Legend returns to Geneva gridiron
Listen to sports talk radio or read the analysis of our sports writers, and consider what you've observed - and then formulate your own conclusion. We suspect you will make the rather safe assumption that our Chicago pro football team is going to leave much to be desired this fall and winter.
But football fans in the Tri-Cities area will have plenty to cheer about in their own backyards. As a new season gets set to unfold next weekend, it's hard to recall one with higher expectations for our prep football teams.
On top of the high hopes for virtually every team in our coverage area, another interesting story line unfolds as a living legend returns to the sidelines.
Geneva was blessed with consistent and powerful football teams from 1968 to 1985 and beyond, mainly because of the school's Hall of Fame head coach, Jerry Auchstetter.
We were pleased to hear that Auchstetter is returning this year as an assistant coach for Rob Wicinski, the current head coach who is making a name for his program with a string of successful seasons that offset a rocky start to his career.
The return of Auchstetter is pleasing for reasons other than the fact it is fun to see a coach who compiled a 152-43-1 record over 20 seasons (he returned from retirement once before to finish the 1991 campaign for an ailing Larry Davis) return to the scene of his past glories.
He's not the first area retired coach to rejoin the fray. Buck Drach, after a long and successful run at St. Charles East, returned a few years ago to be an assistant in Batavia before taking on the challenge of revitalizing the program at West Aurora. Joe Thorgesen, the conductor of some state title masterpieces at Kaneland High School, returns to the sidelines as an assistant for the Knights.
But at his age of 71, Auchstetter's case illustrates what many Baby Boomers who are contemplating retirement can consider - if you are passionate about something, pursue it at any age. It can keep you healthy and happy for a long time.
In Auchstetter, Wicinski's staff gets one of the all-time great motivators back on the sidelines. Anyone who thinks Auchstetter won't be able to relate to today's youths should consider that he coached during those extremely turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s.
And this is what he had to say about that:
"Today's kids probably have more distractions than kids back then did, with video games and cell phones and such, but high school kids are basically the same now as they always have been.
"We (young adults) were the ones who were changing, probably more so than the kids, back in the 1960s," Auchstetter said. "There were a lot of things that were becoming different for us."
One thing that didn't change is the fun of winning football games. We're confident there will be a lot of that this season - whether the Bears want to join in on that party or not.