Baltimore Orioles                                                                                        Sept. 1, 2007

- No hit by Clay Bucholz, Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox                                                                                            April 22, 1993

-No hit by Chris Bosio, Seattle Mariners

Chicago White Sox                                                                                   May 3, 2011

-No hit by Francisco Liriano, Minnesota Twins

Cleveland Indians                                                                                  July 27, 2011

-No hit by Ervin Santana, L.A. Angels

Detroit Tigers                                                                                           July 26, 2010

-No hit by Matt Garza, Tampa Bay Rays

Kansas City Royals                                                                               May 19, 2008

-No hit by Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox

L. A. Angels                                                                                               Sept. 11, 1999

-No hit by Eric Milton, Minnesota Twins

Minnesota Twins                                                                                 May 17, 1998

-Perfect game thrown by David Wells, New York Yankees

New York Yankees                                                                             June 11, 2003

-No hit by Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner; Houston Astros

Oakland Athletics                                                                              July 13, 1991

-No hit by Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson and Gregg Olson; Baltimore Orioles

Seattle Mariners                                                                                 May 14, 1996

-No hit by Dwight Gooden, New York Yankees

Tampa Bay Rays                                                                                 June 25, 2010

-No hit by Edwin Jackson, Arizona Diamondbacks

Texas Rangers                                                                                     April 18, 2007

-No hit by Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox

Toronto Blue Jays                                                                           May 7, 2011

-No hit by Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

Arizona Diamondbacks                                                              Sept. 6, 2006

-No hit by Anibal Sanchez, Florida Marlins

Atlanta Braves                                                                                 April 17, 2010

-No hit by Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado Rockies

Chicago Cubs                                                                                    Sept. 9, 1965

-Perfect game by Sandy Koufax, L.A. Dodgers

Cincinnati Reds                                                                              Oct. 6, 2010

-No hit by Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies

Colorado Rockies                                                                          Sept. 17, 1996

-No hit by Hideo Nomo, L.A. Dodgers

Florida Marlins                                                                              May 29, 2010

-Perfect game by Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies

Houston Astros                                                                             Sept. 14, 2008

-No hit by Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs

L. A. Dodgers                                                                                   April 8, 1994

-No hit by Kent Merker, Atlanta Braves

Milwaukee Brewers                                                                   June 12, 2007

-No hit by Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

New York Mets                                                                              Sept. 8, 1993

-No hit by Darryl Kile, Houston Astros

Philadelphia Phillies                                                               April 16, 1978

-No hit by Bob Forsch, St. Louis Cardinals

Pittsburgh Pirates                                                                     April 14, 1971

-No hit by Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals                                                                   June 29, 1990

-No hit by Fernando Valenzuela, L.A. Dodgers

San Diego Padres                                                                       July 10, 2009

-No hit by Jonathan Sanchez, San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants                                                            April 27, 2003

-No hit by Kevin Millwood, Philadelphia Phillies

Washington Nationals (formerly Montreal Expos)          July 18, 1999

-Perfect game by David Cone, New York Yankees

Here is the list of locations in Illinois-

• Harmony, Illinois
• Coral, Illinois
• Sandwich, Illinois
• Paw Paw, Illinois
• Triumph, Illinois
• Winnebago, Illinois
• Buena Vista, Illinois
• Fair Haven, Illinois
• Carbon Cliff, Illinois
• Walnut, Illinois
• Cherry, Illinois
• Mineral, Illinois
• Hooppole, Illinois
• Standard, Illinois
• Reading, Illinois
• Low Point, Illinois
• Ophiem, Illinois
• Alpha, Illinois
• Hopewell, Illinois
• Roanoke, Illinois
• Eureka, Illinois
• Kickapoo, Illinois
• Speer, Illinois
• Rio, Illinois
• Cable, Illinois
• Sunny Hill, Illinois
• Preemption, Illinois
• Hamlet, Illinois
• Illinois City, Illinois
• Sunbeam, Illinois
• Shanghai City, Illinois
• Biggsville, Illinois
• Media, Illinois
• Decorra, Illinois
• Disco, Illinois
• Burnside, Illinois
• Cuba, Illinois
• Little America, Illinois
• Funks Grove, Illinois
• Havana, Illinois
• Marbletown, Illinois
• Bath, Illinois
• Bader, Illinois
• Industry, Illinois
• Crescent, Illinois
• Cornland, Illinois
• Golden, Illinois
• Marblehead, Illinois
• Fishhook, Illinois
• Buckhorn, Illinois
• Fancy Prarie, Illinois
• Sweetwater, Illinois
• Riddle Hill, Illinois
• Voorhies, Illinois
• Block, Illinois
• Royal, Illinois
• Rugby, Illinois
• Wing, Illinois
• Risk, Illinois
• Ransom, Illinois
• Goodwine, Illinois
• Hope, Illinois
• Deers, Illinois
• Jamaica, Illinois
• Mechanicsburg, Illinois
• Illiopolis, Illinois
• Atlas, Illinois
• Pike, Illinois
• Pearl, Illinois
• Independence, Illinois
• Bee Creek, Illinois
• Hamburg, Illinois
• Woody, Illinois
• Rood House, Illinois
• Lake Ka-Ho, Illinois
• Waverly, Illinois
• Batch Town, Illinois
• Otterville, Illinois
• Fidelity, Illinois
• Golden Eagle, Illinois
• Witt, Illinois
• Assumption, Illinois
• Boulder, Illinois
• Marine, Illinois
• Junction City, Illinois
• New Memphis (Where is old memphis???), Illinois
• Stone Church, Illinois
• Fountain, Illinois
• Madonnaville, Illinois
• Dix, Illinois
• Bourbon, Illinois
• Inclose, Illinois
• Allright, Illinois
• Orange, Illinois
• Annapolis, Illinois
• Paradise, Illinois
• Rose Hill, Illinois
• Oilfield, Illinois
• Birds, Illinois
• Pinkstaff, Illinois
• Blood, Illinois
• Friendsville, Illinois
• Noble, Illinois
• Bible Grove, Illinois
• Hord, Illinois
• Enterprise, Illinois
• Golden Gate, Illinois
• Texico, Illinois
• Zenith, Illinois
• Loogootee, Illinois
• Gays, Illinois
• Rising Sun, Illinois
• Muddy, Illinois
• Renault (Like the car), Illinois
• Kidd, Illinois
• Roots, Illinois
• Kellogg, Illinois
• Bush, Illinois
• Energy, Illinois
• Round Knob, Illinois
• Perks, Illinois
• Olive Branch, Illinois
• Sandusky, Illinois
• Future City, Illinois
• Metropolis (Home of Superman, or so they say), Illinois
• Cave in Rock, Illinois
• Junction, Illinois
• Winkle, Illinois
• Diamond, Illinois
• Apple River, Illinois
• Beaverville, Illinois
• Belle Rive (Superman anyone), Illinois
• Bone Gap, Illinois
• Equality, Illinois
• Eldarado, Illinois
• Homer, Illinois
• Kane, Illinois
• Orangeville, Illinois
• Sleepy Hollow (like the movie), Illinois
• Summit, Illinois
• Buda, Illinois
• Good Hope, Illinois
• Golf, Illinois
• Pontiac, Illinois
• Red Bud, Illinois
• Pocahontas, Illinois

I hope you got a good laugh out of some of the names or at least was thinking were these people high or just a little off when they were naming these locations. I am curious to see what names out of there you guys put in your list of top 5 or 10 names of Illinois locations.

attack of the allergies haha

“Time can bring you down
Time can bend your knee
Time can break your heart
Have you begging please

Beyond the door
There’s peace I’m sure.
And I know there’ll be no more…
Tears in heaven”

Eric Clapton- Tears in Heaven

Dogs are man’s best friends, and Baby was just that.  She had some sort of magnetic attraction to our crazy family.  She loved everyone and we all loved her.

If you knew her, you would understand some of the inside jokes with her.

Most dogs love to kiss, but not her, she would avoid kisses like her life depended on it.  I have never seen anything so stubborn, but if you got a kiss you know you meant a lot to her.  It was not something that happened very much.  I think she kissed me maybe 50 times in her seven years at the house.

watching out

When it came to fetch, that meant you threw the toy, and she watched as you picked it up a minute later as she watched on.  When she was younger she would always fetch and destroy any toy in her way, but that changed the last few years.

One thing she was really good at was singing, or in english…howling.  I would always screw around with her and howl and she would copy everything I did and howl back.  It wasn’t a regular howl though, she would mimick every tone I came out with.  If I went high, she went high.  If I went low, she went low.  Her face would scrunch up, it was the cutest thing.

her looking all goofy

She also loved to screw with people, she was so small she could fit under beds and other small spaces, so if she ever got in trouble she would go hide in one of those spots so she wouldn’t get the punishment she knew she had coming.  She was very smart about that.  She knew when she did wrong and it was funny seeing her trying to get out of it.  She tried the puppy-eye look, the ‘oh crap” look, the I-am-getting-the-hell-outta-here look among many others.  She was extremely fast so if she saw you coming she was GONE!!!

Talking about her speed, by God she was FAST.  She used to run laps around the house going like 20 mph.  I always wished we had a radar gun to see how fast she was going.  You could always hear her rumbling along.  When she went she went.  You couldn’t catch her if you were Usain Bolt.  We would all get a kick out of her doing the “Indy 500,” as we called it, around the house.

Her favorite thing though other than cookies and people was getting her nap on, and she was a pro at that.  She snored louder than anything I had ever heard.  It was hard to imagine something so small being SO LOUD.  It got scary when she had her nightmares and she looked like she was being possessed by something, she would be shaking and kicking.  For little twig legs she had some good kicks, I know from her kicking me in her dreams.  Most of the time she would curl into a ball on either my parents bed, between their pillows or on her bed.  She was picky even with that.  She would walk around in circles until she found the right comfort zone.  When she was on bed with anyone she would take over the whole bed.  She was 30 pounds and small in stature, but you couldn’t tell that when she was with you.  She would try to move you out of the way to get extra space.  She loved sleeping between peoples legs, I guess it was warmer for her.  It made her happy though so we would all adjust to her.

One of the funnier things she did was when our pitbull would come in, she would pounce at him and bark and snarl.  The thing is she was half his height and weighed 55 pounds less than him.  Again, don’t tell her that, she was the queen bee of the house, it was her property.  One thing that we always told people that were coming to our house was DON’T RING THE DOORBELL!  She would go insane every time.  When you managed to get in the house she would bark at you for 5 minutes each time and at almost exactly the 5th minute she would calm down and would be like your best friend.  She always had to feel you out I guess.  It was her way of guarding the house.  You couldn’t get into the house without going through her first.

She was just a goofy little girl in a goofy family that fit in perfectly and made our life’s better for knowing her.  She was sent to us for a reason and she did everything to live up to being the perfect dog.  Even when she went to the bathroom in the house, she did so by actually walking into the bathrooms and going.  Not on the carpets, not on the wood floor, but in the bathrooms themselves.  We never taught her that, she did that on her own.

My sister was blessed with an angel when she adopted baby at 7 months, and when she brought her into the family, she was the 7th member.  She made you like her, you couldn’t ignore her if you tried, and if you did, she would follow you more until you liked her.  When you ate she would poke your butt for attention, and when you sat on the couch she would sit on your lap or lay next to you, but she had to be touching or the world was going to end.

howling

Unfortunately she had to be put to sleep last night, my sister’s toughest decision ever.  Her white blood cells were taking over and eliminating her red blood cells.  Her red blood cell count should have been at 42 percent, and it was at 14 percent.  Her body was turning on her.  The hospital gave us the options for a cure, but the cure wasn’t even really a cure, it was a 50/50 percent chance on her living or dying.  And if they did get her fixed, the chances were very high she could relapse again and again and again.  We couldn’t let her go through that, it would not be humane.  Before she was put to sleep she did a few of her customary things, she barked a few times at the doctor before he put her to sleep, and she still would not give me that dang kiss, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, because that wouldn’t have been her.

She is an angel and will be missed by all that got the honor of meeting her and being her friend!

I love you Baby!!!

“It was nice always standing out,” Sorrentino said. “People notice (you) quickly when there’s only one girl out there. I grew up in a neighborhood full of boys, so I was used to always being one of them.”

While some others might have been a little uneasy being the only one out there, Sorrentino used it as motivation to be a better competitor.

“I think that’s why I’m so competitive, because I was always trying to out-do the boys, because that’s the last thing a boy wants to have done, (and that) is to be beat by a girl,” Sorrentino said.

She said her older brother, by two years, was another driving force into being a more competitive person and a better overall athlete.

All the hard work paid off and after her junior year of high school she committed to Eastern.

She made it to a few camps at Eastern and said she felt comfortable with the campus. Last season as a freshman Sorrentino played 37 games, starting 20 of them. She had nine hits and two RBIs. Her best work was on the bases, as one of four players used as a pinch runner. She stole five bases on eight attempts.

This season she would have likely kept the same role, but that changed March 20 when she was hit in the face by a pitch thrown by Jacksonville State junior pitcher Ashley Eliasson.

Sixteen pitches have hit the Panthers this season, but none as bad as the one that hit Sorrentino; this one broke her jaw in three places and ended her season.

She still can describe the play just like it happened yesterday.

“I watched the first two pitches go by because they were both low and outside and that’s my least favorite pitch,” Sorrentino said. “The third pitch was high and next pitch was in the dirt, so now the count is 2-2. The next pitch was a curveball and it came right at my face. Since I’m a slapper, I’m already running towards the ball, so there was no way I could get out of the way.

“The ball hit me and I immediately bit down and I could feel my whole jaw shift down, like half of it was no longer connected or something. My back teeth on the bottom right side of my mouth were so pushed up that when I bit down there was about a centimeter gap between my top and bottom front teeth.”

The impact of the blow didn’t affect her as much as the amount of blood did.

“The blood scared me the most, but I was honestly a little excited that we finally got a baserunner on,” Sorrentino said.

For the past five weeks, she has had to eat everything through a straw, a “liquid diet” as she calls it. She has lost 15 pounds since the injury.

“I had a lot of people who helped me,” Sorrentino said. “A lot of parents gave me shakes; the strength coaches gave me some cases of muscle milk, so I basically lived on strawberry shakes. When I did eat food I relied on my Magic Bullet and that was a life saver. I blended a lot of soup (I would have to add about a cup of water). I tried a few strange things – PB&J sandwich, pizza and cereal – but I didn’t like most of the real food I blended up.”

Aside from eating, she couldn’t practice for four weeks and had difficulty talking with others because it was hard to understand her at times. It took her about 10 minutes to brush her teeth.

“There was nothing I could do to change it, so there was no reason to dwell on it,” Sorrentino said. “I knew it was only going to be six weeks of my life and I had too many other things to do and worry about. So crying about it was useless.”

She is not letting the injury slow her down. This summer she is traveling to Spain for six weeks to study abroad with teammate Hayley Pieper.

“Maria and I have thought about this since the beginning of this school year,” Pieper said. “We are both Spanish minors and would practice speaking with each other, whether it was on the field during warm ups, on the bus, or just hanging out. Now that everything is official we are really looking forward to our six weeks there, going to the university, and spending time with our host family.”

Sorrentino said this will be her first time out of the country and only her second time on a plane, but being with Pieper has helped calm her nerves some, and she cannot wait for the adventure she will have in Salamanca, Spain.

A natural infielder, mostly having played second base, Rowe has been thrown into the outfield as a collegiate athlete and is currently the starting center fielder. That would not be much of an issue if not for one thing.

“Being in the outfield is just a huge change for me,” Rowe said. “I never even owned an outfield mitt. I don’t think I even played outfield in little league. I knew I was terrible at judging the fly balls from the few times I was out there… It is just weird; I am just so used to the infield. I am getting the hang of it now.”

Rowe has been the lead off man for Eastern in 13 games this season, which is something he has never done before either.

“I just thank God he stuck with me,” Rowe said. “[Coach Schmitz] keeps me in there and gives me the opportunity; he has a lot of faith in my bat. It is nice to have that confidence.”

Rowe does not lack the confidence in anything he does, and wants to send a message to opposing pitchers: Do not hit him with a pitch. He has a black belt in karate.

“All the guys on the team know it and joke about it,” Rowe said. “They are like, ‘Can you kill me?’ There have been some interesting cases where some of the guys want me to kick them, I’m not going to say it hasn’t happened. I am pretty sure they regret it.”

If having a black belt in karate was not enough of a thrill for him, he can also ride a unicycle. He did not try it until he was 13 or 14 years old but he said he learned it pretty quickly.

“My buddy had one and my mom did it when she was younger,” Rowe said. “She used to always tell me stories. I gave it a try and it was really hard and I kept going at it for the whole day. There was no way I was going to bed until I figured it out. I learned it in one day. I couldn’t ride it until it was dark out. It was really rough the first time.”

If baseball does not pan out and he does not get drafted, he has some big plans for afterwards.

“I am going into law enforcement; I am a (sociology) major and criminology minor,” Rowe said. I want to move into SWAT and the ultimate goal is to work for the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency). I can’t see myself doing anything else. I am always on the go and I have always been interested in law enforcement stuff. I have always leaned towards it… There is no way I can sit behind a desk all day. That is just not me. I get bored really easily.”

That does not mean he is giving up on baseball. Every time he goes to a professional game he said he feels like he can be out there one day.

“Every time I go to a professional ball park I get a weird feeling like I step out there and I just get a weird feeling that most ball players get, like I can be out there,” Rowe said. “It reminds me to keep going. It would be the ultimate (goal) to get paid to play. I want to stay out of getting a real job as long as I can.”

At the end of the day, though, he is a family man. While on the field he admired former New York Yankee Roger Maris’ way of playing but when it comes to his heroes, he looks up to his father and grandfather.

“My parents have always been there for me and my dad really knows the game,” Rowe said. “I am trying to take the Rowe name to another level. My grandpa is a major influence on my life. He is the definition of a man. I definitely want to be like him in every way. He was just a great guy; he taught me the game of baseball. He was always there for me and always believed in me. I always told my grandpa that I would play on TV one day and each time I get closer to getting there. I believe he knows where I am. He didn’t get the opportunity to see me play Division I ball. I feel he is always there watching over me.”

CHS grad Matt Miller

There are 1,696 players in the National Football League and 800 players in Major League Baseball and most of these athletes all have one thing in common, they all got recruited into college.

An athlete chooses a college that fits them best and where they feel they can make their greatest impact.

The question though is how do they come about making their choice and how do the coaches select these athletes to one day have a chance to make it to the pros and help their program out.

The coaches look for talent when they recruit but it is not everything they look for.  If the athlete is local, than it is an added benefit.

“I don’t think we look any more or less because a player is local,” Roc Bellantoni, Eastern Illinois associate head coach and defensive coordinator, said. “We like to recruit local guys if we can. Local guys are usually more familiar with us because it’s easier to come to our camps, our clinics, practices, junior recruiting days, etc. They also may have more pride in our program because they may have grown up rooting for us. The local guys will be able to attend all of our summer workouts as they get ready for the season. So, there are a lot of benefits to recruiting local guys.”

This fall Adam Drake, currently a senior at Charleston High School, signed on to come to EIU.  He had the chance to go to other schools but the fact he grew up in Charleston helped him make his decision.

“I did have some major scholarships from other schools even some that are in the same conference as EIU,” Drake said.  “It wasn’t just the fact that I was already an EIU fan, but that EIU has the best program around. They had a pretty decent year not to mention the exceptional coaching staff. Also, EIU has some pretty big connections if I plan on furthering my career as a football/athlete.”

EIU may be an FCS (Football Championship Series} team, the lower of the two divisions in D-I football, but they currently have the most coaches in the NFL with three.  Along with that, there are a few players currently in the NFL that started their careers off at EIU, most notably Dallas Cowboy’s quarterback Tony Romo.

While the prospect of going to the pros was a huge factor for Drake, others were looking for a chance just to be a D-I athlete.

“The fact that EIU was giving me a chance to be on the track and cross team is the reason I decided to come here,” Gena Nance, a redshirt sophomore mid-distance runner on the Track and Field team, said.  “And even though I only live a mile away from my family, I can make EIU seem as far away as I want. Yes, there are times I want to be farther away, but my family is great at giving me the support I need while also giving me the space I need. The other schools that were offering me money to run were smaller D-2 or D-3 schools. While there can still be good runners at those schools, I always wanted to go to a D-1 school, which EIU is.”

While there are over 400 athletes at EIU, only nine athletes are Charleston High School graduates.  That number will grow next year when Drake and Brittany O’Dell join their respective sports.  Drake will be a receiver for the football team while O’Dell will be a goalie on the women’s soccer team.

Having the local athletes is great, but the reason most coaches go for further away recruits is the larger talent pool available in bigger cities.

“When I am recruiting I am looking for talent, if it happens to be local it is all the better,” Kate Price, Eastern Illinois Volleyball coach, said.  “I would definitely love to have more local kids, but majority of the time kids playing at a very high level are coming from the big cities where volleyball is these kids life.  Most of the kids from the big clubs are playing more and playing in big tournaments against the top kids in the country.”

Charleston has some great talent that has made its way through EIU before making it to the pros.  Marty Pattin was born and raised in Charleston, went to high school there and later college at EIU.  After he graduated from EIU he got drafted by California Angels in the 7^th round of the 1965 MLB draft.  He went on to play 13 seasons in the majors and was a one time all star selection.

CHS and EIU graduate Marty Pattin

Pattin though has been a rare commodity, a local “townie” who has made it to the big leagues.  Most of the athletes today just look for the chance to compete and the place they will fit in best.

“I really wanted to go to a four year and the thought of playing soccer in a junior college and not having a school to transfer to and keep playing was something I really didn’t like,” O’Dell said.

The local athletes did not always necessarily plan on going to EIU when they were younger; they had dreams and aspirations of attending other universities.

“I was always changing my mind on where to go to school,” Nance said. “Some that I wanted to attend were NYU, UCLA, and Oregon. I knew I wanted to run in college, and I needed to be realistic about where I could get the opportunity to do so.”

Fellow CHS graduate and current rugby player Coartney McKinney agreed with Nance and came to the same conclusion for them in the end, that EIU was the place to go.

“When I was younger Eastern was definitely not my top choice,” McKinney said. “I didn’t even want to apply. It was always my dream to go the U of I. I got in too. Then something changed and I began to look past the fact that Eastern was in the same town I grew up in. I’ve separated myself from high school and made college a completely new experience. I am glad I didn’t choose to go somewhere else.”

All the athletes mentioned the low cost of tuition as an added benefit to going to EIU.

While they did get scholarships to come here and that helps pay for their tuition, they still would have ended up saving money coming to EIU than say, Northern Illinois.  EIU costs about $8,782 a semester, while NIU costs about $22,900 annually for Illinois residents.

“EIU had what I wanted, a swim team I could swim for and a very good program for my major (athletic training),” Michael Bower, a swimmer at EIU, said.  “These two things were also factors in my decision but the biggest factor was the fact I got a full tuition scholarship for EIU.”

McKinney said that there is a scholarship for local residents.

“The scholarship is called the Charleston City Roads Scholarship,” Nance said.  “When EIU built Doudna they traded Charleston $400,000 for the road it sits on. It was Seventh Street.  When the money runs out, the scholarship is done. To get it your parents have to live in the city limits and maintain a 2.5 GPA. And there might be other criteria as well. The scholarship covers 15 hours of tuition for the fall and spring. Everyone must reapply each year. The money is supposed to run out after this next year.”

Another factor to the local athletes was the closeness to their families.  While a lot of students come from long distances to come here, they miss out on time with their family.  If a graduate from Charleston wants to see their family, it is within five minutes of home.

“My family and I are really close so it was important to me not to go far away,” McKinney said.  “The furthest school I looked at was only two hours away. I wanted to be able to come home when I wanted. Now it has turned out to be even more of a good thing. It’s the best of both worlds. I live in an apartment away from my family but I can drive four minutes anytime I want to for a home cooked meal.”

The coaches on the other hand have many factors to look into when they try to show off an athlete, one of which is their behavior.

“I will contact any coach at a school that my athlete is interested in,” Blain Mayhall, Charleston’s Track and Field coach, said.  “If the coach contacts me, I let them know how the individual is not only in his event, but in the classroom as well … Even if they don’t ask [about the athlete’s behavior], I bring it up.  I feel it is important to know how a kid is behaviorally.  If I was a coach at the collegiate level, I would want to know, so I always disclose that info.”

EIU football coach Roc Bellantoni said, “We put a lot of weight on HS coaches’ recommendations as far as character, grades, and love of the game. But, the film will tell us what we want to know as far as playing ability. Seeing a guy in camp will allow us to see him in person, which could help his case. We see how he accepts coaching, what kind of person and competitor he is.”

Summer Perala, Eastern Illinois women’s soccer coach, agrees with Bellantoni and looks into the person they are as much as the athlete.

“Our sport is performance based and not time/scores, we have to see our prospective student athlete a few times,” Perala said. “My assistant and I also research the recruits background…lots of emails/calls to previous coaches to get a feel for how the recruit is on and off the field. We also follow up with the recruit as much as possible. Emails, phone calls when permissible…we have to work to ‘sell’ the program and the positive direction we feel a prospective student athlete can take it.”

The coach’s career depends on the success of their athletes, if they do well, the coach looks good, if they fail the program and their reputation can get hurt.  One of the things that coaches look for is a good contact to help identify great players.

“Recruiting is all about relationships,” Bellantoni said. “It’s taken a long time to build some of those relationships. I have been going to Florida schools for 10 years or so. I know who I can trust when I ask about attitudes and personalities and who I can’t trust. I would say that’s the same for all of our coaches. There have been some coaches who have lied to us or misled us that we don’t think we can trust and that hurts the kids who come out of those schools.”

Perala said the same thing and that the programs that have lied to her have hurt her trust in believing those programs.

EIU Track and Field coach Tom Akers said that while the local recruits can help with attendance, it is not guaranteed.

“Local kids are great and good for any program or sport,” Akers said.  “It helps with local news coverage.  As far as attendance and other support, there does not seem to be much of a difference.  I have some parents very involved who are traveling the farthest to see a track meet.  Support for your program does not always have to be face to face.”

Kate Price, the volleyball coach at EIU, said that local athletes are good for community support, but she will not bring in a local athlete if they do not have the talent to back it up.

The thing that can help out the athlete the most in getting recruited is not just the talent, but for them to remember they are students first and athletes second.

“We are definitely looking for players who are solid students; we prefer to recruit students who have at least a 3.0 high school GPA, if not higher,” John Blackburn, the tennis coach at EIU, said.  “We are also very interested in speaking with the recruit’s teachers and coaches to get a glimpse into their character. I have been turned off by recruits in the past by low grades or bad recommendations.”

Eastern has a great track record of bringing in good student-athletes to the school.  The women’s basketball program was ranked ninth in the nation for best team GPA.  Overall the athletic department’s GPA is 3.0.  In fall 2009, there were 13 teams with a GPA at or above 3.0 and 260 athletes with a GPA above 3.0.

“I think Eastern has a very good background on recruiting STUDENT-athletes and it is important to stress to the athletes that there is a reason the “student” comes before the ‘athlete,’” Price said.  “So grades are important.”

By the end of their time at EIU, the athletes should be able to walk out with a few qualities.

“Our goal is to, at the end of an athlete’s career here at EIU, have her graduate with a great degree; be a solid contributor to society; and become a self-sufficient and confident young woman,” Perala said.  “Soccer is icing on the cake in the big picture.”

The athletes come to compete here and it doesn’t matter if you are local or not.  The coach’s job is to not only make them the best players on the field, but also the best person they can be off of it.  Very few of the athletes at EIU will become pros in their respective sports, but their education they get here will last them the rest of their lives.

The factors that lead a local recruit to coming to a local university, like Eastern is the cost of tuition, closeness to family and the great programs offered at EIU.  The coach’s look for the best student-athlete they can get, and one who is also a great person off the field.   If a person has the brains and the talent to the job done, they may just get recruited into a university like Eastern Illinois.

1) Unedited original version

Abby Wood is one of the easiest people to spot at Eastern.  On the softball field she is helping direct traffic behind the plate as the catcher.  In the dugout she is the one yelling out the chants at the top of her lungs.  At the other sports at Eastern, you can almost always catch her in the stands cheering on her fellow athletes.

That is who she is, personable and outgoing; she makes her presence known wherever she goes.

“I am always an upbeat person,” Wood said.  “I would rather be happy then sad, like most people I think.  I always like to have fun and I try to avoid any depressing scenarios.  I always try to bring the life to the party I guess.  I try to make sure everyone is having a good time and having fun.”

While she doesn’t mind getting down and dirty on the field, she still likes to be an average girl off the field.  One of her greatest passions is doing hair and nails on herself and other girls, especially her teammates.

She joked that while the softball team had nice nails to start the season off they haven’t been able to keep it up since the season has gotten into full swing.

She loves doing people’s nails and hair, but she finds other joys than just helping make her and others look good.

“This might sound bad, but you get a lot of gossip,” Wood said.  “People tell you a lot of stuff.  It is just you and them.  You have a long time doing their hair and people just open up to you, and I am a people person, so I like to talk about a lot of things.”

She is also thinking that this one time high school activity could one day possibly turn into a career.

“Over the years through high school I got stuck doing everyone’s hair for prom and doing their nails,” Wood said.  “I just started to like it.  I am going here for nursing but after I get all my nursing done I am going to go for a cosmetology degree.  It is just something for fun I guess.”

Wood is one of those players that can sneak up on someone and her opponents shouldn’t let her sunny disposition fool them.  She is a fierce competitor and can get it done at bat.

She is batting .225 with two home runs and seven runs batted in along with nine runs scored.  One of the more interesting stats is she leads the team in hit by pitches with three.

It didn’t start off that great for Wood when she first got here.

“In the beginning of the season I was in a big hitting slump,” Wood said.  “I lost confidence I guess.  I came to college and I was so nervous, as any freshman would be.  I wasn’t seeing the ball at all.  Coach and I were working on it and I started to see the ball better and got more hits.  I got more confidence.

“When I hit that home run, I told my parents after the game, I didn’t even remember what I did.  Maybe I just didn’t think about it and just let my mechanics take over and stuff.  It felt good.”

It may have taken her bat a little while to wake up but it didn’t take her that long to decide to come to Eastern.

“I just loved this place,” Wood said.  “Everyone I met was so nice to me and there was never a mean face to walk into.  All the athletes were welcoming and everything and so was everyone on campus.  I walked out from my visit and I sat down in the van with my parents and I said to them, ‘This is where I want to go.’  I went back in and told coach I am coming here.  It is very homey here.

“My parents always said, ‘Abby, with your personality you can go to a school with 40,000 and be fine, but I think you will do better here because you like to know people on a personal level.’”

Wood loves to meet new people, but the most important people to her are her family and friends.  She said her family will always back her 110% in anything she does, but they are not her only family according to her.

“My softball team is my family,” Wood said.  “Coming here and being far away from my family, I can’t go home a lot like some people here can.  Being on a team that is so welcoming and everything, I have never been on a team that has had no problems.  I came to Eastern and it was like everyone wanted to be your best friend.  They are always trying to be there for you.  They are my family away from home.  I haven’t been home sick much because of them.”

—————————————————————————————

2) The edited version put on the DEN

On the softball field, she is helping direct traffic behind the plate as the catcher. In the dugout, she is the one yelling out the chants at the top of her lungs. At Eastern sporting events, you can almost always catch her in the stands cheering on her fellow athletes.

That is freshman catcher Abby Wood – personable and outgoing, and she makes her presence known wherever she goes.

“I am always an upbeat person,” Wood said. “I always like to have fun and … try to bring the life to the party I guess.”

While she doesn’t mind getting down and dirty on the field, she still likes to be an average woman off the field by doing friends’ and teammates’ hair and nails for them.

With Wood doing nails, she said the softball team had nice nails to start the season but has not been able to keep it up.

She has picked up another pastime as a result of her passion for nails and hair – gossip.

“You get a lot of gossip,” Wood said. “People tell you a lot of stuff. You have a long time doing their hair and people just open up to you.”

Wood said she thinks her high school activity, doing nails and hair, could one day possibly turn into a career.

“Through high school I got stuck doing everyone’s hair for prom and doing their nails,” Wood said. “I just started to like it.”

Even though Wood is studying nursing at Eastern, she plans on pursuing a cosmetology degree after she earns a nursing degree.

Along with her knack for cosmetology, Wood is one of those athletes who can sneak up on her opponents.

She said they should not let her sunny disposition fool them because she said she is a fierce competitor and can get it done at bat.

This season, Wood is batting .225 with two home runs and seven RBIs, along with nine runs scored. Also, she leads the Panthers in being hit by pitches, having been plunked three times.

Once she arrived on campus, things didn’t go so well for the Shelbyville, Ind., native.

To start the season, Wood was immediately stuck in a hitting slump as she said she was not seeing the ball at all.

However, once she and head coach Kim Schuette began working on seeing it better, Wood’s confidence soared.

Then, on March 27 against Tennessee Tech at Williams Field, Wood hit her first collegiate home run.

“When I hit that home run, I told my parents after the game that I didn’t even remember what I did,” Wood said. “It felt good.”

Golf is mostly an individual sport but Flack grew up playing a lot of different sports that involved teamwork.

He also played one sport that one wouldn’t think a golfer would participate in.

“I just love to compete,” Flack said. “I grew up living on the slopes of Chestnut Mountain [in Galena] on their ski race team. I’ve also played baseball, basketball, and football. My competitive nature has definitely carried over to the golf course.”

While he loved other sports, he ran into one problem with some of them.

“Being as little as I was, I quit playing football because I didn’t want to get hurt for the basketball and baseball seasons, which were my loves at the time,” Flack said. “So I decided to try golf and have loved it ever since.”

Flack still plays basketball with his friends when he is not playing golf.

He also likes to relax and have a good time with his friends and watch the Cubs beat the Cardinals, Flack said.

When it comes to golf, though, he tries to be at the top of his game and has to deal with the oddities of the weather, which can always affect his shots more than any sport he has played.

“This time of the year, the weather can play a huge factor on the golf course from day to day,” Flack said. “It makes it difficult to control the ball and bad weather really separates the good players from the average players.”

One of the reasons Flack decided to come to Eastern was because he believed head coach Mike Moncel could elevate his game to the next level.

“Coach Moncel was the main reason [I am here],” Flack said. “He seemed like an awesome guy, and with college athletics, a coach can make or break your experience.”

He has only seen limited action this season but has already improved over last season when he was a freshman.

Last season his best individual performance was his tie for 35th at the Butler Invitational.

This season, in only his second appearance on the golf course, he finished 18th of 73 participants at the Western Illinois Invitational. His low this season for a round is 70.

Flack does have big aspirations for life after college.

“My dream is to continue playing golf professionally… you only live once so I’m going to do everything I can do to chase that dream,” Flack said.

If that does not work out, he isn’t really sure what he wants to do but he is pursuing a degree in business marketing.

-First and foremost, I actually don’t walk around witha  camera all day and everywhere I go.  I actually hated camera’s until the 2nd semester of my freshman year in college.

-I was on a NASCAR pit crew for one day when I was 15, making me the youngest pit crew member in NASCAR that year. [I had to lie about my age, but it was cool]

-I have an estimated 1,000 autographs, no lie.  I have over 4 books full of racing autographs, plus more autograph cards not included in the books.  I have autographs from such people as Jimmie Johnson, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Danica Patrick and many many other top names. 

-I also have 4 or 5 autographs from drivers who have passed away and I treasure those ones the most. They include Paul Dana, Bobby Hamilton Sr., Darrell Russell and Matt Hawkins. I think I got another one or two but I can’t remember their names.

-I have walked around Wrigley Field and got my picture taken withHall of Famer  Billy Williams on the on deck circle, I got to shake hands with Dusty Baker when he was the Cubs manager.

-I got an autograph and talked to Joe Girardi for 5 minutes before one of his games.  His cousin was my head coach in little league baseball.

-I have run the bases at Comisky and the old Milwaukee Brewers Stadium.

-I have walked on Soldier Field and down the sidelines a little. 

-I was interviewed by a newspaper when I was 5 or 6.  I guess I should have seen the foreshadowing of that.

-My house I live in was previously owned by Amy Benes, sister of former MLB pitchers Andy and Alan Benes.  She got their autographs for me before she moved out of the house with her husband and infant child.

-I have many collections, some of which are die cast race cars, autograph cards (as mentioned before), TV series, baseball cards (used to, but haven’t collected in a while), media guides, mini footballs from colleges and a few other things.

-I am related to Buffalo Bill Cody. He created the Wild, Wild West shows.  Cody, Wy. was named after him, as were the Buffalo Bills.

-I wrote my first article for a professional racing website when I was 16 years old.

-I have interviewed over 20 drivers/car owners in my life.

-I have actually walked the Milwaukee Mile race track, technically I wasn’t supposed to but I did.

-Since going to EIU I have made trips to Purdue, Indiana State, U of Illinois, Illinois State, SEMO, UT Martin, Marquette, Tennessee State, Nashville (For the OVC Tournament, 2 times), I snuck into Vanderbilt while in Nashville.  I have also been to Western Illinois, Northern Illinois, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Texas-San Antonio, University of Illinois-Chicago and Northwestern before I came to college.

-When I played baseball, I was the only switch hitting batter on my team for a few seasons, I am a natural righty, but I can bat lefty.

-I got to talk to Mr. T  on the phone and got his autograph.

-I got a football signed by most of the St. Louis Rams the preseason they won the Superbowl.  I also got to run around on the Rams football field.

-I have attended multiple Cubs, White Sox’s, Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks, Wolves games in my life.  I have been to some Brewers games also. I have seen other teams play, but that was when I was a little kid and I don’t really remember them.

-I have been to over 5 different pro baseball fields

-I have an autograph from Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks.

-I did a year of firefighting in high school. I am a Firefighter 1 right now, all I have to do is finish stage 2 and 3 and I gotta get my EMT degree and I would be an official firefighter.  But I am certified to do a few things.

-I have worked at all of EIU’s big media productions.  I spent a year and change at WEIU doing multiple jobs, I have written about 15 articles for the Daily Eastern News and have had my pictures published in EIU’s yearbook, the Warbler.  I also did a commericial for the radio.

-I got an autograph from the radio host who is Bob Uecker’s partner in the movie Major League, Monte (Skip Griparis).

—————-Personal————-

-I have only moved once in my whole life, and for a while I honestly was upset about it.  I take a while to adjust to change, not to say I don’t like new things, but I hate losing what I have always had or done.

-I can put both of my feet behind my head, I am double jointed.

-I can touch my arm and wrist  with my hand, I guess most people can’t bend their hands that way.

-I have never broke a bone, but I have sprained my ankle before.

-I have had ZERO cavaties in my life!

-I did have 8 teeth pulled out in 1 day.

-I have 2 fake teeth

-My birthday is one of 2 days that rotates as the first day of winter, December 22nd. My brother’s birthday is the first day of summer, June 21st.  My birthday is the shortest day of the year and my brothers is the longest day of the year.

-I have at least 8 scars on my body from injuries throughout the years.

-Due to something with my eyes, I can’t see 3-D. [like the movies and haunted houses]

-I was scared of all dogs for a few years after getting bit in the chest by a dog.

-I have made 4 trips to the hospital, but none in at least 10 years.

-I had a pebble stuck in my head for a week and I have the scar to prove it.