Tuesday, November 24, 2009 East Central Illinois
The Answer Book 2005
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The great, near-great have logged time here BY The News-Gazette © 2009 THE NEWS-GAZETTE From deadly three-point shooters to fabulous singers to brilliant scientists, the great and the near-great have called East Central Illinois home. Many have gone on, but some of them still grace us with their presence. SPORTS A magical run to the 2005 NCAA title game paid off handsomely for former Illini basketball star Deron Williams, who was picked third overall by the Utah Jazz in June's NBA draft. Williams' college teammate, Luther Head, was picked 24th. Roger Powell Jr. will try to make the NBA as a free agent, while Big Ten Player of the Year Dee Brown pulled his name out of the draft for one more season at Illinois. Williams and Head are the latest UI guards to make NBA news. Kendall Gill, who played last season for the Chicago Bulls before retiring, has hinted at a comeback. In the meantime, he has picked up boxing and won his first professional bout.Frank Williams is a free agent after finishing last season with the Chicago Bulls. Brian Cook, who finished his second season with the Lakers, will once again play for Phil Jackson. Nick Anderson, Ken Norman, Derek Harper and Eddie Johnson had long NBA careers after their Illini years ended. Brian Cardinal, Tolono product and son of former UI athletic trainer Rod Cardinal, helped the Memphis Grizzlies reach the NBA playoffs in the first year of a multiyear deal. He had a stellar career at Purdue, where he never lost to Illinois. Cardinal might be the type of player former Illini Jerry Colangelo is looking for when he picks this country's next Olympic basketball team. Colangelo, a basketball bigwig in Phoenix, was put in charge by USA Basketball after the dismal performance by the United States at the last Olympics. Lou Henson retired after a Hall of Fame career in college basketball. Another Hall of Famer, Itch Jones, coached his last Illinois baseball game. Not many ice ponds in Champaign-Urbana, but the area produced speedskater Bonnie Blair, one of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time. Olympic pole vaulter Bob Richards, who grew up in Champaign and received bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois, went on to become the star of a million Wheaties boxes. Nancy Thies Marshall was an Urbana-born Olympian. She went on to become a sports commentator. Linda Metheny, a Tuscola native and UI graduate, was another champion gymnast who trained in Champaign. George Halas, the 'Papa Bear,' took the University of Illinois colors when he started his fledgling professional football team back in 1920 in Decatur, not Chicago. The Decatur Staleys moved to Chicago the following year, and in 1922 the franchise was renamed the Chicago Bears. Harold 'Red' Grange began his legendary football career by "galloping" through defenses as a member of the Illini. He signed with the Bears in 1925, negotiating a $100,000 deal. And before Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus began ripping the helmets off running backs and spitting on opposing players in the NFL, he played football at the UI. (We're not sure if he learned those tactics during his Illini career.) Same thing with former Illini star Ray Nitschke, who became an equally nasty linebacker with the Bears' archrivals, the Green Bay Packers. Among NFL players of more recent vintage, Henry Jones leveled wide receivers as a member of the UI defensive backfield. He later played in and lost three Super Bowls. Hey, cut him some slack. He played with the Buffalo Bills enough said. Kevin Hardy, who played last season with the Cincinnati Bengals and Simeon Rice of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were part of the Illini's famed defensive squads of the early '90s. They were the second and third picks, respectively, in the 1995 draft. Rice was the 1996 NFL defensive rookie of the year with the Arizona Cardinals. Like Champaign's Todd Peat and Rantoul's Sean Bubin, Champaign's Reggie Hodges in April gave the NFL draft some home-grown flavor. The punter was selected by the St. Louis Rams. Two former Illini were drafted in April: Kelvin Hayden by the Indianapolis Colts and Duke Preston by the Buffalo Bills. Former UI quarterback Jeff George was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1990 draft, the only Illini to hold that honor. He had stints with the Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks. Ken Dilger has established himself as a pro tight end, first with the Colts and now Tampa Bay. Tuscola native and former Illini Fred Wakefield is an offensive lineman with the Arizona Cardinals. All four primary receivers from the 2001 Sugar Bowl team made the NFL: Walter Young (first with Carolina, now with Pittsburgh), Brandon Lloyd (San Francisco), Greg Lewis (Philadelphia Eagles) and Aaron Moorehead (Indianapolis Colts). Another member of that team, Eugene Wilson, has won a Super Bowl ring in each of his first two seasons with the New England Patriots. The quarterback in 2001, Kurt Kittner, enhanced his chances to make the Bears with an MVP performance at NFL Europe's World Bowl. Two other standouts Christian Morton andCarey Davis are playing for the Atlanta Falcons. On the baseball diamond, the late Lou Boudreau played for the Illini before starting his Hall of Fame career in the majors with the Cleveland Indians. Champaign native Matt Herges, who pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants this season, still hopes to continue his major league career. Catcher Darrin Fletcher, who played for the Illini and still lives in Oakwood, retired from baseball after a career with the Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays. Fred Marx played high school basketball for University Laboratory High. OK, so that's not quite the NBA, but Marx became famous for co-producing the award-winning film "Hoop Dreams," about two Chicago youngsters' efforts to reach the NBA. No Tiger Woods connections here, but two-time PGA tour event winner Steve Stricker went to the UI. So did current UI golf coach Mike Small, who will play in his second consecutive PGA Championship. Several of Craig Tiley's recent dominant UI tennis teams are in the pros now, including Rajeev Ram, Amer Delic, Graydon Oliver, Cary Franklin, Mike Kosta, Jamal Parker, Alex Muresan and Jeff Laski. Tiley will have to root for them from afar, however, as he left Illinois to take a position with Tennis Australia. MUSIC Bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss has her fingerprints on 17 Grammys. The Champaign native hasn't forgotten her roots. When she came back to town a few years ago for a sold-out concert benefiting the Virginia Theatre and the Crisis Nursery, she spoke onstage about spending time at Aunt Sonya's and Old Orchard Lanes. (She can't go to Aunt Sonya's any more. It closed at the end of May.) Adrian Belew, the idol of many a rock guitarist, lived here before moving to Wisconsin. Dan Fogelberg, another folk-rocker, used to play open stage nights as a student here in the '70s and wrote at least one album review for the Daily Illini. Key recommendation: "David Crosby's album is excellent you should buy it and share it with someone you're into." (The year: 1971.) You may see a sign marking "REO Speedwagon Way" in downtown Champaign. The band's two founding members, keyboardist Neal Doughty and drummer Alan Gratzer, met at UI's Illinois Street Residence Hall. Champaign Centennial High School alum Bruce Hall became the band's bass player in 1978. The band's second album featured a photo taken at the former Vriner's, on Main Street er,REO Speedwagon Way. Opera stars Erie Mills and Jerry Hadley both graduated from the UI. Another Grammy winner, the late jazz organist Jack McDuff, grew up in Champaign-Urbana. One of his early bands included a guitarist by the name of George Benson. The late Bobby Short, cabaret singer who wowed 'em at the Carlyle in New York for years, grew up in Danville. MOVIES/TELEVISION Danville was home to Dick and Jerry Van Dyke, stars of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Coach," respectively. Also from Danville was the late Donald O'Connor, who starred in "Singin' in the Rain." One of his last public appearances was at film critic Roger Ebert's 2003 Overlooked Film Festival. And Gene Hackman, the two-time Oscar winner, was back in Danville last year, signing copies of a murder mystery he co-wrote. In show business, who needs education? Allan Sherman was kicked out of the University of Illinois but went on to a successful career as a television game show writer and nightclub comedy star. He wrote and sang the '60s smash "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah." Andy Richter, former Conan O'Brien sidekick and star of the Fox series "Quintuplets" and "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," also attended the UI briefly. Actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who starred opposite Tom Cruise in "The Color of Money" and in "Robin Hood" and "The Abyss," studied music at the UI. Alan Ruck, co-star of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and the TV series "Spin City," passed through as an acting student at the UI. Barbara Bain of TV's "Mission: Impossible" also attended the UI, as did actress Donna Mills of "Knots Landing." Taiwanese-born film director Ang Lee graduated from the UI before going on to make "The Hulk," as well as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "The Wedding Banquet" and "Sense and Sensibility." Comedian Mark Roberts graduated from Urbana High School and got his start in comedy at the long-defunct Chicago Club in Campustown. He had a role in the syndicated television show "The New WKRP" but has moved on to much bigger and better things: He's now the producer and a writer for the CBS show "Two and a Half Men," which stars Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer. He also wrote "Welcome to Tolono," which premiered to sold-out crowds at the Station Theatre in Urbana. David Ogden Stiers attended Urbana High School. Among his film and television credits, he was Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III on TV's "M*A*S*H" and the voice of Cogsworth in "Beauty and the Beast." Arte Johnson, nearly forgotten star of "Laugh-In," attended the UI. Jennie Garth moved away from Sadorus and became snobby rich kid Kelly Taylor on the TV teenybopper smash "Beverly Hills 90210." She followed that with the role of Val on "What I Like about You" on the WB network. Yvonne Suhor, a Champaign native and Central High School graduate, became the Pony Express-riding cowgirl on the canceled television series "The Young Riders." She guest-starred on "Northern Exposure" and "Star Trek: Voyager."' Crystal Lawes Green, who appeared in the MGM movie "A Family Thing," got her start acting in ex-Champaign playwright Cheryl West's plays at Parkland College. The late Lynn Thigpen, 1997 Tony Award-winning actress for "An American Daughter," was a UI graduate. A Joliet native, she was "the Chief" in "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" and appeared in the CBS series "The District." AUTHORS/PUBLISHERS Hugh Hefner worked at The Daily Illini while he was a student here and later donated a complete collection of Playboy magazines to the UI library. Dee Brown (no, not that Dee Brown) is a former UI librarian who wrote "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee." Timothy Zahn, who studied physics at the UI, writes best-selling science fiction. He moved to Oregon. Godfrey Sperling grew up in the area before becoming a Washington political columnist for the Christian Science Monitor. Richard Powers, a UI graduate now teaching at the university, has published novels to considerable critical acclaim and won a McArthur Foundation genius grant. Shel Silverstein, author of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and "The Giving Tree," attended the UI, as did Beth Henley, who won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for "Crimes of the Heart." Financial adviser and author Suze Orman is a UI graduate. So is Nicole Hollander, syndicated cartoonist of "Sylvia." Dave Eggers is a former UI student who wrote the Pulitzer-nominated book, "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." The late Iris Chang, a graduate of Uni High School and the UI, wrote "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II," a widely reviewed and much praised history of Japan's invasion of China in 1937, and followed that up with "The Chinese in America: A Narrative History," published in 2003. David Foster Wallace, author of "Infinite Jest" and winner of a MacArthur genius grant, is from Urbana. MEDIA TYPES The late John Chancellor, who attended the UI in the early 1940s, became an NBC newsman, anchor and commentator. Hal Bruno, a UI grad who worked part time at The News-Gazette in 1950, went on to become an ABC news executive. Dennis Swanson, former president of ABC Sports and ABC Daytime and Children's Programming, is also a grad. The late James 'Scotty' Reston graduated from the UI to become a New York Times political columnist. His family donated his vast collection of papers to the UI Library. UI alumnus Robert Novak, a longtime columnist and CNN commentator, keeps close ties to campus, endowing a scholarship and speaking at the 1998 commencement. Columnist Roger Simon is another UI grad. George Will is no mere columnist. A philosopher of baseball and politics, he grew up here and was a member of the Uni High School cross-country team. Roger Ebert grew up in Urbana and started his journalism career at The News-Gazette. He's gone on to be a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic. His annual film festival, at the Virginia in downtown Champaign, generally sells out before it ever opens. Bill Geist, a 1968 UI graduate, appears on "CBS Sunday Morning." And appeared in May on the stage at the Assembly Hall for the UI Commencement. Rick Kaplan, former head of CNN who was named this year to head MSNBC, is a UI grad. He has at least two dozen Emmys to his credit. ARTISTS Renowned artist John David Mooney grew up in Champaign, attended Holy Cross School, graduated from high school in Champaign and received a master's degree at the UI. Max Abramovitz, another UI graduate, is one of the world's best-known architects. He designed the UI Assembly Hall, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and the United Nations building in New York, among many other buildings in a stellar career. Another architect, Cesar Pelli, who has been called one of the 10 most influential living American architects, earned his master's degree at the UI. BUSINESS Marc Andreessen helped develop the World Wide Web surfing program Mosaic while an undergraduate student at the UI. He went on to found the company that produced Netscape. UI alumnus Jerry Colangelo is CEO of two major-league sports franchises the Phoenix Suns in basketball and the Arizona Diamondbacks in baseball. Robert Johnson this year bought the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. Dot-com bust? What dot-com bust? If you do much buying or selling online, and you use Paypal, you have UI grad Max Levchin and his colleagues to thank for developing the Internet-payment company. Harry Gray, the former president of United Technologies, is a UI grad. So is Richard Frank, former president of Walt Disney studios. And Thomas Murphy, former CEO of General Motors. And Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric. POLITICS John Anderson got his law degree from the UI in 1946, became a U.S. congressman and ran for president as an independent in 1980. He didn't win. Jesse Jackson ran and didn't win anything twice. He was a student here briefly and has sent some of his children to the UI, including U.S. Rep.Jesse Jackson Jr., who earned his law degree there. Sam Skinner attended the UI and became U.S. secretary of transportation and later chief of staff for the first President Bush. Lynn Martin, former U.S. labor secretary and congresswoman who led an internal investigation into sexual harassment at Bloomington-Normal's Mitsubishi Motors plant, is a UI graduate. The highest-ranking woman in Taiwan's government, Vice President Annette Lu, attended the UI. The lawyer and novelist was sentenced to 12 years in prison for a 20-minute political speech while the country was under martial law in 1979. Several years after her release from prison, she was elected to the Taiwan legislature. The former president of the Philippines, Fidel Ramos, is also a UI grad. George Frampton, Bill Clinton's assistant secretary of the interior for fish, wildlife and parks, is from Urbana. NOBLE NOBELS Two years ago, UI professors Anthony Leggett and Paul Lauterbur won Nobel prizes in physics and medicine, respectively, one of the few times in the award's history that two professors from the same university have won in the same year. The late John Bardeen was co-inventor of the transistor and on the UI faculty. He won two Nobel prizes. Uni High has three Nobel laureates among its graduates: Champaign native James Tobin, who won the 1981 prize in economics; Philip Anderson, a 1977 Nobel laureate in physics; andHamilton O. Smith of Urbana, who won the 1978 prize in medicine. Edwin Krebs, winner of the 1992 Nobel prize for medicine, is a former resident of Urbana. Robert W. Holley, 1968 winner of the Nobel for medicine or physiology, was born in Urbana in 1922 and earned a bachelor's from the UI. OTHER FOLKS Erika Harold, who was Miss America in 2002, is from Urbana. Dorothy Day, who helped found the Catholic Worker House movement, attended the UI on scholarship at age 16. UI alumni Joe Tanner, Dale Gardner, Steve Nagel and Scott Altman are astronauts. Tanner is from Danville. Adm. Archie Clemins, who was commander of the Pacific Fleet when he retired from the Navy in 1999, is from Urbana. UI alumnus James Brady, former White House press secretary, was wounded during the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan and became a spokesman for handgun control. Fellow UI graduate and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy was also wounded that day, blocking a bullet aimed at Reagan. Jill Wine Banks, the miniskirted Watergate prosecutor, studied journalism at the UI but bypassed a column for a distinguished law career. Mary Murphy Schroeder, who grew up in Urbana, is chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the largest federal court circuit, which covers nine Western states and two U.S. possessions in the Pacific. Morris Cohen, the communist spy credited with helping the Soviets steal the secrets of the atomic bomb, attended graduate school at the UI and helped found a cooperative restaurant here. Hey, they couldn't all turn out well. |
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