The 1992 Prairie State Games begin Tuesday.
Huh?
The doused torch from the eighth Prairie State Games, which ended their four-day run Sunday, has hardly cooled. But planning for next summer`s renewal begins with organizational meetings Tuesday.
Much of the focus before 1992 is to find new private and corporate funding to keep the Games afloat. With Illinois` budget in the red, state funding was sliced nearly 10 percent this year, and nobody will be surprised if it`s cut more before the `92 Games.
So count on PSG officials to visit the state`s boardrooms, hat in hand.
”We`ve realized we`re up against new twists, and certainly funding is a very important issue,” said Executive Director Jeff Sunderlin. ”If we`re going to remain effective, we will have to remain extremely focused on corporate fundraising.”
This year, for instance, Nike underwrote the soccer tournament and IBM helped sponsor gymnastics. Look for more sponsorship like that.
The cost-cutting idea of compressing competition to get athletes out of town and off the budget quickly has its benefits, but it could also have its drawbacks.
”When the kids leave so quickly, do we lose some crowds?” Sunderlin said. ”How will that affect a person`s outlook on the Games? That`s a question we have to address.”
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– One streak ended here last weekend, but North Shore`s scholastic women`s soccer team kept another intact Sunday with its 3-2 overtime victory over Pioneer in the gold-medal game.
Andrea Zeeb`s goal a little more than a minute into sudden death gave North Shore its seventh straight championship in the division.
North Shore, which lost Saturday for the first time since 1984, falling 1-0 to Willco, still made the championship game on points.
”I heard everybody yelling `shot,` so I looked up and lofted it,” said Zeeb, who got the ball over the outstretched hands of Pioneer goalkeeper Debra Fehrenbacher.
Libertyville`s Jori Seymour, who missed Saturday`s game with a stretched Achilles tendon, came back Sunday and left here with her fourth gold medal.
It marked yet another year of frustration for Pioneer, which lost its chance for an overtime victory when North Shore goalie Sue Gade made a tremendous save seconds before Zeeb`s game-winner. This was Pioneer`s sixth runner-up finish.
– Former Bulls coach Doug Collins was on hand Saturday to watch his son, Chris, set a Prairie State Games record with eight three-pointers in North Shore`s 87-72 victory over Pioneer in the scholastic men`s championship basketball game.
It was Doug who preferred that his son play in the Prairie State Games and other summer leagues or tournaments that are more team-oriented, unlike the all-star setting of the Nike Shootout in Indianapolis.
”Chris had a decision to make,” said Collins, a basketball analyst with TNT. ”Either he could play in the Prairie State Games or the Nike Shootout. He couldn`t do both. But Chris wanted to play in the Illinois Olympics, and he`s very interested in the University of Illinois.”
Incidentally, Illinois is certainly interested in Chris, and so are Florida and Illinois State. All had representatives at the championship game. – North Shore open men`s basketball coach Ed Molitor was a last-minute replacement for Sean Kearney, who was named an assistant coach at Delaware State. Despite limited practice time with his team, Molitor, a former Palatine head coach, guided North Shore to a third-place finish.
Molitor also was reunited with his son, Ed, whom he coached at Palatine. The younger Molitor, who plays at St. Ambrose, led North Shore with 18 points in the third-place game.
– Former Northern Illinois guard Donald Whiteside scored 25 points for Blackhawk against Will County in the open men`s championship game, but Willco won 102-98.