Honoring Papa was long overdue

Let's meander about a bit today in the wide world of high school sports. We can start with one of the most kid-oriented coaches I've ever had the pleasure to know and work with: Lincoln-Way East boys and girls soccer coach and assistant girls basketball coach Brian Papa.

Papa, who has been coaching in the Southland for a quarter-century, was elected in balloting concluded last week to the Illinois Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

"Brian is obviously very well deserving," Lincoln-Way East athletic director Dave Brost said. "This could have probably happened sooner than it did. But knowing Brian I'm sure he's one of those guys who really doesn't like to blow his own horn. He probably said (to the committee), 'Hey, there are a lot of other guys who need to be recognized that might not be coaching now.'

"I'm sure his name came up long before (Thursday evening's scheduled awards banquet). But having said that, it's a great honor to be recognized by your peers. It says a lot about who you are and what you've done. And it certainly speaks volumes about the passion you have for your sport."

Papa started his coaching career at Sandburg in 1984 and from 1986 through '93 had eight consecutive winning seasons on the boys side, culminating with a 29-0-1 team that captured the state title.

He had his greatest overall success as a boys and girls coach at Lincoln-Way from 1994 to 2001. On the boys side, he posted a 145-28-15 record (.811), making three Elite Eight appearances and finishing second in Class AA in 1999 and 2000. His girls teams at Central went to state four times, finishing fourth in 1997, and second in 1998 and '99.

Since starting the boys and girls programs at Lincoln-Way East in 2001, Papa has taken two girls teams to state (2004 and '06) and produced six winning seasons on the boys side in eight tries.

His career soccer head coaching record is 431-189-34 with the boys and 276-147-27 with the girls.

That's a lot of wins.

"That's a lot of bus rides," Papa said, chuckling. "You don't do things like this without support from your family, your coaching staff and administration. If my wife (Kris) didn't support it, I would never be coaching. There were a lot of missed dinner dates. And without my staff - you're only as good as the people surrounding you."

• Is it too early to talk about softball? Nahhh. Never.

On Sunday I had a chance to drop by a neat gathering at Beggars Pizza in Oak Forest that former Chicago Bandits owner Bill Conroy holds each year for the kids on his 18U Beverly Bandits team. They were celebrating verbal commitments or the signing of college scholarships.

Among the girls there were signees Brittany Gardner (Loyola) and Morgan Biel (Eastern Illinois), of Sandburg; Kacey Rogers (Evansville), of Lockport; Katie Sears (Evansville), of Mother McAuley; and Megan Kelly (Western Illinois), of Mount Assisi; and verbals Emily Norton (Radford), of Oak Forest; Rikki Alcarez (LSU), of Marist; Lia Romeo (Western Illinois), of Lockport; and Faith Johnson (UIC), of Stagg.

"I work real hard to get these girls scholarships because getting them is so important," Conroy said. "I came from a middle-class family, grew up in the Mount Greenwood and Bogan area and got a Chick Evans scholarship caddying at Beverly. If it wasn't for me getting a scholarship to college, I wouldn't have been able to start Hi-Tech Solutions, which is a $40 million company.

"A lot of these kids fall in that same category. So that's my way of paying back and putting in time to help kids get scholarships. It's rewarding, far more rewarding than it was running the pro team."

• Finally, let's throw out a well-deserved bouquet to Marian Catholic girls basketball coach Annie Basic.

You know, this seems like something that should be done routinely, but believe me, it isn't. I've seen a lot of coaches over the years experience a shocking loss like the Spartans did on opening night to Lincoln-Way East and after the postgame meeting walk stone-faced out of the gym without saying a word.

Annie not only was gracious in the postgame interview but on her way to the exit she appeared to go out of her way to call out to a couple of Lincoln-Way East-clad personnel and wish them well the rest of the season. Classy.