his choices for collegiate gymnastics competition to the Naval Academy and Illinois.

“A big part of my decision was that I thought if I chose Illinois I wasn’t going to have the opportunity to pursue a Naval career,” said the current sophomore Midshipman. “I really didn’t like that idea. Then my coach (Justin Spring) sent me a link to the Naval ROTC website, letting me know that I could still do the same thing if I signed up with ROTC. Since I bonded with the team much more when I visited Illinois, I chose the Illini.”

Braunagel’s first choice was always Illinois, primarily because brothers Zac and Danny were already members of the Illini wrestling team. However, because the Althoff Catholic High School product would only be receiving a partial scholarship and didn’t want to burden his parents with having to pay for the balance of his education, Braunagel investigated additional options.

“About two or three days after I committed (to Illinois), I got a text from an Army recruiter suggesting that I talk to him if I wanted free college,” he said. “So I thought to myself, I get to wrestle and get free college … let’s look into this! After talking to the recruiter over a couple of weeks and learning about all of the benefits I could get, I swore in (as an Illinois Army National Guard Simultaneous Membership Program cadet).” 

Merrick, a native of Castle Rock, Colo., followed his older sister Katrina’s lead. She is a sophomore member of the Army ROTC at the University of Arizona. Will is one of about ten current freshman Midshipmen with the UI’s Naval ROTC program. For him, choosing a college to attend came down to determining what the Illini track coaches’ rapport was with ROTC.

“I knew that the University of Illinois had great academics (Merrick plans to major in chemical engineering), but it was one of only a few schools that had a solid relationship with ROTC,” he said. “And, then, the fact that my dad (Bill) had also attended Illinois made my decision even easier.”

As for Cadet Keyes, a redshirt sophomore from McHenry and second-year captain of the Army push-up crew at Illini football games, he found out about the Army ROTC’s scholarship opportunity when he took his official visit to Champaign-Urbana.

“Coach (Mike) Turk told me about the scholarship information that ROTC offered,” he said. “At the time, my throwing numbers were a little bit lower than I would have hoped for (to receive) a decent athletic scholarship. I come from a lower income family, so we didn’t have the money to pay for school and I didn’t want to take out loans. I was told (by ROTC) that there was no immediate commitment and that I could try the program out. So I gave it a shot and here we are today almost four years later.”

ROTC requires that its members take at least one military class per semester and attend Physical Readiness Training (PRT) multiple times a week. How they all cope with this extra responsibility is quite extraordinary. For example, consider Boder’s typical midweek schedule.

“So, on Wednesdays I’ll wake up at 4:50 a.m. so that I can leave for ROTC drills at 5:40,” said Boder, an ROTC Midshipmen Third Class. “Drills are normally two-and-a-half hours, but I need to leave a bit early to go train (with gymnastics). Then I’ll go to breakfast at the Varsity Room (the athletes’ training table that’s located in the southeast corner of Memorial Stadium). My classes go 10-11, 11-12, and 12-1. Afterwards, I’ll get lunch, then leave for training until about 5. Then I’ll go home and bust out all of my homework, then get ready for bed.”  

“So, I’m a student, an athlete and a soldier,” echoes Braunagel. “Yeah, it’s a time commitment, for sure.”

Keyes, a thrower for the Illini track and field squad, emphasizes that there are benefits to being both a student-athlete and a soldier.

“I feel that being both a high-level athlete and a member of ROTC stresses the characteristics of commitment and striving to be better,” he said. “Athletes are constantly in the mindset of wanting to grow. I think that helps me because a lot of the stuff that you learn as a cadet isn’t natural, so having that drive and wanting to constantly better yourself is really important to being a good soldier.”

Merrick, a middle-distance runner at Illinois, concurs with Keyes, saying, “I interact with so many other people—from the track team to classes to ROTC—so it’s helped teach me how to deal with people and respect our team leaders. I realize that I can do a lot more to benefit the entire group and that’s definitely transferred over to track. I’m a freshman, so I’ve just got to learn as much as I can.”

Braunagel, a 197-pounder who’s redshirting in ’21-22, says that his brothers are proud that he’s in the military.

“They think that the deal I have is amazing,” he said. “I get to serve my country, get military benefits, and have all of my tuition paid for.”

All four ROTC student-athletes greatly admire their fellow service men and women and the individuals who have served before them.

“Absolutely,” Boder said. “There’s definitely a higher level of respect now that I know more about what it takes to wear the uniform. I understand the kinds of things they’re willing to support with everything that they have.”

“I have a deep respect for anyone who’s ever served in the military,” Braunagel said. “That includes police officers, fire fighters and first responders. If you’re trying to help your community, I have ultimate respect for you.”

Said Merrick, “I’ve always had a strong opinion and a high respect for individuals in military service. Honestly, to know that I’m part of that, I know that we’re all fighting the same battle.”

Keyes’ respect for veterans grows each time he strides through the colonnade at Memorial Stadium.

“I’ve walked the columns several times and I’ve read all of the names on them,” he said. “And each time I walk past the script that’s etched on the east side of Memorial Stadium (adjacent to the Smith Football Center), I always take time to read those words and salute it. Basically, it says that Illinois students chose to sacrifice their youth for the sake of the country. Not enough people stop and take in what the stadium really means to veterans. These men and women were proud to serve their country. I’m nowhere close to being the heroes that they were.”

***

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

In terms of historical respect, the University of Illinois' championship team of 2001 perhaps unfairly gets overlooked when examining the school's greatest football teams.

While it didn't rank among the Top Ten teams in the final polls nor boast of a single first-team All-American among the starting 22, a deeper dive into the statistics reveals that Coach Ron Turner's '01 Fighting Illini is very likely the school's most talented squad of at least the last 30 years.

Heading the list of accomplishment is that it's one of only five Illini teams in the modern era that's won an outright Big Ten championship. It shares that honor with Illinois squads of 1946, 1951, 1963 and 1983.

Said Head Coach Ron Turner about his iconic team, "They had a lot of confidence and belief in one another."

The '01 Illini began the season with consecutive victories against California, Northern Illinois and Louisville, but got derailed in game four at Michigan.

"That game in Ann Arbor was a big disappointment, especially after a pretty historic win in '99," said former defensive lineman Brandon Moore. "We expected so much more. But that loss didn't diminish our confidence because we had great leadership. We seniors knew that we had to get it together. It was just that the maturity of our team was of a level that was able to bounce back, especially after going through the trying year before (a 5-6 record in 2000)."

From Oct. 6 through Nov. 3 came a battle against Minnesota at Memorial Stadium, a trip to Indiana, another home game versus Wisconsin, and a confrontation at highly regarded Purdue.

"We'd always had a tough time with those middle-tier Big Ten teams," Moore said, "so we went into those games knowing that this stretch was going to define our season. If we want to be who we say we are, we've got to be able to beat these guys."

The Illini swept through unscathed, improving their record to 7-1 and setting up a tough match-up in Champaign against Penn State. The Orange and Blue trailed the Nittany Lions at halftime, 21-7, but rallied for two touchdowns and two field goals to take a 27-21 lead. When PSU's Larry Johnson returned a kickoff 97 yards for a go-ahead touchdown with 3:29 remaining, the Illini didn't panic … especially Schumacher.

"I knew that with the ball in (quarterback Kurt) Kittner's hands, we were going to score," he said. "With the talent we had on offense—that line and those receivers and running backs—I was confident that somebody was going to make a winning play."

After Illinois got the ball back at its own 20, Kittner zipped a 30-yard bullet to Brandon Lloyd, then a 13-yarder to Aaron Moorehead. When Rocky Harvey scored a 13-yard touchdown with just 1:19 to go, it marked the third straight game that Illinois had rallied late to win.

The victory against Penn State set the stage for a battle at The Horseshoe between No. 12 Illinois and No. 25 Ohio State.

"I just remember being confident and not overly concerned," Kittner said. "Ohio State always has some good players, right? But we had a lot of good players, too."

Kittner completed 18-of-28 passes for 274 yards and two touchdowns against the Buckeyes, allowing the Illini to leave Columbus with a 34-22 victory.

"We just came out and played hard and played better," he said.

Now, only a Thanksgiving Day game at Memorial Stadium against Northwestern stood in the way between Illinois and at least a share of the Big Ten title.

Moore says the embarrassing memory of Illinois' season-ending 61-23 defeat at Evanston in 2000 provided the Illini with extra incentive that week.

"I had had to deal the entire off-season about that loss with my dad," Moore said. "We got our butts handed to us up there the year before. It was tough to manage the short week—the Thanksgiving Day holiday, playing for the championship—there were a lot of distractions. As a young man in college, I just remember trying to focus and not let our big opportunity slip away."

Illinois did ultimately prevail, 34-28, thanks to a 387-yard, four-touchdown performance by Kittner, including a pair of TD passes to Brandon Lloyd.

"We were used to seeing some other team grab the championship trophy, so to actually be able to be a part of it was special," Moore said. "Every year, we'd gone into the season talking about winning a championship, so on that day there was a sense of relief that we'd finally achieved success. It was a great piece of satisfaction to be able to come from 0 and 11 to win the title. It's definitely one of the more memorable images that I have."

The victory clinched a tie of the Big Ten title for the Illini but hopes in Champaign-Urbana were that 13-point underdog Ohio State could upset host Michigan the following Saturday and provide Illinois with an outright championship. At Jerry Schumacher's home in Chicago, there was an especially intense TV-viewing party … hosted by his dad—Jerry Sr.—a former Michigan football standout.

"We had WGN (TV) at the house because it was the first time that my dad was rooting for Ohio State to beat Michigan," Schumacher said. "I remember him telling the reporter 'I'll do anything for my son, but this is the bottom of the line that I'll go for him.'"

With the Buckeyes' 26-20 victory, Illinois stood alone on top of the Big Ten standings.

For Kittner, winning the 2001 Big Ten title will forever be one of his life's major achievements.

"I go back to that 0 and 11 season and the goals that we had as freshmen," he said. "That first year for me (1998) was so hard. But all the work that we had put into it is captured into winning the title in my last game at home as a senior. It was a pretty cool experience and not many people can say that. I was really proud of the work that we all put in to get to the place where we all wanted to be. A lot of people say they want to be Big Ten champions, but we actually went out and did it."

Because the Bowl Championship Series had pre-designated the Rose Bowl as the site of the national championship game, instead of traveling to Pasadena, Illinois was sent to New Orleans to play LSU. Twenty years later, it's still a sore point for Schumacher.

"My dad has a Rose Bowl ring from playing in it for Bo Schembechler," he said, "so I would have loved to have that. As a kid growing up in a Big Ten family, we would have Rose Bowl parties every New Year's Day. I grew up hoping to play in one, too, then the year I get the chance to play in one is the year that the Rose Bowl turns out to be the national championship game. Personally, for me, I felt cheated.

Schumacher says he'll remember his teammates not for their wins and losses but for their character.

"We were a close-knit group of guys from every different walk of life who just got along," he said. "I'd love for my son (Jerry III) to play football, just based on the lifelong friends that I made throughout my career."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

As the 2001 season approached, Coach Ron Turner issued a terse challenge to his Fighting Illini football team: no more excuses.

Following a disappointing performance the year before that saw them limp home with 5-6 overall record (2-6 Big Ten), he candidly urged them to "search their souls" and ask themselves the question "What do you want?".

The 2000 squad had blown opportunities to beat Michigan (a 35-31 loss), Penn State (39-25), Michigan State (14-10) and Ohio State (24-21), and Turner was doggedly determined to turn the tables on those "close-but-no-cigar" efforts.

"We hadn't accomplished what we wanted to in 2000," Turner said. "We were just a few plays away from being a really good team. Spring ball had gone well for us and we knew that we had a chance to be good. The confidence level of the coaching staff and the players was very, very high."

Forty-seven Illini letter winners returned in 2001, including 13 starters: seven on offense and six on defense. Heading the group was senior Kurt Kittner, a talented and well-seasoned quarterback. The 2001 Illini media guide quoted Turner as saying, "I think Kurt is one of the best, if not the best, quarterback in the country."

Many other key pieces of the puzzle also were present. Turner's offensive and defensive lines were tough and nasty. His offensive weapons included a balanced running attack and a potential superstar receiver in Brandon Lloyd. Defensively, the secondary featured an especially deft playmaker in Eugene Wilson.

Illinois began 2001 by sweeping past its first two non-conference foes: 44-17 at California on Sept. 1, then 17-12 against Northern Illinois on Sept. 8.

However, on Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, as Turner and his staff prepared for No. 25 Louisville, football suddenly became an afterthought. America had been attacked by terrorists.

"I remember (secretary) Mary Gallagher knocking on our door during a staff meeting," Turner said. "I said 'Mary, hold on' and she said, 'No, you need to come now.' After we saw what had happened, we immediately got the team together and talked to them about it and let them voice their thoughts. It was a very emotional time, a very tough time. We just told them that football was taking a back seat right now."

Week three's home game against nationally ranked Louisville was ultimately cancelled and delayed until Sept. 22. A sterling defensive effort by the Illini helped Illinois outgain the Cardinals, 504-338, and post a convincing 34-10 victory.

Now ranked No. 22 in the nation, Illinois traveled to Ann Arbor the following week to face No. 10 Michigan. Still today, Turner blames himself for UI's 45-20 loss.

"It was 14-10 in the second quarter and we had a fourth-and-one in our own territory," he remembered. "We went for it and didn't make it, then Michigan scored a touchdown a play or two later, and we never recovered from that. I told the team afterwards, 'Guys, this one's on me.' I got away from being who we were."

Illinois rebounded from the loss with back-to-back victories against Minnesota at home (25-14) and at Indiana (35-14), setting up a huge Homecoming game in Champaign against Wisconsin.

The Badgers were brimming with confidence after having upset No. 21 Ohio State the week before, but fell behind Illinois at halftime, 22-7. Coach Barry Alvarez's team battled back, tallying three consecutive touchdowns to begin the fourth quarter and taking the lead, 35-28. After Illinois tied the game at 35-all with 12 minutes remaining, Kittner led the Illini on a game-winning drive, hitting Brandon Lloyd with a 22-yard touchdown pass.

According to Turner, Illinois' 42-35 victory epitomized its 2001 season.

"That game kind up summed up the kind of team we were," he said. "The last drive showed the determination that the 2001 team had. No matter what happened, it almost always seemed like we could find a way to make big plays."

Illinois then ran its Big Ten record to 5-1 with consecutive come-from-behind victories against No. 15 Purdue (38-13) and Penn State (33-28).

Next up was a game 10 challenge versus No. 25 Ohio State at The Horseshoe. The Buckeyes led 22-21 after three quarters, but the fourth period belonged entirely to Illinois. In an 80-yard drive that ended with Carey Davis's one-yard touchdown, Kittner completed four-of-six passes for 51 yards. Illini linebacker Ty Myers tallied UI's final TD on a five-yard interception of a Craig Krenzel pass.

"It was one of the worst beatings that Ohio State had at home in a while," Turner recalled. "Our guys played really good football and did what we had to do in all phases. That was one of the better games we played all year."

Just five days later, on Thanksgiving Day, Illinois hosted its regular-season finale against Northwestern, a team that it had lost to by 38 points a year before.

"Not only was there revenge, but we knew we could at least clinch a tie for the Big Ten championship," Turner said. "Those were big motivating factors for us. We had a pretty good lead on them (34-13), then they came back in the fourth quarter. But our guys were very determined."

When the clock ran down to zeroes, No. 10 Illinois had beaten the Wildcats, 34-28. Turner vividly remembers the celebration afterwards.

"To see the guys up on the stage and holding that trophy and knowing how hard they had worked, it was just a special, special moment in my coaching career," he said.

When Ohio State defeated Michigan two days later, Illinois was able to claim an undisputed Big Ten championship. Unfortunately, because the Rose Bowl had been designated to host a Bowl Championship Series game, instead of heading to Pasadena the No. 7 Illini were chosen to play No. 12 LSU at the New Year's Day Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Unfortunately, it was a match-up Illinois just couldn't handle, losing 47-24 to the hometown Tigers.

"At the start of the game, we were in awe of LSU's speed," Turner said. "It took a while for us to relax and get our confidence back and start playing. We fought back to where we had a chance, but then we gave up a big touchdown pass and that put it away for them."

Now, 20 years later, the eight-year Illini coach is anxious to reunite with his troops the weekend of August 28.

"Within the first minute of seeing each other, I think it will feel like we've never left," Turner said. "They're in their forties now and I'm just proud of them all. They were champions on the field and now they're champions in life with their careers and their families."

As for Turner, he now resides with wife Wendy in North Carolina on Lake Norman, about 50 miles north of Charlotte.

"I do a lot of walking or I'm out on my boat," he said.

The Turners' four children are scattered around the country. Oldest son Morgan is the tight ends coach at Stanford (going into his 12th year); Cameron is the quarterbacks coach for the Arizona Cardinals; daughter Cally will soon be moving to Texas with her family; and daughter Madi lives in Charlotte.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

If new University of Illinois coach Mike Poeta's grand plans come to fruition, Fighting Illini fans will be the benefactors of an exciting new wrestling experience in 2021-22.

Picture, if you will, a raised stage smack dab in the middle of the State Farm Center, surrounded by thousands of fanatics wearing orange and blue. Okay, maybe the mat won't be enclosed by spring-loaded ropes, nor should fans expect characters like The Rock or Bobby Lashley or Roman Reigns to be introduced by blaring theme music. But Poeta isn't opposed to adding a touch of glitz to one of the world's oldest sports.

Says Poeta, "I'm not a big WWE guy, but I would love for us to be able to wrestle up on a stage. That sound that's made on a stage when a guy is slammed down on a mat does make quite an impact. It's more exciting, more fun. I think that will really add to the experience of the fans who are in attendance."

"My goal is to make SFC rockin' like (Iowa's) Carver Hawkeye Arena is and to make Champaign and Central Illinois as big of a wrestling area as there is in the country."

Hundreds of state champions from the state of Illinois associate State Farm Center with their moments of high school glory.

"I think moving to State Farm will be a great move," said former Champaign Centennial star and current Illini redshirt sophomore Justin Cardani. "We're planning to get a lot more fans in the stands than we've had at Huff. With the IHSAs being at the State Farm Center, it will definitely bring back memories of our high school days. Winning state titles there my junior and senior years will always be fun to look back on."

Poeta says that for high school kids in the state of Illinois, their biggest dream come true is to walk in the Parade of Champions at the State Farm Center.

"When I was in junior high, those guys who were wrestling in the state finals were superheroes to me," he said. "That building meant so much to me. Driving by it on a daily basis, I still get an emotional feeling. It was that important to me. The possibility of a young man continuing his career there will help us with our recruiting. It will rival the arenas of the better kids across the country."

Poeta, who was named to replace Jim Heffernan last April, says there are still days he can't actually believe he's the head coach.

"Jim Heffernan and Mark Johnson were huge figures to me when I first came here, so it's pretty special that I can be that guy," he said.

And while Poeta isn't afraid to inject some new wrinkles, he basically remains a traditionalist. He says he'll borrow some of Heffernan and Johnson's most admirable characteristics.

"Their integrity, their relationships, their humor, and their selflessness made them so special," Poeta said. "I'm trying to think of every adjective possible that describes a great person. They just did it right. We enjoyed coming to practice. We enjoyed all of our interactions with them. When you have someone in your corner that really believes in you and that you have a lot of trust in, it makes you wrestle way harder. They provided that for me and all of my teammates, so I really just want to keep that rolling."

Poeta, a three-time All-American, two-time conference titlist and two-time NCAA finalist, was a key member of the 2005 Illini, the school's last Big Ten team champ. He recalled what made that unit so special.

"We had a lot of individuals who were similar-minded and had the same goals, Poeta said. "I was never in a situation where I was surrounded by a dozen people who all dedicated their entire lives toward becoming national champions and really successful wrestlers. A lot of puzzle pieces just came together. It was a lot of hungry, motivated and disciplined wrestlers and coaches and everyone associated with our program. Everyone just tried to be the best."

As for the '21-22 Illini edition, Poeta is excited about their potential. Of last year's 10 starters, because of the NCAA granting an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19, seven or eight are slated to return to the lineup.

"Like most teams, we're going to copy and paste," he said. "Having Mikey Carr (149 pounds) and Dylan Duncan (141) back is a huge bonus. Most wrestlers are chomping at the bit to compete for an extra year."

Other Illini returning starters include 2021 All-American Lucas Byrd (133), Danny (165) and Zac Braunagel (184), Luke Luffman (heavyweight), and Cardani (125).

Poeta says that at the Big Ten level, wrestling is more mental than anything.

"Our off-season message to our guys is that they need to sharpen their minds more than anything," he said. "Every day, we need to practice and function under high stress, feeling really uncomfortable, feeling pressure. We know that if we want to be the best team in the country, that has to be incorporated into our training just as much as the physical part. Visualization, relaxation, and positive talk will all make an impact on their mental skills. If we make gains throughout the off season in that category, that will allow us to become more successful next season. In wrestling, the mental game is what guys struggle the most with."

Recently, Poeta announced the addition of Ed Ruth to his Illini coaching staff. The former Penn State star was a three-time national champion and a four-time Big Ten titlist at 184 pounds.

"Not only does he bring world class wrestling skills to get our guys to another level, but I know how much of a role model and mentor he will be. Ed will be great at growing our young men and assisting them in reaching their wrestling goals. We have the perfect guy to help get us to the top."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Upon learning about her family's unfortunate experiences as Japanese Americans, one can fully understand Illini sophomore outfielder Kelly Ryono's passionate interest in 1940s American history.

The Ryono clan's harrowing story was set in motion at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time on Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941, when more than 300 Imperial Japanese aircraft launched a military strike on the United States' naval base in Pearl Harbor. A day later, Congress passed a formal declaration of war against Japan and officially brought the U.S. into World War II. 

Almost immediately, unfounded suspicions grew about the 127,000 Japanese Americans who were living in the continental United States at the time of the attack. Nearly 90 percent of them resided on the West Coast and a few were members of Kelly Ryono's family.

Though President Franklin D. Roosevelt dismissed rumors of Japanese American espionage on behalf of the Japanese war effort, public opinion mounted in an opposite direction. In February of 1942, the Pacific Coast Congressional subcommittee on aliens and sabotage recommended to the President immediate evacuation of "all persons of Japanese lineage, aliens and citizens alike."

Less than a week later, Japanese-born Yukizo and Tatsuno Ryono (Kelly's great grandparents) and their four children—including Kelly's paternal grandfather Jimmy, then a ten-year-old—were given 48 hours to get their personal affairs in order and evacuate their home near Los Angeles. As the head of the family, 46-year-old Yukizo was initially sent to the Fort Lincoln Internment Camp south of Bismarck, N.D., while Tatsuno and the children boarded a train bound for a camp at the Gila River Indian Reservation, south of Phoenix. After seven months, Yukizo was finally able to join his family in Arizona. His future wife, Toshie (Kelly's grandmother), and her mother were dispatched to the Rohwer War Relocation Center in rural southeastern Arkansas.

Though it was designed for a maximum of 10,000 residents, the Gila River War Relocation Center's population peaked at more than 13,000 inhabitants. It was said to be one of the country's least oppressive camps. Gila River had only a single watchtower and its fences were among the few that didn't feature barbed wire. Inside the barriers were some 1,200 buildings, featuring 24 schools and approximately 850 residential barracks. Each barrack was constructed to house four families in separate apartments. Frequent water shortages in the desert and sometimes deadly encounters with poisonous rattlesnakes and scorpions kept the communal medical facility busy.

The area of the Gila River camp that Kelly's grandfather Jimmy loved most was the athletic fields. It was where he first learned about the game of baseball.

"Dad thought it was fun," said Don Ryono, Kelly's father. "He didn't know any better. For him, it was like going to camp. His parents did a good job at making the best of the situation."

Two months after World War II ended in September of 1945, the Gila River War Relocation Center closed, and the Ryono family was allowed to return to their home in Sangar, Calif. However, all of their personal property had been vandalized and they were forced to start their lives over with barely more than the clothes on their back.

Though her great grandparents and their family were subjected to live through an unfortunate chapter in American history, Kelly Ryono prefers instead to see a silver lining.

"It does make me sad knowing that my family had to go through something like that," she said. "But, at the same time, I feel very proud that my family was able to get through it. There's a Japanese term called 'Gaman' and it means 'to endure the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity'. Basically, it means perseverance. My dad has always told me that my great grandparents made that whole experience for their children as normal as they possibly could. So as bad as the situation was, they were still able to have some sense of normalcy. They were able to persevere and make a bad situation good."

While Yukizo supported his family as a fisherman, Jimmy became a baseball star at Sangar High School, pitching and playing in the outfield. His team won the North Sequoia League championship in 1949. Jimmy's baseball career continued with the Long Beach Merchants in the Nisei Athletic Union League. He briefly attended UCLA and ultimately graduated from Long Beach State. From 1951-53, he served in the U.S. Army.

When he wasn't working at San Pedro, Calif.'s post office, Grandpa Jimmy passed along his love of baseball to Kelly's dad, Don.

"He'd play catch with me all the time and I remember hitting his pitches with a plastic bat," said Don, who eventually became a standout infielder at Nathaniel Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Calif.

Shortly after Kelly and her twin sister, Megan, were born in January of 2001, just 17 days before their Grandpa Jimmy's death, Don transitioned into becoming his daughters' youth coach.

"He was always better than all of the other dads," said Kelly. "I love it that we've always been a baseball family. Grandpa played … my dad played … now my sister and I are playing, so it's been passed down like that. My dad has often said that if my grandparents were still alive, they would come to every single game they possibly could."

In 2021, Kelly started all 44 games in left field for Coach Tyra Perry's Illini. She hit her first career home run several Saturday's ago against Ohio State. Kelly's twin sister, Megan, is an infielder for Columbia University's softball team in New York City.

An interdisciplinary health sciences major at the University of Illinois, Kelly admits that her career aspirations may be a bit surprising.

"Since middle school, my dream job has been to be a firefighter/paramedic," she said. "As I've gotten older, I realized that it's a culmination of everything I value and what I want to do with my life. All throughout high school, that hasn't changed. Since coming to Illinois, it's still stuck with me. Growing up with softball, I played with a wide variety of girls and a few of their days have been firefighters. I want to help other people who can't help themselves." 

Says Kelly's dad, who works in finance for the Long Beach School District, "It makes us a bit nervous, but my wife (Donna, a school principal in Long Beach) and I know that Kelly can handle herself."

Nearly 80 years have passed since that unfortunate period of American history, but Kelly remains appreciative about her extended family's legacy.

"I'm just so proud of my family and where I come from," she said. "They went through so much that most people will never experience in their life. But they endured and they didn't complain, and they were able to make a wonderful life for themselves."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

A Fighting Illini men's tennis player is proving that you don't have to pick sides when it comes to the ages-old axiom. Siphosothando Montsi, you see, is both lucky and good.

"Siphos" (pronounced SEE-fose), as he's called by his coaches and teammates, was a terrific all-around athlete as a youngster in East London, South Africa, excelling in soccer, cricket, rugby and track.

Then, fate stepped into Monti's life when one day a friend's mom called his parents suggesting that their young son try out for another sport.

"The only reason I ever picked up a tennis racquet in the first place was because of that call," he told a journalist. "They said that Border (a South African junior tennis club) was going to a national tournament and they need a black development tennis player for their team. Mom said I was good at multiple sports and felt that I would pick up tennis quickly."

Phumla Montsi's intuition proved to be correct, forever altering the life path of her oldest son.

Illini coach Brad Dancer admits that luck and various South African connections also played a huge role in Siphos eventually ending up at the University of Illinois.

"What's interesting is that we did not really get a chance to evaluate Siphos," Dancer said. "He had committed to Pepperdine. Then they had a coaching change and he reached out to us about opportunities at Illinois. You never know how some of these things work out."

Former Illini star and fellow South African Kevin Anderson also swayed Montsi's decision.

"Kevin told me a lot about college tennis at Illinois and a lot of good things about the University of Illinois," Siphos said, "so he definitely played a role, too."

Once Montsi made a visit to the Champaign-Urbana campus, it was love at first sight.

"I was mind-blown," he said. "We have really amazing facilities here, but I was also mind-blown by the campus, seeing all these big buildings and all of these young kids all in one place. It was great for me to see it first-hand. Immediately, I wanted to be a part of it all."

Success, however, didn't come as quickly for Montsi. As a freshman in 2018-19, he compiled a respectable 10-10 singles record and improved that mark to 17-9 as a sophomore.

He credits his extra work in the weight room for achieving first-team All-Big Ten status in 2021.

"I've been putting a lot more time in at the gym," he said, "so I've gotten a lot stronger, physically. I've been focusing on longer workouts to improve my endurance."

Dancer says that Siphos' mind is stronger, too.

"He's become a lot more aggressive," Dancer said. "Siphos is able to dictate more now than he could before. He's always been an incredible counter puncher and a tremendous defensive player. His serve has improved so dramatically. He's got more energy on his forehand … more RPMs. He can locate the ball better and his transition game has improved incredibly. He's much more adept at finishing points at the net than he was before. Mentally and emotionally, he's just matured so much, not being upset by things and not letting things get to him."

But there's much more to Siphosothando Montsi than his 15-3 singles record. It was he and partner Noe Khlif's success on the doubles court last weekend that helped Illinois win its first Big Ten Tournament championship since 2015. How Siphos and Noe got partnered is a story in itself.

"We put them together one day in practice to test some other doubles teams we were looking at," Dancer explained. "One of my assistant coaches immediately said, 'These guys have an interesting chemistry and they're playing off each other tactically.' I said, 'Come on, we just threw them out there as a practice team.' We did it again the next day, then again the next day. Three days into it, I'm like 'There might be something here.' And then they rattled off victories in their first six or seven matches and became more confident. They've got good tactical cohesiveness and pretty good emotional cohesiveness. Then you add some confidence to it and they're going out and playing some fantastic doubles at the moment. Part of their chemistry is that they have a lot of trust in one another … trust that they're going to be in the right place at the right time, cleaning up set-up shots. They're both good clean-up guys for each other and they're both great defensive players for each other, so that confidence and that trust has really helped grow that team."

Music is a big part of Montsi's life, too. He fancies himself a singer and rapper.

"As any of my teammates will tell you, I'm always listening to music on the bus, before matches, after matches," he said. "Roddy Ricch, Nba YoungBoy, Rod Wave … I've always got my pre-match playlist on and jamming out."

Montsi, an economics major at Illinois, makes it clear that others in his life have significantly contributed to his success.

"I've got two great coaches that push me every day, both on the court and in the classroom," he said. "They encourage me to be a great young man. Coach Brad and Coach Marcos (Asse) just want to see me get better and reach my goals and dreams. I am blessed to have coaches that will do anything to help me work hard and improve every day."

And though they're thousands of miles away in South Africa, Monti says he always feels the support of his family.

"Oh, yes," he says, "not a hundred percent, but a thousand percent. I am a very independent person because of the experiences I've had, but their support has just been phenomenal for both me and my little brother (Kholo). They have shaped me to be the person that I am. They've always told me that if I put my mind to it, I could achieve a lot of great things. I may not come from the best financial background, but I've always felt that the support of my parents was greater than the other kids. Their love and support are what motivates me."

Among Montsi's loftiest objectives is to win at Wimbledon.

"Yes, that's right at the top of the mountain," he said, "and I'm working every day to one day reach that goal.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Thousands of heart-warming stories have counteractively emerged over the past 13 months to help clear away the dark clouds that comprise COVID-19. The Fighting Illini men's golf program has one, too, and its story's silver lining just might evolve into a sixth consecutive Big Ten title.

This tale draws a circle around a trio of Illinois golfers who transformed their relationship from mere teammates into one of an Illini brotherhood.

It all began on the afternoon of March 12, 2020, when Illini coaches and administrators were charged to deliver the news to their student-athletes that, by edict of the Big Ten Conference, their respective sports seasons were being immediately concluded. Athletes were advised to leave campus, without delay, and return to their homes across America.

However, for Illini golfers Adrien Dumont de Chassart of Villers la Ville, Belgium, and Jerry Ji of Hoofddorp, Netherlands, it was a significantly more complicated situation. Climbing into a car and returning to their families' homes simply wasn't an option. Their parents were literally thousands of miles away in Europe. Furthermore, American government officials hadn't yet clarified what restrictions were going to be assigned to international travel.

"Since Jerry and I were the only international players on the team, we didn't really know what to do," Adrien remembered. "Since we were new and we didn't have any news about the travel regulations, we were kind of scared that we wouldn't be able to come back (to Champaign) by September for the beginning of the (2020-21) school year."

Because all campus facilities were being closed, Coach Mike Small and athletic department personnel arranged for Ji to be re-assigned from his campus dorm to the apartment that Dumont de Chassart and then sophomore Tommy Kuhl (pronounced COOL) shared in Champaign. There, the threesome was told to quarantine.

Kuhl, whose family lived in Morton, Ill., agonized and sympathized about his teammates' dilemma.

"With Adrien and Jerry being from overseas, I knew it was going to be very difficult for them," he said. "Everyone was going home to their families, but they were stuck here. They couldn't leave. They couldn't practice. They couldn't work out. I eventually went home to Morton. It was a week or two into the quarantine when I came to Champaign to bring Adrien something.

"I told them, 'My parents would love to host you guys. I only live an hour and 15 minutes away. We'd have access to workout facilities and my parents would cook great meals for you guys … just being together would be a lot of fun.'"

Ji and Dumont de Chassart conferred with their parents, accepted Kuhl's invitation, and moved their belongings to Morton.

Kuhl's parents, Mike and Michele, welcomed their son's friends with open arms.

"I had told my husband that I hoped that if Tommy was in that situation overseas that someone would step in and help him," Michele said. "As parents, you worry about your kids. That's a lot for a teenager to navigate. I worried about what kind of meals they were eating, so the 'mom' in me kicked in. I wanted to take care of them."

Adrien, Jerry and Tommy then implemented a strict schedule for themselves.

"They were still going to school," Michele said, "so the three of them became very regimented. They woke up early to work out. After breakfast, they did their schoolwork until about 1 o'clock, then they'd go to our garage where we have a (hitting) net and a putting green. They would practice for several hours."

In the evening, the family gathered together to watch TV and movies or to play board games.

"We would often play trivia, even though I'm not good at that," Adrien said. "I think I got one correct answer during the entire time I was there."

What was expected to be a week-long visit extended to a month, and then two.

"From my perspective, we had four kids in the house (including the Kuhl's older son, Pete, then a senior member of Wisconsin's golf team)," Michele said. "We went through a lot of food. I fed them very, very well. They were part of our family. I made them do chores. I just treated them like I do my own kids. They had to vacuum and dust and change sheets and do some of the laundry. Having Adrien and Jerry here was really good for Tommy because it gave him a little bit of normalcy. They definitely motivated each other. It was good for my older son, too, and now he considers Adrien and Jerry to be good friends. It all worked out."

"Staying with Tommy's family was a cool way to experience American culture," said Ji, "especially for me coming from an Asian family. The Kuhl family hosted Adrien and me like their own children, so I'm really appreciative for that. For them to take us in for that long was really awesome. We created a great bond together with the whole Kuhl family. It was just a really cool experience."

By the end of May, Adrien and Jerry were allowed to fly home to their parents' respective homes in Europe.

Mike Small has bestowed a special title upon Tommy Kuhl's parents.

"Mike and Michele were MVPs in allowing those two young men to live with their family," Small said. "Adrien and Jerry got more of an appreciation for the American way of life. The Kuhls are just normal Midwestern people and they got to experience the family's friendliness. It really solidified Adrien and Jerry's love for the university and made it more personal. The three families all grew closer together. Tommy's parents have been really instrumental and we're very grateful for that."

Adrien, Jerry and Tommy are now focused on this weekend's Big Ten Championships at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., where the Illini are seeking their 11th team title in the last 12 conference meets.

"We all love the challenge of winning for the sixth time in a row," Dumont de Chassart said. "Our one goal is to win. We'll show up and do our best."

Ji concurred, saying, "Because of the trust that we on the team have for each other, we know that if we all hit our standards we'll be able to win any tournament that we play. We're going treat the Big Tens like any other tournament."

Kuhl echoed his friends' sentiments.

"We've put in the work all year and we're gaining momentum," he said. "The biggest thing about playing well at Big Tens is to stay in the present, to not think too far ahead, and to just take it one shot at a time. If we hit our standards, we will come out on top."

Small considers the conference tournament as the season's most important weekend.

"The Big Ten Championship is the one that's remembered," he said. "It's the one they give rings for and it's the one that goes in the record books. For all they've gone through, it's important to leave a legacy for these kids."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

In sports, "hero" is a term that's often used for the individual who tallies the game-winning touchdown or makes an exceptional play. In life, however, "hero" is reserved for people of distinguished courage and who are appreciated for their daring and virtuous characteristics.

Former Fighting Illini football letterman Tim McCarthy has earned his place in this elite category. It wasn't until nearly a decade after his playing days at Illinois that the truly heroic portion of his life would come to light.

That day was forty years ago – on March 30, 1981 – when McCarthy took a bullet in defense of President Ronald Reagan.

McCarthy's path to football was a bit of an unorthodox one. Young Tim played football in grammar school, but only weighed in at around 100 pounds as a freshman at all-male Leo Catholic High School in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood of southside Chicago. He lettered in wrestling and track and field but decided not to participate in his favorite sport—football—due to his slight frame. A mid-teens growth spurt, topping him off at 145 pounds, allowed McCarthy to change his mind going into his senior year.

As an academically gifted University of Illinois freshman in the Fall of 1967, he "seemed to have some extra time on my hands."

"I went to the football office, asked if I could sign up, and they agreed," McCarthy said. "J.C. Caroline was the freshman coach at the time and we were the scout team for the varsity."

As a sophomore in 1968, the Illini coaches moved McCarthy from split end to strong safety in mid-season and he wound up playing 44 minutes, primarily in the final four games. In the second semester, Coach Jim Valek's staff surprisingly rewarded him with a scholarship.

McCarthy played extensively as a junior, logging 198 minutes and recording 64 tackles. The most notable individual play of his career came that season against Purdue, a 46-yard interception return from a pass thrown by Boilermaker quarterback and 1969 Heisman Trophy runner-up Mike Phipps.

When is college career came to an end, the finance major interviewed with a number of home state companies, but says he "didn't get the warm fuzzies to be in a finance department somewhere."

That's when he checked out careers with the Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a line of work similar to his father (Norman) who was a sergeant with the Chicago Police Department.

 "At that time, the Secret Service and FBI were looking for business majors to do white-collar, criminal investigations," McCarthy said. "The Secret Service does criminal investigations from field offices, but it also does protection, so the combination of the two seemed pretty interesting."

In late January of 1972, McCarthy was on a skiing vacation in Colorado with Illini teammates Doug Dieken and Bob Burns when he got news of his acceptance.

"The letter said that I had been hired and that I was to report to the Chicago field office," McCarthy said. "We cut the skiing trip short and I got on a plane and reported for duty."

For the initial six months, McCarthy attended treasury and law enforcement school in Washington, D.C. He then was assigned in Chicago for the next seven years, working cases that involved counterfeit currency, recovering stolen government checks and bonds, and investigating threat cases against the President.

The track then called for a transfer to protection of the President, Vice President, or a former President and, based upon glowing performance evaluations and recommendations, McCarthy was transferred to Washington to join a team that protected President Jimmy Carter.

Ronald Reagan defeated Carter in the 1980 election, but McCarthy remained in his position.

On March 30, 1981, McCarthy was assigned to a protection unit for President Reagan's noon address to a group of building trades union members at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

"After the speech was over, we left. The Hilton Ballroom is actually below level," McCarthy recalled. "As we left, we walked in a specific formation around the President. The door of the armored car was open as it was supposed to be as we got close to it. Just as we got there, John Hinckley pushed himself forward and fired six rounds with a revolver in about 1.4 seconds."

The shots hit four people. Presidential Press Secretary Jim Brady, a 1962 University of Illinois graduate, was the first to be hit. The other victims were D.C. policeman Tom Delahanty, the President and McCarthy in 1.4 seconds. The President was pushed into the armored car and was ultimately taken to George Washington Hospital. McCarthy, who had taken a bullet in his chest, was sent to the same hospital.

"In the Secret Service, your training is to cover and evacuate the President," McCarthy explained. "You constantly go through training to that effect. You simulate attacks on the President, practicing with flash-bangs (a grenade that produces a bright flash and a loud noise so as to stun or disorient people without causing serious injury), with pistols with blanks, so the techniques are drilled into you. So when it actually happens, you cover the President—as I did—and others evacuate the President, as Jerry Parr and Ray Shattuck did. It's training, just like you train for football. We train our military to charge up the hill in the face of gunfire, we train our firemen to go into burning buildings, and we train our policemen to go down dark alleys. This was really a result of training."

After 10 days recovering in the hospital, McCarthy received a message shortly before he was released.

"My wife and children were picking me up at the hospital, and we got a message to come up to see the President in his room before we left," he said. "That sounded a bit like an order, so we went up there. He was still hooked up to several of the same kinds of machines that I'd been hooked up to. My kids, being kids, were fascinated by all of the flashing lights on the equipment that was largely connected to the President.

"Just as we were about to walk out of the room, the President said 'Hold on, Tim … wait a minute. What was it with this guy? McCarthy, Brady, Delahanty, Reagan … what the hell did this guy have against the Irish?' That's the way the man was.

"There's a theory that, in incidents such as this, a third of the people never effectively go back to what they were doing before they were traumatized. We now know it as PTSD. Another third of the people go back, but they have residual effects, and another third it doesn't bother them in the slightest. For the President, this wasn't going to affect the rest of his presidency or the rest of his life. He was a great example for me."

McCarthy completed two more years of service with the President, then was transferred back to Chicago. After two-and-a-half years, he was transferred back to Washington to become the assistant special agent in charge … the number two person.

His supervisory responsibilities included the President, but he also oversaw the transportation section (agents that drive the armored limos) and protection of the First Lady.

"I often traveled with Mrs. Reagan and her liaison, so I got to know her extremely well during that time," McCarthy said. "She was doing quite a bit of foreign travel by herself into some places where the threat level was pretty high."

After three more years with President Reagan and a year with President George H.W. Bush, McCarthy was transferred back to Chicago and was promoted to Special Agent in charge of the Chicago Division of the Secret Service (approximately 100 agents in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana). After three years in that position, McCarthy was offered a position with a security company "that I couldn't pass up." He stepped away from that brief stint in the private sector in May of 1994 to became Chief of Police for the City of Orland Park, Ill. 

Twenty-six years later—on Aug. 1, 2020—McCarthy retired.

For the last several years, McCarthy has been an active Illini football fan, attending both Illinois's 2019 victories in Champaign over Wisconsin and in East Lansing over Michigan State.

Tim McCarthy is Doug Dieken's definition of a hero.

"To begin as a walk-on, then earn a scholarship, then became a starter, then to save the life of a president … that's a pretty special person," Dieken said. "Tim is just a special, special human being."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

The past 12 months of pandemic life have been a stressful, soul-searching time for many, but Illini golfer Tristyn Nowlin has taken it upon herself to turn a potentially adverse period into a life-altering positive.

The Spring of 2020 was supposed to have been a particularly exhilarating four months for the senior from Richmond, Ky. Then came Thursday, March 12, the day the world changed for Nowlin and more than 500 of her fellow Illini athletes.

Her words a year ago have since proven to be prophetic: "We're receiving new information each and every day, so I think it's important that I keep my options open and don't go down the rabbit hole of saying 'Oh, everything's over. This is all over. I have no chance to get that closure.' Because I think everybody—myself and everyone on the team—has faith that this will all work out for the better."

Nowlin returned home to the Bluegrass State and completed her classes online. She completed her undergraduate coursework, but instead of attending the traditional commencement ceremony in person only "virtually" received her degree in kinesiology. She's currently enrolled in UI's recreation, sport and tourism master's program, and expects to complete that degree in August.

"The decision to come back was something I thought about as soon as I heard the announcement," Nowlin said recently. "Obviously, I had the immediate feelings of sadness and the loss of the closing of my collegiate career that I had envisioned for myself. There was tons of speculation about being able to be granted an additional year of eligibility. Being part of that lucky group that was given the chance to come back, it was really a no-brainer for me. I love this team. I love this community. I love this university, all of our support staff, just everyone surrounding this Illini family. I was not ready to leave and, honestly, I'll probably never be ready to leave. I think now that the good that came out of a tough situation was just a greater appreciation for every opportunity we're given every day. I'm very grateful to be in the position that I'm in. I'm grateful to be surrounded by some pretty special people here. I'm just not taking anything for granted. I'm grateful for just being able to pick up and swing a club with the people that I love."

Though not necessarily because of the potential COVID-19 implications, Nowlin also began to focus on her personal health. She suffers from a common disorder called hypothyroidism, a disease that causes the body to not make enough thyroid hormone. The thyroid controls how the body's cells use energy from food, a process called metabolism. One's metabolism causes body processes to slow down and to make less energy.

"It actually stemmed around the cancelling of my senior season," Nowlin explained. "I was experiencing quite a bit of anxiety heading into my senior season. I had difficulty eating, so my initial weight loss didn't come from a good place. In that process, I kind of felt like I was losing myself and my love for the game of golf because I was experiencing so much anxiety."

Nowlin decided to seek help from the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics' sports medicine and nutrition staffs.

"I learned from them that just as you have to fuel your car properly, you have to fuel your body properly," she said. "Knowing what foods make me feel good and what foods help me to perform my best is a perspective that I've been able to achieve. Throughout this whole process, I've learned how to fuel my body and how to take care of it. Thanks to this amazing university and all of our resources, I reached out and I got help, and I found myself again. I feel the best I've ever felt. I feel and look like a totally different person. I've dedicated a lot of time to going to the gym, to fueling my body, and just feeling amazing. And that's translated to golf as well."

This week, Nowlin is scheduled to play apart from her Illini teammates in Georgia, at the Augusta National Women's Amateur (ANWA), Mar. 31-Apr. 3. Qualifying rounds are at the Champions Retreat Golf Club in Evans, Ga. If Nowlin makes the cut, she would play the championship round at the famed Augusta National Golf Club.

Nowlin is among a highly prestigious field of 85 of the world's best amateur women's golfers. She played at the inaugural ANWA in 2019 and is looking forward to improving upon that initial appearance.

"Having previously played there is definitely advantageous," she said. "Obviously, it's a big stage and more hype surrounds it. But in the end, I'm just playing golf. That's all I'm doing. I'm going to enjoy myself and really just take the entire experience in because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Nowlin admits that her first experience of playing at Augusta National was a bit surreal.

"The feeling that you get when you step up on the first tee is knowing all of the greats that have been there," she said. "It kind of feels like 'I made it.' I grew up watching the Masters Tournament. Going through every single hole, I would get flashbacks of sitting with my dad, watching the TV. And then, lo and behold, there I was standing on No. 1 tee at Augusta National Golf Club. It's such an honor."

Nowlin says that taking various psychology courses at the University of Illinois has helped her as a golfer.

"The biggest strength of my game is definitely the mental aspect," she said. "The majority of it is just having that ability to be mentally present and not focused on the future or the past … just literally focusing on the shot that's in front of you and nothing else. One of my favorite classes at the U of I was abnormal psych. Figuring out how the mind works in humans is very interesting and I've taken a lot of that into my golf career. It's very useful, very helpful."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

When asked about the impact and influence that Nike, Inc. has had upon Fighting Illini athletics during their 25-year affiliation, soccer coach Janet Rayfield paused for a second, then snickered.

"I'm laughing right now because I look down and everything I'm wearing has a swoosh on it," she said.

Undoubtedy, Rayfield isn't the only one who's been "swooshed". A September report by Statista Research indicated that a large proportion of Americans own Nike brand apparel, accounting for nearly $16 billion in sales in 2019. That's an increase of more than 230 percent since 2010.

Young folks, including about 500 Illini student-athletes, are increasingly leaning toward "casual fashion", an area in which Nike specializes. According to former UI equipment manager Andy Dixon, Nike's popularity began years ago.

"Back in the day," Dixon said, "if you polled a hundred of our student-athletes, 99 would have chosen Nike. It was definitely a trend for the young athletes to wear Nike."

Current Illini head baseball coach Dan Hartleb calls Nike "a magic name".

"When you study what Nike does from a branding and advertising standpoint, it seems as though there's something new on the market every day," Hartleb said. "When you look at their website, there's apparel and footwear for every category … from skateboarding to baseball and basketball and football and running. There are some very simple designs, but it varies to what some would consider to be really wild designs. They've done a great job of marketing to the youth and the older consumer as well."

According to Rayfield, it's that ever-evolving variety that makes Nike the first brand to explore, especially for females.

"When I played," she said, "there was only one type of cleat … and you probably had to get a kids' size in order to make it fit my foot. I had a teammate in college that had to buy a nylon kids shoe because her foot was a size four. We couldn't find a quality shoe because not many male players had feet that small. Now, you've got all sorts of different materials, so the athlete really has some options in terms of what not just fits their foot but what they think gives them the feel and support that they want to be able to perform. When it comes to striking a ball and having a touch on a ball, everyone has a little bit different preference. Nike has really expanded their line to accommodate not just the different foot size but what players feel like they need to compete well."

That wide assortment for the female athlete also pertains to non-shoe apparel.

"Nike has been a company that's been at the forefront of product and innovation, both in the world of soccer and in the world of women's athletics,' Rayfield said. "Nike had some of the first women-specific uniforms, but I think they've also been a leader in terms of really making sure that their apparel and gear fits not only the casual female person, but is really geared toward the college athlete that has the same aspirations of playing professionally. That's been an important part of it for me and for our program."

Hartleb and Rayfield agree that the University of Illinois's association with Nike has provided Illini coaches with a distinct recruiting advantage.

"When recruits know that they're going to be outfitted from head to toe and have up-to-date technology in terms of the footwear and Nike's Dri-FIT materials, it's definitely something that we use in recruiting," Hartleb said. "It's given us great exposure."

"Absolutely, our association with Nike give us a recruiting advantage," Rayfield said. "We walk out into the recruiting field decked out in Nike and it makes a statement. We ask, 'Hey, are you a Nike person?' and they say 'Absolutely!' Then, you know you're in the door from that standpoint."

Young athletes are also very cognizant of Nike's loyalty to superstar clients and their causes. For many of them, Nike is not only a commodity, but also a statement. Today's consumers demand that.

"Brand image is such a huge part of corporate America right now and that's certainly true throughout the athletics side," Rayfield said. "Nike has been conscious of its brand from the beginning and it's conscious of the athletes they bring into their brand and the message that they present. Soccer's closest association with that is Mia Hamm. I know what she stands for has always been important to her and important to Nike."

Hartleb agrees.

"Nike is not just a U.S. market, it's a worldwide market," he said. "They have a great awareness of what's happening around the world and view things from many different angles. Nike has done a very good job of supporting their athletes and they've used their platform as an awareness for many issues."

UI Director of Athletics Josh Whitman looks forward to extending Illinois's relationship with Nike far into the future.

"We're one of only a handful of schools that was involved with Nike's initial partnership group," Whitman said. "That's pretty special. Over the years, we've challenged each other to be creative, to think about new ideas in innovative ways, and to try and advance the interest of both our program and the Nike brand. It's been a fun partnership and certainly one that's been incredibly beneficial for the University and for Illini athletics."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Twenty-year-old Lucas Byrd has been wrestling "unofficially" since the age of three, but he's never had matches as challenging as he'll encounter this week at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis.

He's one of five Fighting Illini athletes who'll be competing at the Gateway City's Enterprise Center. The 133-pounder will be joined by teammates Dylan Duncan (141), Danny Braunagel (165), Zac Braunagel (184) and Luke Luffman (heavyweight).

Seeded No. 7, Byrd brings an overall record of 11-2 to St. Louis, following his third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. In part, his competition at the nationals is familiar. Among the 33 wrestlers at 133 pounds are eight Big Ten wrestlers, Byrd wrestled and defeated four of them in 2021.

His only so-called "Achilles heel" has been fourth-seeded Austin DeSanto of Iowa, a competitor who's dealt Byrd his only two losses this season. The first time they met was Jan. 31st in Iowa City, with DeSanto handing Byrd a 15-4 decision.

On Mar. 6, they met again at the Big Ten meet. It was a much more competitive match, but Byrd lost again, this time by a 5-4 score.

"That was a tough one," Byrd said, "because deep down I know I should have won that match. It was extremely winnable. At the end of the match, DeSanto says to me 'I respect you. You've made a lot of improvement.' I looked at him and said, 'Hey, I'm comin'!' I'm very happy with how the second match went. Losing sucks, but I'm closing the gap and I'm going to keep closing in on the top guys, and then I'm going to be the top guy."

According to Illini head coach Jim Heffernan, confidence is definitely not a shortcoming for Lucas Byrd.

"Lucas thinks he's going to win every match," Heffernan said. "It doesn't matter who he's wrestling. That's what you want. You want a kid who's confident and thinks he can win every time out. That goes a long way. The biggest thing with Lucas is, because he's young, we have to keep him out of his own way. He still needs to respect these guys and still needs to approach it like there's going to be hard matches. None of that bothers him. He would rather it be hard than easy."

That might explain the tattoos on each of Byrd's arms. On his right arm are the words "What I had I gave". On his left arm is an equally prophetic phrase: "What I saved I lost." Byrd explained his reasoning.

"For my first tattoo, I didn't exactly know what I wanted, but I did know that I wanted a quote that kind of stuck with me," Byrd said. "I was really close with my academic advisor at LaSalle (High School in Cincinnati). So she wrote those words on a piece of paper. And I said, 'Sounds good, that's what I'll get'. So I got the tattoo."

A few weeks later, he was visiting the wrestling room of nearby Elder High School.

"There was a big panther (Elder High's mascot) on the wall," Byrd said. "On one side of the Panther were the words 'What I had I gave' and on the other side it said 'What I saved I lost'. And I was like 'Well, I'll be damned. She gave me a quote from a rival high school.'

"But I haven't regretted it at all," Byrd said. "It's something I live by. The 'What I had I gave" means that you gave everything. You don't save anything. There's no point. You only get one shot at life, at wrestling, at academics. You only have one chance, so why not give everything. The second part—'What I saved I lost'—to me it means whatever you saved, you wasted it. That's not what I want to do. I want to use everything that was given to be the best me."

The University of Illinois wasn't Byrd's original choice, having committed to attend Maryland as a high school sophomore. Then, in his senior season at LaSalle, the Terrapins made a coaching change and Byrd re-opened his recruitment. His prep coach was Illini wrestling alum Ryan Root.

"Because of Coach Root, we attended summer team camps at Illinois," Byrd said, "so I had a feel for how Illini coaches ran practice and how they interacted with people. When I began considering other schools, I decided that it was going to be hard for me to turn down a full ride to a school that's three hours from home."

Combined with a redshirt freshman record of 11-4, Byrd now owns an impressive 22-6 record over two Illini seasons.

He majors in Recreation, Sports and Tourism at the University of Illinois, but Byrd's current plans to eventually turn to a career in coaching will have to wait. Once he gets his degree, he wants to contend in the popular Ultimate Fighting Championship competition.

"During quarantine, I was working out at a gym in Harrison, Ohio called Drive Mixed Martial Arts," he said. "It really kind of stapled in that I really want to try fighting in the UFC."

Speaking of his summer quarantine, Byrd had an interesting off-season, actually being infected with the COVID-19 strain. Fortunately, he didn't have any lingering symptoms.

And, oh, yes, we should explain how Byrd is a 17-year veteran of the wrestling mat. You see, his dad would often take young Lucas to his older brother Max's practices.

"I remember watching Max at practice, walking around and trying to do moves," Byrd said. "I just looked like I was rolling around. So, at about age three, my dad stuffed some pillow cases, sewed them together, and made what was like a little wrestling dummy. That's when I started and I would wrestle with the dummy every day. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was on a wrestling mat and I was playing with a doll that my dad had made for me."

There'll be no inanimate wrestling objects for Lucas this weekend, just a bunch of tough, 133-pound dudes.

Reminds Heffernan, "Having a conference-only schedule, we've only seen the best guys in the country. So, I expect Lucas will have a good weekend in St. Louis."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Though Fighting Illini distance runner Ayah Aldadah prefers to dress modestly, the strength and character with which she carries herself exudes a special sense of pride.

On Monday at 11:50 a.m., the confident junior from Peoria will be poised alongside her University of Illinois teammates at the starting line for the NCAA Championships meet in Stillwater, Okla.

With the temperature projected to be in the mid 60s, Illinois' uniform will include a gray top with an orange Block I, orange shorts and blue Nike shoes. However, Aldadah's attire will have a few additional "modest" twists. She'll also be garbed with a long-sleeved white shirt, bright orange leggings and a tan-colored head covering called a hijab.

In Arabic, the word hijab means "barrier" or "to cover." In Islam, it has an even broader definition. It is the principle of modesty and behavior for both males and females. The most visible form of hijab is the head covering that Muslim women wear.

Aldadah is a proud, soon-to-be 21-year-old Muslim woman who follows Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion. Born in Peoria on April 13, 2000, her parents Dr. Monzer Aldadah and May Abouhouli emigrated to the United States from Palestine in the early 1990s.

Aldadah attended Peoria's Dunlap High School where she helped the Eagles win the state's 2017 Class 2A cross country championship and two more state titles in track and field. She initially chose to attend Bradley University in her hometown.

"I wasn't ready to leave home yet," Aldadah explained. "I was very much a home body, so It was a good transition for me to go to Bradley."

Yet, Aldadah wanted more.

"My two years at Bradley were good for me, but then I realized that I wanted a different experience at a bigger school with a bigger program."

So, Aldadah transferred to the University of Illinois where Illini coach Sarah Haveman had originally recruited her. It's also where her older brother, Waleed, had graduated in 2017 and where her older sister, Lina, had graduated three years later.

Furthermore, Aldadah's grandfather, Dr. Awad Abouhouli, had been a physician at the U of I's McKinley Health Center, so her family's many visits to Champaign-Urbana made the Twin Cities seem like a second home.

"I just knew I belonged at Illinois," Aldadah said. "The University of Illinois always has felt so natural. I wanted to be a part of Illinois' close-knit team, one that everyone ran for each other. It's just a place that I knew I could grow. Our coaches know how to develop athletes well and help them achieve their goals. And now, here we are at the national meet."

The Illini were able to advance to the nationals following their third-place team finish at the Big Ten Championships. Individually, Aldadah placed 15th with a time of 21:01.7 and was the third Illini to finish.

Last Wednesday, just a couple of days before she and her Illini teammates arrived in Oklahoma for the NCAA meet, Aldadah was standing in a committee room at the state capitol in Springfield. Because she is a Muslim and a prominent Division I athlete, she was asked by State Representative Will Guzzardi to testify in support of his "Inclusive Athletic Attire Act," Illinois House Bill 120.

***

***

After presentations were made, including nearly four minutes of comments from Aldadah, the House committee voted unanimously to pass the bill and send it through to the Senate where another committee will confer on Tuesday for the purpose of making it an Illinois state law. Aldadah's twin sister, Huda, currently a fencer at Duke University, will testify Tuesday before senators.

"It was difficult for girls in high school to dress modestly and compete in sports," Aldadah said. "That's where we're missing our potential for additional (Muslim) athletes."

"People ask if that's why most Muslim girls tend not to go into sports," she continued. "Personally, I think of it as a source of empowerment, that I can do this and not many people can. I'm doing this for my religion and I get my strength from that. I'm representing Muslim girls and showing them that they can do it, too."

Aldadah admits that her extra garb has drawn a few comments.

"Definitely, I'm used to the looks," she said, "but it hasn't been to the extent of where I've had to address it. In fact, I've gotten more support than I've gotten negative comments."

When the pandemically challenged collegiate cross country season ends for the Illini, Aldadah will turn her attention to track and field, where she'll likely compete in the 5K, 10K or steeplechase.

As a University of Illinois student-athlete, Aldadah majors in advertising and expects to graduate in 2023. She wants to work on the advertising side of a non-profit organization like UNICEF or the World Health Organization, helping people through those types of non-profits.

But, first things first … she and her Illini teammates have a race to run today.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

They were a trio whose cumulative accomplishments in the 1980s and '90s were truly monumental.

They combined for more than 60 Big Ten individual and relay championships, 42 All-America honors, three individual NCAA titles, one Olympic medal, nine first-place conference team trophies, and nine more conference runner-up finishes.

Absolutely no one can argue that these Hall of Famers -- Celena Mondie-Milner, Tonja Buford Bailey and Tonya Williams -- changed the face of Illinois women's track and field.

For a span of 10 seasons—from 1987 through 1996—these ladies helped Coach Gary Winckler's track and field teams achieve more success than any other Fighting Illini program.

***

It was Mondie-Milner who initially set the bar for all who followed her. The Milledgeville, Ga. native, one of the Big Ten's most dominating sprinters ever, was inspired at the age of eight to run track when she watched a movie about the legendary Wilma Rudolph. Overcoming polio as a child, Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics.

"I was just amazed at her sheer will to overcome so much difficulty to cope with in life and become the world's best female athlete," Mondie-Milner told writer Larry Watts in 2011. "That movie was just a defining moment for me."

Having already taken recruiting trips to Michigan State, Georgia and Georgia Tech, she had no idea that she'd eventually wear Fighting Illini Orange and Blue.

"I came up to visit Illinois on the coldest day of the year and there was snow everywhere," she told the 2011 writer.

That's when Winckler took Mondie-Milner on a tour of UI's famed Armory. Upon learning more about the University of Illinois' renowned academic offerings and the resources afforded to student-athletes, she cancelled her fifth recruiting visit (to UCLA) and signed on the dotted line with Winckler.

As a freshman in 1987, Mondie-Milner ran a leg on Illinois' championship indoor and outdoor 4x100-meter relay teams, then collected four more Big Ten titles as a sophomore. As a junior, she added six Big Ten trophies as a sprinter, then in 1990 as a senior, she won four individual and three relay championships.

"A lot of the ideas Gary generated were cutting edge for sprinters and hurdlers," she told Watts. "He was always trying to think of ways to get the athletes to be more efficient and train them to their fullest potential. No matter how painful the workouts were for me, I knew there was a method to his madness."

Mondie-Milner attempted to make the United States Olympic teams three different times—1992, '96 and 2000—but fell short each time. She also competed in the 1995 and '97 World Championships and won gold with the 4x100 team in '95 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

As an Illini freshman in 1990, Buford Bailey viewed Mondie-Milner, her senior teammate, as "a true role model."

"Celena was the one that I managed my life after in my first season," Buford Bailey said. "She worked really hard in practice, she had a great relationship with Gary, and she was successful. So she was the one that I latched on to."

Today, Mondie-Milner serves the University of Texas in Austin as its Executive Director of New Student Services.

***

Buford Bailey came to the U of I from Dayton, Ohio, the home of childhood hero Edwin Moses, the world's greatest hurdler.

"When I lived in Dayton, we drove down Edwin C. Moses Boulevard every day," she said "He was the reason why I ran the 400 hurdles."

Like Mondie-Milner, Buford Bailey was a devoted disciple of her Illini head coach.

"Gary wasn't just a coach for me," she said, "he was like a dad. I thought the world of him and I still do. Pretty much every piece of advice I got from him. I would have never had the kind of belief and confidence in myself as an athlete if it wasn't for Gary. I remember him telling me very early on that 'Those legs are going to make you some money one day' and I couldn't imagine that something like that could be possible. I always felt like if he believed in me, then I could do anything."

In Buford Bailey's four seasons at Illinois (1990-93), she captured an incredible 25 individual and relay team titles, had 10 All-America efforts, and was a four-time Big Ten track and field Athlete of the Year.

She says her best race was her 1992 NCAA championship in the 400-meter hurdles, the first-ever national title won by an Illini women's athlete.

"It wasn't even a race that I went into as the favorite," Buford Bailey said. "That's when I realized that I could really do well in that event. And it was the race that gave me the confidence going into the (Olympic) Trials that year."

She wasn't at all confident that she would earn a spot on the 1992 Olympic squad.

"Honestly, I was just thinking that it would be a good experience and that I would get to meet all these fantastic track stars," she said. "It was one of the first times that my entire family watched me race, so that was really fantastic. After the race, the officials gave the flag to Kim Batten, so I wasn't really sure that I had made the team. Then the results came up and saw that I got second, so I went running back out to the track and did a little victory lap by myself. It was so unbelievable."

Then, as a second-time Olympic participant at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Buford Bailey took success one step further in the 400 hurdles.

"I actually went into that race thinking that I could win, so when I got the bronze (medal), I was very disappointed," she said. "I walked off the track really disappointed that I didn't win. Then, when we were underneath the stadium and they were getting us prepared for the awards ceremony, I looked around and said to myself, 'Hey, there are only three of us in the entire world (who were getting medals). It could have been worse … I could have been fourth.' That's when it sinked in not to take this for granted. From then on, I was never sad about my finish. Since then, I've always been proud to have won the bronze."

In 2004, at the age of 33, Buford Bailey returned to Champaign-Urbana to serve as Gary Winckler's assistant. Then, four years later, she became head coach of the Illini women's team.

"Gary groomed me to do that," she said. "I knew that one day I would have my own program. That was exciting. It was cool to be able to call my own shots and run the team the way I wanted to, to have my own philosophy and vision, and then to win some conference titles."

Buford Bailey moved on to the University of Texas where in 2016 she was named USA Track & Field's Nike Coach of the Year, becoming the first female to be honored since the inception of the award.

Today, she directs the Buford Bailey Track Club in Austin, Tex. and has been married to former NFL player Victor Bailey for 25 years. Her son, Victor Bailey Jr.—nicknamed "VJ"—is a redshirt junior with the University of Tennessee's basketball program. Her daughter, Victoria, is a standout volleyball player.

***

Tonya Williams was involved in a wide variety of sports as a child in Norfolk, Va.

"I wanted to play football, too, but they wouldn't let the girls play with the boys, so I lost that battle," she said.

Williams' youth coaches finally got her involved in track as a high school junior. A year later, she was taking recruiting trips in search of a college scholarship, first to Penn State, then to Illinois.

"Once I got to Illinois and visited with Gary and Ron (Garner) and Tonja, it just felt like home," Williams said. "Tonja, she was just so normal. To know that she had just made it to the Olympics and she was a big time track girl. She was just very, very humble … very sweet and welcoming. She's just always been that big sister that I never had. I felt so comfortable with her. I trusted her. Once I got there with Tonja, that's all I needed. She was the confirmation. She was a God send."

And like Mondie-Milner and Buford Bailey, Williams' respect for her head coach grew exponentially.

"I just loved Gary's approach with coaching … his specifics, the strategy, and how he broke everything down and made it so simple," she said. "It was a lot, but it was very simple. I loved how he explained our meals and our sleep and how that all factored in. He was a strategist and that was amazing to me. I didn't know a lot when it came to the dynamics of track and hurdling. To be honest, before I got to Illinois, I was just running for dear life and jumping over the hurdles. Gary specified the step pattern. His workouts were just amazing. It was truly an honor to run for him and the University of Illinois."

Williams says her most meaningful race was one that she lost in the 400 hurdles at the 1994 NCAA Championship.

"This may sound crazy, but my best race wasn't when I won the NCAAs," she said. "It was two years prior to that when I fell at nationals and I still got eighth place. That, to me, was the best race of my life. Not only did it teach me how much heart I had or how talented I was, it made me want it more. Gary showed me that race of me falling and getting up and finishing in eighth place, and he asked me 'When you fell, what were you thinking?' And in my mind, I was like 'Oh, I'm gonna catch somebody. I'm not going to be last.' And he said, 'Well, that's what you need to get back.' Because of that race, it helped me win the event the next two years."

Illinois' first two-time NCAA individual champ says she'll fondly remember her days as a young African American woman at the University of Illinois.

"With the world so crazy now and seeing so many things happening, I sometimes say I wish we could go backwards a little bit," Williams said. "I absolutely loved being at the University of Illinois. The black population wasn't many, but we all stuck together. Everyone was really nice and welcoming to us. I never experienced any type of racism or negativity at Illinois. It was a beautiful experience. Always. The coaches, our advisors and everyone in regards to our education were amazing."

Williams now resides in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. with her 12-year-old daughter and works in customer service for AT&T, supporting the state of Tennessee and some larger clients. A speech communication major at Illinois, she's confident that she'll eventually become a speech pathologist one day.

Williams says her life's proudest moment came three years when she was inducted into the Illini Hall of Fame.

"That was one year I'll never forget," she said. "It's a feeling that's unexplainable. The way they treated us and the way they rolled out the orange carpet for us, I have never been more proud. That's when I realized that I must have been really something."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

To many younger Fighting Illini fans, the name Claude "Buddy" Young may be familiar, but likely no more than someone recognized for his athletic achievement.

The University of Illinois' first nationally famous African American athlete stood only five-feet-four-inches tall, but the legacy he would go on to establish beyond the athletic fields was immeasurable.

Coaches Ray Eliot and Leo Johnson recruited the kid from Chicago Phillips High School to Champaign-Urbana to play football and run track. Dressed in football jersey No. 66, Young was magnificent as a freshman halfback in 1944, averaging nearly nine yards every time he carried the ball and tying Red Grange's single-season school record for touchdowns.

Following his service in the Navy during World War II, Young returned to Illinois, and became the first Black man to earn Most Valuable Player honors in the Rose Bowl (1947).

On the oval cinders of Memorial Stadium, Young was a sprinter extraordinaire, capturing a pair of titles at the 1944 NCAA Outdoor championships. At the prestigious Millrose Games in New York, the "Bronze Bullet" tied the world indoor record of 6.1 seconds in the 60-yard dash.

Young left Illinois in 1947 and, following the All-American Football Conference Draft, signed a contract with the New York Yankees. He eventually played 10 seasons with the Yanks, the Dallas Texans and the Baltimore Colts. He was the first Colts player to have his uniform number (22) retired.

Yet, it was Young's skills off the field that gained him his greatest acclaim. So highly respected was Young that, in 1964, he became the first African American executive hired by a major sports league. National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle specifically targeted the affable Young and snatched him away from the Colts to be his confidant and insider as it related to the rapidly growing number of Black NFL players.

In one of his first major projects, a memorandum dated August 3, 1966, Young meticulously produced a revealing five-page synopsis that was entitled "Some Observations on the NFL and Negro Players."

It's a document that renowned sociologist Harry Edwards says, "should be in Canton, enshrined in a case like the Declaration of Independence."

Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity of Ethics in Sport, concurred.

"The proposals Buddy Young spelled out here were just so forward-thinking for that period of time," Lapchick said. "He basically proposed what player programs eventually became 20 years later. This document is something activists and scholars will refer to far into the future."

To understand the period of time when Young wrote his document, the 1960s were fraught with racial injustice in the United States. In February of 1960, numerous African American students staged sit-ins at lunch counters throughout the South. Two-and-a-half years later, in September of 1962, James Meredith became the first Black man admitted to the University of Mississippi. In August of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King presented his "I have a dream" speech before more than 200,000 peaceful demonstrators on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Those actions culminated 11 months later when President Lyndon Johnson signed the historic Civil Rights Act, outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

The first three sentences of Young's memo to Rozelle came right to the point.

"Of the 560 professional athletes under contract to 14 National Football League teams at the end of the 1965 season, a total of 137 were Negroes. Approximately that same ratio prevailed among the members of the so-called taxi squads attached to these teams. Quite plainly, this is a disproportionate number of Negroes in a nation whose total population breaks down to 11.9% non-white and 89.1% white."

Ten years earlier, Young pointed out in his memo, only 58 of 406 NFL players were Black.

"Under the circumstances," Young wrote, "it is important to carefully explore the role of the Negro in the NFL today. Quite apart from mere statistics, a number of the truly celebrated stars and box-office attractions—Jimmy Brown, Gale Sayers, Bob Hayes, Dick Bass, etc.—are Negroes. Since the performance of these men can specifically relate to box-office receipts, it is no exaggeration to suggest that their performances, and the performances of the other Negro players has or may in the future be related to how they are treated by teams as well as the team cities and communities, as whole men."

"It is not the point here," Young continued, "to look into the political and civil rights sentiments of the Negro players, which vary considerably. On the basis of his autobiography two years ago, for example, Jimmy Brown takes a hard, militant view of American society, while a number of others are far more moderate. But the all too familiar atmosphere of the nation already does and certainly will continue to relate to the disposition of the attitude of Negro athletes, not to mention both Negro and non-Negro spectators and the television audience. The emergence of the more militant Negro civil rights groups, and the severe splinterization of the entire civil rights movement, individual NFL teams may expect not less but more involvement in the communities in which they operate. For these communities are, by and large, the major metropolitan areas with large Negro populations, oppressive slum areas, high unemployment, crime and truancy."

Young stressed to Commissioner Rozelle that the NFL had the opportunity to be a trend-setter.

"With such a heavy proportion of Negro players," Young wrote, "the NFL happens to be in a position to make great contributions—not only to the Negro cause, which admittedly not every owner might agree to—but to its own competitive and financial situation, which is important to every owner, as well as to the League itself. Little or nothing has ever been done in this realm by professional baseball, basketball or boxing; football has the opportunity for a real contribution."

Young then outlined to Rozelle the steps he deemed necessary to impart the beginnings of equality. First, he urged that every team should have at least one full-time front-office man "who is a Negro", for the expressed purpose of communicating with representatives of the African American community.

Secondly, "Negroes should also be employed in every department of a member club", stressing that "they should be represented as much on the sidelines, in the front-office, and in the background as on the field. Deliberate pains should be taken to assure their presence."

Furthermore, Young emphasized that new African American athletes "from Negro colleges" should be prepared, psychologically, "for the possibilities which lie ahead."

Young continued, "In short, these draftees would benefit greatly from as much as may be possible of the kind of treatment accorded the high-ranking draftees from the larger colleges. Not to do so, it is feared, may jeopardize the investment already entered upon, or may render unnecessarily more difficult the assimilation of the draftee into the club's program."

He went on to suggest that Negro players should be made available for public appearances.

"They should appear before all kinds of civic groups—Negro and white," Young said. "This type of exposure will serve three ends simultaneously: it would be a morale builder for the player, would be good for the community at large, and it would produce tremendous goodwill for the clubs."

Young urged that non college graduates should undertake full-time college studies during the off-season toward completing requirements for their degrees.

"A well-adjusted football player," Young said, "active or retired, reflects the very greatest credit upon the club and the League."

Young completed his report by stating, "In this day and age, with the civil rights involvement more acrimonious than ever—but with the goals never more desirable and with the dignity of the individual not all it should be for anyone, Negro or white—the NFL has a tremendous opportunity. Let's hope this project isn't fumbled."

Upon reading Young's memo, Rozelle immediately distributed it to NFL teams. His cover sheet urged them to "Please give it your careful consideration."

It wasn't until 23 years later—1989—that Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis made Art Shell the first Black head coach in the NFL's modern era, but the memo's emphasis on minority hiring far predates the eventual enactment of the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior administrative positions.

This past August, Jason Wright, a fast-rising African American who attended Northwestern University, was named president of the Washington Football Team.

Buddy Young tragically died in an automobile accident in September of 1983 on a highway in Texas. Legendary New York Post sportswriter Jerry Izenberg praised him in a stirring tribute.

"Buddy was just 57 years old," Izenberg wrote. "Few men are loved in so short a span of time the way he was. It is generally said of such a man that he walked among giants. In this case, it's not quite so. Buddy was larger by far than most men. He was 5-4 and the world looked up to him."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

With the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games slated to begin in July, the exposure of sports such as women's gymnastics will be dramatically amplified over the next five months. At the University of Illinois, members of Coach Nadalie Walsh's team are already enjoying that enhanced level of enthusiasm.

And like Team USA's greatest recent performers—a core group that's included Black superstars like Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas and Dominique Dawes—the 2021 Fighting Illini's talented assemblage of athletes has a similarly impressive African American presence.

Junior Shaylah Scott and the sophomore trio of Lexi Powe, Arayah Simons and Mia Townes are four young Black athletes who've helped raise this year's Illini prospects to championship expectations.

Scott says that Biles, Douglas and Dawes all are her heroes.

"For sure," she said. "Not just in gymnastics, but in everyday life as well. You don't have to be a gymnast to be inspired by them because they've broken boundaries and opened doors for other Black women who are young and talented."

Scott, a product of Plano High School in Texas, achieved second team All-Big Ten honors a year ago and is greatly admired by Walsh and her fellow teammates for her leadership qualities.

"Shaylah was discovered and snatched up by the Illinois staff before I got here, so I'm fortunate to have inherited her," Walsh said. "She is a wonderful gymnast with long lines and a beautiful smile, and she does gymnastics in an extremely effortless way. But, just as important, she's a vibrant leader for our team. Shaylah is a student-athlete who's not afraid to speak up and not afraid to say what the truth is. She helps her teammates become the best versions of themselves."

One of Scott's biggest fans is Simons.

"Shaylah's presence, when she walks into the gym, is amazing," Simons said. "She's not scared to speak her mind. For me, when I ask her a question, she'll give me an honest opinion."

"I've always felt that honesty is the best policy," said Scott, a political science major. "Sometimes it comes off as a little rough around the edges, but it's out of love and I do it to inspire people and push them to their potential. I just don't see any harm in telling the truth, especially if it's to help someone. I always want someone to tell me the truth, so I try to put out what I want to receive."

Simons, who hails from Bogart, Ga., was discovered by Walsh prior to her senior season at North Oconee High School.

"When I first saw Arayah, I told myself that this kid doesn't even know how good she is," Walsh said. "I wanted to teach her to have confidence in herself because the talent was definitely there. She has been absolutely outstanding for us. She's just a naturally talented, powerful, sweet, young woman."

Simons, honored as a second team All-Big Ten selection in 2020, conceded that "financial incentives" provided an impetus to her budding gymnastics career.

"By the time I was five, I'd figured out that I wanted to be in gym every single day, all day," she said. "I really got enjoyment from tumbling and flipping around, and just gaining new skills. I remember every time we gained a new skill, we'd get a penny and we'd put in in our little penny jar. When I was five, to me, that was just the coolest thing."

Simons' idol is fellow Virginian Gabby Douglas.

"Knowing that she looked like me and her body shape was like mine, it made me realize that I could go for things that she was doing and dream big," Simons said. "That's why she's my favorite. "

Simons, a physical therapy major at the U of I, says that Walsh pushes her every day in practice.

"She looks at me and asks "What are your confidence words?' And I always say 'I'm consistent. I'm solid. I'm confident.' And after I say those words and I hit my routine, it's a great thing. I'm definitely still a work in progress, but Nadalie has molded me to be the most confident athlete that I can possibly be."

Walsh says that Lexi Powe from Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, Colo. is aptly named.

"Her name suits her—POW!—exclamation point," Walsh said. "Lexi has a ton of personality and is very, very kind-hearted. We discovered her because she's really outstanding on vault. She's another one of those student-athletes who have grown and flourished from the inside out since she's been in our program."

Powe's role model is Simone Biles.

"Seeing such a small person be so powerful basically shows me that the sky's the limit," Powe said. "No matter how big or how small, she showed me that I can do whatever I want. The possibilities are endless. Simone has done things that I didn't even know were possible and she makes it seem so easy."

Powe, an accounting major, says that she's confident that 2021 is the year the Fighting Illini can pool their talents and take the team all the way to the top.

"We all have the same goals and the same drive, and we all move as a unit," she said. "I've never been on a team that's this unified. We all want to be Big Ten champs and we all want to be national champs. Sadly, Covid got in the way of our team goals last year. I feel like we're in a better spot now than we were before Covid. There are other great teams, too, but we have a different type of desire. Michigan thinks they're going to win every year just because they're Michigan, but we are the underdogs and we want it more than them."

Walsh says that the longest relationship she's had with anyone else on her team is with Mia Townes.

"Before the rules changed that said you could not recruit athletes that were younger than juniors, I was the head coach at Utah State and discovered Mia as a (high school) freshman," Walsh said. "She blew me away. I just knew she was going to have so much potential. I offered her a full scholarship to go to Utah State and she accepted as a freshman in high school. When I got the job and transferred over to Illinois, she followed, and I am so thankful that she wanted to up her game and go to a bigger school and partner with me."

The Illini sophomore from Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville, Tex. says that she and Walsh are kindred spirits.

"Nadalie and I are very similar in the way that we think," Townes said. "We're super passionate in what we do and we're always looking for new things to accomplish."

Townes' role model is Dominique Dawes.

"I have a big celebrity crush on her," Townes said. "She's the person who's given me the inspiration to be where I am today. She was the first African American gymnast to win a gold medal. Her form, her execution, and the way that she presents herself is exceptionally dominant. It's just an inspiration to me and young Black gymnasts like myself."

Townes, who majors in kinesiology, says that she's convinced that she and her teammates have what it takes to win the Big Ten crown.

"We have grown in our confidence so much more than the past couple of years," she said. "Now, when we approach a meet, we're like 'This is our meet … we're here … we're taking over … we're Illinois … and we're going to fight to the top.'"

Walsh maintains that team unity will be the key to success for the 2021 Illini.

"I'm confident in saying that we're the true testimony of what unity looks like," Walsh said. "We're all committed to one another and support one another. Just as everyone else, I think that my young Black women feel extremely valued. I have a wide variety of nationalities on my team and I love that. I think that it makes us more united and an inspiration to many sports around the country."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

When securing scholarships, high school student-athletes across the country have worried that the coronavirus pandemic has left their prospective college futures in a state of uncertainty. But for young athletes from the state of Illinois and beyond state borders, fear not!

Armed with the finest and most advanced tools of technology and a slate full of creativity, the coaches at the University of Illinois feverishly worked to figure out who they are and where they live.

"Technology has been the answer to a lot of the pandemic challenges," said Illinois soccer coach Janet Rayfield. "For the tournaments that are going on, the teams and clubs that have live-streamed and recorded have provided me with more games to watch than I ever have had before."

And, in some ways, through the magic of online platforms like Zoom, Rayfield says that in many cases she's probably nurtured even better relationships with prospective athletes than she had in the past.

"I can sit down with a family from anywhere in the world without hours of travel," she says. "Getting to know someone over an extended period of time, I think we've had more interaction than we have had in the past. Prior to the pandemic, you may have talked on the phone a couple of times and then they come to visit (campus) for 48 hours. For the athletes that we're going to recruit in the years ahead, we've been able to have more conversations with them. My job is to give them an idea of what their experience would be like or what their role would be like and how they would impact our program."

Of course, the biggest drawback is that Rayfield and her staff have had significantly fewer opportunities to evaluate them as athletes.

"The more you see an athlete compete in different environments, the better you can answer that question," she said. "On the other hand, we would go watch someone in a tournament but not necessarily interact with them."

New Illini football coach Bret Bielema has dedicated a special space for his own personal "Zoom room."

"I knew we were going to be doing a lot of Zooms," he said. "From a little office space (within the Henry Dale and Betty Smith football Performance Center), I Zoom parents, I Zoom coaches, I Zoom prospects … 2021 (recruits), '22s, '23s, you name it, we've been doing it. We'll do a Zoom attack where we'll introduce our coaches and then we'll go on a virtual tour through the building. Even though we're in this time of Covid, they can still visit our facility. It's a very impressive building and I love showing it off."

"Often times," Bielema continued, "there will be a kid at home that's doing remote learning, a mom who's maybe at work, a dad who lives in another city, an uncle who lives in another state, a cousin who's playing in another part of the country, or a brother who he loves and respects who playing at a school that's a thousand miles away, so all of us can be on the same Zoom call.

"We'll start by introducing our people on the front end, then we'll visit (football strength and conditioning director) Tank (Wright) in the weight room, then we'll walk in the training room where (head football athletic trainer) Jeremy (Busch) can show them our facility that's second to none. We'll walk through the lobby, then we'll walk them through the locker room where they'll see a bowling alley, a pool table and a bunch of really cool stuff on a daily basis. You can just see the way people react; it has an effect. Maybe it's not ideal, but that's the world we're living in right now. And until we can start going to see them and they can start seeing us, it's the best option we've got."

The Illini coaches are especially diligent when it comes to recruiting high school athletes from the state of Illinois.

"I think there still exists great pride in playing for your home institution," Underwood said. "Now, things have changed a great deal from the TV aspect. Back in the day, it was just regional TV, so all kids in Illinois saw was Big Ten basketball. Growing up in Kansas, I watched Big Eight basketball. Your tendency was to go to the schools you're more familiar with. Nationally televised games, now, have opened all that up. One of the things that's changed in the state of Illinois is that we've seen a different influx of prep schools and other kinds of schools opening up all over the place. Kids are leaving their states—not just Illinois, but Ohio or wherever—to go play in some of these basketball schools, so to speak.

"I still tremendously value high school basketball in our state," he said "The coaches in this state know how good the talent is in this state. And when it fits our puzzle, I want those pieces. It is special to play here. If you ask Ayo Dosunmu about his experience here, he will tell you how great it is. You talk about Brandon Lieb, who we haven't seen on the court yet, but he is a young man who just loves this university and being a part of it and his dream to play here. That value is there and I appreciate that a great deal. (Recruiting in-state kids) is always going to be at the heart and soul of our recruiting."

"I've said this many times—Illinois has the best high school basketball in the country and we'd be foolish to not want to take advantage of it. We take great pride in our young athletes. I'm just glad they're back playing again."

"The pride to play for your state school still exists," Rayfield added. "Sometimes, we're the worse at bragging about ourselves. I find that sometimes people from other parts of the country almost have a better understanding of just how good the education is here at the University of Illinois … sometimes more than their in-state peers."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

It's important that Fighting Illini fans know the names of Hiram Hannibal Wheeler and Roy Mercer Young. They are two men who were instrumental in changing the course of intercollegiate athletics at the University of Illinois.

In 1904, more than a century ago, Wheeler and Young broke the color barrier at the Urbana-Champaign campus, integrating varsity rosters that had previously only included white men. They came on the scene at Illinois about 14 years after the first known African American collegiate football players—W.T.S. Jackson and W.H. Lewis—arrived at Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Wheeler and Young are but two of the pioneering black athletes who altered the face of the program's African American make-up.

Wheeler, born Nov. 30, 1881 in Chicago, participated in both football and track and field as a student-athlete at Illinois. He lettered in as a sprinter for rookie coach Harry Gill in 1904. In a dual meet with Purdue on May 13, 1904, Wheeler became the first African American to win a track event by winning the 100-yard dash (:10.6). A resident of Urbana after attending university as an agriculture major, Wheeler was employed by his alma mater as a clerk in the UI's agriculture department. During World War I, he was training in New York as an Army soldier. In early October of 1918, Wheeler was home in Urbana with his wife and four children on a three-week furlough and was scheduled to depart for France in the capacity as an Army secretary. Unfortunately, he was a victim of the Spanish influenza pandemic and died at his home on West Clark Street just shy of his 37th birthday. He is buried at Champaign's Woodlawn Cemetery.

Young, who was born on April 27, 1887 in Springfield, lettered twice as a tackle for the Illini football team. His 1904 squad compiled an impressive 9-2-1 record and registered a 5-4 mark the following season. Described as extremely intelligent and articulate, Young attended Northwestern University's Dental School and served as a dental surgeon during World War I in the U.S. Army. Dr. Young also became a minister in Evanston. Like Wheeler, Young died tragically. His 1946 obituary indicated that he was struck as a pedestrian by an automobile in Gary, Ind. and died from multiple injuries at the age of 59.

A third African American Illini, George Kyle, competed as a non-letter-winning sprinter in track and field on the 1924 and '25 teams. Kyle was the first black athlete to acquire his bachelor's degree (Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1926), then a master's degree (psychology in 1930).

In tennis, during the late 1920s, a man named Douglas Turner became the first African American to play the sport at Illinois. Turner took second place in 1930 Western Conference (Big Ten) singles competition, then a few weeks later won the national championship among black men at the American Tennis Association tournament. Turner earned both bachelor's (1931) and master's degrees (1934) at Illinois. He served three years in the Navy during World War II. Turner died in Chicago at age 85. It wasn't until two decades later that another African American athlete lettered in tennis. Albert Grange, a transfer student from George Williams College, won a varsity monogram in 1951.

Wheeler, Young, Kyle and Turner were the only four African American athletes who competed at Illinois between 1900 and 1929.

A gentleman named Ralph Hines swam but did not letter for Coach Ed Manley in 1947. Hines also competed briefly on the track team as a junior in 1948, the same year he served as President of UI's junior class. After acquiring his BS in physical education (1949) and master's in sociology (1952) from the U of I, Hines secured a PhD in anthropology and sociology from the University of Coppenhagen in Denmark (1955). After teaching at Langston University, Alabama State, Tennessee State, Austin Peay and Meharry Medical College, he was named executive vice president at Meharry in 1968. Hines died in 1999 at the age of 72.

While Mannie Jackson and Govoner Vaughn are most widely recognized as Illini men's basketball's African American pioneers in the late 1950s, it was Walt Moore who initially integrated Illinois hoops in 1951. Moore had teamed with fellow Illini Max Hooper at Mt. Vernon High school and was recruited to Champaign-Urbana by UI coach Harry Combes. Moore's Illini career, interrupted by three years of service in the United State Army, lasted only one year, as a freshman in 1951-52. He eventually became the head coach at Western Illinois University, the school where he earned small college All-America honors in 1956. Moore died in 2004 at age 71.

Though he didn't letter, the color barrier in fencing at the University of Illinois was initially broken by Richard Younge in 1948. The World War II veteran received his BS in 1949. John Cameron competed in sabre for Coach Maxwell Garret and lettered for Illinois's undefeated teams and Big Ten champions in 1952 and '53. Cameron captured the conference title in sabre in 1953 and became UI varsity athletics' first African American captain. A 1960s black fencer, Craig Bell, won Big Ten and NCAA fencing championships in 1965.

The first black man in Illinois's wrestling room was in the mid 1960s when Al McCullum joined Coach Buell "Pat" Patterson's squad. Wrestling at 130 pounds, McCullum, who hailed from Joliet, lettered from 1964 through '66. He received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1967.

It wasn't until 1965 that a black man played baseball at Illinois. Trenton Jackson, from Rochester, N.Y., had already made an impact with the Illini football team—lettering in 1962 and '65—and UI's track and field squad (1963, '64 and '65). He was park of UI's NCAA-winning 440-yard relay team and also won Big Ten titles in the 100 and 220. Jackson finished eighth in the 100 maters at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Jackson hit .235 in the only season he played for Coach Lee Eilbracht's baseball squad. He received his BS in physical education in 1966.

In the sport of gymnastics, former Illini star Charles Lakes accomplished firsts more than once. Not only was he Coach Yoshi Hayasaki's first African American athlete, lettering from 1983-85, Lakes departed the U of I in 1986 to become one of the first black American gymnasts to compete in the Olympics. He won six Big Ten titles at Illinois and won the 1984 NCAA high bar championship.

Will Clopton, who played in the mid-late 1980s, is believed to be the first African American to be a member of Illinois's golf team.

When women's varsity athletics debuted at the University of Illinois in 1974-75, black female athletes were present, though sparse in numbers. Some of the most prominent in the early days of Illini women's athletics were track and field's Bev Washington and basketball's Kendra Gantt. Terry Hite, who directed UI's volleyball program from 1975-77, was the university's first black head coach. In 2021, about 30 per cent of the athletes comprising UI women's 10 varsity programs are of African American decent.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Over the years, the Fighting Illini wrestling program has featured some incredibly successful brother acts. From the Sapora brothers in the 1920s and '30s to the Tirapelle trio in the 1990s and 2000s, sibling DNA has led to exemplary leadership and exceptional results.

The current era of Illini wrestling features a pair of feisty identical twins from southern Illinois: Danny and Zac Braunagel. Early in the Fall of 2019, little more than a month after their 19th birthday, UI head coach Jim Heffernan confidently bestowed the title of co-captains to his then redshirt freshman phenoms.

"So much of wrestling and being successful in wrestling is about living a certain lifestyle," Heffernan said. "There's a lot of things that go into it. Tons of discipline … diet … obviously, work habits … dedication. Danny and Zac came in and impressed me so much. Their work ethic and the example they set made it a pretty easy choice.

"And I did it for a couple of other reasons, too. This is what we're looking for. To be a high caliber team, you need everybody moving in the same direction. So, No. 1, Danny and Zac earned it. That's what we need. If we're going to be challenging at the highest level, nationally, we need this attitude in our room. We need this desire and work ethic and will to win in our room."

"I've been around a lot of very good wrestlers," Heffernan continued. "Adam Tirapelle was maybe the best leader we've ever had as an athlete coming in. Alex Tirapelle was a great leader. Emory Parker was a good leader as he grew into the role. Isaiah Martinez was another one and naming him a captain is probably something we could have as a freshman. For Danny and Zac, I think it was a good chance for them to kind of exhibit their leadership and work habits."

Needless to say, the Braunagel boys were surprised at their coach's decision to name them co-captains.

"When it happened, I was like 'Oh, wow, that's awesome,'" Zac said. "It hasn't really changed my thought process at all because I already thought of myself as a leader on the team. In little league sports or in high school, I've always thought of myself as a leader. I've always tried to inspire others on the team. Being named a captain was a big confidence boost for me, for sure."

Danny indicated that he'd gotten a hint of Heffernan's plans while the twins were competing at the 2019 Pan-Am Junior Championships in Guatemala.

"Heff went on that trip with us," Danny said. "He mentioned it to us a little bit on that trip. When we got back to training again with the team, Heff just sat everybody down after practice and mentioned to the team that he wanted Zac and me to be captains. I was expecting we would be as seniors, so I was kind of surprised. Once he did that, it almost felt like a responsibility to be more of a leader than I already was trying to be. I'm big on leading by example. My training and focus and mentality have really stepped up, even outside of the wrestling room. I decided that I had to live like a captain. I started reaching out to guys more, voicing my opinion more, and stepping it up in the practice room."

Zac and Danny, products of Belleville's Althoff High School, are now redshirt sophomores for Heffernan, helping lead the Illini to a perfect 3-0 start in 2021. Thus far, Illinois has recorded victories over Indiana (39-3), eighth-ranked Ohio State (18-15) and No. 22 Wisconsin (21-9).

While successful in terms of individual records (23-9 for Danny and 21-10 for Zac), the Braunagels regarded their freshman season in 2019-20 as largely unfulfilling, especially when the season came to a screeching halt in mid-March as the COVID-19 pandemic invaded the United States.

"We were all crushed when that happened," Danny said. "As a team, we didn't have a good performance at the Big Tens, so we were excited to have the nationals to regroup. That day we were doing individual practices, so there were guys literally warming up for the practices when they were told to go home. Nobody knew how to react."

When they were sent home, the Braunagels took a week off to heal their tired and bruised bodies. Then Danny and his brother went right back to work.

"After about a month of running and lifting in our garage, we didn't have anywhere to go, so me and Zac and our younger brother Joe Joe just started wrestling in our backyard."

The Braunagels credit their dad, Joe Sr., for instilling their phenomenal work ethic.

"When we were little, our dad was learning about wrestling at the same time we were," Zac said. "He knew that you get out of it what you put into it. He always was looking up workouts for us, but he wasn't like a crazy dad at all. Around sixth or seventh grade, we told Dad that wrestling was huge for us. We'd had some success, so we wanted to continue to get better. From that point on, he's been like a trainer for us. He taken us to camps and tournaments so that we could get experience.

"We noticed how hard that he was working for us, so it drove us to work hard for him, too. He once asked a coach what we could do training-wise to get better, and the coach said that pull-ups were good. So, Dad installed a pull-up bar for us. Danny got one-and-a-half and I got maybe a half a pull-up. We worked on those every other day, then 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups on top of everything else we did the following day. By the time we had finished our seventh-grade season, Danny could do 52 pull-ups and I did 48."

The twins originally imagined themselves to be budding football stars, but then they were bitten by the wrestling bug.

"Wrestling was really a way for us to stay in shape for football," Danny said. "Zac and I were five and our older brother (Jarrid) was seven. Me and Zac didn't really take to (wrestling) as quickly as Jarrid. We were these short, little, tubby kids, so wrestling was a little bit harder for us to learn. We were super immature about it. We didn't want to go through the drills. Then, during my eighth-grade season, I made it to the state finals but lost. I was super bummed out, but I quickly realized how much I loved the sport of wrestling because I had never gotten that upset when I lost in football. Shortly after that, we quit football and focused on wrestling."

Heffernan greatly admires Zac and Danny's loyalty to each other.

"They live together and train together and eat together and do everything else together," Heffernan said. "My assumption is that someday those two will buy houses across the street from each other."

Next Fall, there will be a third Braunagel in the Illini wrestling room: Joe Jr.

"Joe Joe really, really wanted to come to Illinois, but, throughout his recruitment, we kept telling him to enjoy the recruiting process," Danny said. "At the end of the day, we told him that he had to make the best decision for him. We told him maybe Illinois isn't that, maybe somewhere else is. Wisconsin, Indiana, Navy were really recruiting him hard, but we were really excited when he decided to choose Illinois."

Heffernan said that Joe Jr. will likely compete at 197 pounds.

"Being the youngest brother, Joe probably got beat up quite a bit," Heffernan said. "I told the twins that if Joe keeps getting bigger, at some point there's going to be some payback."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

It's not necessarily ironic that the third grader who once wrote a school paper about one day playing middle linebacker for the Fighting Illini now occupies an office on the same campus block as a statue of the University of Illinois's greatest defender.

And though Bret Bielema's hopes of playing for his home-state university's team were never realized, it was his inimitable work ethic, dedication and desire that gave him the opportunity to return "home" to become the head football coach for his state's flagship institution.

Bielema, himself, described it as coming "full circle."

"I can't wait to walk down the street and see someone representing Illinois and give them an ILL- and get an -INI back," he said in his introductory press conference.

Bret, the son of Arnie and Marilyn Bielema—weighing 11 pounds at birth—was introduced by doctors on Jan. 13, 1970 at then-named Illini Hospital in Silvis, Ill. Bret's mother remembers that day well.

"At Thanksgiving (of 1969), our older kids caught the chicken pox," Mrs. Bielema recalled. "They brought it home and by Christmas I had the chicken pox, too. When Bret was born, he had chicken pox. Of course, he couldn't be in the nursery with the other children, so I had him in the crib in my room. The doctors and nurses would knock on my door and ask 'Can we come in and see the 11-pound baby with chicken pox?'"

In 1974, when Bret was four, Arnie quit his job as a State Farm Insurance agent in East Moline and moved his family to a farm six miles outside of Prophetstown in Illinois' Whiteside County. There, the Bielemas owned 200 sows and, with the assistance of sons Bret, Bart and Barry and sisters Betsy and Brandy, eventually marketed between 3,000 and 4,000 pigs annually. It was a never-ending, 365-days-a-year job.

Said Bret's childhood friend, Jeff Detra, a banking executive who now resides in Colorado Springs, Colo. "On the Saturday mornings after our high school football games, I was sleeping in 'til noon, but Bret was getting up at 5 AM to do whatever he had to do with the hogs."

When they weren't working in the hog barns, the Bielema boys participated in football and wrestling and ran track. During the summer months, they'd play Pony League baseball. They inherited their love of sports from their dad, who in his younger days was a basketball and baseball player and track man.

In fact, Arnie was talented enough on the diamond to try out for Coach Lee Eilbracht's Illini baseball team in the Fall of 1957 when he enrolled as an engineering student. Deane Frary, a Prophetstown native and 1930s Illini track letterman, opened the door for Arnie's audition. Unfortunately, the ultra-challenging U of I engineering curriculum proved to be a bit more than Arnie could handle and he dropped out of classes just prior to December finals.

As for Bret, sports captivated his interest from a very young age. Jeff Tuisl, Bielema's childhood friend and playmate from kindergarten through their freshman year at Prophetstown High School, admired his buddy's grit and determination.

"No one was going to outwork Bret," said Tuisl, a 1992 U of I graduate and current insurance broker in Saint Charles. "When people ask me what it is that Bret's got, I can tell you. He's got this work ethic of growing up on a farm."

Detra concurred that Bret Bielema has always displayed qualities of determination and leadership.

"Working on a hog farm, Bret learned from a very early age that hard work is what it took to get things done," Detra said. "Bret is a one-day-at-a-time kind of guy and that quality came from Arnie. Bret is honest and he treats people right. He never takes any shortcuts. It does not surprise me one bit that he's been as successful in life as he has. Absolutely, I could have predicted that."

While Bielema didn't receive any "love" from the home-state Illini football staff as a small-town athlete, it was Arnie's side job as a sports equipment salesman in eastern Iowa that ultimately opened the door for Bret getting a walk-on offer from the Hawkeyes.

"With me traveling throughout Iowa, I got very acquainted with the whole eastern side of Iowa," he said. "The University of Iowa was one of my accounts. Bret went to camps at Iowa for football and wrestling with my encouragement because I knew the coaches at Iowa. Then, in January, Bret got a call one night from (Iowa assistant coach) Donnie Patterson and he was invited to walk on. Later on, we drove over and talked to Coach Fry, and, as they say, the rest is history."

Bret's mother says her son exhibited his compassion for people as a very young child.

"I started working fulltime when Bret was in kindergarten," she explained, "so I had to leave him with my parents. My mother (Bret's grandmother) had a relative at the local nursing home who wasn't capable of feeding herself, so my mother would drive over and help her during the lunch hour. Bret tagged along every day with her to the nursing home and he made friends of a lot of the older gentlemen there. While Mom was feeding her relative, Bret would go down and push some of the men in wheelchairs down to the dining hall so that they could have their lunch. I think that really made an impression on him. He's always been so caring to older adults. He's so aware that people want attention and that everyone has something to give. And he does it."

"I remember Bret's first year coaching at Iowa," she continued. "The team had its Spring game and then hosted a cookout for the players and their parents. I remember Bret stopping to talk with every single person that was there. We were the last ones to leave the facility and as we were walking down the hallway, he stopped at the kitchen door and called in to thank the cooks for the wonderful meal. I thought to myself, 'You're going to do okay, kid.'

When the married couple of 60 years got confirmation from their son that he had landed the Illini job, Arnie knew that it would be a popular announcement in Prophetstown and the surrounding communities.

"I told Bret that the sporting goods store up in Sterling had better get plenty of Illini clothing and stuff because they're going to have a run on it."

Echoed Detra, "It wouldn't surprise me at all if there are already some Illinois flags flying in Prophetstown."

Tuisl said that, as Bielema did in his introductory Illini press conference, "Bret will wear his emotions on his sleeve."

"That's one thing that has attracted players to him in the past and it will attract players to him at Illinois. You know exactly what you're getting from him. Bret takes things personally and he takes everything to heart. It's because he wants to help his guys grow and win."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

The ninth day of December marks an especially noteworthy date in University of Illinois football history, particularly for linebackers.

Not only is it the birth date of one of its greatest players—Dick Butkus—it's the date the legendary University of Illinois linebacker got the opportunity to give his namesake prize—the Butkus Award—to two other Fighting Illini stars.

Like his former teammate Dana Howard, newly selected Illini Hall of Famer Kevin Hardy fondly recalls the details that surrounded that memorable night 25 years ago—Dec. 9, 1995. Hardy's competition for the award was a pair of future College Football Hall of Famers—Ray Lewis of the Miami Hurricanes and Zach Thomas of Texas Tech—so the then Illini senior was understandably pessimistic about his chances.

"That day, I had contemplated whether I was going to write a speech," Hardy said. "Finally, I decided that I should scribble something down. I rehearsed it a few times, but I had convinced myself that I probably wasn't going to win. Just in case, I had my notes with me.

"That night, I started playing the game of looking where I was seated and where the other two guys were seated. I'm wondering whether maybe they put the winner closer to the stage. There were so many things that were going through my mind. I was convinced that 'There's no way you're going to win this thing.' So, when Dick Butkus called my name, I was really shocked. I was just as stunned as anyone. All season long, I just never saw myself like that. I was just happy to be there as a finalist."

At the awards banquet that night, the crowd was shown some video that Hardy, Lewis and Thomas had pre-taped with an interviewer earlier in the day.

"One of the questions was do you think that you could be better than Dick Butkus? 'Are you the best linebacker ever from Illinois?'," Hardy remembered. "Me being cocky and brash at the time, I made a statement about having the ability to become the best linebacker to ever play at Illinois or something along those lines. It wasn't really something I thought about when I was saying it. So, when they played that I'm thinking "Oh, #%x%!"

Finally, came the evening's most dramatic announcement.

"So, they called my name and Dick Butkus is handing me the award," Hardy said. "Obviously, he's the greatest linebacker ever to play and the trophy is in his name. He mentioned that it was two years in a row that the winner had come from his alma mater.

"He says, 'Congratulations, Kevin. Who knows? Maybe you will be the best ever from Illinois.' Everybody was laughing, so it was kind of an ice breaker. I look back now and it's a great story to be able to tell people."

As a member of Illinois's famed 1990s linebacker quartet that included Dana Howard, John Holecek, and Simeon Rice, Hardy admits that he didn't feel as highly regarded as his former teammates. It did, however, inspire him to raise his game.

"To be honest, I always felt like the odd man out," Hardy said. "They used to call Dana and John the 'H Boys.' I got thrown in the mix because my last name was Hardy. To me, they were the original 'H Boys.' And then Simeon being Big Ten Freshman of the Year and having the immediate success that he had, he got a lot of accolades. I used that as motivation because I didn't want to be considered the weakest link or the fourth guy. In my sophomore year, Dana and John and Simeon were all first-team All-Big Ten, and I was honorable mention. I remember hanging that press release on my wall, right next to my bed. It was one of those things that I saw every day and I used it as motivation to prove that I could be on the first-team the following year."

In 1994, Kevin Hardy's hard work paid off and he was rewarded with consensus first-team all-conference accolades alongside Howard and Rice. The following season, of course, he was able duplicate his teammate and personal hero's most notable achievement.

"On the football field, I never played with anyone who played with as much emotion and passion as Dana," Hardy said. "He just brought it every single day. He was the same type of guy off the field. People just gravitate to his personality. When I was being recruited and I came up to Illinois for a visit, the team was practicing in the bubble. They were doing a nine-on-seven drill and he hit the running back. In the bubble, when those shoulder pads would pop, that sound would echo. That hit echoed so loud that it got me all fired up. When they told me that Dana was just a freshman and that I'd get to play with him, that was one of those things that I never forgot. Years later, having experienced being on the field with him and seeing the work that he put in really helped motivate me and propelled me to work hard and be on the same level as him."

Earlier this year, Hardy got word that another honor was coming his way from his alma mater.

"A number of years ago, I was inducted into our high school Hall of Fame (Evansville, Indiana's Harrison High School)," he said. "At that point, Illinois didn't even have a Hall of Fame. When they finally established it, I felt that I had a decent shot of getting in there one day. So when (athletic director) Josh (Whitman) called and told me, I was definitely excited. I don't care at what age or at what stage of your life you are, you always appreciate recognition for work that you've done. Obviously, Illinois did a lot for me, giving me an opportunity to get an education and play football. I feel like I worked hard while I was there and worked hard to help the team win and, on a personal level, to be the best football player that I could be. When you get that kind of recognition, it ties everything together. It brings a sense of accomplishment. There are a lot of people that are responsible for helping me get there, so my thanks goes to all of them."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

With an abundance of talented guards on his roster, Fighting Illini men's basketball coach Brad Underwood may be tempted to utilize hockey's unique concept of line changes, shuttling in players to match-up the needs of any particular moment in time.

Led by pre-season All-American Ayo Dosunmu, Underwood's roster includes a bevy of capable backcourt candidates who possess a variety of physical attributes and skills. Components of size, quickness, speed, toughness, experience, shooting ability and defensive tenacity provide Underwood with a Rubik Cube's worth of combinations. Perhaps at no other time in University of Illinois basketball history has a coach had so many options.

"You have no idea how great a problem it is to have really good guards," Underwood said. "There are unbelievable battles every single day (in practice). That has been the joy of preseason so far, watching those guys go at it. It's so competitive."

Two of Underwood's most intriguing choices for playing time come in the form of highly recruited freshmen Adam Miller and Andre Curbelo. The rookies' resumes are as impressive as any in recent memory.

Miller, Peoria born and bred, played his final three years of prep ball at Chicago's Morgan Park High School. He earned Illinois Mr. Basketball honors this past season.

Curbelo, a product of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, starred the last four seasons at Long Island, New York's Lutheran High School. A third-team All-American, he was considered to be the top-ranked player in the Empire State by 247Sports.

The freshman roommates have become good friends and mutually admire the other's game.

Says Miller about Curbelo, "He lives up to the hype. Everything they say about him is true. His passing game is just as good as they say it is. He makes great reads. His jump shot is improving and he's getting stronger."

Curbelo is just as complimentary about Miller.

"I've learned a lot from him," Curbelo said. "He's a great shooter, a hard-working kid. With him being such a great shooter and my ability to drive and play with the screens and look for my shooters and my bigs, I think me and him are going to play a big role on the team this year."

Thanks to strength and conditioning coach Adam Fletcher, each player's physical frame is rapidly evolving. Miller tipped the scales at 178 when he arrived and now weighs 195.

"I'm always working to get stronger," Miller said. "I've always loved the weight room. It's always been good vibes. It comes second nature to me because I like being in there. Great things happen in there just like great things happen in the gym. Putting in the effort in the weight room has really changed my body. I'm not done yet."

Nineteen-year-old Curbelo, who checked in at 159 pounds when he got to Champaign-Urbana and now weighs 180, admits that he used to be "a really, really lazy guy back home".

"Puerto Ricans aren't super strong and tall or athletic," he said. "My body is going to be defined in a little bit. The numbers are there and I'm really happy where I'm at right now. Being a little less strong than the older guys, I'm now able to bump into them with my chest. I'm in love with the weight room nowadays. For me, gaining weight is going to be really key because of how physical the Big Ten is."

Both Illini freshmen say they've learned a lot since formal practices began on October 14th.

"It's been really hard," Curbelo said. "I'm literally exhausted having to guard pros—Ayo's going to be a pro, Trent's going to be a pro—and that's what it's going to be like when we face our opponents. Obviously, I'm a freshman, so I'm trying to learn. As a point guard, I've got to be very observative. I'm trying to learn the little things. I'm think I'm doing pretty well, but I've got to continue to work hard and keep learning and listening."

Curbelo says he's not only been a pupil of the head coach, but also of his son, Tyler Underwood.

"Me and Tyler have a different relationship than just as teammates," he said. "He's like a brother to me and he's like a coach to me. He's always looking out for me. Same thing with Giorgi (Bezhanishvili) and Kofi (Cockburn). But my relationship with Tyler is different. I'm always talking with him when I'm not on a drill or getting reps, what I'm doing wrong or what I can do better. Dos (Dosumnu) and Kofi and Da'Monte (Williams) and Trent (Frazier) and Giorgi have done a great job as well. They're taking us by the hand and walking us along so that we can be the best freshmen that we can be."

Unlike Curbelo, Miller has one teammate he's known for years, fellow Peorian Da'Monte Williams.

"Da'Monte, that's my big brother," Miller said. "We work hard and we feed off each other. We know how each other works. We're going to push each other. The bond brothers have is 'I've got your back and you've got mine.' He's going to tell me little secrets that nobody knows. He's going to teach me. It's good to have him helping me out. I always give thanks to Da'Monte. Without him, I wouldn't be as successful as I am today."

Miller also is a big fan of his former Morgan Park teammate.

"Playing with Ayo and seeing his growth and his skill, his all-around awareness, it's motivated me to get there and get there now," he said.

Including center Brandon Lieb and Coleman Hawkins, Brad Underwood has been impressed by all of his freshmen.

"On the court, they're probably further ahead than any group of freshmen ever have been," he said. "They're great listeners and great learners. Where they're at in terms of learning and understanding is way ahead of any group we've had."

***

Fighting Illini basketball has produced some iconic guard units over the last 100 years. Here are this year's Illini guard group with some of the most memorable in its history:

2020-21: Ayo Dosunmu, Trent Frazier, Da'Monte Williams, Jacob Grandison, Austin Hutcherson, Andre Curbelo and Adam Miller 

2019-20: Ayo Dosunmu, Trent Frazier, Andres Feliz and Da'Monte Williams

2004-05 (Big Ten champs, Final Four): Dee Brown, Deron Williams, Luther Head and Rich McBride

2001-02 (Big Ten champs): Frank Williams, Cory Bradford, Sean Harrington and Luther Head

1997-98 (Big Ten champs): Matt Heldman, Kevin Turner, Sergio McClain and Arias Davis

1988-89 (Final Four): Nick Anderson, Stephen Bardo, Kendall Gill, Larry Smith and P.J. Bowman

1983-84 (Big Ten champs): Bruce Douglas, Doug Altenberger, Quinn Richardson and Tony Wysinger

1982-83: Derek Harper, Bruce Douglas, Doug Altenberger and Kevin Bontemps

1962-63 (Big Ten champs): Tal Brody, Bill Edwards and Bill Small

1951-52 (Big Ten champs, Final Four): Irv Bemoras, Jim Bredar and Rod Fletcher

1948-49 (Big Ten champs, Final Four): Van Anderson, Bill Erickson, Dick Foley, Jim Marks and Don Sunderlage

1941-42 (Big Ten champs): Bill Hocking, Andy Phillip, Jack Smiley and Gene Vance

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Fifty years have passed since Doug Dieken last wore a Fighting Illini uniform, but time has not diminished the memories and honors he's garnered over the last half century.

"I enjoyed my time at Illinois," he said. "Though there were only seven from my recruiting class that finished the entire four years on scholarship, I stay in touch with nearly all of them."

A charter member of the Streator Bulldogs Hall of Fame, Dieken inherited his physical attributes from parents Charles (6-feet-6 inches tall) and Lorraine (6-feet tall). At 6-5, Doug figured he'd be a basketball player.

"Our coach was … well … dictator might be a little harsh," he remembered. "We'd shoot free throws at 6:30 in the morning, go home, shower, and come back for classes. Then, we had our regular practice after school. Our hair couldn't be any longer than half an inch."

The coach gave Dieken an ultimatum if he wanted to play basketball.

"He told me, 'If you want to go out for basketball, you either go out for cross country or football in the Fall, because I want you in shape when you get to basketball season.' I remember thinking, 'Well, that's an easy choice.'"

And while Dieken was an all-star forward who received some small-school offers and an outstanding baseball pitcher, his greatest acclaim came on the gridiron as a sure-handed receiver. Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, Wisconsin & Michigan all pursued him, but it was Pete Elliott, the charming head football coach of the Fighting Illini, who talked him into attending Illinois. It certainly didn't hurt that his mom and dad were both UI graduates.

Though not swift afoot, Dieken became a reliable wide receiver for second-year Illini coach Jim Valek, catching 21 passes for 223 yards. In his self-deprecating style, he recalled a game in 1968 when Illinois played at sixth-ranked Notre Dame.

"So, the starting wide receivers were Jim Seymour and me," Dieken said. "We had to be the two slowest wide receivers to ever start an NCAA game. We got beat 58-8. I'm still trying to figure out why we went for two. I guess we were pretty optimistic."

Dieken earned team Most Valuable Player honors as a junior and senior, then exploded with 39 catches for 537 yards in his final season, earning first-team All-Big Ten acclaim.

He faced a particularly difficult personal challenge as the Illini captain in 1970 when Illini boosters called for his coach to resign in mid-season.

"We were getting ready to play (top-ranked and eventual National Champion) Ohio State," Dieken said. "It was a Friday night and we were out at Allerton. (Assistant coach) Ellis Rainsberger told me that Valek was going to be fired. 'After the game tomorrow, he's out of here.' I was the only player who knew what was going on. So, after the game, we went into the locker room and I just asked the coaches if they'd all leave. I said, 'Guys, if Coach isn't going to be here tomorrow, I'm not going to be here. Who's with me?' Everybody raised their hand. Afterwards, a few of us went over to the coach's house. We drew up a letter and sent it to the Athletic Board. We told them that we thought it was unfair and that if he wasn't allowed to stay for the remainder of the season, we weren't going to play. You might say, we had some leverage."

Dieken played in a pair of post-season all-star games and it was there where he'd see he first appearance as an offensive lineman.

"Bobby Bowden was our coach at the Blue-Gray Game," he remembered. "One of our linemen got hurt and he sent me in the game. On (NFL) Draft Day, I got a phone call from (Cleveland Browns head coach) Nick Skorich and he told me that they'd just drafted me as an offensive tackle in the sixth round. I said, 'Any chance that I can try out for tight end?' He said, 'We'll see when you get here.' Well, when I got to mini-camp, they gave me a 73 jersey, so I knew that #%&# wasn't going to work."

As a Browns rookie, Dieken initially played behind veteran Dick Schafrath.

"A few months before the season, an auto dealer told Dick that if he ran from Wooster—about 45-50 miles away—to Cleveland, he'd give him a car to use for the year," Dieken explained. "Dick had no legs by the time training camp came around."

The Browns actually waived Dieken near the end of camp, hoping he'd clear so that they could put him on their practice squad. He did eventually find a roster spot, playing on Cleveland's special teams.

"In the seventh game of the season, our right tackle got hurt," Dieken said. "We only had three tackles, so they sent me in. My first game as a pro I got (Atlanta Falcons Hall of Famer) Claude Humphrey. I did well enough that a couple of weeks they made me the starter."

From that point on—Nov. 21, 1971 through Dec. 16, 1984—Dieken was the Browns' starting left tackle for every regular season and playoff game. For 194 consecutive games—despite three knee operations, two broken thumbs, a broken hand, cracked ribs, and five concussions—the streak continued.

Dieken reluctantly retired following the 1984 campaign, but the team hired him as their radio network's color analyst the following season. Similar to his durability as a player, he's only missed broadcasting two Browns games, one in 1989 when his mother died (his father died 10 days later) and one when Cleveland played in London and Dieken was advised by a doctor not to make the lengthy flight because of a health issue.

Dieken has won numerous awards, including being named the NFL's Man of the Year in 1982. He's also been inducted into three Halls of Fame (Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame, Browns Legends Program, and the Streator High School Hall of Fame).

In 1997, he began a Foundation to honor his mentally challenged younger brother, Paul.

"When I was playing for the Browns, they were starting the Special Olympics in LaSalle County and I was kind of like the honorary chairman," Dieken said. "One year, I had taken my brother who was participating in the Games. I was passing out medals, so I couldn't keep track of him for the most part. Afterwards, we went to a root beer stand and the owner came out to say hello. My brother opened up his jacket and showed her these four ribbons that he had won in the Special Olympics. It was probably the proudest day I've ever had in athletics. The good Lord gave me some talent, but unfortunately Paul didn't get the same."

With the Browns in playoff contention, Dieken is cautiously optimistic that the 2020 team can break a 31-year playoff-game drought. He was privileged to cover playoff teams during his first five seasons behind the microphone (1985 through '89), but none since then. Dieken has described the performance of numerous all-star type players, but says that Joe Thomas—his replacement and the player that inherited his jersey No. 73—is at the top of his personal list.

"Joe is a first-ballot Hall of Famer," Dieken said. "I happened to be out at his first practice. He walked over and said 'I hope you don't mind that I took your number.' I said, 'Don't worry, Joe. I don't mind, but I've got to tell you that I've used up all of the holding penalties.'"

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

A redshirt freshman who wears jersey number one got his first start on Saturday, scored his first career touchdown, led his team to season victory number one, and, in the process, placed his name in the number one position on the University of Illinois's all-time single-game rushing list for a quarterback.

No doubt about it, Saturday's 23-20 victory at Rutgers was one memorable day for quarterback Isaiah Williams.

Thirty-one times the redshirt freshman from St. Louis's Trinity Catholic High School used his feet to rush for 192 yards, including individual gainers of 26, 25, 22 and 19 yards. That broke A.J. Bush's previous high rushing mark by an Illini QB (187 yards at Nebraska in 2018).

Williams' most decisive drive of the afternoon came on the heels of Nate Hobbs' crucial interception with just more than a minute left in the game and the contest tied at 20-20. Taking over at the Illinois 46-yard line, Williams completed a pair of 16-yard passes to teammate Casey Washington, and set the stage for James McCourt's game-winning 47-yard field goal with just three seconds left.

Coach Lovie Smith wasn't at all surprised by Williams' 192-yard rushing and 104-yard passing performance.

"We've talked about how good Isaiah Williams looked in training camp," Smith said. "He had as good of a camp as anyone around. For me, today was about moving the football, whether it be run or pass. In an ideal world for a first-time quarterback, you don't want to be in a lot of tough passing situations. When you have a guy who can move the chains with his legs, that's just tough on a defense. Coach (Rod) Smith and the offensive staff did a good job of getting Isaiah ready. He needed to make some plays and he did that all day. Even in the passing game, when we really needed to throw it, I thought he was able to do it. It's tough duty for a defense when you have a quarterback who can run like that. Isaiah, for his first start, set a record today and we've had a few good ones who could run the football."

And, did we mention that Williams, who'd been quarantined for more than two weeks due to COVID tracing protocol, learned only one day in advance that he'd be getting his big break?

"When I came back Wednesday I was taking a lot of reps with the twos," Williams said, "but I was also getting in there a little bit with the ones. By the Thursday practice, I wasn't sure, but I had a feeling (that he would start) because I was getting more one reps. I knew, for sure, on Friday. Coach Lovie told me. He called me up and said 'You're going to get your shot. You had a great camp, now it's time to show the world.' And that's what I did today."

Williams was quick to hand out credit to his teammates, including his offensive line and sophomore running back Chase Brown, who rushed for a career-best 131 yards on just 17 carries.

"Chase is a dawg," Williams said. "He makes my job way easier. We got a lot of explosive plays from him. He came up big. He's a dawg. I know he's got my back. It's a connection that we have."

Williams also acknowledged his Illini defensive teammates that picked off three Rutgers passes.

"Honestly, the defense basically won us the game," he said. "Those three turnovers were big. They were in crucial moments. They make the offense's job easier when they do that. When they get a turnover, we've got to get a first down."

Hobbs returned Williams' compliment.

"We were cheering him on the whole time," Hobbs said. "There were a lot of third and longs, third and mediums, when we were preparing to go back on the field. On third down, he went out there and got that third-down conversion a lot of times. He helped the defense out a lot. He put the team on his back and just went to work. I saw an attitude out of our quarterback that I really want. He showed that, no matter what, he's going to keep battling. And I love that."

Noting that senior starter Brandon Peters was due to come off the COVID list next week when the Illini travel to Nebraska, a reporter asked Lovie if the team now had a "quarterback situation". A sly smile broke out on the veteran head coach's face.

"It's a little early (to talk about that)," Lovie said. "We've got a week to start putting some things in place. What Isaiah did today is give us a lot of options. The goal of every coaching staff is to put the guys and the team in the best place to be successful. We'll do that this week."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

It's been an eventful, albeit forgettable year for Americans everywhere, but the past 15 months have been doubly Earth-shaking for former Fighting Illini basketball star Meyers Leonard and his wife, Elle.

Since July of 2019 when he was traded from the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers to the Miami Heat … to 49 consecutive starting assignments … to a debilitating injury … to his controversial decision concerning the National Anthem at the NBA's "bubble" … to seeing his Heat advance all the way to the NBA Finals … (among numerous other events) … Leonard's world has kept revolving and evolving.

And along for the ride has been Meyers' bride of five years, Elle (pronounced EL-ee). They met each other through mutual acquaintances in the Fall of 2010, as freshmen on the University of Illinois campus. Then 18-year-old Elle Bielfeldt, a graduate of Peoria's Notre Dame High School, was, shall we say, skeptical about the Robinson High School basketball hot shot. A

hoops player herself, three times she had rejected his invitations to join him as his guest at the dining facility just a short walk from his Scott Hall dormitory. On a desperation fourth try, Elle finally relented, suggesting that she and Meyers hang out at the Ubben Practice Facility.

"This was perfect," Meyers thought. "I was poor as hell and I can shoot a basketball really well. Maybe I can impress her this time. I had no clue how competitive she was and that she could shoot a basketball."

He challenged her to a shooting contest, going first and converting a "pretty solid" 22 of 25.

"I'm thinking, there's no way she's going to come close to that," Meyers said. "She wound up making 23. I knew at that point that I had a pretty special gal on my hands. Then I think I won her heart a little bit when we talked afterwards about our hometowns, other interests, our friends … those kinds of things. I think she was able to see that I was a good guy with a good heart."

An "official" first date didn't come until July of 2011. Four years later, they were married.

Meyers became the 11th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, being selected by the Portland Trail Blazers. The seven-foot center got nine starts in 69 games in his rookie season. Over the next six seasons, Leonard missed 56 games due to injury and illness, only rarely meeting the expectations he had set for himself. He remembers his fifth year—the 2016-17 season—being particularly miserable.

"I was dealing with depression and anxiety," he said. "It was a very, very difficult year. I was so distraught and in a bad place. There were ups and downs. Just pulling up to the arena, I got really bad anxiety. It was a negative place for me sometimes."

Elle wrote about her personal heartache it in a poignant story she titled "A Dry Goodbye." One passage capsulized what she had experienced during that stressful nine months.

"The 2016-17 season was the year that I slowly stopped attending games," she wrote. "I knew Meyers wasn't healthy. Sitting in that arena felt like absolute torture. Each opportunity seemed to be coupled with an injury or heartache. Each game, it was like I had a front-row season to watch my husband's paint on public display."

Ironically, Meyers' best game with Portland came in his very last game as a Blazer—May 20, 2019—scoring a career-best 30 points. The Moda Center crowd chanted his name.

"When you have seven years in a place, there's a lot of history and emotion," Elle said. "Basically, Meyers had experienced the worst of the worst and the highest of the highs with that final game. During that final game, I was crying tears of joy, hearing them chant his name, yet two years prior they were booing him and I couldn't go to games. We experienced complete polar opposites. You have to go through hard times to appreciate the good."

Two months later—July 6, 2019—Leonard and Jimmy Butler were traded to the Miami Heat in a four-team trade. It would turn out to be a positive event for the Leonards.

"When I got to Miami, I knew for sure that I could impact the game every night," Meyers said. "I was vastly improved and I was ready to make a real impact. Throughout training camp, I was really playing well. Spoe (Heat coach Erik Spoelstra) had seen Bam (Adebayo) and I play on the same team and, although we were both centers of sorts, he's so dynamic that it made sense that I could guard the five, take on the physical demand every night, and let Bam road on the defensive end. And on the other end, I spaced the floor and he played at the rim. It was like a perfect match."

Leonard started the first 49 games of the season, averaging six points and five rebounds per game in about 20 minutes of action. Game 49 saw him score 18 points and grab 14 rebounds. Midway through Game 50, his season came to a screeching halt.

"We're playing Philly at home," he recalled. "I landed on Joel Embiid's foot and tore basically everything there is to tear (in his left ankle), the worse of the worst. It would have been better for me to just fracture my leg. I've only seen the video of it once. I just know what it felt like.

It would be a long and grueling road to recovery.

"Because of COVID and the NBA shutdown, I wasn't actually allowed to get the treatment I needed," Meyers said. "So I did everything in my power to do everything at my house in Miami, but unfortunately it wasn't enough. Then the NBA announced we were going into the 'bubble' and that we were going to resume the season. So when I got to the bubble, I thought that I was OK … but I was far from OK. I loved my starting job so much and I just didn't want to say anything to anybody."

Then came a call from the head coach.

"Spoe said he wanted to sit down with me," Meyers remembered. "He said 'I need to let you know that I don't think you're fully healthy right now. You really need to have grace during this time because of the injury that you had. Just keep working with our staff and keep getting healthy. But you're going to be out of the starting lineup and we'll figure out the rotation later.'

"I totally understood. That was really, really difficult. The three things that were hardest in the bubble were having that conversation with Spoe. Second was being away from Elle and our dog Koko. It was hard. I'd never been away from my wife for that long. I count on her and our relationship and just being a normal human being. I didn't have that. I just kept going back to the same (hotel) room every day, knowing I was still not healthy and knowing that I wasn't going to play. Lastly, of course, was the Anthem."

Conversations in the Disney "bubble" was so much more than just basketball.

Meyers and his Miami Heat teammates were but one of the 22 teams who had been shuttled to three hotel complexes inside Walt Disney World in early July of 2020. Not only had the players been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic the previous four months, they had witnessed tremendous social unrest due to the unnecessarily brutal deaths of African-Americans Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others at the hands of police officers. The Black Lives Matter movement dominated the news, especially for the roughly 80 percent of the players who were either black or of a mixed race.

Said LeBron James to a reporter, "When you're black, it's not a movement. It's a lifestyle, a walk of life."

Boldly emblazoned on the three playing courts were the words BLACK LIVES MATTER. Numerous other phrases were featured on the players uniforms. The athletes and coaches were expected to gather around the center circle and take a knee.

Everyone wondered what Leonard, the 28-year-old seven-footer from Robinson, Ill.—a white man—would do.

"I spoke with Elle first and told her 'This is what I think I'm going to do', and that I was probably going to stand," Meyers said. "I knew there would be backlash towards me, no matter what, and that she may be roped into some of that as well. After Elle, I talked to my brother, Bailey."

Leonard's older brother by 22 months is a U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan. He's been in service since August of 2008.

"I wanted to know how he felt," Meyers remembered. "He said, 'Meyers, it's not like I'm going to disown you if decide to do what everyone else is doing, but, based on my service to this country and our feelings to the flag and to the anthem, I feel that it's right for you to stand. And then I had some other conversations with other members of the military. Let's just say that they are some of the baddest men to ever walk this planet, including Navy Seal Team Six operators who have been on some very classified missions and such."

Next, Leonard had conversation with his teammates.

"I sat down with Udonis Haslem and had a very open conversation with him. He's a very, very mature individual, and he was very understanding. Coming from a guy who'd been with the Miami Heat for 17 straight years, who's African-American, and who has the utmost respect of anyone around the entire NBA, knowing that I had his support was big. Then I went to Jimmy (Butler) and he felt the same way. Basically, he said that if you don't stand for something, you stand for nothing. You have to do what you feel is right. We've got your back.

"I also talked to Spoe, to the entire team, and I spoke to (Heat president) Pat Riley. They said, 'Meyers, we know your heart. No doubt about it, we know who you are. If we didn't, we could have seen it coming a mile away.' That meant a helluva lot to me. Some of my former teammates (with Portland) told me that you have to be ready for what could come if you stand.

"I explained to the media that you can be both. I can—100 per cent—feel a certain way every time I hear that song and every time I see that flag," Leonard continued. "I have vivid memories of my brother being in Afghanistan twice and sitting with these incredibly high-level operators and hearing some of the painful stories that they had shared with me. Talking about that, right now, the hair on my arms is standing up. For me, personally, my main initiative off the floor is giving back to the military. There comes a certain real-life emotion and real-life experience that are tied to that.

"At the same time, ever since I was a sophomore in high school, I have been around African-American culture. Though I come from a blue-collar, primarily white community, I can relate because of my basketball experience on the AAU circuit and then at the University of Illinois and, of course, around the NBA. I have heard stories that were difficult to listen to, but that I needed to hear. They can relate to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. That is their real-life experience and real-life emotion. I know, in my head, how difficult of a situation this was for me. But, in my heart, I knew that I needed to stand. It was a very, very, very difficult three-to-four days. I was sleeping two-to-three hours per night because I was so conflicted in this decision. Ultimately, I did what my heart told me to do, and that was to stand. My teammates supported me and so did many on social media. But there were also people who didn't support that decision. But I'm okay with that because I know the man that I am and I know where my heart is."

A few hours before the game, Bailey texted Meyers: "Stay true to you. Stay the course. I love you. Your family loves you. Your community loves you."

As the Anthem began, Meyers stood tall, wearing a dark shirt that displayed the words BLACK LIVES MATTER. placing his right hand over his heart.

At the end of the song, Haslem tapped fists with his teammate.

Said Haslem to reporters, "His being out there with us, as our brother, it's still showing strength, it's still showing unity, it's still showing that we're coming together for a common cause. People will question, 'Why isn't he doing it their way?' Well, he's standing by us. He's supporting us. He's with us."

The Heat eventually advanced to the NBA Finals, battling past the Pacers (4-0), Bucks (4-1) and the Celtics (4-2). And though Miami lost the championship to the Lakers (4-2), under the extreme circumstances it had to be considered a successful season.

Meyers and Elle Leonard have an amazingly open relationship with NBA fans. They frequently share social media posts, including Elle's basketball trick shots.

"Elle and I are just normal people," Leonard said. "We just want to be relatable to people in an unrelatable world, so to speak. Are there luxuries to be able to play in the NBA? Sure. It would be a lie to say that there aren't. But we also just try to normalize ourselves because we're just normal people. It's important to us for people to feel comfortable enough to reach out to us and also for us to share our lives. Being open to people is just who we are. We have no shame in who we are. We feel we can relate and that people can relate to us. It's that we know that we can impact lives. That's the main thing. There are two things that I won't ever let anyone question about me and that's my character and my work ethic. Off the floor, it's only about impacting people in a positive way. That's it."

Last April, Meyers raised $170,000 during the month of April by streaming himself playing video games online, donating the money to such causes as Feeding South Florida. He and Elle also have donated thousands of dollars to a fund that helps pay the fees Floridians leaving jails or prisons must settle before they can have their voting rights restored.

Many of the Leonards' off-court hours are devoted to their business: Level Protein Bars. It all began during their fifth season in Portland.

"I was feeling really bad," Meyers said. "I didn't know why, but much of it had to do with my diet and what I was putting in my body. I've always been lean and able to eat whatever I wanted. We met our good buddy now—Dr. Philip Goglia—who has his doctorate from Duke in nutrition. He told me to eliminate gluten, dairy and processed sugars. I cleaned up my diet, I was feeling better, sleeping better, recovering better, and performing better. However, the snacks that I was bringing home from the facility were protein bars weren't the best.

"Elle was like 'Meyers, you can't eat this one, there's dairy in this. There's gluten in this one.' Then I went on this 10-plus-day road trip and Elle went work in the kitchen. She took it as a challenge."

Elle, though a self-described non-cook, appointed herself to create a protein bar that both met her husband's dietary restrictions and his high-level taste restrictions.

"So, I get back from the road trip and I saw some things she had made and had left on the counter," Meyers said. "Elle said, 'Just try it for me' She had looked at the ingredients list from other mainstream bars and figured out how to throw a bar together."

"Some other bars met his dietary requirements, but he didn't like them because of taste," she said. "I knew that I could make a bar, but the hardest thing was to make sure that its flavor met his standards. So, I got all of the base ingredients and began mixing them up in the bowl, determining the right ratio to make it form. I knew the proteins to include, I knew the ingredients-ish. Also, I knew a little bit of the macro-profile I wanted. I knew that Meyers' downfall was caramel."

Elle figured out a way to make coconut taste like caramel. Meyers began sharing Elle's bars with his friends.

"We knew we were on to something," she continued. "People kept asking to order from us. Honestly, I could not keep up with the consumption. I was very hesitant because I didn't know what it took to make them shelf stable or the testing needed to get FDA approval. In Portland, there was a food innovation center downtown. There you could work with a food scientist in the kitchen and learn about it yourself. I believe in sweat equity. You have to put in your time. I just wanted to know my product backwards and forwards. I wanted to know my recipe, I wanted to know the why. We were fortunate to learn and work with a food scientist.

"Finding manufacturers is one of the hardest things in starting a protein bar company. Their minimums are extreme and their availability is scarce," Elle said. "We went through development for 18 months. Once of the manufacturers backed out after six months of working together. One email set us back six months. As a new business, you just have to roll with the punches."

When the Leonards launched their product in October of 2019, it was a smashing success.

"We did a presale and we sold out our entire production run in a day," Elle said.

Since then, Elle said the business is "like you're on a spinning ride at the carnival."

Now, she says, they have their grounding.

"This year, we're hoping to get on other digital platforms such as Walmart and Amazon … which is HUGE! We're also considering some smaller retailers. I'm extremely excited for 2021."

And while he awaits his next professional stop, Meyers also intends to keep a close eye on his alma mater's team.

"I personally think the Illini have an excellent shot to make an Elite Eight/Final Four jump," he said. "This is a championship-caliber team. The combination of proven players like Ayo (Dosunmu) and Kofi (Cockburn) and the young guns who are coming in this year makes this team incredibly talented. You get a sense about a team, even prior to a season This feels like a year when the Fighting Illini can really make a deep tournament run."

Twitter: @meyersleonard, @elleleonard and @levelfoods

Instagram: meyersleonard and elleleonard

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

This is the story about the convergence of two enterprising shoe distributors, a Greek goddess, a $35 logo, an asterisk, and a fascinating deal with a skinny farm kid from Lebanon, Illinois.

What may sound like a tease for an investigative report on "60 Minutes" is actually part of the legend that culminated with the eventual collaboration 25 years ago between Nike and University of Illinois athletics.

Established in 1964, co-founders Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight originally called their company Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), serving as the United States distributor of Japanese running shoes that would eventually come to be known as Asics. At the time, Bowerman was the head track and field coach at the University of Oregon, while Knight was an Oregon and Stanford grad who was beginning his career in accounting and business.

Bowerman's ultimate goal for BRS was to design and manufacture his own shoes, and distribute the product under his own brand. He had first begun tinkering with custom fit running shoes in the 1950s, combining a soft sponge midsole that would absorb road shot in the ball and heel area with a high-density outer sole that would provide extra miles of wear. Bowerman's "Tiger Cortez" shoes debuted in 1968 and became a big seller. It would be just the first of his several celebrated shoe creations.

In the Spring of 1971, it came the time to name a brand for the entire line of shoes. Knight preferred name the brand "Dimension Six." Other suggestions were "Peregrine" (a type of falcon) and "Bengal", but neither drew any enthusiasm from the company's other employees.

Yet another administrator urged that the name should have no more than two syllables and at least one exotic letter or sound in them with a Z, X or K.

One of BRS's first employees, Jeff Johnson, is credited with coming up with "Nike", named after the Greek winged goddess or victory.

Facing a factory deadline to put a name on the shoe box, Knight grudgingly went with the four-letter word that none of the shoes' initial purchasers knew exactly how to pronounce.

The box also sported a quirky yet unique logo that Bowerman and Knight hoped consumers would easily remember.

Kit Morris, Nike's Director of College Sports Marketing and UI's primary representative for most of the last 25 years, told the story of how the company's famed "swoosh" was born.

"At the time, Phil Knight was teaching accounting classes at Portland State University," said Morris. "He met a graduate student in design named Carolyn Davidson and he asked her if she would design a logo for Nike. I understand that she was trying to save up money for a prom dress at the time. She charged $2 an hour and submitted a bill for 17-and-a-half hours. So, for the princely sum of $35, the swoosh was created.

The wing design was a notion of Nike, the goddess of winged victory. There's a statue in the louvre that embodies that, that we use as a model. When Phil first saw the design, he said to Carolyn, 'Well, I don't love it, but maybe it will grow on me.' Years later, when the company went public, Mr. Knight gave Carolyn somewhere around a thousand shares or so of Nike stock. Ten years or so ago, Phil told me that she had never sold a share of it."

As for the "asterisk" part of the story—you know, that tiny star-shaped symbol that's often used to call attention to a footnote?—Morris says it's been instrumental towards Nike becoming a brand that statista.com recently estimated to be worth $35 billion.

The company's 10-word vision statement declares: "Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world."

Explains Morris, "The asterisk next to the word 'athlete' pertains to a statement by Bill Bowerman. Bill believed that if you have a body, you're an athlete."

Curiously, one of the very first high-profile athletes to wear Nike shoes—and the very first to wear Nike spikes in international competition—was an Illini … though not at the time.

On July 29, 1972, 16-year old Craig Virgin—a senior-to-be at Lebanon High School, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis—was invited to compete for a U.S. junior team against an age 19 and under squad from the Soviet Union. On Virgin's feet that day were handmade spikes, provided to him by Nike's first promotions man, Geoff Hollister. Sporting green soles, the white nylon uppers were adorned with a black swoosh mark.

"I believe," said Virgin, "those were the first pair of Nike spikes ever worn in international track and field competition."

Recently, Morris confirmed Virgin's claim.

"What I learned from our Nike DNA team is that Craig did wear handmade Bowerman prototype Nike spikes that day in Sacramento," Morris said. "It's always nice to confirm yet another Nike/Illini connection!"

A photographer at that meet corroborated the story further by snapping a shot of Virgin leading two Russian runners. That photo provided the scene for Nike's first-ever poster, distributed by the company a month later.

Four years later, at the 1976 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., Virgin—running in the 10K finals—became one of Nike's first three Olympic runners, joining Frank Shorter and Garry Bjorkland in qualifying for the Munich Games.

In a 2017 book authored by Randy Sharer, entitled VIRGIN TERRITORY: The Story of Craig Virgin, America's Renaissance Runner, the post-race scene was described.

"As (Virgin) crossed second (behind Shorter) in a personal best of 27:59.43, he collapsed. "You don't know what a feeling it is to realize you're second in the Olympic Trials," he told Dave Dorr of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I think when I crossed the finish line and I knew that I had made the team, it was just one of the happiest moments of my life."

"After taking a victory lap, Craig was greeted on the backstretch by legendary Oregon coach Bill Bowerman, who shook his hand and wrapped an arm around him. Bowerman asked if his parents were present. Upon learning they weren't, Bowerman said, 'Come with me. I'll treat you to a phone call. Call them and tell them you made the Olympic team.' Craig walked to a trackside phone booth to use Bowerman's credit card to call. It was an act of kindness Craig never forgot."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

During the 2020-21 season, the partnership between the UI's Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and NIKE, Inc. marks its silver anniversary. It's a healthy "marriage", the two parties say, and one they expect to last well beyond the 25 years they'll celebrate this year.

"We're really proud of our long-standing relationship with Nike," said Josh Whitman, UI's Director of Athletics. "There's been a lot of symmetry between both organizations. It's really been an uplifting relationship for us through the years."

Kit Morris, Nike's Director of College Sports Marketing, shares Whitman's sentiments.

"It's easy to think of the relationship between Nike and Illinois in some ways as transactional, as a business deal," Morris said, "but that is probably the least of it. This has been something that has been relationship driven. It's been a labor of love for us."

Though the original deal wasn't officially finalized until several months later, the collaboration between Illini and Nike initially began in 1995 with then-director Ron Guenther and his assistants, Bill Yonan and Warren Hood.

Hood, UI's current Deputy Director of Athletics, recalled the details of those early meetings a quarter of a century ago.

"Ron hired Bill Yonan out of retirement from Time-Life (in New York City) to put together our corporate sponsorship program," he said. "Bill called Rudy Chapa and Steve Miller at Nike and asked how we could begin doing business."

In the 1990s, the DIA, its coaches and the equipment staff dealt with a plethora of different companies, according to then equipment manager Andy Dixon. When he first joined Marion Brownfield's crew as an assistant in 1981, Dixon said that Illini teams inventoried a wide variety of different brands on their shelves. There were Asics shoes for some, Pumas and adidas for others, Converse for yet another.

"During the Mike White (football) era, the Illini uniform apparel was Russell but the shoes were from adidas," he recalled. "Most of the players wore adidas, but a few wanted to wear Nike. They were asked not to, but they did anyway. So every Monday morning, ol' Andy got a phone call from the athletic director's office."

Finally, then A.D. Neale Stoner swung a deal for the football and basketball teams to exclusively wear Converse shoes. That continued through the balance of White's time at Illinois, through all of the John Mackovic era, and for a tiny portion of Lou Tepper's stint as head coach.

"One of Lou's best friends was George Balanis from Nike," Dixon said. "Their relationship dated back to when they were both coaches at William & Mary. As soon as Lou took over from Coach Mack, George called Lou and said 'We've got to get you in Nike stuff.'

So, in the Spring of 1992, Nike made its pitch and the Illini football team began using football shoes featuring the famous "swoosh" logo for the '92 season. They continued to wear Champion uniforms through the 1994 season.

On May 31, 1995, following weeks of negotiations, the Chicago Tribune announced that Illinois and Nike had agreed in principle to a multimillion-dollar deal that covered the entire Illini sports program, placing the school among about a dozen universities—including Michigan, Florida State, Southern California and Penn State—that had struck such far-reaching arrangements.

That particular date nearly parallels the time when current Head Athletics Equipment Manager Rick Raven first joined Dixon's staff: Aug. 7, 1995. This year marks Raven's 25th season of employment with the DIA.

"Honestly, I don't know any other apparel vendor other than Nike," Raven said. "One of my first big-boy jobs as a 23-year-old, bright-eyed Illinois State University graduate was to take the Champion 'C's' off the women's basketball uniforms and replace them with (Nike) swooshes. I got a crash course from Johnny B (Birdsell) on how to operate a sewing machine. We jumped into the deep end and got right to it."

Finally, on Dec. 12, 1996, a 10-year contract—retroactive to July 1, 1995—was signed by the University and Nike officials. First-year terms called for cash compensation of $100,000 and a cache of free product—shoes, socks, game uniforms, and other apparel—for each of the 17 varsity programs and the cheerleaders. Cash benefits increased to $450,000 by year 10.

It gave Nike the exclusive right to sell authentic Fighting Illini apparel and to market itself as the school's exclusive supplier.

"It was a pretty big moment for the department," Hood said.

A second 10-year deal was signed in October of 2005, raising cash considerations for the DIA to approximately $1.2 million (plus product).

Marty Kaufmann, Senior Associate Director of Athletics for External Relations, was the primary negotiator for a third 10-year contract that was signed with Nike in December of 2015. The latest deal swapped cash considerations entirely for product, ranging from $4 million worth of shoes, apparel and equipment the first year to nearly $5 million when it expires following the 2025-26 season.

"In this contract, virtually everything was poured into product and we rarely spend anything now," Kaufmann said. "From a dollar-for-dollar comparison, we get much more now than we used to."

However, the intrinsic value of being associated with the Nike brand is much greater than the actual compensation.

"Our coaches feel that our association with Nike helps them tremendously with recruiting," Kaufmann said. "They love being partnered with the industry leader. Because of Nike's loyalty to us and our loyalty to them, we are able to fund everything in terms of apparel and footwear needs."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Then 20-year-old Argentinian Germán Dalmagro (pronounced Her-mahn Dal-mahg-ro), a professional player in his South American homeland, first displayed his talents in front of collegiate recruiters at a showcase tournament in Miami, Fla.

"I had a couple of friends who'd gone to college in the United States, so I said 'Let's give it a try'," he said.

He played well and the offers started rolling in … Georgia, LSU and others. However, Dalmagro faced a couple of underlying problems. He'd been earning a small bit of money as a professional, a no-no in those days according to NCAA rules and regulations. Consequently, eligibility-wise, he'd be forced to sit out his first year.

Even a bigger issue for the young man from Córdoba, Argentina was that he scarcely spoke a word of English.

"I was close to a beginner," Dalmagro admitted. "Every time someone spoke English to me, I had to translate it in my head to Spanish. I would gather my thoughts and translate it to English. In Spanish, you sometimes say things the opposite way, so it was confusing."

He did have one other offer—from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, a small university in Tifton, Ga.—and it turned out to be his only realistic option.

"ABAC told me that they just wanted me for my tennis and would let me in without knowing how to speak English," he said. "My first semester was a struggle. I was thrown into the lion's den. But that made me better because I had no other choice than to learn quicker than I would back home. Nothing can compare to going to a place where you want to learn the language. English was the only thing I read or heard or saw, so that helped me a ton.

"My first semester, I basically took all English classes, but these were tailored to English as a second language. What helped me the most was just speaking with my teammates. It was hard, but it was also fun. I've always enjoyed a challenge. You can't be afraid to make mistakes, otherwise you would never speak it."

On the tennis court, Dalmagro was fabulous for the Golden Stallions, winning National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-America honors in both singles and doubles. He was the national champ at No. 2 singles in 2002 and the runner-up in 2003. ABAC finished second in the NJCAA national tournament both years.

This past March, Dalmagro was named to ABAC's Hall of Fame.

He continued his collegiate success at the University of West Florida, leading the Argonauts to back-to-back NCAA Division II titles (2004 and '05).

"I had teammates from Argentina, Brazil, France, and Columbia, so our team was very diverse, very international," Dalmagro said.

Like many other Argentinians, the Dalmagro family's roots are of European descent. His mother's family came to South America from Spain, while his father's family migrated from Italy. In fact, the original spelling of his surname was Dal Magro.

"When they landed, the officials in Argentina changed it to one name," Germán explained.

His maternal grandfather established a successful Napa Valley-like vineyard near the Andes Mountains in Mendoza. That's where young German and his family lived for many years.

"As a kid, I used to stomp on grapes in my family's winery," he said.

By the age of nine, Dalmagro was obsessed with sports, participating not only in tennis, but also in soccer, swimming, basketball and rugby. When he turned 12, young Germán followed in the footsteps of his very successful tennis-playing father. His parents now live in Paraguay, where his dad, Alberto Dalmagro, continues to serve as a coach.

When Germán's collegiate playing days ended, he began his coaching career, first as an assistant at ABAC, then at UWF, then for six seasons with the Kansas Jayhawks' women's tennis staff. He eventually moved on to Lincoln, Nebraska where he helped the Nebraska Cornhuskers earn a top-60 ranking each of the five years he was there, including No. 21 in 2017-18.

Dalmagro became Evan Clark's associate head coach at the University of Illinois in July of 2018 and successful results followed immediately. Not only did Illinois advance into the Big Ten Tournament Finals, it also received an invitation to the NCAA Team Tournament.

The 2020-21 Illini roster features a pair of international players in Japanese star Asuka Kawai and India's Shivani Ingle, and Dalmagro is an especially supportive mentor to them both.

"I've been in their shoes," he said. "I tell them what I've been through. That usually makes them feel a little more secure and safe and helps them navigate through their ups and downs. Sometimes our international students have much better grades that American-born students. Our academic advisors say that that success comes because of their discipline. They don't want to fail. They want to take advantage of their opportunity and do their very best."

Dalmagro, a member of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics' diversity and inclusivity committee, explained why it's important to know about Hispanic culture.

"I describe myself as a Latino Hispanic," he said. "Many, many years ago, the population here was as much Hispanic as it was anything else. It's deep in the roots of the United States. I always say that it's better to be more diverse than to be close minded. It's always good to learn about other cultures, other foods, other languages and other behaviors. It's always best to be open-minded.

"I have friends that didn't know anything about my culture or foods or language, but the more you get to know each other you begin learning things and trying things and becoming more passionate about that. Sometimes, when you're used to only one thing, that's what you like and what you do and what you say and how you think. But the more you're around other people around the world, it opens up your mind and your thoughts and your heart. I think that's how you become more tolerant, more compassionate, more well-rounded.

"In this world that we're living in right now with racism, especially here in the U.S., the more you know about all the cultures, the more tolerant you'll become in accepting everybody. It takes acceptance to know what other people are about."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting impacts of unemployment and forced social distancing, most people would agree that the 2020 calendar year has been less than ideal. However,Fighting Illini baseball and football alumnus Kyle Hudson would beg to differ a bit, particularly when it concerns his current employer, the Cleveland Indians.

Since receiving a life-changing call on Valentine's Day from Indians President Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff that offered him the opportunity to become a Major League coaching assistant, Hudson has played a major role in helping Cleveland secure a spot in the playoffs. His team won nine of its last 11 games during the regular season and finished just one game behind American League Central Division champ Minnesota.

The Indians will open baseball's 16-team playoffs on Tuesday (Sept. 29), hosting the New York Yankees in a best-of-three A.L. Wild Card Series at Progressive Field.

Wearing Indians jersey No. 97, the former bench coach at Class-A Lynchburg ('17), Class-A Lake County (2018) and Triple-A Columbus (2019) now assists Cleveland bench coach Brad Mills with the Tribe's outfielders, directing a rotation of Delino DeShields, Jordan Luplow, Oscar Mercado, Tyler Naquin, Josh Naylor and Franmil Reyes with defensive positioning.

And with manager Terry Francona being sidelined with an illness for most of the season, the former Mattoon Green Wave star's job description has been expanded even beyond his additional role as an advance scout.

"The role of a bench coach in the Major Leagues is similar to a second manager, so you've got a lot on your plate," Hudson said. "Millsy is trying to position the outfielders and focus on all of the in-game situational stuff as well. They just wanted to ease some of that pressure off him pregame and in-game. What a great opportunity it is for me to learn from the outstanding staff that we have here … a Hall of Fame manager and all the experience with Millsy, Sandy Alomar Jr., Carl Willis, and everyone else. I'm so blessed to be in this position."

Though Francona has been largely absent in 2020, Hudson has taken advantage of the few personal opportunities he's had with his manager.

"Early in the season, 'Tito' typically came out to the dugout about 30-to-45 minutes prior to the game," Hudson said. "Because we're so separated (due to the team's enforced social distancing), seeing him in the dugout was often the first time I would have seen him all day. I just want to pick that guy's brain. I want to know everything he knows. I want to hear his stories, I want to hear his experiences, I want to hear everything he says about the game. His ability to develop a culture within a team and an organization is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. The players love playing for him."

Hudson learned many tricks of the coaching trade during his time as an Illini football player (2005-07) under then head coach Ron Zook and in baseball (2006-08) under Dan Hartleb.

"Coach Zook pushed you hard," Hudson said. "You really didn't want to disappoint him, so you tried your best and worked your hardest in the weight room and on the practice field. We practiced one way and that was hard all the time. He helped develop me as a person."

Hudson is particularly indebted to Hartleb.

"Coach Hartleb has not only been a mentor to me, he's now one of my very good friends," Hudson said. "We continue to talk to this day. In 2015, he gave me an opportunity to come back and start my coaching career. That was just an unbelievable opportunity. I don't know that you can have a better face of a program than Coach Hartleb because of the way he's done it. I have so much respect for the way he's run that program and what he does for the university and in the community. When I left, I told him 'I want to be like you.' He's definitely been a huge part of where I'm at now."

Hudson, who had a 14-game big league career with the Baltimore Orioles in 2011, feels as though he has a unique bond with Illini Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau, a hero with the Indians in the 1930s, '40s and '50s.

"He's a legend at Illinois, he's a legend in our organization, and he's a legend in baseball," Hudson said. "It's kind of a running joke with me and one of my good friends in the organization (Kevin Howard, Indians hitting coordinator). I always talk about Lou Boudreau and how he's an Illini. Kevin doesn't know much about Lou because it was a long time ago. On my walk from my apartment to the stadium, I pass by his statue. Maybe the first or second day I walked by it, I snapped a picture and sent it to Coach Hartleb. My message said 'What a small world it is that I get to walk by this statue every single day.' It's a cool thing to be a part of. Every time I walk out into the stadium, I see his name plastered on the upper deck. It's pretty neat."

With the football season now just a few weeks away from beginning, Hudson is anxious to check out Coach Lovie Smith's 2020 Fighting Illini.

"On Saturday mornings when I flip on the TV to ESPN and College GameDay, I still get some butterflies like I used to back when I played," he said. "I've been a season ticket holder at Illinois ever since I left, so it's going to be fun to follow them through this crazy time."

Hudson also has a keen interest in Illinois's recently announced plans to enhance its baseball facilities.

"It's well overdue, to be honest," he said. "That indoor facility is something that we really need. A lot of recruiting is based off the facilities. That's what kids and parents are looking at. What the current coaching staff has done for the baseball team without those facilities is an amazing thing. That speaks volumes to what that staff has done. I'm excited for them to get the kind of facility that they deserve."

When the baseball season ends, hopefully not too soon, Hudson will be eager to rejoin his wife, Shaela, and their 18-month-old daughter, Hadley, at their home in Peoria.

"I hate being away from them, but that's the life we're in right now," he says.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Twelfth-year Fighting Illini men's tennis coach Marcos Asse has Cuban roots … mostly. Suffice it to say that it's a wee bit more complicated than that.

You see, Marcos' paternal grandfather (Carlos Asse Dib) was born as a Christian Syrian in Western Asia. His family, persecuted in its homeland, fled to Spain, then ultimately to Cuba when Carlos was a young boy. His grandmother—Ana Fernandez Quiles, known to Marcos as "Abuela Anita" until her death at age 100 this past January—and her family, originally of Spanish descent, also took flight to the Caribbean Island.

Carlos and Ana had two sons, one of whom was Marcos father (Carlos Francisco Asse). The family operated a general store in Jibacoa (hee-ba-coa), a two-hour car ride from Havana. When Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro came into power in 1959, the country was converted into a one-party, socialist state under Communist Party rule.

In 1961, the Castro's government seized control of Marcos' grandparents' store. The family decided to flee to the United States, but just three days before their plane was to depart they were robbed of most of the money they had saved. Now, only enough remained for two family members to escape: Marcos' then 18-year-old father and his then 16-year-old uncle. The teenagers stayed for a short time with a cousin in Miami, but soon found jobs as busboys at a famous Jewish delicatessen called Wolfie's.

Within a few months, Marcos' dad, who spoke very little English, enrolled in what amounted to adult high school classes at Miami Dade Community College. Described by Marcos as a "straight A student", Carlos eventually transferred to the University of Florida in Gainesville to pursue a degree in architecture. And while Carlos was a brilliant scholar, his first love was theater.

Says Marcos, "Dad credits his passion for movies, theater, and plays to first seeing the animated Disney film 'Snow White' as a kid back in Cuba."

Just shy of beginning work on his architecture thesis at UF, Carlos got a job in downtown Gainesville as a set designer at the Hippodrome State Theater. Referred to by city residents as "the Hipp", the theater served not only as an entertainment center, but also provided classes, camps, in-school programs and workshops for all ages.

It was there where Carlos' eye was caught by an attractive brunette named Marilyn Wall, one of the Hippodrome's six founding members. Her specialties were make-up and costume design. Born in Iowa, Marilyn's father was a career military pilot, so the "Navy brat" lived all over the world, including a year-and-a-half in Guantanamo, Cuba at the same time her future husband was in Jibacoa.

"To say that Mom and the others were a band of misfit hippies is an understatement," Marcos said. "The Hipp was a crazy, wild, progressive theater that probably Gainesville wasn't ready for at that time."

Another understatement would be to describe his parents' success at their professions. Among their many awards, they've collectively won three Emmy awards, two by Carlos for his set design on a puppets show called "Salsa" and one by Marilyn for costume design.

As pre-teens, the Hippodrome became a second home for Marcos, his older brother Juan-Carlos—known as "Carly"—and his younger brother, Miguel.

"We grew up in theater," Marcos said. "That was our daycare. My brothers and I were in more plays than you can imagine. We'd always be in plays and shows, but our parents never pushed us. It was kind of like 'Do you want to hang here and do nothing or do you want to be in the play?' I ran follow-spotlight, I did backstage, basically whatever was needed at the time."

Then, the Asse boys discovered sports. Marcos was 11 when he started playing tennis. Almost literally, he never quit playing.

"Unless it rained, I played every day," Marcos said. "I just loved it. My parents would drop us both off at the courts and we would just play all day long. I remember that I just wanted to beat my older brother … that's all! He beat me the first four years of our tennis life."

Carly wound up with a scholarship at UNC-Ashville, then transferred to Florida. Marcos' younger brother, Miguel, also served as a manager for the Gators squad.

"We weren't those kids who were being driven all over to play," Marcos said. "I played doubles with the right kids so that I could go to the tournaments with them. Growing up in Florida was huge; there were tournaments all over the state in the '90s. I would not have survived in today's tennis world. Tennis has become a rich man's game. Tennis just kind of caught us at the right time."

Marcos took a long route towards earning his way onto the University of Florida tennis team.

"When I was 16, I would go to all of the Gators matches and I thought they were in a different stratosphere from where I was at," he said. "I knew all the guys. I'd hang out on the court and in the locker room; nothing that would be legal now. But because I was just a fun, happy kid, they didn't mind us hanging around."

Marcos wrote a letter to one of the coaches and found out about walk-on tryouts.

"I had an academic scholarship at Florida, but my parents had no money to give me," he said. "Financially, it was either Florida or bust for me. The coach let me work out with the team during the summer, then gave me a two-week tryout period."

At the end of the two weeks, Marcos received good news.

"Coach told me that I made it and I remember going to tell my mom," he said. "ESPN Gameday was in town for the Gators football game, so I rode my bike to where my mom was on the set doing makeup for (Chris) Fowler, (Kirk) Herbstreit and (Lee) Corso. So I go into the trailer where Lee Corso was in there with my mom. I was like, 'Mom, I made it!' It still kind of makes me a little emotional. So Lee Corso is there and he's exactly like who you see on TV. So it's me, my mom and Lee Corso all jumping up and down and hugging each other."

Marcos eventually became a key contributor and was a member of Florida's 2000 SEC championship team, posting 21 wins in doubles.

After studying accounting and graduating from Florida with a degree in finance—"I can balance the hell out of a checkbook," he says—Asse joined William & Mary's coaching staff and helped the Tribe win a conference title and earn two NCAA Tournament appearances.

He joined Brad Dancer's Fighting Illini staff for the 2009 season and has experienced nothing but success in Champaign-Urbana. Illinois has earned 11 consecutive NCAA berths, including six Sweet Sixteen appearances and one trip to the national quarterfinals.

And what's Asse's favorite moment with the Illini?

"That's easy … our Big Ten title in 2015," he said. "That was awesome for so many reasons. That was one of the best college matches I've ever been a part of, either as a player or a coach. On paper, against Ohio State in the finals for the Big Ten title, we were completely looked to be toast. Everyone thought we had no chance, but we ended up winning."

Asse is super enthused about the 2020-21 Illini as well.

"Kova (Aleks Kovacevic) is one of the best players in college tennis," he said. "Zeke Clark has the heart of a lion; you can fuel an army off his energy. Our senior leadership with Vuk Budic and Noe Khlif, they're two of the most role model guys that you'd want your daughter to bring home. Alex Brown is one of the most talented players in the country, too. And then we've got some new guys who are really going to be fun players to watch."

Asse says it's "fantastic" to be of Hispanic heritage and working in intercollegiate athletics.

"I'm in a sport that's highly international, so there is no majority in tennis," he said. "You go to a tennis tournament and it's the world that you're looking at. I've never felt discriminated against. For me, it's always been a celebration."

Asse is married to fellow Florida graduate Nikki. The couple has two daughters, Stella and Ana.

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Every student-athlete faces a myriad of demanding challenges during his or her collegiate experience.

All attempt to achieve peak physical condition. Most strive to be a member of the starting lineup. Many endeavor to excel in the classroom. Tackling all three issues is an exhausting and stressful undertaking.

For Eva Rubin, who joined the University of Illinois's women's basketball squad this past January after transferring from Arizona State University, she deals on a daily basis with an even more demanding challenge: type one diabetes.

It's a condition that only five-to-ten percent of people have to endure. America's Center for Disease Control and Prevention says type one diabetes manifests itself when an individual's pancreas makes an insufficient amount of insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps blood sugar enter the cells in one's body where it can be used for energy. Without insulin, blood sugar can't get into cells and build up in the bloodstream. High blood sugar is damaging to the body and causes many of the complications of diabetes.

Rubin, a 6-foot-5-inch All-State center from Homewood-Flossmoor High School, has been dealing with her somewhat rare and misunderstood condition since she was in the seventh grade.

"It takes a while to get used to it and to get a grasp on what it takes to manage it," she said. "You have to figure out what a good day looks like and what a bad day looks like."

Rubin said that it was a sometimes overwhelming task for her as an ASU freshman to adjust to the pace of college athletics from what it was in high school. It took a toll on her mental health.

"It was a challenge in getting the people around me to understand what I was dealing with," Rubin said.

Most athletes are conditioned to fight through anything, but Rubin's struggle was doubly difficult.

"Until someone tells you that you cannot practice, you're told to tough it out," she said. "However, diabetes is not something that you can tough out if your blood sugar is too low or too high. You have to honor that and wait for it to go back into range. Having it be something that behaves erratically, I'm not always sure what I'm going to get on a daily basis. That was hard on me because I have this pressure of never wanting to miss anything."

A lack of understanding Rubin's condition resulted in an unusually strained environment.

"I was often asked 'Are you taking care of yourself?'," she said. "There was always this questioning of whether I was doing what I was supposed to do."

After a hard day or workouts and then trying to sleep at night, Rubin's body was so pent up that her blood sugar would go very low and crash in the middle of the night. Occasionally, the stress would have an opposite effect and cause it to rise abnormally high.

"So I would set an alarm for 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., to wake up quickly, check my blood sugar to make sure that it's fine, then go back to sleep," Rubin said.

Being more than 1,700 miles from home and not having anyone near her to truly understand the disease like her parents did caused additional grief.

"It's very challenging to be a fulltime student and a fulltime athlete," she said. "Physically, you want to pour everything you have into your sport, but you're at a university for a purpose, to take advantage of an education. Balancing your mental health is another huge thing. Then for me, I had a fourth thing going on, so there was a lot of learning how to keep everything in line."

When Rubin decided to transfer, one of her objectives was to be able to go somewhere where she could pursue a community health degree and play at the same time.

"I realize that's a very ambitious idea on my part," she said. "I've seen it happen at the Division 1 level, but I haven't seen anyone in basketball do it. It's two very time-consuming things."

When Illinois contacted Rubin, she was hesitant because of the campus's lack of an actual nursing school. But since the University was only an hour and forty-five minutes from home, she decided to take a visit last December.

"When I came, I just loved the openness of the coaching staff," Rubin said. "I could tell that they wanted to hear what I had to say. I loved the desire here to rebuild our program and build our culture. It just seemed like a place where I could serve others and help build us back up."

As a redshirt senior with two seasons of eligibility remaining at Illinois, part of Rubin's focus is on her future career as a nurse. It's a field she was drawn to because of her experiences as a young diabetic.

"When I was 12, I was very, very, very afraid of needles, and I was thinking that I wouldn't ever be able to eat any 'fun' food ever again," she said. "All of my concerns—whether they were medically related or psychologically related—the nurses were all super understanding and patient. I could just feel like they were doing their job because they loved doing it. Nursing is a very under-paid, over-worked, under-staffed, under-appreciated field, so you really have to have that desire to help people. Because of the way they helped me, I really want to do that for other people. There's a bit of a crisis with women of color and, in particular, their health care needs. Me being a black woman, that's a space that needs people like me."

Rubin also is grateful for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics' focus on the mental well-being of their student-athletes. She says the DIA's "Open Doors" website is "an incredible resource."

"Open Doors is catered specifically towards us," she said. "The fact that the resource exists at all is great in calling attention to our issues. Sometimes there are needs that don't really get addressed until one person speaks up about something, then a resource is created to address that need. All of a sudden, you discover that 10-20-30 other people also needed a resource like that."

Rubin also is one of 10-to-12 Illini student-athletes who are involved with the Green Bandana project.

"When COVID is over and we're once again walking around campus, an actual green bandana will be tied to certain student-athlete's backpacks," she said. "The bandana will represent to our fellow student-athletes that this is a person who you can talk to if you're struggling with anxiety or depression or any sort of mental health issue. It says 'I can be a great starting point for you.' If you need to speak with a more thoroughly trained professional, that individual can help you set that up. It lets them know that they're not alone in the process."

Rubin is eager to get back to a regular routine as a Fighting Illini student-athlete.

"Even though (the pandemic) disrupted everything, my teammates have continued to embrace me," she said. "I'm really excited to be part of Coach (Nancy) Fahey's team."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

From a very young age, Fighting Illini football grad Kam Buckner remembers observing the selfless behavior that his parents demonstrated toward public service.

Residing in Chicago's far southside community of Roseland, his dad, Raymond, was a Cook County Sheriffs Department officer. Kam's mom, Yvonne, was a seventh-grade teacher at Chicago's Alcott Elementary School.

"I watched my parents and knew that both of them were focused on other people," Buckner said. "The care they gave to their community and the people around them really influenced me and my sisters."

And though he was only a toddler at the time, Buckner vividly recalls the reverence that his family members held for Mayor Harold Washington.

"I remember my parents and my grandmother taking me downtown to city hall to see Mayor Washington's body lay in state," he said. "I knew that there was something about this guy that people loved. As I got older, I began reading about politics and discovering how people are able to make changes in society. It was something that grabbed me at a young age and it never let me go."

Today, Kambium Elijah Buckner is a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, serving on behalf of the people of District 26, a ward that includes the highly diverse Chicago neighborhoods of Streeterville and Washington Park. Originally appointed to the position in January of 2019, the 35-year-old Democrat is on the November 3rd ballot to continue in that role.

Buckner's initial foray into politics came 24 years ago when he was just 11.

"I ran for Student Council Representative in 1996 and I got whooped," he said. "I must not have brought enough candy to my classmates. But that didn't deter me."

Buckner became a student of history and was drawn to read about people like Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and Harold Washington.

"For a long time, I thought that I would only be a person in the background and not be the person who was running for office," Buckner said. "As I got older, I changed the way I saw things and I knew that I had a certain passion for people and that it should be used to affect whatever kind of change I could."

As one of Chicago's top defensive end prospects, the Morgan Park High School product was recruited to the University of Illinois in 2003 by Ron Turner's coaching staff. Performing from 2003 through 2006, the 2007 political science graduate cherishes his time in East Central Illinois.

"The things I learned at the University and on the football field were priceless," Buckner said. "I can't begin to put into words their value. To be a member of a team, to have grace under pressure, and to find ways to win when the odds are against you are at the top of the list."

"We're all in the people business," he continued. "The things you learn in the locker room are just as important as the things you learn in the weight room and on the field. Being able to understand different viewpoints and being able to listen to people who you may not necessarily agree with or relating with people who come from places different from you. There are guys from all over the country, guys from different socio-economic backgrounds, guys who have different religious views. It created a sense of balance in my life and how to respect those who may come from a different standpoint than you."

And while Buckner deeply appreciates the mentoring he received from Coach Turner and then from Coach Ron Zook, it was Strength and Conditioning Coach Lou Hernandez who he says made the biggest impact.

"Me and Lou didn't always get along in the weight room, but I'll always value the precision and the passion that Lou brought to his job," Buckner said. "His drive to make us better than what we thought we could be is something that I carry with me today. Lou saw more in me than I did myself. When people buy into you like that, it means a lot. You don't always notice it when it's happening, but all these years later I'm thankful for it."

After graduating from the U of I in May of 2007, Buckner went to Washington D.C. to volunteer for Senator Richard Durbin on Capitol Hill. He returned to Chicago in 2009 and began law school at DePaul University.

After working in government relations for the Chicago Cubs, Buckner became executive director of World Sport Chicago, a non-profit that grew from the city's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Late in 2018, when Representative Christian Mitchell stepped down as District 26's delegate, Buckner was encouraged to throw his hat into the political ring.

"For whatever reason, I was chosen, so I'm grateful and thankful that I was," he said. "I'm really passionate about the work that I've been able to do."

Buckner currently represents the most diverse legislative district in the entire state of Illinois, including the wealthy near northside neighborhood of Streeterville. Bounded by Lake Michigan on the North and East, the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue on the West, and by the Chicago River on the South, Streeterville is 90 percent Caucasian and has a life expectancy of 90 years.

Buckner also serves Washington Park on the south side, stretching East-West from Cottage Grove Avenue to the Dan Ryan Expressway and North-South from 51st Street to 63rd. It's a neighborhood that's 90 percent black and one that has a significantly lower life expectancy due to being embroiled in a world of violence, drugs and a lack of health care.

"These places are only nine miles apart in the same city and I represent both of them," Buckner said. "In terms of the economic opportunities that Streeterville has, it's important to me to find ways to make Washington Park more like Streeterville."

His 2020 campaign platform goals include the planks of relief and reinvestment.

"What's important in a capitalistic society like ours is to make sure that we are not just reinvesting with thoughts and deeds, but that we're reinvesting with dollars," Buckner said. "Far too often, we see communities that have purposely been left out in the cold. We don't directly address that. It's incumbent that we do all we can for the least among us, not just to be a safety net but to give them the opportunity to be economically feasible. That means finding opportunities where commerce can work in places where it has not been attempted."

Another major issue for Buckner is gun control.

"I've lost a lot of friends and family members to violence," he said. "Between my junior year of high school and my first year in Champaign, I lost more than a dozen friends and family and neighbors to gun violence. My family was involved in a triple homicide in 2008. In 2016, my dad's youngest brother—my uncle—was killed right here in the neighborhood I grew up in. It's unfortunately been a part of my life that's never gone away. It has been a relentless drumbeat of death and violence that I've witnessed and mourned."

Buckner says it's imperative that he listens intently to the voice of the people.

"Today, people all across America are speaking with a clear voice that it's time to make some changes," he said. "None of us could have predicted this pandemic. I said very early on that COVID will not break us, but what COVID will do is show us what's broken about us. Whether it's from an educational standpoint or from a criminal justice standpoint or from a police accountability standpoint. Whether it's about housing and healthcare, all of our blemishes have been brought to the fore. Because of that, people in positions like me have a moral and an occupational duty to do whatever we can to make it so that the people who live in this state know that we tried to have some actionable change when we were faced with these extreme and difficult times."

Since being placed in a role of leadership 19 months ago, Kam Buckner has learned a lot about himself.

"For me—a kid that didn't think that I'd ever be in a position to make changes—it's encouraging to know that my voice matters and that I can help effectuate whatever change that is necessary."

This feature and additional photos also can be viewed at FightingIllini.com. 

Pearson is a staff writer for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and author of ILLINI LEGENDS, LISTS & LORE (Third Edition).

Charlton Ehizuelen's stunning debut as a Fighting Illini is unequalled in the 148-year history of University of Illinois athletics.