From all of the information I have gathered from Elgin High School basketball fans Norm and Gary Quindel, I have made one simple conclusion.
The term "Super Fan" should never, ever be used again.
Why?
Because the Quindel brothers are the true Super Fans. The one and only Super Fans.
They should have a trademark on the phrase.
Between the two, the Quindel brothers, who can always be seen sitting at center court in their Elgin T-shirts at Chesbrough Field House, have been avid followers of the Elgin High School basketball program dating back to the 1950s.
And when I mean avid, I mean avid.
Take some of these classic recollections into account.
Norm can remember fans literally hanging from the rafters in the old EHS gym located on East Chicago Street. Hanging from the rafters as in swinging from supports off the top of the ceiling to watch the game in the sold-out gym.
"Fans would sit in windowsills too," said Norm.
To take that story a step further, both brothers can remember the intense Elgin-West Aurora second meeting in Aurora in 1973. West won the first meeting at Elgin. Elgin won in Aurora, and West beat Elgin downstate that year.
"I got my ticket from a teacher at West Aurora," recalled Gary, who along with his brother could write enough to take up five books with all of their pin-point memories and recollections of so many different EHS players.
"She wasn't going to use it. She told me I could have it as long as I didn't root for Elgin. That worked until Elgin came out of the locker room."
Norm, who along with Gary go to the state tournament in Peoria each year and already have their tickets for this year's event, ended up having to buy a $25 scalper ticket to get in that night.
"They used to have signs that said sold out. I had to pay $25," said Norm. "I would have paid $100 to see that game. A buddy of mine had to sit in the car and listen to it on the radio."
Since he graduated from Elgin in 1959, Norm, who does most of the driving to the games, estimates he has missed a grand total of 25 to 30 games.
Besides his near-perfect attendance record, Norm, 57, has the memorabilia to go with it.
Norm tapes all of the Elgin games on his 2-year old camcorder (his income tax check, he says, is going towards a new all-digital one he hopes to have in place in the near future).
Not only does he keep a copy for himself, but he also gives a copy to the families of current Elgin standouts Marcus Howard and Marcus Smallwood.
"His house is like a library," smiled Gary.
Norm's program collection is massive as well.
My personal favorite is the program he produced Tuesday night with a picture of Chesbrough Field House still under construction. His 1972-1973 Elgin team button also caught my eye.
Brother Gary, a 1972 EHS graduate, has missed, in his estimation, 15 to 20 games. That's not including a stint when he lived in Naples, Fla. Still, Norm mailed Gary, 46, press clippings on a regular basis.
"I love my high school ball," said Gary. "I would take it over a pro team any day."
Back to these stories. They are burning a hole in my pocket.
Norm recited an all-timer, albeit a very sad all-timer, where, back in 1973, a Proviso East fan ‹ "He was a super fan like us," said Norm ‹ was so confident that East would beat Elgin in the East Aurora supersectional that he rented out a banquet hall in anticipation of an East win over Elgin.
Well, Elgin downed Proviso East to go downstate, prompting this fan to drive his car into a pole and commit suicide.
Or there is the story of the tiny Champaign Centennial guard that dribbled his whole body between 7-foot-1 Elgin center George Clark's legs and went in for the layup.
I almost forgot this one.
Norm remembers a big game in the 1950's where Elgin defeated Bloom. As was the custom, fans after games would drive around in a circle around town and honk their horns celebrating the win.
Apparently, the Bloom celebration got a bit out of hand.
"We beat Bloom, and some kids took the balls off the rack at Schneider's Bowling Alley and rolled them into the street," said Norm. "Cars were cracking into each other."
Wait a minute. I almost forgot the Frank Termini story.
Termini is the founding father of the devout fan, and at the age of 75, Termini still can be found going to Elgin games.
Norm, who also brought up the bizarre 16-15 Elgin victory over Rockford East in 1957 just 28 days after hammering Rockford West 103-79, can remember making one particular trip with Frank, or "The Mayor," as Elgin coach Jim Harrington calls him, on the way home from Moline.
"We were coming back from Moline in a bad ice storm," recalled Norm. "It was so bad we had to drive with two wheels on the highway and two wheels off the road on the gravel."
"That guy is a legend," said Gary. "Frank holds the record in my book."
Suffice to say, the Quindel brothers have seen the good times, the bad times and the wild times while supporting EHS basketball.
Recently the brothers even made it onto TV. After a thrilling Elgin win at Waubonsie Valley earlier this season, Fox Sports Chicago cameras captured both brothers with their Smallwood "Swat Doctor" shirts.
"Gary's head got on, but mine got cut out. I must be too tall," laughed Norm.
During that segment, Smallwood even paid a nice tribute to the brothers when asked about them on camera.
"They come to all of our games," said Smallwood. "Those are our Super Fans."
And yet another part of Elgin's storied boys basketball history.
