Naperville North recently announced its 2010 Hall of Fame class. Dave Bucher, Jim Konrad, Chad Ganden, Mike Kuefler, Scott Kavanagh and Jackie Diekamper will be honored in February. For quick biographies of the inductees, click here.
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For the second week in a row, Army freshman Ariana Mankus (Benet) has been named the Patriot League's rookie of the week in women's volleyball. Check out the full release here.
The Huskies get spotlight treatment this week in the Chicago Sun-Times. It includes an essay submitted by North defensive coordinator Sean Drendel, a 1990 graduate. Drendel writes in part:
Football coach Larry McKeon, my mentor, brought in weight lifting. We never lifted before that. If you aren't playing another sport, he said, you better be lifting. I didn't enjoy lifting. So I played other sports.
But coaches such as McKeon, Carl Hunckler, Paul Ryan and Tom Vargos taught us that hard work pays off, that if you put time and effort in, there will be value in it, as an athlete and a person. Character counts, too. And everyone on the team matters. There are no cuts at Naperville North.
The Yankees and Jerry Hairston were left to wonder what could have been after Monday night's 5-1 victory in Baltimore. With two outs in the seventh inning, Andy Pettitte's perfect game ended once Hairston allowed a ground ball to roll through his legs at third base. The Naperville North graduate seemed to handle the error like a pro. New York Daily News columnist John Harper has the story here.
Ian Krol, a seventh-round pick out of Neuqua Valley, has agreed to terms with the Oakland Athletics. The lefty pitcher declined his scholarship offer from the University of Arizona and instead signed a professional contract before Tuesday's 12:01 a.m. deadline.
Credit Sun sports editor Brad Engel for the information and look for more in Tuesday's print edition.
Connor Powers apparently couldn't reach an agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers and decided to return to Mississippi State. The corner infielder out of Benet - who showcased his swing this summer by winning the Cape Cod League's home run derby at Fenway Park - was picked in the 11th round. According to MLB.com's Ken Gurnick, the Dodgers signed each of their first 11 picks from the first 10 rounds of the June draft.
"It was long and drawn out," Powers told The Clarion-Ledger (Miss.) on Monday. "I had expectations coming into the draft. I told the teams that and they understood. I just, unfortunately, couldn't get anything done."
Joe Henricksen of City/Suburban Hoops Report has a recruiting update on 6-foot-5-inch Neuqua Valley forward Dwayne Evans, who -- if everything breaks right -- could eventually join his friend Drew Crawford (Naperville Central) at Northwestern. Henricksen writes:
After a strong finish in the high school season and a solid start in the spring AAU season, Evans did not play his best basketball during the July evaluation period. Although he has been a highly productive player who finds ways to get things done, he still has the dreaded 'tweener label attached to him.
Hoops Report Analysis: While Northwestern is still heavily involved and the biggest player in the Evans recruiting, the mid-major level would be ideal for Evans. If Evans to Northwestern doesn't get done, keep an eye on these schools as we inch closer to November and the signing period: Loyola, Drake, Toledo, Western Michigan and Fairfield.
Mississippi State baseball coach John Cohen told the crowd at a recent alumni/booster club event that there's a very good chance Connor Powers will return to school for his senior season, according to The Clarion-Ledger. The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Powers, a Benet graduate, in the 11th round of last month's first-year player draft.
In the meantime, Powers was picked to hit in the Cape Cod League's home run derby before its All-Star game on Thursday night at Fenway Park in Boston.
Last week we caught up with Stanford's Chris Derrick, the distance runner out of Neuqua Valley with Olympic ambitions. We mentioned the Cardinal's rich and varied athletic history, which includes John McEnroe, Tiger Woods and at least one national championship in 33 consecutive years.
But even Stanford isn't immune to the global financial crisis, as Mark Schlabach explains in a fascinating piece for ESPN.com. Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby told Schlabach that he will have to slash $7 million from his department over the next two and a half years. Bowlsby couldn't guarantee that sports won't be cut. Schlabach reports:
Across the country, Stanford isn't alone in its financial difficulties. Many athletic departments are struggling to balance their financial books after receiving less funding from state legislatures and fewer donations from alumni and boosters.
"There are people who have been profoundly affected by the economy and those who haven't been affected at all," Bowlsby said. "I expect the trickle-down will show its effects in sponsorships and multimedia deals and perhaps at the gates at places where tickets aren't in such high demand. We're a long way from the bottom of the well, in my opinion."
Stanford's economic woes are directly tied to the loss in value of its endowments, which are used to cover scholarship funding and other operating costs. In 2008, the Cardinal's athletic endowment was worth about $520 million. But the endowment lost about 20 to 30 percent of its value when the financial markets went south, dropping its current value to about $410 million. The value of the school's general endowment fell from $17.2 billion in 2008 to about $12 billion this fiscal year.
Candace Parker's "This is 'SportsCenter'" commercial for ESPN is scheduled to debut on Monday. Several of the show's anchors are featured in the 30-second spot below. Walking through the ESPN campus, they wear strength shoes - like the kind that intrigued George Costanza on "Seinfeld" - with their business attire. All in the hopes of being able to dunk like Parker.
Here's a testimonial: "Jimmy couldn't jump at all before he got these. Jimmy was like you."
Within this piece, we mentioned a recent Time magazine feature in which Candace Parker fielded 10 questions from readers. You can find the entire Q&A session here. The recruiting process has already begun...
How are you doing with your new daughter? Has your coach at Tennessee, Pat Summitt, started recruiting her yet? Brenda Goodman JOHNSON CITY, TENN.
When I first told Coach Summitt that I was pregnant, she was like, Where can we send the papers? I had to remind her that my husband [Minnesota Timberwolves forward Shelden Williams] went to Duke, so he's pushing for her to go there. But I'm doing great. My baby is the joy in my life. Obviously, I'm suffering from lack of sleep, but it truly is a blessing to be a mother.
Michael Bowden is working on a slider that he hopes will make him a permanent big-league pitcher. The No. 2 prospect in the Red Sox organization has an ERA of 6.42 since May 23, according to this Providence Journal feature by Daniel Barbarisi, but that's part of a learning curve.
The 6-foot-3-inch right-hander out of Waubonsie Valley is trying to develop an extra pitch that will make hitters swing and miss. Bowden's numbers are still good - opponents are hitting only .226 against him at Triple-A, and he has a 3.39 ERA overall - but he could use a slider to throw in a two-strike count.
"I think it's going to define him. I really do," Pawtucket pitching coach Rich Sauveur told the newspaper. "I honestly think that pitch is going to define him, to help him get back to where he wants to be."
