Male Athlete of the Year: Shaun Pratl

Judging by Shaun Pratl’s impact on the football and basketball teams, the Richards baseball program may have missed out on something special.

‘‘I grew up playing baseball, basketball and football,’’ Pratl said. ‘‘But when I got to Richards, I decided to concentrate on just football and basketball.’’

Pratl’s concentration earned him a basketball scholarship to Eastern Illinois, a basketball state championship in 2008 and a reputation as one of the most feared wide receivers in the state.

The 6-8 touchdown-grabbing/smooth-dunking center is the 2009 Sun-Times Male Athlete of the Year.

‘‘I owe all my success to my coaches at Richards,’’ Pratl said. ‘‘They were always really understanding about the difficulties of playing two sports, and I never felt pressured by anyone; it was always a good experience.’’

Pratl finished with 1,016 career points in three years of varsity basketball, good enough for third all-time at Richards. His averaged 14.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, helping the Bulldogs to an 82-10 record in his three seasons.

‘‘I grabbed the rebound as the buzzer went off and we won the state title,’’ Pratl said. ‘‘I got to throw the ball up in the air. That was definitely the highlight of my high school career.’’

A number of Pratl’s football teammates played on the 2008 state-championship basketball team — which may have been the key to their success.

‘‘Sometimes playing more than one sport really helps out the team,’’ Pratl said. ‘‘We were really disappointed with the way the football season ended and promised ourselves that wasn’t going to happen in basketball, too.’’

Pratl scored 10 touchdowns in his two varsity football seasons, finishing with 52 receptions for 1,026 yards.

‘‘It was usually kind of difficult transitioning from football to basketball,’’ he said.

‘‘It took two or three weeks for me to get my legs back under me. The conditioning needed is really different for each sport.’’

Pratl credits Tommie Thomas, a 2007 Richards grad, with teaching him how to deal with the demands of being a multi-sport athlete.

‘‘Watching Tommie kind of showed me how to do it,’’ Pratl said.

‘‘You couldn’t feel sorry for yourself about how busy you were or how much people were expecting from you. Just put the work in and do your best.

‘‘Hopefully, I was able to show some of the younger kids at Richards the same thing.’’