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Editor’s Note: Quincy Notre Dame will hold its Hall of Fame induction at approximately 6:30 p.m. Saturday between games of the 2022 Gully Transportation Tip-Off Shootout at The Pit. QUINCY — Shannon (Foley) Venvertloh played different roles in different sports — goal scorer in soccer, defensive standout in volleyball and playmaker in basketball. She played…
Read Full Article CAMP POINT, Ill. — Come Friday, the Camp Point Central football team will walk into Memorial Stadium on the University of Illinois campus for the Class 1A state championship game to square off with Lena-Winslow, the reigning state champion who has won five state championships since 2010. Leading the way with be an experienced, stout…
Read Full Article One month after sinking to a last-place tie, Iowa is poised to win the Big 10 West. Such is life in college football’s strangest division. The Hawkeyes, written off after being blown out 54-10 by Ohio State on Oct. 22 to fall to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in league play, control their destiny after pulling…
Read Full Article QUINCY — One final wave to say thank you to an adoring, enthusiastic crowd was the Quincy University women’s volleyball team’s way to say goodbye as well. The season that changed the Hawks’ program forever was over. Yet, the bond created amongst a group of student-athletes — “incredible young women” in the words of Quincy…
Read Full Article CAMP POINT, Ill. — The Central football players have traded cut-off t-shirts and shorts for stocking caps and sweatshirts. When that takes place, something more significant has, too. In this case, the Panthers have reached the Class 1A state semifinals for the fourth time in program history. Central (12-0) travels for the first time this…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Every version of the national anthem is unique and different. Singers with big, booming voices tend to drag out high notes, especially at the top of their vocal range. Nervous singers hurry through it, praying they don’t forget a word or miss a note and fight just to finish. Steve Hawkins would have…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman and his trusty podcast sidekick Don O’Brien tackle the start of prep boys basketball practices in Illinois, the first week for college hoops games and the shift from fall sports to winter sports in this week’s episode of the Muddy River Breakdown.
Read Full Article What did we learn last weekend in college football? Defending champion Georgia is clearly the best team after throttling the high-powered Tennessee offense, Alabama is no longer invincible after losing on the road for the second time, and Illinois is not quite ready for prime time after falling at home to a struggling Michigan State…
Read Full Article MACOMB, Ill. — Emily Horrell better get used to this if she hasn’t already. A few days before the Macomb football team played host to Murphysboro in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs, the wife of Bombers coach Tanner Horrell happened to be at a local retail store when two retirement-age women began…
Read Full Article LIBERTY, Ill. — Liberty junior Arianna Neisen will run at Detweiler Park this weekend. Quincy High School senior Eric McClelland will, too, in what is the ultimate weekend for Illinois prep cross country runners. The state meet takes place Saturday in Peoria with three classes running 3-mile races on both the boys and girls sides.…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Cole Wagy saw beyond the jersey, the helmet and the foe and took note of a fellow football player’s heartache. At that moment, the Quincy High School offensive lineman walked over, knelt down and put his right arm around his ailing adversary. “I didn’t even know his name,” Wagy said. Names aren’t necessary…
Read Full Article EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Be phenomenal or be forgotten. Such an easy choice. “No one wants to live their life forgotten,” said Jake Hoyt, a senior center back on the Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer team. “Doesn’t everyone want to be phenomenal?” When Raiders coach Greg Reis posed that challenge to his team on the…
Read Full Article EAST PEORIA, Ill. — They grew curious — possibly more concerned — whether the suspension on Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman’s pickup truck could hold the weight of the entire Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer team piled into the truck’s bed. Much like the Raiders throughout the postseason, Schuck’s truck held up just fine.…
Read Full Article CHILLICOTHE, Ill. — The Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer team clamped down on Bloomington Central Catholic’s attack and limited the Saints to one shot in the first half of Wednesday’s 5-1 victory in the Class 1A Chillicothe Super-Sectional. That effort is carrying the Raiders to the final four in East Peoria, where they will play…
Read Full Article Around the horn … Former Quincy University men’s basketball coach Ryan Hellenthal has landed a new job as director of basketball development and basketball administration at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, the school announced last week. At SIUE, he is reunited with Cougars coach Brian Barone. Both were assistants on the coaching staff at Garden City (Kan.)…
Read Full Article CARTHAGE, Ill. — On a field where history grows with every blade of grass, the Illini West football team was intent on keeping history from happening. For nearly eight minutes, that seemed possible. Then in a blink, it became clear history wouldn’t be denied. Facing undefeated, state-ranked Macomb in the regular-season finale Friday night at…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The outcome matters. It has to, otherwise the sweat equity put into practice and the commitment to be at your best wouldn’t matter so much. Still, there are nights where the final score takes on secondary importance, where winners aren’t determined solely by the numbers on a scoreboard but more by the integrity,…
Read Full Article Notes, quotes and great thoughts from a sports weekend that, for the first time in a month, did not include my alma mater turning a winnable college football game into an excruciating loss: OK, so Missouri was on a bye. No game, no angst. Surely the Tigers won’t lose on Saturday to Vanderbilt, the only…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Growing up, the best part of the calendar rolling into October meant hunting season was upon us and I had the opportunity to spend more time with my dad. No matter what we did outdoors, I was right by his side. That hasn’t changed in adulthood. With the archery deer season in full…
Read Full Article LIBERTY, Ill. — A decorated high school golf career came to an end last Saturday when Liberty senior Blake Arnold finished tied for 13th at the Class 1A state tournament, and he finished it with a birdie on his final hole. In the process, Arnold became the highest individual state finisher in Liberty golf history.…
Read Full Article QUINCY — A boy and a ball. That’s perfect symmetry. Hayden Hoskins’ job and his joy is to run around behind the goal at the northeast end of Flinn Stadium during Quincy High School boys soccer games and act as the ball boy. In reality, the 9-year-old just wants to play the way boys should.…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Golf can humble you. Infuriate you. Exasperate you. Baffle you. And if you let it, the game can break your spirit. Ross Thompson wouldn’t allow that to happen. A freshman when he made the six-man lineup in 2019 and was part of the Quincy Notre Dame boys golf team’s second-place state finish, Thompson…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The big reveal takes place on the Muddy River Breakdown with Schuck Daddy and DOB. With Don O’Brien having embraced English Premier League fandom, it became time for Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman to pledge his loyalty to an EPL team. So he turned to Culver-Stockton College women’s soccer coach Tyler Tomlinson…
Read Full Article When it became apparent I wasn’t going to make a living pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals, even though I had spent most of my childhood emulating the windup and mannerisms of Bob Gibson, it seemed the next best thing would be writing about the team every day. A baseball beat writer. In St. louis.…
Read Full Article MENDON, Ill. — When modern technology accents old-school charm, you wind up watching a prep football game in an environment artists pen songs about and screenwriters use as inspiration for movie scripts. Friday night, this Adams County village offered one of those backdrops. From the bonfire in the neighboring yard to a respected, celebrated old…
Read Full Article The history of Class A Basketball in Illinois cannot be written without Adams, Brown, Hancock and Pike counties. The tradition in West Central Illinois schools with their multiple regional, sectional and state titles stacks up with any other four county region in the state. The writers and editors of Muddy River Sports have spent their careers chronicling…
Read Full Article SHOREWOOD, Ill. — Dean Cappel and his wife, Connie, live in an active 55-and-older community west of Joliet. When they’re not traveling or doting on their six grandchildren, they like to spend time playing water volleyball and bocce ball and riding bicycles. “I just came back from the weight room,” Cappel said as we began…
Read Full Article QUINCY — It goes in the ledger as a loss, but in terms of progress being made — from Week 1 to Week 4 this season and over the course of the last 364 days — Saturday’s outcome needs to be viewed as a small step in the right direction for the Quincy University football…
Read Full Article MACOMB, Ill. — If rainfall and lightning strikes can’t put a damper on the enthusiasm surrounding the Macomb football program, what can? Right now, nothing. Friday night’s crowd was asked to leave the stadium complex to wait out a thunderstorm cell that passed over the area just before Friday night’s kickoff against Farmington. It delayed…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Outside of watching Scott Van Pelt host SportsCenter and the game coverage ESPN provides, Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman and Don O’Brien discuss how they have veered away from watching the sports network and what other television program pique their interest on this week’s Muddy River Breakdown.
Read Full Article QUINCY — Saturday felt like a warm, welcoming hug. John Wood Community College opened its arms to the community, and Quincy embraced it. “Yeah, this is neat,” Trail Blazers athletic director Brad Hoyt said as he surveyed the meshing of JWCC athletes and personnel with fans and community members across a large swath of the…
Read Full Article MOUNT STERLING, Ill. — The Nest deserved a little TLC. The Brown County football team hadn’t played at home since its Week 1 victory over Calhoun when it was one of the first teams in the state to take the field, opening on a Thursday night. In the three weeks since, the Hornets’ all-natural grass…
Read Full Article MONROE CITY, Mo. — Andre White spent a majority of his summer traveling across the United States with his son, Dez, on the AAU basketball circuit, and the reward of seeing his son achieve the dream of receiving an NCAA Division I scholarship is priceless. The fact Dez White will be playing for a former…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Muddy River Sports correspondent Don O’Brien made the road trip to Moline last Friday to cover the Quincy High School football team and realized Western Big 6 Conference gridiron road games mean late-night arrivals back home. He and Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman talk WB6 road trips, media scrums, basketball shootouts and…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Tyler Tomlinson is doing what every successful coach does. He’s accepting the need to change. The first four games of the Culver-Stockton College women’s soccer team’s season didn’t go as well as hoped, so Tomlinson and his staff began retooling how the Wildcats need to play. It seems to be working. The Wildcats…
Read Full Article QUINCY — It would have been a trade that changed the course of baseball history. In July 2000, with Eli Marrero on the disabled list and Mike Matheny playing with cracked ribs, St. Louis was in the market for a backup catcher. The Cardinals, who would go on to win 95 games and the Central…
Read Full Article QUINCY — From celebrity chef tables to prep football to Jirehl Brock’s season-opening performance, Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman and KHQA Sports Director Chris Duerr offer insight on a variety of fronts. Check out this week’s podcast:
Read Full Article Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman and his sidekick Don O’Brien discuss kickoff times, prep football and the college football scene featuring local products.
Read Full Article QUINCY — I laughed. Dennis Guthrie didn’t. My mind immediately began thinking, “What’s wrong?” Seated together on a bench near the 18th green at Quincy Country Club as the Quincy High School and Quincy Notre Dame boys golf teams neared the end of their Ryder Cup match early in the 2007 season, Guthrie and I…
Read Full Article Stats, stats and more stats for your reading pleasure on a leisurely Labor Day. Every Cardinals fan knows 42-year-old Albert Pujols looked like a younger version of himself at the plate in August, fueling a surge that propelled St. Louis to the top of the National League’s Central Division. Just how hot was he? Jayson…
Read Full Article QUINCY — With the game tied at 3 and less than five minutes remaining in regulation, the ball found Tanner Anderson’s foot. From there, it found the back of the net. The Quincy Notre Dame senior forward scored the game-winning goal in a 4-3 victory over Quincy High School on Thursday night at Advance Physical…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The music blaring over the speakers at Citi Field as New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz enters from the bullpen is distinctive and energetic. Diaz makes the trip to the mound as “Narco” from Blasterjaxx and Timmy Trumpet plays, and it’s perfect. So this week we asked area athletes and coaches for their…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Jirehl Brock patiently waited for his chance. Zack Aschemann decided to take another chance. Cody Schrader chased his chance. And Caden Selle earned a chance. Therein lies the beauty of college football. An opportunity always exists if you wholeheartedly pursue it. Brock, the former Quincy High School all-stater and all-time leading rusher, will…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Quincy University football coach Gary Bass felt a productive offseason prepared the Hawks to be ahead of the game when fall practices began. With good weather and depth at nearly every position, the Hawks have taken advantage of every opportunity leading up to Thursday’s season opener. Bass joined Muddy River Sports Editor Matt…
Read Full Article In case you missed it, Alabama is once again the consensus pick to win the college football national championship, with Ohio State nipping at its heels, and so yawn. Sure, Georgia, Clemson and Utah have the potential to reach the four-team playoff, but the Crimson Tide are expected to avenge last season’s championship game loss…
Read Full Article QUINCY — A game of two-hand touch played by a gaggle of kids wearing their Junior Raiders football jerseys unfolded beneath the large oak and blaze maple trees casting shade across the uneven grassy space near the tennis courts in South Park. Kickoff for the season-opening showdown between Quincy High School and Quincy Notre Dame…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Terry Bower took a weekend hobby of creating delectable barbeque and wood-smoked meats and turned into a professional career as a pitmaster on the Kansas City Barbeque Society circuit. He’s traveled the Midwest getting calls and winning honors at some of the most prestigious events. In this episode of “Schuck on a Truck”…
Read Full Article QUINCY — What does “Friday Night Lights” mean to you? That was the question we posed to several area football players and coaches during the week leading up to the season opener. Here are some of the responses: “When I think of Friday Night Lights, I get excited inside. Thinking of the cheers, the pads…
Read Full Article It used to be that you had to go to the stadium to root on your local high school athletic team. However, the COVID-19 pandemic changed that. With schools forced to restrict entry to events, they turned to online streaming of games so that people could watch from the comfort of their living rooms. While…
Read Full Article Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman and his cohort, Don O’Brien, talk Better Call Saul and college football on the latest episode of the “Muddy River Breakdown with Schuck and DOB.”
Read Full Article BARING, Mo. — Jason Killday views the Truman State University football team’s start of preseason workouts the way he wants each of the Bulldogs to see things. It’s a brand new day. A year ago, when the Bulldogs went 9-3 and won the America’s Crossroads Bowl, Truman State established a single-season school record for yards…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Reunited and it feels so good. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman and the newest addition to the Muddy River Sports team, Don O’Brien, spent 13 years working side-by-side in the sports department of the Quincy Herald-Whig and sharing the studio for shows such as “The Sports Writers Journal” and “WGEM SportsCenter.” A…
Read Full Article ROXANA, Del. — A glimmer of hope is all that was needed. When the Illinois District 17 softball team headed to the Central Regional in Michigan, advancing to the Senior League Softball World Series was still a pipedream, even if a spot in the 10-team field was only four victories away. “I think there were…
Read Full Article LIBERTY, Ill. — The signs taped to the front doors of Liberty High School saying “Gym Closed” were a clear indication the administration didn’t want anyone coming around. Even if such warnings were ignored, no one was getting in the gym anyhow. Chains and padlocks on the doors ensured that. There was work to be…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The Quincy Gems’ uniforms are among the best in the Prospect League. It’s a clean look, with the team nickname in nice, big letters across the front of the home jerseys and blue piping down the chest, around the neck and around the sleeves. The large “Q” makes the white hats simple and…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Seth Anderson stepped in as a freshman with the Saint Louis University men’s soccer program last fall and made an immediate impact as the Billikens went 16-1-4 and reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. The former Quincy Notre Dame all-state striker sat down with Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman to discuss…
Read Full Article FRISCO, Texas — D.A. Weibring was keeping an eye on the Open Championship, wondering whether rain would cancel an afternoon trip to the driving range with a grandson and anticipating the arrival the following day of four grandkids ages 6 and under for a sleepover. “You want to know what the old guy is up…
Read Full Article HANNIBAL, Mo. — It started with a selfie and ended with a shower. Everything happening in between helped ensure Saturday night’s eighth installment of the Missouri vs. Illinois All-Star Game — the first since 2019 — became a full-tilt celebration of high school baseball. From bunts to bad hops, knee-bending curveballs to wild throws, and…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Has wiffle ball become the forgotten game? Quiet fields and empty side streets suggest so. Temperatures pushed toward 90 degrees Wednesday afternoon when three kids and two adults cast their lines into the ponds near R.J. Peters Drive running through South Park. Although they hadn’t caught any fish, they had been there for…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The porch door casually swung open, the way it does five or six times per day or as many times as Buster gets the inkling to go outside. Only this time, our 12-year-old cheagle didn’t follow the swinging of the door by bounding down the three steps leading to the sidewalk. He froze.…
Read Full Article KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Chandler Hayden has always defied stereotypes. “Doing things out of the norm builds confidence,” she explained. The 2019 graduate of Pittsfield High School is anything but typical. And perhaps her boldest move yet came last month when Hayden, a University of Tennessee track and field thrower, was one of 15 college athletes…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The Quincy Gems won 13 games in a 16-game span in the first half of the Prospect League season, propelling them to first place in the Great River Division and guaranteeing them a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Gems manager Brad Gyorkos joined Muddy River Sports Editor Matt…
Read Full Article QUINCY — When Andrew Smith realized he’d made his first hole-in-one, nearly every golfer scattered across the Spring Lake Country Club layout knew it. “I just jumped out of the golf cart while it was going 15 miles per hour,” Smith said. When he made his second ace 10 days later, the reaction was a…
Read Full Article HANNIBAL, Mo. — Golf is taking Quinn Thomas places most 16-year-olds can’t fathom. Recently, it had him walking fairways once crossed by legends. Thomas, who will be a junior at Hannibal High School in the fall, played in the 115th Missouri Amateur Championship, which meant teeing it up on the iconic Bellerive Country Club layout…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Youth baseball had a different look when Darin Dodd was a player. “Traveling” for competition then meant driving from the family home in the Hickory Grove subdivision on the eastern edge of Quincy to play Little League games at Maranatha Park on Einhaus Lane, just west of North 12th Street. Fast forward to…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The boxscore shows Max Richardson playing only a few seconds for the Illinois boys basketball team in the inaugural Muddy River Showcase, more than he expected, yet long enough to create a memory that will last a lifetime. The 6-foot-4 power forward from Illini West who has since signed to play for Eureka…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Delaney Straus felt insulted. As the Missouri girls were milling around John Wood Community College’s Student Activity Center ahead of Saturday’s Muddy River Showcase, the Marion County standout overheard a conversation in which a tongue-in-cheek prediction about the boys game was made. However, she thought the prediction of a 24-point Illinois victory was…
Read Full Article It was nearly the perfect ending to a magical high school sports season. Brown County was the sixth team in the Muddy River Sports area to play for a state championship during the 2021-22 school year when it took the field Saturday against Louisville North Clay in the Illinois Class 1A baseball state finals in…
Read Full Article PEORIA, Ill. — Disappointment lingered, but only for so long. By the time the Brown County baseball players cleaned up their dugout and made their way to the grassy berm in the right-field corner, the green-clad wave of Hornets fans who had invaded Dozer Park on Saturday were ready to fete their conquering heroes. The…
Read Full Article MOUNT STERLING, Ill. — The Brown County baseball team reached historic heights during the 2022 season. The Hornets went 28-5, setting the program’s single-season record for victories. They won the first sectional title in program history and became the first team in any sport at Brown County to reach a state final four. After finishing…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Mark McDowell did his best Avery Keck impersonation Sunday afternoon. When opportunity struck, he delivered. The Quincy Notre Dame principal took advantage of the recent addition of a large video board on the west wall of The Pit by having a picture loaded and ready to loom large over everyone during the welcome…
Read Full Article QUINCY — It was a sunny, calm morning on the final Saturday in May in downtown Quincy. A row of pickup trucks and tents were stationed in the shade along Hampshire on the north side of Washington Park between Fourth and Fifth streets for the Farmer’s Market. Maine Street was barricaded between Fourth and Fifth…
Read Full Article Muddy River Sports sets a record for most people in the bed of Matt Schuckman’s truck as Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer coach Mark Longo and the whole team join in following the sixth state title in program history.
Read Full Article PLEASANT PLAINS, Ill. — Everybody likes bacon, right? That’s undoubtedly true of the Quincy Notre Dame baseball players’ parents, grandparents and fans. But if you’re thinking it’s the sizzle-in-the-frying-pan kind of pork product they are so enamored with, you’d be sorely mistaken. In this case, “Bacon” is their good luck charm, a 4-inch crocheted, stuffed…
Read Full Article QUINCY — Tom Obert continues to defy the odds on the golf course. The 66-year-old Quincy man scored holes-in-one in back-to-back rounds May 8 and 10 at Westview Golf Course and narrowly missed a third a day later. They were the sixth and seventh aces he has recorded in the last dozen years, which, in…
Read Full Article CALEDONIA, Mich. — The kind of moments a hitter lives for can be the ones most taxing or debilitating when success eludes you. Lance Logsdon knows how true that can be. The Quincy University junior first baseman faced the opportunity to capitalize on a game-changing at-bat each of the past two weekends. Neither time he…
Read Full Article CALEDONIA, Mich. — Matt Schissel struggled for good reason to calculate whether the Quincy University baseball players were ready to rebound 40 minutes after a gut punch. “I’ll be honest,” the first-year Hawks coach said, “I wasn’t ready to go back and play.” Schissel took at least 25 minutes of that 40-minute gap between games…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The QUuncy University baseball team is making its seventh straight appearance in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional this week, the longest such streak in the region. The Hawks open play at 11 a.m. Thursday against Northwood in Caledonia, Mich. QU coach Matt Schissel joined Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman on the…
Read Full Article Quarterback remains an unsettled position at Missouri. Coach Eli Drinkwitz continues to be in the market for a veteran transfer as he prepares for his third season in Columbia with hopes of improving on his 11-12 overall record there. Various media outlets reported he hosted former Southern Miss and Mississippi State quarterback Jack Abraham for…
Read Full Article Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman talks with JWCC Athletic Director/Men’s Basketball Coach about the inaugural Muddy River Showcase high school all-star basketball game.
Read Full Article QUINCY — The hardware Kelsey Bockenfeld has collected in the past five weeks has made her trifecta of titles complete. State champion. National champion. World champion. That’s quite a resume. The Quincy native won an American Motocross Association ATV national championship during her days racing quads, but has since found a passion and a drive…
Read Full Article NORMAL, Ill. — Bruce Firchau was known as a “fixer” during his 38-year basketball coaching career, taking downtrodden programs and turning them into winners. His 557 career victories, mostly at schools in northern Illinois, and 2007 induction into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame are testaments to the success he achieved. His biggest…
Read Full Article To whom it may concern: It is 11:26 p.m. on the first Monday in May. As you can tell, I have made the decision to address a recent column by Matt Schuckman. My name is John (“Johnny’’ if you know me) Marx. I am a retired newspaper columnist for The Dispatch/Rock Island Argus/Quad City Times. I…
Read Full Article Intimidating. It seems funny to say it, but that is the most apt description for how I viewed Don Crim the first time I walked into the Quincy Herald-Whig newsroom nearly 33 years ago. The sports editor’s desk, complete with stain rings from his coffee cup and an overflowing ashtray of cigarette butts, served as…
Read Full Article QUINCY — During most of his tenure as athletic director at Quincy Notre Dame, Bill Connell followed a familiar routine. Find opponents for the school’s various athletic programs, determine mutual open dates to schedule games and then hire crews to officiate them. That’s not the case anymore. “You have to find officials first and then…
Read Full Article Stream of consciousness … The University of Missouri men’s basketball team has largely been a non-factor in the SEC. Cuonzo Martin was fired last month after posting a 78-77 record in five years that featured two NCAA tournament appearances and three losing seasons. That followed the disastrous Kim Anderson experience (27-68 in three seasons). The…
Read Full Article A few final thoughts as Muddy River Sports wraps up the “50 After 50” series after nearly four months … • I’m so glad I had the chance to interview Harry Wagy, the coach of the 1990-91 Pleasant Hill team which was the No. 50 team on the list. That team is arguably the best…
Read Full Article CANTON, Mo. — The list of football players with ties to Culver-Stockton College who have been selected in an NFL draft begins and ends with Bob Hendren. The offensive lineman, who enrolled in C-SC before transferring to the University of Southern California, was chosen by Washington in the seventh round in 1946, when the league…
Read Full Article To the Sportswriters at Muddy River Sports, Over the course of the past three months, I’ve enjoyed following your “50 After 50” feature, in which you listed and published write-ups on teams you believed to be the 50 best west central Illinois Class A basketball teams of the past 50 years in your four-county coverage…
Read Full Article The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock…
Read Full Article QUINCY — The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike…
Read Full Article Blessed and spoiled. There is no more apropos description for the fall of 1982. By then, my passion for baseball and complete love for the game was complete. I was blessed to watch my favorite team and my favorite player fight their way to the National League pennant, and I was spoiled to listen to…
Read Full Article The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock…
Read Full Article The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock…
Read Full Article Welcome to arguably the best week on the sports calendar. It begins with college basketball crowning a men’s champion Monday night. The matchup features two of the sport’s blue bloods in Kansas and North Carolina, although many were hoping Mike Krzyzewski would get a fairy tale ending to his career. (Proud Mizzou graduates will be…
Read Full Article The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock…
Read Full Article The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock…
Read Full Article Jordan Hildebrand’s decision to stay at Millikin University for an extra year of eligibility, pursue a master’s degree and help the Big Blue women’s basketball team chase NCAA glory turned out to be a wise move. Not only will Hildebrand walk away later this year with two degrees in her hip pocket, but the 6-foot…
Read Full Article NORTH PORT, Fla. — Once a coach, always a coach. While it has been 28 years since Kathy Turpin walked away from Culver-Stockton College as the winningest women’s basketball coach in school history, never to coach another college game, she is still doing her part to create an atmosphere for student-athletes to succeed. The competitive…
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