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All good things must end and this has been good · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: All good things must end, and this has been good.
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  Speaker 1: Written by Kevin Hieronymous. This article is being read by
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  Speaker 1: an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. There have
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  Speaker 1: been times over the years where I've dreamt that I've
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  Speaker 1: left the BCR for somewhere bigger and better, sitting in
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  Speaker 1: a new office. Each time my mind is asking why
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  Speaker 1: did I do this? Then I'd wake up and was
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  Speaker 1: relieved it was only a dream. This time it's not
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  Speaker 1: a dream. The common greeting I've had the past few
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  Speaker 1: years has been, Hi, Kevin, are you still working? Or
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  Speaker 1: when are you going to retire? Just had a couple
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  Speaker 1: people ask me last week. I guess you get that
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  Speaker 1: at my age, Well, the time has come. After nearly
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  Speaker 1: forty years as your sports editor, forty two years in
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  Speaker 1: the business, it's time to hang them up. I've often
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  Speaker 1: heard players and coaches say I'd rather retire one year
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  Speaker 1: too soon than one year too late, and come to regret,
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  Speaker 1: it's approach I'm taking. I will be working through the
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  Speaker 1: end of the month. I want to make sure I
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  Speaker 1: finish what I start, so I'll step away before the
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  Speaker 1: start of another new school year. It's not an easy decision.
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  Speaker 1: Certainly to move on from your passion, but I am
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  Speaker 1: excited for what's out there. I'll have more free time
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  Speaker 1: to travel with Cammi and our sidekick Coco, our little
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  Speaker 1: Jack Russell. I'm sure I won't stray too far from
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  Speaker 1: the local sports scene in one way or the other.
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  Speaker 1: While I won't miss all the late nights and deadlines,
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  Speaker 1: I will miss the people along the way, from the kids,
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  Speaker 1: the coaches, the scorekeepers, the ads, the custodians and other
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  Speaker 1: school personnel behind the scene. I kind of came in
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  Speaker 1: my third year in town with the nineteen eighty nine
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  Speaker 1: Princeton Tiger Style runnin Wild Princeton State runner up football team.
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  Speaker 1: One team member, Darren Foley told me years later, Hieronymus,
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  Speaker 1: we made you in this town. I told him he
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  Speaker 1: wasn't wrong. Now I'm not sure how many of us
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  Speaker 1: are still running wild. I've driven through a tornado coming
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  Speaker 1: back from Depew's sectional championship basketball game in twenty seventeen
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  Speaker 1: in SOMANOK and thunder snow for a girl's regional finals
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  Speaker 1: in Mendota. I also ran out of the Nesty Stadium
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  Speaker 1: press box, which appeared to be on fire, with sparks
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  Speaker 1: flying and smoke billowing. Fortunately it was just a wire
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  Speaker 1: sparking outside the press box. Then some folks suggested to
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  Speaker 1: not touch the handrails on the way down, which made
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  Speaker 1: the exit more harrowing. In the early years, I drove
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  Speaker 1: to work downtown one morning and saw our roof on fire.
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  Speaker 1: Thankfully the fire department saved our building at three sixteen
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  Speaker 1: South Main now Festival fifty six, and we put a
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  Speaker 1: paper out smoke smell or not. Once I walked five
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  Speaker 1: blocks in a blazzard to work and our skeleton crew
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  Speaker 1: still put a paper out, and I wound up helping
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  Speaker 1: deliver the paper in a coworker's jeep. I've filled in
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  Speaker 1: as interim news editor four or five times over the years,
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  Speaker 1: and went on the news beat temporarily when COVID shut
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  Speaker 1: down the sports scene in twenty twenty. I may have
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  Speaker 1: sold an ad at one time, so I've done or
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  Speaker 1: seen about it all. Reflecting back, I will always remember
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  Speaker 1: the state champions, the nineteen eighty eight Saint Bede baseball team,
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  Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety Princeton volleyball team, the nineteen ninety five
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  Speaker 1: and two thousand and one Haul and two thousand and
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  Speaker 1: five Bureau Valley football teams, the twenty eighteen Hall baseball
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  Speaker 1: and the twenty twenty three Saint Bede softball teams, as
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  Speaker 1: well as some of the heartbreaking losses along the way,
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  Speaker 1: like Princeton's overtime loss in the nineteen ninety five Sectional
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  Speaker 1: finals at Plano on a last second throw in and
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  Speaker 1: again in the two thousand and three super Sectional at Decalb,
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  Speaker 1: also on a last second shot. I will also remember
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  Speaker 1: Princeton coach Lee Walgren's bear hugs on sons Kip and
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  Speaker 1: Christian after winning the state wrestling championship, Chad Hamill streaking
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  Speaker 1: down the sidelines in Princeton's nineteen eighty nine playoff win
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  Speaker 1: over Allman in front of a packed Bryant field, and
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  Speaker 1: the tigers victory at Marmion in the bitter cold, Jeff
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  Speaker 1: Olsen's sectional winning free throw, and Roger Lowe's blue collar
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  Speaker 1: sweet sixteen nineteen ninety two basketball team, Brad Becketts foot
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  Speaker 1: stomps and the storm state third place three Pete Hall
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  Speaker 1: line coach Steve Smith's King of Rock and Roll chants,
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  Speaker 1: Eric Bryant's Hustlin Hall Red Devils, and Sean Jepson's fifty
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  Speaker 1: one point game, at State Princeton's two thousand and nine
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  Speaker 1: sectional win over Mighty Peoria, Manuel mac Reesttich racing down
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  Speaker 1: the field and slam dunks by Tiagan Davis, Grady Thompson
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  Speaker 1: and Noel Laporte just the same. I will never forget
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  Speaker 1: the young athletes we've tragically lost, Lyndy Woods and Joe
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  Speaker 1: Nord of Princeton, Brett Thompson of Walnut, Steve Hammicker, Mike
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  Speaker 1: Crawford and Mike Swanland, Mike and Mike of Lamoyle, Matt
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  Speaker 1: Bns of Princeton, Blaine Foster and Daniel Loewell of Hall,
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  Speaker 1: and Tyler Harrison and Evan Knoeblosch of Saint Bede. Sadly,
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  Speaker 1: I've had seven of my former Little leaguers pass away,
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  Speaker 1: Adam Romagnoli, Eric Provence, Brett Shepard, Philip Briddock, Matt Anson,
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  Speaker 1: Mike Monier, and Tony Carr, who I will always remember.
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  Speaker 1: The very first game I covered for the BCR was
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  Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty six lamoyl at Tampico first round playoff
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  Speaker 1: football game with my hometown pal Kipcheek of the Mendota Reporter,
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  Speaker 1: won by the Lions six to zero, still remember my
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  Speaker 1: story lead saying the Trojans found the Lions defense just
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  Speaker 1: as stiff as Tampico native son Ronald Reagan's. My last
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  Speaker 1: game was Hall's regional semi final baseball five to four
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  Speaker 1: loss this spring to Monmouth Roseville at Princeton. Along the way,
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  Speaker 1: we've had eight teams from Hall reached the state tournament finals,
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  Speaker 1: seven from Saint Bede, six from Bureau Valley, and four
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  Speaker 1: from Princeton, plus numerous individual state champions. I've always wondered
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  Speaker 1: how many games I've covered over the years. This past year,
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  Speaker 1: I've kept track what an average year would be like
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  Speaker 1: for ballpark figures. I've covered about one thousand, six hundred
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  Speaker 1: basketball games, eight hundred baseball and softball games centered volneable
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  Speaker 1: al matches, and four hundred some football games, not to
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  Speaker 1: mention soccer, golf, track, cross country, and tennis. I've also
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  Speaker 1: logged about one hundred and six thousand miles on the job.
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  Speaker 1: Based on this year's mileage, I figure I have put
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  Speaker 1: out more than five five hundred editions of BCR sports sections,
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  Speaker 1: with two thousand or more of these hieronymous hypothesis columns.
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  Speaker 1: I created that column name in college to come up
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  Speaker 1: with something about as long as my last name. Former
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  Speaker 1: Walnut football coach Mick Peterson still calls me Kevin Alphabet
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  Speaker 1: because of all the letters in my name. The BCR
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  Speaker 1: and Bureau County may be considered small time in some circles.
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  Speaker 1: Bigger is not always better. I could have gone to
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  Speaker 1: a bigger town and bigger paper, but I would have
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  Speaker 1: not found a place that lives and breathes sports more
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  Speaker 1: than Bureau County. It's always rewarding to attend graduation parties
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  Speaker 1: and see scrapbooks full of stories you have written on
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  Speaker 1: that senior. This is why newspapers still matter and always
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  Speaker 1: will keep supporting your local newspapers. You won't know what
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  Speaker 1: you got until it's gone. Bureau County, I thank you
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  Speaker 1: for inviting me into your house two or three times
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  Speaker 1: a week the past forty years, depending on publication schedule.
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  Speaker 1: It's been my extreme honor to cover sports in Bureau County.
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  Speaker 1: I feel like I've known you all in one way
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  Speaker 1: or the other, either writing about you, your child or grandchild,
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  Speaker 1: or through coaching. Over the years, I've written about kids
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  Speaker 1: of kids I've covered years ago, but haven't quite got
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  Speaker 1: to grandkids. I don't believe I remember sitting in Matt
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  Speaker 1: McDonald's living room in Princeton signing his professional baseball contract
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  Speaker 1: after being drafted by the Oakland Athletics in nineteen ninety four.
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  Speaker 1: Twenty four years later, I covered his son Cam recording
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  Speaker 1: the last out on the mound for Hall State Championship
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  Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen with Matt and the Red Devil's Dugout.
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  Speaker 1: One of the first families I've covered here was the
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  Speaker 1: Davis family in the late eighties with Brian at Manlius.
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  Speaker 1: It's only fitting that I finish with the Davis family
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  Speaker 1: and having one of my last interviews with his niece Keeley.
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  Speaker 1: Along the way, there's also been Spencer and his boys, Drake, Wyatt,
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  Speaker 1: Klee and Tigan, and Luke and his son Landon. They say,
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  Speaker 1: all good things must end, and this has been a
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  Speaker 1: good thing, very good. Kevin Houronymous has proudly been your
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  Speaker 1: BCR Sports editor since nineteen eighty six. Contact him at
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  Speaker 1: Kuronomous at bcrnews dot com.