Proviso West

Current athletes continuing the winning tradition at Proviso West include (from left) Celeste Jones, Delaney Fluker, Phillip Molley, Kenny Leggins, Rob Covington, Kyle Prater, Chakese Williams, Stephen Lockhart and Monica Pidy.
(Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)

Name of game for Panthers: Success

December 24, 2008 BY TINA AKOURIS - SUN-TIMES

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TOP SPORTS MOMENTS

A first on the diamond

1 Junior Don Montgomery made history in 1979 as one of three different pitchers from the same school to toss a complete game in the state baseball tournament. Montgomery threw a two-hitter and struck out 11 as the Panthers beat Downstate Mount Carmel 5-1 for the state championship. It was the school's first and only state title in a team sport.

Nationally ranked

2 Led by legendary coach Lowell Lucas, the boys basketball team finished the 1984-85 regular season with a 25-0 record and a No. 9 national ranking in USA Today. Sun-Times Player of the Year Michael Ingram, a 6-8 center, and forward Robyn Davis garnered all-state honors. The team finished 28-1, losing to Leyden 64-62 in overtime in the sectional final.

Running to the top

3 The 1964 boys cross-country team won the state title, and Bruce Bowman won the individual state title in 9 minutes, 36.8 seconds at the Urbana Country Club. The Panthers beat rival York (led by coach Joe Newton) 46-68. The double state titles marked the only time in school history that team and individual honors were won at the same time.

Girls right on track

4 The girls track team tied for second with East St. Louis with 44 points at the 1999 state meet, earning the highest finish for any girls team in school history. Senior Jasmine Jackson wrapped up her third consecutive long jump title and second straight in the 400-meter relay. Jackson finished her career with five state titles and a total of 12 individual state medals.

A Storey-ed ending

5 Senior Awvee Storey led the boys basketball team to a Class AA sectional title in 1996 with a 76-51 win over Fenwick at Argo. It was the first and only sectional title for the boys basketball team, which beat a Fenwick team that featured future NBA star Corey Maggette, then a sophomore. Proviso West lost to Thornton 47-38 in the supersectional.

WHAT PROVISO WEST MEANT TO ME

By Flozell Adams: Dallas Cowboys offensive tackle.

There was not really one particular thing that stands out about Proviso West, but it was a great experience dealing with the students and the faculty.

It isn't the classes I think about as much as being in the band. I was in the band for four years. I played the trumpet.

The teachers that stood out were coach David Glover, who got me out for the football team; Mr. (Mark) Schneider, Mrs. (Alexis) Wallace and Mr. (Michael) Brazier.

I was hanging around the fieldhouse one day at the end of my freshman year, and I was with some friends just messing around. And that's when coach Glover saw me. A couple of my friends told me about playing football, and Glover asked me if I wanted to go out for the team. I told him I'd think about it.

Then he got hold of my mother and had a discussion with her. I went home one day, and my mom told me I was going out for football -- no joke.

I was a sophomore, and I was a defensive end and played sparingly at offensive tackle. In high school, everyone played both ways. The best football memory was beating York (6-0) on homecoming in 1991.

I also wrestled and threw the shot and discus. Making it to state my junior year in wrestling was a highlight when I had just started wrestling. I had never really heard of wrestling, aside from the WWF. I liked the experience of going to other schools and competing with other kids.

I go back and talk to the football team and some other students. Famous Hulbert is the coach there now, and he has a summer camp for the team. I help out there as a coach, and I help at Ray McElroy's camp.

One of the most memorable things I remember is that everything is not football. Don't let one particular thing -- it can be a class or sports -- affect the outcome of what you can do in your life.

NOTABLE ALUMNI

* Flozell Adams: Cowboys offensive tackle.

* Lee Archambault: NASA astronaut.

* Steve Bannos: Actor ("40-Year-Old Virgin," ''Superbad").

* Audrey Burcey: Big Ten basketball MVP.

* James Cannavino: Think Pad co-inventor.

* Famous Hulbert: Proviso West football coach.

* Johnny Nolan Jenkins: Proviso East track coach.

* Ray McElroy: Ex-DB for Bears, Colts, Lions.

* Jacquelyn Mitchard: Author (The Deep End of the Ocean).

* Dick Murphy: Former mayor of San Diego.

* Walter Parazaider: Founder of band Chicago.