Reba, coach draw cheers from fans at Sears Centre Arena

Country star Reba McEntire drew cheering fans to their feet Saturday when she opened her show at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates.

They clapped their hands above their heads and screamed as she appeared on stage. The singer did not disappoint them, and immediately sang some of her hits, including "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter."

But on this night, it was a retired wrestling coach, who pulled at the audience's heartstrings.

McEntire performed in the Northwest suburbs, in a benefit concert for Maine West High School coach and Hall of Fame member, Richard Carlini, who spent 31 years working with teens in Des Plaines.

Now retired, he became paralyzed in October from a rare congenital condition, arterio venous malformation, that led to a stroke within his spine. He attended the concert in a wheelchair, unable to move the lower half of his body.

"I want one big round of applause for the one man we're all here for tonight, Coach Carlini," McEntire said to the crowd early in the show.

In fact, Carlini drew a standing ovation, as members of his wrestling teams from the mid-1970s spoke briefly before McEntire took the stage, and described the lasting effect their coach had made on their lives.

"This whole night is for him," said Bryan Real of West Dundee, a former lightweight wrestler and 1975 Maine West graduate. "This is a trophy he gave to the 1974-75 team. Now, it's going back to him."

His former students worked to form The Teachers, Coaches and Students Foundation, to help pay the medical bills of current and former Illinois teachers, coaches and students who have spinal cord injuries, like Carlini's.

Its core members hope to cover Carlini's expenses, not covered by Medicare. As he prepares to return to his Barrington home, he will need ongoing care as well as handicapped accessible adaptments for his home, estimated at $60,000 per year.

Organizers had hoped to raise as much as $100,000 from the benefit concert, however attendance reached just over 3,000 fans, far short of their goal.

Nonetheless, Carlini appeared overwhelmed with emotion as his former players, one by one, went up to hug their coach and offer their best wishes.

"I'm thrilled beyond all measure," Carlini said. "Seeing all these kids again means more than you'll ever know. They're men now."