Posts Tagged ‘Don Crim’
Crim: Birthdays and baseball fit together perfectly like game of pitch and catch
QUINCY — It somehow seems appropriate that my dad’s birthday in early April coincides with the start of the Major League Baseball season and mine in late September signals its end. Perfect symmetry, like the game itself. My dad, Charlie Crim, turned 91 on Sunday. While he celebrated by sharing homemade dessert and ice cream…
Read MoreCrim: Postseason basketball outcomes create intrigue, questions how futures unfold
QUINCY — Questions and observations as the march toward high school state basketball tournaments continues in both Illinois and Missouri, with some college teams harboring postseason aspirations in the waning days of February: First-year Illini West boys coach Blaize Kimmel stood outside his team’s locker room giving fist-bumps and hugs while offering words of encouragement…
Read MoreCrim: From NFL streaming to Schreake’s freshman campaign to being bitterly cold outside, Sunday indoors offers plenty to think about
QUINCY — Random thoughts on a bitterly cold day while waiting for friends to post more Facebook pictures of themselves either playing golf or frolicking in a heated pool in Florida: Would the NFL have considered postponing the Dolphins-Chiefs playoff game because of “dangerously cold” weather conditions featuring a “significant risk of frostbite” had it…
Read MoreCrim: Reminiscing on 2023 reveals amazing conversations, heart-felt stories being told
QUINCY — As the calendar flips to another year with Muddy River Sports, it’s time to look back to some of my favorite columns from 2023. I must note it does not include the story on Bob Baucom and his 50 seasons as a basketball referee, only because it appeared just days ago. However, the…
Read MoreYear in Review 2023: Top 10 most viewed columns
QUINCY — Opinions, debate and discussion are part of the sports culture, so here is a look at Muddy River Sports’ 10 most viewed columns in 2023: 1. Schuckman: Brock’s black eye brought on by gambling probe will fade and his true character will show “Brock likely won’t face any further charges, but he has…
Read MoreCrim: Bobcats’ offensive prowess is key to chasing Class 2 state championship
QUINCY — The offensive juggernaut that is the Bowling Green football team has compiled an array of head-shaking statistics. The Bobcats have scored 50 or more points in all but one game this season — a 44-8 victory over Palmyra in Week 2 — and have topped 60 points five times, with a high of…
Read MoreCrim: Day spent with multiple generations of loved ones trumps anything sports can provide
QUINCY — I had hoped to write a column about the University of Missouri posting a possible program defining victory over LSU to run its record to 6-0 heading into the second half of the college football season. That appeared possible for much of the game Saturday but, as it has been prone to do,…
Read MoreCrim: Raiders’ near misses mean playing for pride instead of playoffs over final three games
QUINCY— The Quincy Notre Dame football team can only think of what might have been. The Raiders were eliminated from playoff consideration Friday night with a 35-28 loss to Columbia (Mo.) Father Tolton at Advance Physical Therapy Field, a game in which they held a 12-point lead five minutes into the second half and seemed…
Read MoreCrim: Sports writing pulses through your veins, even after decades have passed
QUINCY — Before Friday night, the last time I went to a high school football game for the purpose of writing about it was Nov. 11, 1995. Quincy Notre Dame was playing at Lewistown that Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A playoffs. Abundant sunshine was unable to mask 20 mph winds slicing…
Read MoreCrim: Statistical nuggets to satisfy prep football appetites heading into season openers
QUINCY — Welcome to a toasty Week 1 of the high school football season, which will feature later kickoff times, extended halftimes and multiple water breaks in efforts to beat the oppressive heat. Word to the wise: Plan accordingly for sitting on metal bleachers. Former Major League Baseball player and manager Lou Pinella once said…
Read MoreCrim: Timing of Longo’s return to QHS soccer program is ‘as perfect as it could be’
QUINCY — Matt and Amy Longo decided to finally test the snowbird experience by spending January and February in southwestern Florida. They had the opportunity to play bingo, poker, shuffleboard and pickleball and develop friendships with other residents in a 55-and-older community. There were trips to the beach, to spring training baseball games and to…
Read MoreCrim: New MLB rules may change how game is played, but seeing Cardinals in playoff hunt remains constant
The Major League Baseball season opens Thursday. Say hello to the pitch clock and bid goodbye to drastic infield defensive shifts and the unbalanced schedule. With that as a backdrop, the St. Louis Cardinals will attempt to be the first repeat champion in the National League Central Division since the Chicago Cubs in 2016-17. The…
Read MoreCrim: Postseason fate still in question, but Hawks have undoubtedly made strides in Hawkins’ first season back
QUINCY — As the Great Lakes Valley Conference enters the final week of the basketball regular season, the only certainty on the men’s side is that nationally-ranked Indianapolis will finish first and be the top seed for the league tournament March 2-5 in St. Charles, Mo. Otherwise, we’re left to decipher the GLVC’s rating system…
Read MoreCrim: QND’s quest to repeat bookends four decades of championship success that began with 1983 title team
QUINCY — The Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team begins its quest this week for a second consecutive Illinois Class 2A state championship and seventh overall in program history. Only Chicago Marshall with eight has captured more titles since the first girls champion was crowned in 1977. Adding to the potential legacy of another first-place…
Read MoreCrim: Spending time with Tommy Joe is treasure that lasts forever
MACON, Mo. — My cellphone rang the day after Christmas. I looked at the screen to see it was Tom Sneed, or Tommy Joe as he was called growing up, a moniker some of us in the family still use. He’s a second cousin on my mother’s side. It had been a while since we…
Read More2022 Year in Review: Most read columns
QUINCY — Stories of heart and soul, of community pride and compassion, of history and hope are what defined 2022. Here is a look at the most read columns at Muddy River Sports throughout the past year: 1. Schuckman: Empathy and respect create viral video moment between QHS, Glenwood football players 2. Schuckman: Homegrown talent…
Read MoreCrim: Telling stories of those impacting local sports then and now made 2022 special
QUINCY — This week marks one year since joining Muddy River Sports, and what a year it has been. As we begin 2023 and start the countdown to Matt Schuckman’s 50th birthday celebration, let’s look back at some of my favorite columns of 2022. From Warsaw to West Point to the world, Rothert’s journey is…
Read MoreCrim: Stranger things continue to take place in Big 10 West division title chase
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 MoreCrim: Georgia on every college football fan’s mind as best team after throttling Tennessee
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 MoreCrim: Former QU men’s basketball coach lands job with D-I program
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 MoreCrim: College football, Hall of Fame closers, baseball playoffs and QU basketball on the mind
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 MoreCrim: Known for trustworthy approach to reporting, Hall of Famer and Quincy native Rick Hummel heading toward retirement
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 MoreCrim: Cappel’s three-year stint coaching QHS football created memories he still treasures
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 MoreCrim: Love of going to ballpark continues to drive Sloan, major league scout and QU Hall of Famer
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 MoreCrim: Pujols’ surge, Iowa’s meager offense and Williams’ record-setting effort provide stats, numbers to ponder
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 MoreCrim: Illinois, Mizzou searching for improvement, consistency as college football season dawns
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 MoreCrim: Grandkids and golf continue to keep Weibring active and engaged
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 MoreCrim: Growth of QTown Tournaments is ‘win-win across the board’ for youth baseball, softball and Quincy
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 MoreCrim: Hornets’ season to remember caps school year filled with success from start to finish
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 MoreCrim: Downtown Quincy’s quiet Memorial Day weekend echoes with memories of Gus Macker
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 MoreCrim: Obert’s feat of aces in back-to-back rounds defies golf’s already long odds
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 MoreCrim: Mizzou continues swimming around in transfer portal in search for quarterback
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 MoreCrim: Basketball Museum of Illinois inches closer to becoming reality with home found in Bedford Park
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 MoreSchuckman: Crim’s induction into IBCA Hall of Fame is fitting honor for inspiring writer, friend
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 MoreCrim: Scarcity of officials across prep sports is concern that continues getting worse
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 MoreCrim: Gates changing look of Tigers after taking over as Mizzou men’s basketball coach
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 MoreCrim: With NFL draft looming, Culver-Stockton College’s Rupcich ready to see dream come true
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 MoreCrim: View of Cardinals as MLB season opens contains myriad of questions
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 MoreCrim: Turpin’s mission of helping student-athletes has never changed even as her job and title have
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…
Read MoreCrim: If life is about making memories, Pittsfield’s Fischer is truly living the good life
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Tim Fischer vividly remembers arriving home after the 1984 Western-Macomb Holiday Tournament. His Pittsfield Saukees had beaten the top two seeds back-to-back that day to win their first championship there and he had been named the tournament’s most valuable player. Pretty heady stuff for a high school senior harboring aspirations of playing…
Read MoreCrim: Kreke’s influence on longstanding success of Liberty basketball program remains evident
LIBERTY, Ill. — The road to Liberty High School’s first appearance in a basketball state tournament championship game began in 1975, when Paul Kreke accepted the only job offer he had after graduating from Quincy College. He became the head coach of a Liberty program that posted winning records only three times the previous 20…
Read MoreCrim: Youth basketball reminds us of joy and delight sports are intended to provide
Sometimes sports are best consumed in smaller bites. It helps a fan forget about Major League Baseball owners locking out players, Phil Mickelson making the biggest misread of his career, and the national media’s endless infatuation with everything LeBron James and Aaron Rodgers say and do. There’s only so much greed and ego a person…
Read MoreCrim: Miller’s 30-point fourth quarter remains one of finest performances in state postseason history
It has been exactly 39 years and Rusty Miller still can’t explain how he managed to score 30 points in a single quarter of a high school regional tournament basketball game. “I’ve had people come up to me over the years and ask, ‘How in the hell did you do that?’ ” he said. “Wish…
Read MoreCrim: Time doesn’t change Siebers’ approach to doing things all out, all the time
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — Mike Siebers brings the same exuberance to a weekend interview with an old sports writer as he did to high school basketball courts and soccer fields four decades ago while playing for Quincy Notre Dame. All out, all the time. “Sorry for taking so much of your time,” he said as the…
Read MoreCrim: From Warsaw to West Point to the world, Rothert’s journey is fascinating tale
ANKARA, Turkey — Steve Rothert was preparing to play for the Illinois All-Stars in the 1986 McDonald’s/Herald-Whig Classic when we sat down to discuss his all-state basketball career at Warsaw High School and appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. The essence of the column I wrote then was that Rothert was…
Read MoreCrim: Hawkins remains passionate about coaching and committed to helping steer basketball in right direction
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — When Steve Hawkins answered a phone call from a number he didn’t recognize in September, he wasn’t surprised the caller wanted to know if he would be interested in a basketball coaching opening. After all, he had fielded numerous inquiries since Western Michigan University administrators decided not to renew his contract in…
Read MoreCrim: Elledge remains man for all seasons and integral part of athletics
Doug Elledge has the routine down pat. He throws his high school football officiating gear into the car in late August. He pulls it out in November and replaces it with a whistle and striped shirt to referee basketball. Then, in March, he ditches those for a chest protector, face mask and shin guards to…
Read MoreCrim: Embracing new adventure back where it all began
We’re back to where it all began, in the toy department of life, writing about sports. The late, great New York City sportswriter Jimmy Cannon first coined that phrase many decades ago to describe the sports section in newspapers. Sports was then considered just a game, like a child playing with a toy, meant to…
Read MoreLegendary Quincy newspaperman among IBCA Hall of Fame Class of 2022 inductees
QUINCY — A legendary Quincy newspaperman, a Carthage radio voice and an all-stater from Warsaw are among the inductees in the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class of 2022, the association announced Monday. Former Quincy Herald-Whig sports editor and executive editor Don Crim will join Keith Yex in being inducted into the media…
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