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“You have to experience the same kind of thing I've been through to understand just how quickly your life can change. ” — Tim Ehlebracht.By ALAN MACEYTim Ehlebracht has watched a roll of dominoes go tumbling down, but never gave the vision a second thought. Now he understands what it’s like to look over his shoulders and see the descending motion of each block. Knowing that one must keep moving to escape being crushed. Knowing that those who move fast enough and are smart enough to avoid the pratfalls and not afraid to take a chance in life, will succeed more than not.More importantly, the individual will feel better about one’s self. Possessing courage can be a confidence builder.The odds indicate that Homewood’s Tim Ehlebracht could be a member of the professional football team called the Chicago Bears some time in August He has been invited to the club’s training camp which begins July 16 in Lake Forest. It will be a grinding six-week elimination test of double session workouts, meetings, memorizing,etc.IT WILL BE A time period Tim Ehlebracht has never seen the likes of before.But the tact remains that the Chicago Bears feel that this young man, who graduated with high academic and athletic honors from Homewood-Flossmoor high school and North Central college, may quite possibly be pro football material.The 23-year old son of Helen and Conrad Ehlebracht wasn’t so sure a few months ago.Now he knows for sure.(ICAN PLAYthe Bears’ camp. Six or seven will probably survive in late August.“I wasn’t able to make that kind of a statement a few months ago.”Times change. So does one’s personal analyzation. So does one’s confidence. Sometimes it takes a boost from a friend. A pat on the shoulder.A lucky break. Good timing.“I’VE BEEN pretty fortunate throughout my life,” Tim admits. “Very, very fortunate.”But there were moments last summer when he wondered if people were ever going to see his full potential. After finishing a superb football and baseball career at NorthCentral in Naperville, he figured that maybe there was a place in the pro world for him. What bothered him, though, was the fact that North Central had met competition no where near the likes of Michigan and Notre Dame. After all, he was in Division III,far from the major college level.He attended a free agent football camp that the Atlanta Falcons were staging. When the top 30 receivers were selected, Tim was one of them. He was the only Caucasian. In the end, there were no takers.Denied in football, Ehlebracht decided to follow the advice of his baseball coach, former major leaguer Milt Pappas, and show up at an areatryout camp conducted by the San Diego Padres. After averaging .400 for three years as a hitter at North Central, earning All-American status as a junior and exhibiting enough speed in center field to catch the eye of any scout, he felt he belonged. There was a 60-yard run and Tim was first. There was no hitting because it was too wet.IN THE END, however, he was told to wait for a call. Of course, there was no ring.Then he decided to catch on with the Chicago Lions semi-pro football team, but broke his big toe. The summer of ’80 turned out to be a softball and racquetball adventure.‘‘I was depressed because I felt like I was stuck in the mud,” Ehlebracht explained.‘‘I knew something better had to happen‘ But even when I got depressed, I remembered that so many people never even get a chance in the first place. Special people like my brother, Tom, who is a quadraplegic and has the use of only one muscle group in his body.‘‘THE GUY IS my idol. He graduated with high honors from the University of Illinois and is a staff accountant for Cheker Oil. I really admire him.“When I think of Tom, I work even harder. He’s seen me play in high school and college. 1 think a lot about my brother.”Tom Ehlebracht may some day be watching his kid brother at Soldier Field Tim wasn’t about to place that kind of a bet, however, after last summer. His main objective was to get a job, which he did at Brookwood junior high in Glenwood — just two days before school started. He had returned to H-F to teach, but there were no openings in the physical education department where Tim owned a majorBut he received a big break by getting into Brookwood He was teaching for the first time, coaching basketball and track. At first, the adjustment was difficult. His frustration from the summer was still lingering. He found out that it was hard to coach when in his mind he was still an athlete.“I EXPECTED too much from the kids,” he relates. ‘‘I came down too hard on them. I learned a big lesson. 1 learned about myself.”He was 6-foot-3, 176 pounds. He was healthy, not wealthy, but a lot wiser He was smart to keep himself in shape. To be ready if another opportunity knocked. To know how to adjust.To be himself, because that was the person he knew bestIn February he received a call from a friend that a new pro football team, Chicago Fire, was going to hold tryouts.“I DIDN’T HAVE any great college credentials, but I did have pretty good speed, he theorized.“People always watch you if you can run faster than the other guy.”Tim could always run like a deer In baseball and football, his speed got him through some tough situations. His quickness was a big reason why he excelled at defensive back and end as a senior at H-F in 1975 — the year when the Vikings made the state football playoffs with a 4-5 record, thanks to Tim’s receiving of Kevin Duffy’s aerials. In H-F’s final game of a 9-2 season in 1974, he had two interceptions in a close loss to Gordon Tech.At North Central, he was told that passing would be emphasized He waited and wait ed for the ball to be thrown to him On rare occasions it was Yet, he earned all-conference status because opposing coaches recognized his tremendous talent As a senior, he waited no longer and became a darn good defensive backHE APPROACHED THE Fire camp with vigor and vitality. Little did he realize that it would lead to something much better He worked on starts and sprints on his own He taught a conditioning club at the Olympian Court club, where he made sure to take advantage of free racquetbalf time. He worked with friends who threw him pass after passBut he needed a little help. No, Tim earned his way. Every step But Elmhurst college coach Tom Beck, one of Tim’s admirers on the other side of the line, mentioned to Fire general manager Ron Potosnick that watching the lanky kid was worth the time of day.(Continued on Page 49)ftTIM EHLEBRECHTA small but seemingly enthusiastic group of people, all willing to give the proverbial 110 per cent, make up a committee dedicated to the goal of rebuilding and restoring the terribly neglected and rundown running track in Sarff field In a space of less than 10 years, Bloom’s track has gone from of the finest in the vicinity to the worst, not one of the worst but the worst. More on the reasons for the decline later, but for the moment the condition of the track is ample reason for the community to get excited enough to do something about it That something is in the works, although fulfillment of committee goals in time for next season, or for that matter, in time for any season, continue debatable.WHAT WE SEEM TO BE talking about is a sum of money running from $50,000 to $75,000 (and the latter may be an optimistic figure), the exact amount unknown until the findings of an architect whose forte is the running track are submitted At a meeting of interested parties last week there was an initU ever work” attitude which two hours later had changed to an “ outlook. One reason, in fact just about the entire reason was thethusiasm peculiar to Fred Jacobeit, Bloom’s athletic directorgrease that can make this idea roll.Yes, enthusiasm is what is needed, for this ia a project without simple solutions. There is a side to this venture the committee recognized when it adopted as its official name, “The District 206 Track Steering Committee.”That would seem to encompass all District 206, which includes Bloom Trail, and from the point of view of the latter there is reason to keep tabs on the proceedings, since Trail hasn’t exactly been treated as separate but equal, but often just separate.THE NOTION THAT the drive to restore Bloom’s track has the endorsement of Bloom Trail and that Trail people would actually be part of the campaign and would even tually use it often, if not almost all the time, waspervasive. FRED jacooeitThe Hot CornerSports EditorWell, almost, or not quite. Neither track coach John Collett or Athletic Director Dan Candiano are exactly bubbling over about this, ^either is down on the project, but there’s a long-suffemg mien not strange to those who have been imposed upon in the past and expect the future holds further neglectIt is important to interject here that money to rebuild the Sarff field track is to be raised by the committee The school treasury won’t be tapped, except the architect’s $3,500 appraisal fee is being supplied by the board of education from school funds.It is also important to remember that if a new track is being built on the Bloom campus it cannot be done with public funds, but must be financed by public subscription and whatever other means of raising money the committe can promote If it had to be built with tax money it would have to be built at Bloom Trail. The oval there is eight lanes wide with proper drainage and other features which must be engineered into the track in Sarff field.MOREOVER, IT WOULD BE grossly unfair to use tax money to build Bloom a new track and not do the same for Bloom Trail, where the cindered layout would have to be hardtopped to be equal to what is planned for Bloom, and an improved track at Trail could be had for perhaps half as much money as a new one at Bloom.It is reasoned that a new track at Bloom takes precedence over modernizationt Continued on Page 471
Newspaper Details
Park Forest South Star
Park Forest, Illinois, US
Sun, May 31, 1981
Page 42
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