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editorMention of the Chicago Public league always brings out the worst in me. 1 don’t mind the way they seem to dominate Class AA basketball, 1 just wish they’d stay out of the rest of the sports.What I don’t like mostly are double standards. The Public league has their own qualifying tournaments for every sport, boys and girls. One exception is football, and it should stay that way despite what Lane Tech Coach Hon Rio says.Rio was quoted in a Chicago new-spaper as saying, among other things, that “Everybody plays on a field that is 100 yards long But Public league teams are downgraded. People still look at our series with the Catholic league. But that’s changing now. You have to look at the individual programs,”NOW DON’T GET me wrong. Lane Tech probably does have a good football team. They’re unbeaten and averaging over 52 points a game But you can’t look at the state tournament in terms of individual programs That’s why most coaches in the Public league think it’s wiser to stay out of the state tournament series for now.Public league teams have obvious handicaps, the most crucial being lack of funds and facilities. Rio seems to be one of those people who got carried away after a Public league team (Chicago Vocational) finally managed to beat a Catholic league team (St. Rita) in the city Prep Bowl last year. The fact that Rita was probably no better than the fourth best team in the Catholic league seems to have been overlooked by observers like Rio.If the Public league got into the playoffs, it would bring nothing but more headaches for the Illinois High School Association, which is having enough trouble right now. First they'd try to dictate policy to the IHSA and would probably get away with it. like they did in the basketball tournament. They didn't want to play supersectionals at all-white schools so they threatened to take their balls and go home. Presto' A Public league playoff series, with the winner going right to ChampaignSecond, with a five-class playoff, Public league officials could insist that their teams be represented in Class 3A, 4A and 5A. which would really be a mess. The state finals wouldn’t be played until December at that rateTO SUM IT UP, Rio reminds me of Dick Versace, the basketball coach at Gordon Tech back in 1972 who claimed his team could beat Thornridge. An empty threat, since the Catholic league wasn't a member of the IHSA at that time.
Newspaper Details
Tinley Park Star Herald
Tinley Park, Illinois, US
Thu, Oct 20, 1977
Page 37
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
IL, USA 05 May 2020
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