Trojans dominate Maroons, again

CLINTON - All summer long, the Clinton Maroons football team had been eyeing Maroa-Forsyth. They were out for revenge. Maroa had beaten the Maroons 42-7 in the 2009 season opener, John Hayden's first game as head coach of Clinton. At practice from June to August, Hayden would remind the players about 30-40 times per practice that the Trojans had easily handled them last year.

"I just want to run it in and see how they are going to respond," Hayden said a week before the rematch in Clinton in 2010.

Hayden would yell the phrase "42-7" over and over again each practice.

Then came August 27 - the rematch. Could Clinton respond after taking such a beating last year?

In a word, no.

It wasn't 42-7, it was worse. 49-7. Ouch.

Maroa dominated from the opening kickoff, scoring 23 points in the first quarter and holding a 36-0 lead just seconds before halftime.

On the last play of the first half, Clinton got on the board for the only time opening night. Byron Conner caught a 25-yard Aaron Ennis pass and used his speed and quickness to dash for a last second touchdown. It was a great play, but unfortunately for the Maroons, it was their only highlight.

Muffed punts, fumbles, big Maroa plays and dropped passed were the norm for Clinton on opening night.

Outside of Conner's big play, the stellar defensive output by Colton Nixon (sack, tackle for loss) was the only bright spot.

Now the Maroons must move on and put their focus elsewhere, on Central A&M. The Maroons visit Moweaqua for a homecoming of sorts for Hayden, who was an assistant coach on the 1997 state championship Central A&M team.

Photo: Clinton's Kadarius Sneed (28) was unable to get the ground game going against the always-tough Trojans defense.

Discrepancy at Dayton memorial

DAYTON, Ohio - On my way home from Washington, DC, my father, my friend and I decided to stop in Dayton, Ohio, as it was one of the major cities right off of I-70 east of Indiana.

While driving through the city, we came across a part that had a Korean War Memorial. We decided to stop there since the Korean War Memorial was one of the few things we did not get a chance to see that week in the nation's capital.

The Dayton memorial was great, with a pathway leading to a statue. On the pathway were the names of the fallen United States soldiers, organized by state.

My father was the first to notice a huge mistake when looking at the list of Illinois soldiers. The first indication something went wrong was that there were only about 30 names mentioned when Indiana had hundreds and tiny District of Columbia had a little over 100. How could Illinois have less than any other state considering it has always been one of the most populous states?

Well all the names listed under Illinois began with either an "A', a "B", or a "Y." The rest of the entire alphabet had been left out.

Few people would have noticed this because the Korean War Memorial in Dayton, Ohio isn't exactly the first place most Americans would go to honor the fallen soldiers of that war. In fact we came upon it on accident.

But it should be pointed out to whoever is in charge of the park and adjustments, no matter how inconvenient, must be made for the betterment of accuracy and to honor ALL of Illinois' casualties during the war, not just the ones with the A,B, or Y last names.

Classy/Unclassy: Colt loyalty

This week's edition of Classy/Unclassy comes from the world of professional football. 

Classy: Reggie Wayne - Not surprisingly, I pick a Colt. After going through much of the NFL off-season planning to hold out of training camp unless he gets a new contract, Wayne showed up the first day and has been practicing with the team since. Asked by reporters why he decided to show up considering the Colts did not restructure his deal, Wayne told them he had already let the team down once (in the Super Bowl) and that he did sign a contract that he has to live up to. 

Without a doubt, Wayne deserves a restructured deal, but his approach couldn't have been more team-oriented. He said he was going to be there for his teammates and the good of the club. That's the best way to get a restructured deal anyway. If the owner sees that you are loyal and will put the team above your own needs, how could they not give you a better deal?

A classy wide receiver from the U? Yep. 

Unclassy: Brett Favre - It's the same story year after year after year. Favre isn;t sure if he is going to play, but in reality, all he wants to do is show up two weeks before the regular season starts. And his Vikings teammates and coaches are letting him do it. The old gunslinger doesn;t want any part of the team training camp atmosphere. He wants to show up just to continue his consecutive game streak. He also likes being in the headlines, so he will make up a rumor every week or so saying that it's a done deal that he is retired. And even if he is retiring, he is still unclassy because you should let your team know that before August. 

Unclassy? For sure. But intriguing as well. The league is more interesting with Favre in it. And missing camp last year didn't effect his ability to have the greatest year of his Hall of Fame NFL career. 

Clinton Legends: Tyrone Byrd

“Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy.”

-Dan Gable

 The famous quote from the University of Iowa wrestler that was one of the greatest ever is a mantra for another Big Ten great, Clinton’s very own Tyrone Byrd.

A two-time IHSA state champion, three time all-stater and four-time NCAA qualifier, Byrd has certainly etched his name among the best wrestlers to ever come from Clinton. You may also hear his name in the discussion of Clinton’s all-time greatest athletes. A Clinton legend? Without a doubt.

The Gable quote may best describe Byrd’s life. Since he was a second grader with the Big Springs Wrestling Club in Pennsylvania in 1990, wrestling has been his passion.

“I believe in the discipline,” Byrd said. “It has been part of my life, and I have made it continue to be a part of my life. It has continued to be my passion.”

After moving from Pennsylvania at age six, Byrd began wrestling in Clinton at 89 lbs. with the Dewitt Sportsters, a program now known as the Clinton Wrestling Club.

“It was a great experience for me,” Byrd said. “A lot of the success we had in high school had to due with the fact that all of us on those teams grew up and wrestled on that club together.”

While wrestling for the Clinton Wrestling Club from 1990-1994, Byrd was a two time state qualifier. While Byrd was very proud of the accomplishments at the time, his wrestling resume would get better each year after. His time at the Clinton kids club also marked the era in which he met and began competing with his eventual high school Maroons teammates, a group that would eventually go on to form one of the greatest athletic groups in Clinton history.

“We were a tough bunch of kids, we knew each other and beat on each other for so many years,” Byrd said. “We wanted to bring the toughness out of each other.”

From 1994-1997, Byrd wrestled for the Clinton Junior High team, qualifying for the IESA state tournament all three years and twice finishing second in state. In 1996, he was second overall at 112 lbs. The following year, he was second in state at 135.

“We also had a lot of team success in junior high,” Byrd remembers. “We had a lot of state placers and came close to bringing home a team trophy one year.”

Byrd and his teammates competed in junior high for then wrestling coach John Pine, who now serves as the school’s principal.

Byrd credits Pine as one of the individuals that brought out the toughness in the group.

“He definitely did a good of that,” Byrd said. “He helped us prepare for the next level.”

It was at that next level that Byrd’s career really flourished into stardom.

In 1997, Byrd walked into Clinton High School excited to compete for coached Rob Ledin and Dan Barclay, who were in the midst of building one of Clinton’s greatest programs.

“They were great coaches and I was walking into a great situation,” Byrd said. “They knew how to get the most out of us. I’ve been very blessed to have great coaches, from the kids club all the way up thru college.”

In 2001, he walked out of the school as perhaps the greatest wrestler in the program’s history.

In 2000 and 2001, he was the individual state champion at 171 lbs. He was a four time state qualifier, three-time all state wrestler and two-time team MVP. He was awarded as the IWCOA Outstanding Wrestler of the Year and a USA Wrestling All-American in 2001. From 200-2001, Byrd compiled a rare 73-match win streak. Not to mention a career record of 105-15, with 94 career pins.

The Clinton team finished second in state in 2000 and third in 2001.

“We had so many kids that were great, so many state qualifiers,” Byrd said. “High School was a great experience. I look at my teammates and think that because I won two state titles, I get recognition as being one of the better wrestlers to come from the program. I don’t know if I agree with that. I look at guys like Jacob Fatheree, who was a phenomenal talent and Jeremy Ryerson, who was one of the hardest workers in Clinton. I don’t think I was better than either of them, I was just fortunate enough to win two state titles. They didn’t do too bad themselves, each won one.”

Byrd made his presence known in Clinton outside of the mat as well. He was a state qualifier in track (Pole Vault) and a three-year varsity starter for the Clinton football team at running back and free safety. In 2001, he rushed for over 1,000 yards and was named to the IHSA All-State team.

His accomplishments on the gridiron earned him scholarship offers from small colleges. But Byrd knew his talents, and his heart, were on the wrestling mat. Byrd would become the first Clinton athlete of the new century to play a major sport at the University of Illinois.

“It’s wrestling,” Byrd said. “It’s not a big revenue sport and I knew that going in to it. I decided that I wanted pursue a wrestling career because of my passion for the sport. I understood it was not going to have the same glam as football or basketball. The whole nation isn’t going to know your name, but the wrestling community certainly will.”

Byrd continued his success for the Fighting Illini from 2001-2006. He was a four-year starter and four-time NCAA qualifier. He was a two-year team captain and voted the Illini Co-MVP in 2006, wrapping up his wrestling career with 90 wins for the Big Ten school.

His most accomplished year was 2006, his final on the mat. That year, Byrd was the Big Ten and Midlands Runner-Up at 197 lbs.

He was a part of a team that won Big Ten Championships in 2004 and 2005 and a runner up finish in 2006. The 2005 championship sticks out as his greatest memory of college.

His accomplishments at Clinton and in Champaign earned him the honor of being named Central Illinois Athlete of the Decade for Wrestling.

Since his graduation from the University of Illinois in 2006, Byrd has been a wrestling coach. He began as a varsity assistant for Mahomet-Seymour, reuniting with Rob Ledin, who coached him in Clinton. After spending one year as an assistant at Richmond-Burton High School, Byrd accepted the head-coaching job with Lincoln-Way East High School in Mokena.

He has already seen success with the Knights, coaching three state placers in his first two years at the helm of the program. In addition to coaching wrestling, Byrd is a physical education teacher.

“We are trying to raise the bar. Our eventual goal is to win a team state title,” Byrd said of his expectations for the wrestling program. “But beyond all the wrestling, the biggest thing for me as a coach is that we are building young men. We are building moral character, great students and great citizens. I want them to walk away from this as better people.”

“If someone never wins a state title or places at state, but walks out of here a good person, I feel we have won.”

Byrd credits former Clinton coaches Ledin and Barclay as influences in pursuing a career in coaching.

“I owe it to those guys,” Byrd said. “I wanted to do the things they did for us. My goal is to have the team here at Lincoln Way-East work as hard as we did in Clinton in 2000 and 2001.”

Although he hopes to retire at Lincoln-Way East, Byrd has and always will call Clinton home. His family lives here and this is the place he first made a name for himself. Even though he coaches at another IHSA school, Byrd remains interested in the Clinton program and hopes they fare well.

“I think it’s headed in the right direction,” he said. “They have some good coaches in there. (Head Coach) Chris Little is an Illinois graduate and was actually my roommate. Bobby Hill and I grew up wrestling and I’ve known of him since kids club. I think he’s going to do a great job with the junior high.”

Byrd conducted a wrestling camp for four years this decade. With his former college roommate and teammate Little at the helm, Byrd has high hopes for his alma mater.

“I would love to see them win a state title and see them accomplish something we couldn’t,” Byrd said. “Whenever I go down state with my kids, I always look for the Clinton guys and I always root for them.”

Byrd is married to Jennifer (Vandervort) Byrd, another Clinton High School graduate. The two are the parents of two and a half year old Jalen James Byrd.

His legal guardians are Clinton residents Jerry and Lori Benedict.

“I’ve been blessed with the people that have been around me,” he said. “The great moments I have are for the people who have put time in to me, from my family, to my friends, to my coaches, and teachers who made sure I was making great choices.”

Wrestling has always been a part of Byrd’s life. Throughout life, Byrd had the sport to get him through the tough moments. And that’s why he made a point to continue with the sport through coaching.

“I had a tough childhood, and wrestling really helped me focus on something else,” he said. “It was my out. What I got out of the sport, is what I want to give back.”

As much as anyone else, Byrd is a testament to the truth of Gable’s famous quote. 

“Wrestling is me. It’s my passion, I care about, I believe in what it does for you and the discipline that it forms. All the hard work, the stress, and the pressure makes everything else seem easier.”

Greatest Clinton Athlete of 2000s?

While working on a Clinton wrestling story from the early 2000s, I began to wonder about who the greatest athletes in the town over the last decade have been.
That's why I listed it as the Clinton Journal's latest poll question. I started out by giving five suggestions. Four of the ones I suggested, along with another that was not mentioned, have received votes in the first week of the voting. The voting will be open thru August, and the winner will be announced in mid-September. Here are the five suggestions.

A) Tyrone Byrd (Wrestler, Class of 2001): Byrd won two individual IHSA state titles on the mat, and was a Big Ten runner up in 2006, while wrestling at the University of Illinois. He was named Central Illinois' Wrestling Athlete of the Decade.
B) Rachel Anderson (Track sprinter, Class of 2004): Anderson followed a stellar career at Clinton High School with leading Illinois Wesleyan University to indoor and outdoor NCAA Division III championships. She was named NCAA Division III Female Track Athlete of the Year in 2008.
C) Kamren Ferguson (Softball pitcher, Class of 2004): Ferguson was stellar on the mound, throwing 91 consecutive scoreless innings for the Lady Maroons in 2004. Kamren anchored a regional champion Clinton team that year. She went on to have a solid collegiate career at Western Illinois University, leading the Leathernecks to a second place finish in the Summit League in 2009 and 2010.
D) Ontario Sneed (Football player, Class of 2005): Sneed had a great career and later competed at Central Michigan University.
E) Kylie McCulley (Volleyball player, Class of 2006): McCulley was an all state-player for Clinton in 2005 and 2006 and was a two-year starter for the Fighting Illini volleyball team.

In addition to the five mentioned, Kameron Bell, a 2005 Clinton graduate and basketball player at Eureka College, received a vote.

Camp Randall - Madison, Wisc.

MADISON, Wisc. - One of the best parts of my road trip to Minnesota two weeks ago was that I was allowed to go on the patio at the University of Wisconsin bookstore. A patio that was right on the field level of Camp Randall Stadium, the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team. I stayed there for a few minutes trying to think of how great this place must be in the fall.

The people of Madison were very friendly, waving to my friend and I even though they did not know us and that it was clear we were not regulars or students on the campus.

It seems like a nice college town and I could see why it would be ranked on the top five college football atmospheres. I would love to go there in the fall when the Badgers have a home game.

Both of their main sports venues, Camp Randall and the Kohl Center, are without a doubt better than what they currently have at the University of Illinois.

Madison is also the capital of Wisconsin, with a huge U.S. Capitol-like building marked as the city's center.

Another White Sox moment

The White Sox are a team of great moments. The give you great plays, controversy, perfect games and great streaks. Tonight, they provided their loyal south side fans with another night to remember. July 30, 2010 will be remembered as Lucas Harrell night.
Lucas Harrell, a Triple-A pitcher at the beginning of the day, had no idea he would be called upon to pitch for the White Sox, a Major League team at the end of the day. Daniel Hudson was the scheduled starter for the Sox, but was dealt in a deadline deal to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Edwin Jackson. The Sox didn't have anyone else ready to start in the fifth position, so Harrell, a minor leaguer was called on.
Oddsmakers listed visiting Oakland as a clear favorite. And when the first batter Harrell faced reached first, Sox fans may have assumed that the team's longest home winning streak since 1989 would come to an end. But Harrell shut the A's down, and the Sox pulled away with a 6-1 victory.
Harrell was interviewed by Hawk Harrelson and given a beer shower after the game. Then, he was optioned back down to Triple-A. What a moment. And hopefully we will be hearing from him again. Tonight's win is a great moment in what is turning out to be a memorable summer for the White Sox. They look good right now, but it will all come down to how they fare against the Minnesota Twins. The 2010 season will be a lot like 2008, hopefully the result is the same too.
I wasn't thrilled with the Edwin Jackson trade today but then I heard people saying Daniel Hudson would not amount to anything more than a number three pitcher. If that's true, it was good to get Jackson. But I'm not sure it is. People are wrong about their prognostications all the time. Although I hope he does well, I would not like to see Hudson have a Hall of Fame career. Then today's trade, and the date, July 30, 2010, would go down as an all-time boneheaded White Sox moment instead of being remembered for Harrell's heroic victory.