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Bill Booker still loves baseball, but retired to spend more time with family · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Bill Booker still loves baseball, but retired to spend more
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  time with family. Written by Kevin Schlum. This article is
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  being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Bill Booker still loves baseball, there's no denying that. But
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  baseball has made it difficult for Booker to spend time
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  with his four children, who are spread around the country,
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  and his grandchild. So that's why he decided to retire
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  from coaching after nearly forty years in Area, dugouts. Our
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  family has probably four of the most active kids in America,
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  and recently it struck me that all I'm doing is
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  watching videos, facetiming, and doing things through social media with
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  my own kids, and that really bothered me. Booker said,
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  it's very difficult to free up time with your family
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  when you want to try to start hitting in November
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  and go through June. I love everything about baseball. I
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  love the game. I love my players. I love the
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  competition with other coaches, the travel to area clinics, our
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  spring training clinic, the umpire relationships I have. I love
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  everything about it. But it really came down to the
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  people that you love. You need to take better care
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  of them, and that's why I decided now to retire. Booker,
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  a Mendota native, started at Las al Peru and ended
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  as head coach at Saint Bede, with a short stint
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  as an assistant coach at Putnam County in between. Booker
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  went five hundred seventy six three hundred ninety six five
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  over thirty one seasons as a head coach, with eight
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  regional titles, five sectional titles, and three state trophies. He
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  was three hundred and seventy five two hundred sexy sixty
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  five record in twenty seasons at LP and two hundred
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  one to one hundred and thirty and eleven seasons at
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  Saint Bede. Booker helped PC to a Class one A
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  runner up finish in twenty thirteen. I've been lucky enough
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  to follow Hubi Sarver at LP and John Bellino Saint
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  Bede at two of the most storied programs in the
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  Old Illinois Valley, and I hope I've continued to keep
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  that level of competition up because it's been a great
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  ride and it's because of the players, Booker said. Booker
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  took over for Sarvar in nineteen ninety three, going eight sixteen.
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  He had his first twenty win season in nineteen ninety
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  nine and won his first regional title in two thousand
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  and seven. He guided the Cavaliers to three straight sectional
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  titles from two thousand and seven zero nine, with a
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  fourth place finish in Class three A in two thousand
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  and nine. Booker led the Cavs to a runner up
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  finish in three A in twenty twelve. Early in my career,
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  I had ten years where we were struggling to stay
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  above point five zero zero, which we did and we
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  competed and we played the right way, but we just
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  couldn't get over the hump, Booker said. We slowly got better,
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  we won twenty games, we were in regional championships, but
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  we couldn't get over the hump. After my first ten years,
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  we had an unbelievable run. We won four sectionals in
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  six six years. And I leave the job where we
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  just dominated for half a decade and get a chance
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  to go to state with Putnam County and to State
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  with Saint Beide. That was a fun era. I love
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  team baseball. I love it when kids get it and
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  when they start believing in what you're trying to do
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  with playing small ball and putting pressure on people. It's
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  just so much fun and to be able to be
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  part of that. Booker was not rehired at LP during
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  the twenty twelve season, before leading the Cavs to the
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  state title game. The next year, he was an assistant
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  at Putnam County before landing at Saint Bede. We run
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  a discipline program. Booker said about what made him successful.
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  The kids know that I'm not an easy one to
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  get along with, but in the long run, I hope
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  they understand that it's to make them better people and
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  be resilient and to get through life because life isn't
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  always fair. The only thing that's fair is a ball
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  hit between the third baseline and the first baseline. I
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  had to prove that in twenty twelve. I talked about
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  resiliency and being tough in battling through twenty twelve was
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  tough on my family, and I put my big boy
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  pants on and jump back into it. Thank goodness for
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  Dave Garcia giving me a chance at Putnam County. I
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  had a chance to coach in the Frontier League. I
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  was a professional coach for a summer and that was
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  a dream come true. Then Tom mcgonnagill gave me the
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  opportunity at Saint Bede and that just fit like a glove.
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  I have profound respect for Tom and the Saint Bede family.
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  Booker coached the Bruins to a fourth place finish in
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  Class two A in twenty fifteen. He won four regionals
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  and had six twenty win seasons at Saint Bede. Saint
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  Bede Academy extends its deepest gratitude to coach Booker for
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  his eleven years of service, leadership and impact on the
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  school community. Saint Bede said in a press release. We
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  congratulate him on a remarkable career and wish him all
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  the best in his well deserved retirement. Booker said he
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  also was proud of his program's non baseball accomplishments, including
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  various fundraisers, hosting an annual spring training clinic, and the
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  building of the press box at Saint Beads Baseball Field
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  to honor Evan Knoblock, a former Bruin team captain who
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  died in twenty nineteen after a battle with cancer. I
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  could go through the different fundraisers we did for different
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  families and it's hard not to get emotional. Booker said.
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  To be able to use baseball and help families the
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  way we did and make the relationships we did is
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  one of the greatest things I've ever been a part of.