big al Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 It was a pleasure meeting you today and learning you were originally from New Athens, our arch rival, when I played at Freeburg Ill....Somehow this board has created a unique group sharing their interest in Billiken B-Ball...It was an exciting win today...I believe Kansas State would have beaten many teams today the way they were shooting the ball even though tightly covered...Go Bills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 all my pleasure bigal! i wish we would have had more time to talk. i love talking about the good ole days. i bet you know smokey bruss who used to play legion ball for the belleville hilgards when you played with whitey. did you know smoke's son-in-law, scotty oltman is now the head coach at mascoutah? i am good friends with smoke's nephews. with my contacts at freeburg, i follow their sports teams pretty close. last year i helped my brother a few times practice with his grade school team. he is a basketball coach at st joes in freeburg. they have a few really nice freshman coming up at freeburg. the young jansen and moddrell kids are going to be nice players, but of course michael adamson is already very good. the kid is fearless and might be the best freshman on the east side right now. do you remember his dad playing for new athens in the 60's? he is his dad all over again. definitely not afraid to look to score! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big al Posted January 5, 2004 Author Share Posted January 5, 2004 Smokey Bruss was a fine lefthand hitter for BTHS and the Hilgards...He is a little older than me...He plays golf with cousin Barney over at Carlyle...My parents home was located where St Joe's gym is now located...Spent many hours shooting baskets at St.Joe's playground...Told my kids they built a memorial gym to the talent that once lived there...They don't believe it any more...The Jansen kid is a cousin through his grandmother Maggie...He and Moddrell were at a recent Bills game near my seats...Too bad the Moddrell girl dropped out of B-Ball they would be even tougher than they are now...I remember Adamson fron N.A....He was a tough kid...I hear Freeburg needs to upgrade the coaching...What are your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 while i am a friend of shorty, imo blumberg and woodward are both better basketball coaches. and probably the dewort kid that coaches he freshman as well. still shorty is better than the days of henning and murkey imo. if they want a real coach, they should figure out how to get my brother who coached the st joes team last year up to the high school level. he played for mckendree in the 80's and knows he game inside and out. however, he isnt a teacher, so that always presents a problem. the truth is, the best high school coaches arent teachers normally. too bad. i didnt know the moddrell girl didnt play basketball until you told me the other nite. just assumed she did since the whole family is basketball nuts. but the way this volleyball takes over the girls it doesnt surprise me. the people that run volleyball dont want those girls doing anything but volleyball. two year's ago, althoff's star volleyball player, sara thomas, didnt play basketball because her select volleyball coach told her not to. last year she came back to the basketball team as well, but even then, she missed basketball practices to go to volleyball if a conflict came up. of course she like moddrell is a volleyball all-american and has a free ride lined up because of volleyball, so i guess it is hard to argue with it. if you played with whitey, you probably played legion with bud wirth as well? i went to high school with his son mike. mike might have been the most fundamentally sound athlete i ever played with. you could have made instructional videos with him in basketball and baseball on mechanics and such he did everthing right. bud was my first real baseball coach when i was a kid. i have never encountered a baseball situation that bud didnt teach me the right thing first. too be honest, bud is as responsible for the great run of baseball that new athens had in the late 70's and early 8o's as anyone. i understand bud wasnt a bad pitcher in his day. what position did you play on that team? i have heard whitey go on and on about the great games new athens and belleville had in those days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big al Posted January 5, 2004 Author Share Posted January 5, 2004 I played shortstop on the N.A. legion team...Buddy Wirth's dad would pick up Mark Zipfel and myself at Freeburg in a big black Buick and take us to the games...Talk about two kids being in heaven...Buddy Wirth was a great pitcher...He could throw real hard and had a great curve ball...When we played Hilgards he lost his cool and hit a batter...They went on to win state or national championship...When I was a freshman at Freeburg we beat BTHS twice during the regular season and lost to them the 3rd time although we had 13 hits against Bucky Walters who went on to pitch a no-hitter in the state final...A local umpire gave us a screw job even the BTHS coach (Gunderson) said so...We had some real battles with them and N.A....Many of my teammates went on to play organized ball...Kent Pflaster was in the Dodger Organization and could not get past Don Zimmer(No Free Agency)...He was outstanding...Don Borger was one of best lefthand high school hitters seen in Illinois...He helped carry blocks of ice for his dad's business and had arms like telephone poles...He could hit...Now those were the good old days in Freeburg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 al, my son plays a lot of baseball, so i see a lot of legion and high school baseball now. freeburg has as much talent as any team around this coming season. the mueller kid is a very good pitcher and so is the kid from smithton that throws very hard. his first name is steven, i am blanking on his last name right now. i like that rusty parke kid, and i think that garland kid is a nice hitter that does ok at the corners. plus it is my understanding that the adamson boy will start varsity as a freshman in baseball as well. my old coach fred blumberg might be heading back to the state tourney again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Roy, have you been given more hours in a day than the rest of us? If so, how did you pull that off? The rest of us are only given 24 hours in a day. I find that I sleep less than most people, and I still don't have time in a day. You have a career, a family, and are a devoted sports fan. Although, your devotion for sports must take a tremendous amount of time!!! You are a Bills fan, you go to women's basketball games, you go to high school games, tournaments, now baseball as well. Are you ever home? Wait, you have to be to post like you do. How do you manage it all???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 my kids both play sports so a lot of my high school and grade school knowledge coincides with going with them to the games. yesterday i first had to take my daughter to her fast pitch lesson for the week (i am her catcher) and we left straight from there to go to the jilliken game. i dont know. i just do it. it is easy to find time if you are focused on it and want to see the action. btw, you forgot the fact that i am also in process of remodeling my basement as well. :-) i dont know. my guess is that other than selected sporting events, my family doesnt watch a lot of tv. i think if the typical family cut out tv, you would be amazed at the time it frees up in your schedule alone. second, it is my choice to watch, listen and talk sports. many other people spend their time doing other pastimes/hobbies. mine is sports. other than my family and career, nothing matters more to me. people may think that is weird, but i think spending 3-4 hours of a week at a mall is weird. while i get out and play a few rounds of golf each year (and i love to play golf), the guy that plays 4-5 times a week between may and october is neglecting his family imo. luckily my whole family is as addicted to sports as i am. even the lovely anita plans her work schedule at slu hospital around the billikens and in years past we took our vacations during that second week in march so as to travel to the conference tourney. my son and daughter both read this board regularly as well and it isnt unusual that at suppertime, the topic of conversation is billikens.com. it is just what i love to do. talk, watch, listen and as much as i can play sports. the majority of my posting on the board coincides with my office time or else early morning late evening. it isnt unusual that i am typing a post while i am talking to clients on the phone etc. like i said, it doesnt seem like a big deal to me. especially since my family loves the games as much as i do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 That is like my family growing up Roy ... my parents were always at one of our sporting events ... and the TV was usually on sports. My parents still take many vacations around the UT Longhorns. In fact they drove to Boise from Dallas this year to watch the Iowa St. game I drove up and met them there for the game. My wife isn't into it as much as I am and my 7th grade stepdaughter plays basketball so she is into sports a little. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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