A dozen names to consider for the new Illini Hall of Fame
CHAMPAIGN – Is there anybody more Illini than Dick Butkus?
Perhaps. We could mention Ray Eliot or Dike Eddleman or Lou Boudreau or Dee and Deron. So as Illinois finally gets with the program to celebrate the history of its program – Illinois is the last school in the Big Ten Conference to develop an athletic hall of fame.
Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman said the “transformative’’ plan was “strategic to celebrate the past and continue to build the Illini pride among fans and alumni.’’
With the towering bronze statue honoring Red Grange at the front door of Memorial Stadium, Butkus became the obvious choice as the inaugural member of the University of Illinois Athletic Hall of Fame.
“He’s the greatest living Illini,’’ Whitman said.
From there, the plan has yet to be developed. While Whitman said this won’t be a half of fame loaded with memorabilia, it’s more of a list of names. The athletic department has no plans of where to house this hall of fame or whether names will be honored at the separate buildings where the athletes prepare and compete.
The school will form a selection committee that won’t be announced and presumably work in private, though lesser information has known to leak. While not all of the sports will be recognized initially, the committee will attempt to name a class that represents the best athletes of the 120 years of Illini sports while also showing some diversity in sports and athletes.
Assuredly, there will be plenty of names from prior to Butkus’ career, loaded heavily with football and basketball players and some of them from long ago.
But there’s also a need to honor recent victories, whether it’s reaching the NCAA title game in 2005 and 1989, putting together a dominant run in men’s golf or winning the Boston Marathon in a wheelchair.
Years ago, the Illini were track stars, baseball players and, heck, some of the best gymnasts and wrestlers in the country. Some Illinois fans might know Johnny Red Kerr, but they don’t know Herb McKenley or Harold Osborn.
Whitman and the Illini have plans for the hall of fame, but they still don’t have many answers. He said somewhere between 20 and 50 people would be honored in the first full class. Let’s hope it’s closer to 20, or perhaps fewer, rather than 50. When Illinois hung jersey over the Assembly Hall court years ago, it seemed like they worked all the way down to some managers. Too many.
But let’s honor the best of the Illini. Butkus was an easy choice. He was called the prototypical linebacker for back in the day, when he led the Illini to the 1963 Rose Bowl and later starred with the Chicago Bears. The Butkus Award goes to the nation’s top linebacker each year.
“This is really where it started,’’ Butkus said. “I could say high school, but college is really where it begins for real. Maybe I got along in high school. Now I’m going big time to college. Why Illinois? In 1963 when we went to the Rose Bowl, two years prior to that we were 0-15 when we decided to come to Illinois. Now kids want to go to Alabama and teams up there all the time. The era when we came to Illinois, we want to turn a program around. We did. We got more out of that than going to a school that had been successful in the past. Turning it around shows the real capabilities and character you have.’’
Even though Illinois is playing catch up, there’s no reason to saturate the hall of fame by flooding it with a huge inaugural class. More names make each pick less powerful. It’s understood that there will be some tough decisions. Let’s not get carried away.
If I were a member of the committee, here’s my top dozen. That’s a nice round number. We’d worry about the rest of the names next year.
FOOTBALL
Robert Zuppke. Back in the day when college football was one of the cornerstones of the Golden Age, Zuppke was a leader in the sport. He was known for his inventions, such as the huddle, and his Yogi Berra like quotes. Without Zuppke, there might not have been the Galloping Ghost.
Red Grange. The star athlete from Wheaton was one of sport’s greatest stars. College football, pro baseball, boxing and horse racing entertained the nation. Grange was his sport’s star, and his performance in the dedication game to Memorial Stadium will likely never be matched. They needed special trains from Chicago to handle all the fans coming to the game.
Butkus. He was the best player from his era. He played with reckless abandon on his way to the NFL Hall of Fame.
BASKETBALL
Lou Henson. After the Illini brand faltered for nearly a decade, Henson rebuilt the Illini into the basketball powerhouse it is today. Sure, Illini basketball slumped over the last five years, but it’s presence among the elite for roughly 20 years was first started by Henson. His Flyin’ Illini team was the first from Illinois to reach the Final Four in 37 years. Under Henson and three immediate predecessors, the Illini were regulars in the NCAA Tournament.
Dike Eddleman. He was a star football, basketball and track athlete, but let’s go with Eddleman in basketball. Had WWII not slowed the Illini in the mid-1940’s, who knows where the dynasty would have led the entire program.
Nick Anderson. Fans from his era know where they were sitting when Anderson hit The Shot. His 25-footer at Indiana beat the Hoosiers and Bobby Knight in a classic Big Ten barn burner, sending Knight to the locker room grumbling and his fans stunned. Anderson played for a decade in the NBA after providing Henson’s tenure with a high-water mark by helping lead Illinois to the Final Four.
Dee Brown. You could mention other hoops stars such as Andy Phillip, Red Kerr and Deon Thomas, but Brown was the energy for the program’s only appearance in the NCAA championship game. If you want to go with Dee/Deron. I don’t care. But this was an incredible moment in Illini sports.
TRACK:
Harold Osborn. What’s even more incredible than the small-town guy from just outside of Hillsboro, Ill., wining gold medals in 1925 was that he did it with limited eyesight. His gold medals came in the Olympics celebrated by the movie Chariots of Fire.
Perdita Felicien. The former world champion in the hurdles still holds the Canadian record in her event. She was an Olympic medalist.
Herb McKenley. The Jamaican was the fastest man in the world in the late 1940s and a multi-time Olympic medalist.
BASEBALLL
Lou Boudreau. The two-sport Illini star eventually became a player/coach for the Cleveland Indians. In 1948, he was the AL MVP while playing at shortstop and also managing the Indians to the World Series title. They haven’t won it again.
OTHER
Tatyana McFadden. The wheelchair marathon specialist was the best in the world earlier in the decade. She’s a 10-time Paralympic medalist and the beast who dominated marathons in London and Boston.
John Supinie is a columnist for Orangeandbluenews.com. During the day, he’s an Audi Brand Specialist at Green Audi in Springfield. Call or text him at 217-377-1977 if you’re looking for an Audi, Volkswagen, Toyota or preowned car. Ask for the Illini deal.
OrangeandBlueNews.com publisher Doug Bucshon’s nominations:
Football: Dick Butkus, Red Grange, Jim Grobowski, Robert Zuppke
Basketball: Dike Eddleman, Andy Phillips, Dee Brown, Lou Henson
Baseball: Lou Boudreau
Track: Perdita Felicien, Buddy Young
Volleyball: Mary Eggers
