Sidelines: Coach Kipp’s Hoopsfest brings back an old friend
Great minds not only think alike, they occasionally share the same college dorm room.
Like in the summer of 1985 in Terre Haute, Ind., when late hall-of-fame Maine West girls basketball coach Derril Kipp bunked in a room with coach Anthony Pappas of Waterloo West High School in Iowa. They were both there for a National Blue Star Basketball Camp at Indiana State.
That first-time meeting started a personal friendship and professional relationship that lasted until July 2016 when Kipp, who won 788 games including the 1988 Class AA state title, died from pancreatic cancer at 71.
“We had a very good relationship, a really great friendship. Derril was a great man and a great coach,” Pappas said Wednesday.
Honoring their friendship, Pappas will bring Waterloo West to the 36th Dick’s/Coach Kipp’s Hoopsfest to play Maine West on its home court at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17.
It’s the first time Pappas’ squad has played in Hoopsfest since 1994 and 1995 when it was known as the Chicagoland Girls Prep Classic.
When he heard Hoopsfest was returning to Maine West — for eight games there on Jan. 17, before moving to Benet Academy for 12 games on Jan. 19 — Pappas reached shootout organizer Jim O’Boye and requested the matchup.
“I thought it would be very fitting if we came back, and we have a pretty solid team, we're 5-1 right now,” said Pappas, 71, in his 49th year as a girls head coach, the last 46 at Waterloo West.
“What better way to honor Derril, and to possibly see the family.”
Pappas, whose sterling resume is headed by a Naismith National Basketball Hall of Fame Morgan Wooten Lifetime Achievement Award, has local ties.
He’s got cousins in Schaumburg, Bolingbrook and Norridge. An aunt and uncle, the Fifles, in 1921 founded the former Sugar Bowl Sweet Shop in Des Plaines. It still operates under different owners as the Sugar Bowl Restaurant.
Pappas’ mother, Bessie, owned the Ideal Candies store on Clark Street in Chicago, where the Mia Francesca restaurant now stands. As a kid, Pappas worked there over the summer.
But as a coach, come summertime he and Kipp lifted the profile of girls basketball, notably with the Maine West summer league.
“It was the main fiefdom for girls basketball in the whole United States. He was one of the forerunners before most people jumped on board,” said Pappas, who would bring Waterloo West to Kipp’s summer league and join the coach in providing skills clinics.
Pappas laughed remembering one time Kipp brought Maine West to Waterloo’s own summer tournament.
The Warriors were in the midst of one of their streaks — Kipp led them to a state-record 65 straight wins and a streak of 110 straight Central Suburban North victories — but lost to Waterloo West.
“Obviously it didn’t count in the regular season, but it was the first loss they had in about 100 games,” Pappas recalled. “I think I had my brother ref the game and we may have homered them a little bit.”
Must-watch video
What a surprise when, while watching Rush videos on YouTube, an ad popped up that didn’t demand a “Skip.”
It featured two-time U.S. Olympic triple jumper Tori Franklin, a graduate of Downers Grove South.
A four-time national champion and the first American woman to medal in triple jump in a World Championship, in 2022, Franklin was shown leading youngsters and describing the Live Happii Project she co-founded. It organizes trips for inner-city youth to explore different cultures and activities.
Franklin this year received Team USA’s “Community Champions” award which, in partnership with Comcast, since 2022 has annually recognized four Olympic or Paralympic athletes who serve their communities through nonprofit work.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com