Public League football on the rise

The state football playoff experience increased for schools from the Chicago Public League, with teams from the four Chicago Conference divisions joining the schools in the Illini Conference. While the results don't show it, the city game is making strides -- despite the fact the only first-round winners predictably were Morgan Park and Hubbard.

''The quality is up as a result of the elementary-school program,'' former Julian coach and Public League sports czar J.W. Smith said. ''It is no exaggeration to say that we had to show some guys how to put on football pants in high school. Now kids come in with some good fundamentals.''

''The first thing that we have to do is to get better coaching on the [elementary] school level,'' said former Robeson coach Roy Curry, who took the Raiders to the Public League's only state title game appearance in 1982. ''Once a kid gets into high school, [we have] to continue to teach basic fundamentals and technique. My philosophy has always been about fundamentals. When [Public League teams] meet teams that are fundamentally sound, we get beat.

''We don't get people that know football like the suburbs and Catholic schools. It used to be that all of the coaches were teachers. Now we have some guys who didn't go to school and don't know the game inside and out. The problem I see is that we have a lot of guys with the knowledge that don't want to coach.''

I live in Chicago and root for the Public League. I want to be there when they win that first football state championship. When I was a kid, I had watched the Marshall basketball team -- my dad went to Marshall -- that won the Public League's first state basketball title in 1958. It opened the floodgate. Maybe football will be next.

''The Public League is getting better because of the elementary school program and coaches working harder,'' Robeson coach and former player Fabray Collins said. ''It's a lot of hard work, and you have to love it because we're not making enough money to make us rich.''

''No one does this [coaching] for money,'' Smith said. ''The coaches that keep coaching are doing it for a love of the game ... and the love of helping the game.''

Only Hubbard and Morgan Park advanced to the second round in the state playoffs. First-round losers were Robeson, Simeon, Curie, Mather, King, Senn, Brooks, Raby, Dyett, Taft, Bogan, Harlan, Julian and Orr.

''Most of the Chicago [Conference] teams played well against the teams they played,'' said Public League football coordinator Mickey Pruitt, who played for Curry at Robeson, at Colorado and in the NFL for the Bears and Cowboys. ''Every team wants to be in the state playoffs. There was a good lesson for some coaches, too. Some might have thought they were ready for the [state] playoffs, but in a do-or-die game, you can't have mistakes.

''I'm happy with the direction we're headed, but not happy, too. We've made a lot of strides. But the same teams are ones that compete -- Morgan Park, Hubbard and Simeon. I think it is doable. We have the athletes to compete but we are at a standstill.''

There has been a change of attitude that I've noticed. It used to be that when a Public League team was eliminated early from the state playoffs, players would say that they still had the Public League half of the Prep Bowl playoffs to look forward to.

''Now, when the kids lose, they think the season is over,'' Collins said Saturday after Robeson fell to Belvidere North at Gately Stadium. ''They really feel that the football season ended [Saturday]. It will take a lot of hard work to get them ready to play again.''

That is a welcome attitude adjustment from hearing kids lose a state playoff game and say ''there is still city.'' This is the 36th year of state football playoffs in Illinois and that, now, is the dance that Public League football players want to stay in.