Memorial Field will turn into Memory Lane tonight

Times were much simpler in 1979 than they are now. There were only three high schools in School District U-46, and Streamwood was the new kid on the block.

Football games at Memorial Field were an event that everyone waited all week for.

And we had one team -- the one from Larkin -- that many still feel was the best football team the Elgin area has ever produced. It certainly did end up going farther in the playoffs than any team from U-46 ever has. Yes, there were other great teams before the IHSA began playing a state football tournament in 1974, and maybe one of those teams was as good as Larkin's 1979 squad, but in the 33 years of IHSA playoffs, that 1979 Larkin team still goes down as U-46's best ever.

This weekend, for the first time in 27 years, that team will have a reunion. Many activities are planned, including a golf outing today, a gathering at tonight's Larkin-Jacobs game, a postgame get together at Prairie Rock and some more festivities Saturday. Included in the plans is the showing of a DVD that's been made of all the game films from that season. The team will also be recognized prior to the start of tonight's varsity game.

The reunion has been put together by Dick Christensen and Jack Napoli, both linemen on that 1979 team that went 11-1 and lost a classic at East St. Louis in the Class 5A state semifinals. Christensen, who now lives in Marietta, Ga., said this week that about 80 percent of the team has committed to being at this weekend's party.

"This has been 27 years in the making," Christensen said Monday just after he and his family arrived in Elgin. "We've never come back together like this."

We were able to catch up with a few of the players from that team this week and it was truly a walk down memory lane. I was a young aspiring sports writer in 1979 and I was fortunate enough to cover a couple of Larkin's games during that season. This week, talking to a few of the players from that team, I also recalled what a very special season that was.

One thing that made it even more special, aside from the football success the Royals had, was the times. We were ending some very pressurized years where racial tension in our schools had been at the forefront of the news. But not on that 1979 Larkin football team.

"The biggest difference from our junior year was that we were on the tail end of the racial tension that had been going on," said Greg Huxtable, a fullback and defensive end who now lives in Algonquin but within the Huntley school district. "As seniors, we didn't have any of that. Our junior year we had a race riot on the bus coming back from the Elgin game but as seniors our camaraderie was just outstanding."

Ray Haley, the Elgin Sports Hall of Fame inductee who coached Larkin's program for, well, many many years, also recalled the closeness of that 1979 team.

"Those were difficult years with all the racial tension," said Haley, who still lives on Elgin's west side. "But in 1979 we didn't have any of those problems. It sounds like a cliché but that really was a tight-knit group. We had great senior leadership and they came together and played really well."

Seniors Fred Didier and Tom Plate were the captains of that team, and Plate also recalled how well the Royals played together as a team.

"As a team we really played good together," said Plate, a lineman who also still lives in Elgin. "We had a lot of smart guys who knew what they were supposed to do and they did it. We didn't have any superstars and we weren't real big on the line but we were quick."

That season started with wins over Glenbard North and Glenbard South, the latter being a close 20-16 triumph. After beating St. Charles (yes, there was only one St. Charles school then), the Royals had to travel to West Aurora to take on a Blackhawks team many felt was the favorite to win the Upstate Eight. Remember that back then if you didn't win your conference championship the odds on qualifying for the playoffs were slim and none.

"The biggest game of the year that really showed we were for real was that game at West Aurora," said Huxtable of the 14-13 Larkin win. "We had to go two overtimes in that one and that put us in the driver's seat."

After blanking East Aurora the following week, Lake Park was next on the schedule. And you'd have to remember the game to recall that it was more tense than the final 48-20 score would indicate.

"Lake Park went ahead on us by a couple of touchdowns but then the defense really came together and we ended up winning the game," recalled Haley.

Fairly easy wins over Streamwood, DeKalb and Elgin closed out the regular season and set up a first-round playoff game against an undefeated East Leyden team at Memorial.

"That was the biggest crowd I've ever seen at Memorial Field," Haley said. "East Leyden came in 9-0 and we were 9-0 and it was just a great game."

Larkin won that playoff opener 15-8 and then the caravan began. Of course, as it still is today, Larkin had to "travel" to every game. But a trip to East Moline was a little more than jumping on the bus to go to the other side of town.

"We drove out to East Moline in the morning and played in the afternoon," said Plate. "They were a solid team. When you blocked them it seemed like you were hitting a brick wall."

That Larkin group was not to be denied, though, and came away from Moline with a 16-14 win. Now came the semifinals and, yes, another trip. This one, though, was to East St. Louis and the fabled Parsons Field.

"I can remember it like it was yesterday," said Huxtable, the youngest of three Huxtables who played at Larkin. "We stayed in Collinsville and we couldn't practice on the East St. Louis field. We had to warm up somewhere else and then get a police escort to the field. Their fans were throwing whiskey bottles at us and that field didn't have a blade of grass on it."

Said Plate: "My first memory of East St. Louis was that I went to block a guy and I fell to the ground and the whole field was just dirt with a lot of glass on it."

Haley simply said: "We got a real education on that trip to East St. Louis."

The Royals weren't intimidated on the field, although in the end they fell short. Battling from behind, Larkin lost that game 21-15, just missing out on a chance to win the state title that the Flyers did capture under legendary coach Bob Shannon the following week.

"To a guy on our team we felt if we had five more minutes we would have beat them," Huxtable said.

Regardless of that one loss, that 1979 Larkin team left memories that will last forever.

"Nobody's ever achieved in Elgin what we achieved that year," said Christensen. "It was a big deal and Elgin was going nuts."

That team will always hold a special place in Haley's memory as well.

"It was one of the greatest teams we had," he said, noting that the 1967 team also went 9-0, but then there were no playoffs. "It was a memorable season and one that as a coach doesn't come along very often. All of your teams have a different personality but you could see at the start of the season that group was going to be very special."

And this weekend that group will, for the first time in 27 years as a group, relive that special season and all those special memories.