Supers really were with Korcek, Rohlman

Every time you go to any type of sports event, there are people working behind the scenes that you don't know and probably never will, yet those are the people responsible for making sure the event runs smoothly.

And no two guys tackle that job better than Mike Korcek and Art Rohlman.

Korcek is the retried sports information director at Northern Illinois University who still holds the SID Emeritus title at NIU. Rohlman is the soon-to-be retired athletic director at Elgin High School.

On Tuesday night, when the final buzzer sounded on Dundee-Crown's shocking 64-59 Class 4A supersectional win over Neuqua Valley at the NIU Convocation Center, that buzzer also signaled the end of an era as Korcek and Rohlman hosted their final supersectional together after nearly 30 years.

What Korcek and Rohlman do at a supersectional isn't anything fans see. Coaches do, and the media certainly does. Rohlman, who was the AD at DeKalb High School before coming to Elgin five years ago, has been the IHSA's tournament manager for the past 24 years of supers at NIU and assisted former DeKalb AD Bob Heimerdinger prior to that.

Korcek, a Prospect High School product and, like Rohlman, an NIU grad, learned under the former legendary NIU SID Bud Nangle how to deal with the supersectional media crunch before taking over the Huskies' SID job.

But now, in the twilight of their careers, their run of being the two most important people you may never heard of at a supersectional appears to be over, although Korcek is quick to point out that if the IHSA asks them to host again, well, "You never say never."

Rohlman has the greatest responsibility when it comes to running a super, simply because he's the first contact the coaches have when they bring their teams to the Convo.

"It's been good," Rohlman said. "Between Mike and Steve Nemeth (also a former NIU SID), it's been a lot of fun. I couldn't have done it all these years without Mike. He makes my life easier because I don't have to worry about the radio and the press and all of that, I've been very fortunate."

What Rohlman does, among many things, is assemble a crew of 15-20 people to do everything from being locker room attendants to running the scorer's table to crowd control. The last five years those people have been a combination of the best of the best from Elgin High and DeKalb.

"Art is a good friend and he's a people person," said Korcek of Rohlman, a 1971 NIU grad who played basketball for the Huskies. "Everyone likes Art. He gets things done and people respect him. There's no better high school administrator."

Over the years, the two have seen tremendous changes in high school basketball, meaning the face of supersectionals has changed as well. One of the biggest changes was the switch from NIU's Chick Evans Field House to the Convocation Center in 2004.

"I miss old Chick," said Korcek, who recalls the days when NIU had only one fax machine on campus and he'd have to run across campus to fax box scores to the IHSA. "(Tuesday) night's crowd would have been electric over there. But the Convo gives you better parking, WI-FI and better media accommodations. The Convo is a great facility and hosting a supersectional is great PR for NIU and I think there's some people on campus who don't realize that and that's unfortunate."

Rohlman says moving from Chick Evans, where the fans sat much closer to the playing floor and there were about 3,000 less seats, was interesting.

"The move to the Convo from Chick was unique and different," he said. "Chick had its finer points; the closeness to the floor and all of that, but the Convo is a great building."

The IHSA's change from two classes to four also created some interesting challenges that were met head on by Rohlman and Korcek. Now they deal with four teams at each super instead of two, as well as four sets of media instead of two.

"The biggest change was the time factor," Rohlman said. "Being in the Convo we can seat four schools. At Chick we might have had to empty the place out and separate the times more. Having the two games has been more of a challenge for me in hustling people in and out and more of a challenge for Mike in dealing with the press for two games."

Korcek, without question the best and most organized SID I've dealt with in my 30-plus years in this business, had his love of basketball formed at an early age watching his beloved Prospect Knights. Among his favorite memories of NIU supers is the 1991 game Prospect played in.

"Nemo banned me from press row that night," laughed Korcek, who would never dream of chasing people out of the building until the last reporter's story was filed and the photographer's final photo was sent. "He was afraid I'd be banging on the table and cheering all night."

Korcek recalls the 1968 super between East Aurora and Dixon as one of his favorites, and the 1976 super between West Aurora and McHenry.

"Bud was interviewing John McDougal after that game and then the following Monday, after West had lost in the state championship, McDougal was named the new head coach at NIU," Korcek recalled. "There have been such great coaches in these supers ... Ernie Kivisto, Gordie Kerkman, Bob Williams ... and the players, like Kenny Battle. And I clearly remember the night (in 1984) when Jim Edmonson (from Hinckley-Big Rock) scored 55 points. And Thomas Wyatt of East Aurora ... there have been so many good kids."

Rohlman also has his favorite memories of NIU supers, but the one he calls "special" came last year when Elgin High played Zion-Benton at the Convo.

"That's the first time a team I was associated with played in the game and that was special in itself," Rohlman said. "I'm glad that happened and that really stands out. And all those great East and West Aurora teams. And when (St. Charles) made it with Ron Johnson (in 1995). You see so many that they all run together. To me it's not the games that stand out it's the people you work with."

That's for sure. And Korcek and Rohlman have been two of the very best.

jradtke@dailyherald.com