Bulldogs celebrate 100-year milestone

Feb. 9, 2007

Ten years ago when Nick Fruendt was just starting grade school and not a highly recruited junior basketball star, he was in the stands when Batavia played in the 1996 and 1997 sectional championship games.

It wasn't a happy memory, but it illustrates how the Batavia tradition gets passed on from one generation to the next.

"I remember watching Jay Kramer and the sectional final against West Aurora," said Fruendt, who was 6 years old at the time. "I didn't know what was going on, I was just disappointed Batavia lost."

The current group of Bulldog players who will take the court Saturday against Rochelle have a great appreciation for being part of a program that will be celebrating 100 years of basketball.

"It's a great feeling knowing I'm a part of something really special," senior forward Brandon Holl said. "You know all the great players coming back shows what it's all about. It is not just this team and this year."

You sometimes hear people complain about "kids today" and how they lack concern for anything besides themselves.

You should meet the Batavia basketball team. Year after year, the players all realize they are part of something bigger than themselves, something that started before their grandparents -- or their great grandparents -- were born.

"It's amazing, it's really special to be part of something with so much tradition and history," Fruendt said. "Some places there's not a lot. It will be exciting."

Where do players adopt such a grateful attitude, with so much reverence for the past teams that came before them?

It starts with coach Jim Roberts, himself a Batavia alum, who instills the pride in each player to be part of a program with a long history of success.

"It's a great program here," junior guard Phil Albrecht said. "It feels great to be part of the 100 years this season, just great to be part of Batavia basketball."

It will be something to see how many former players return Saturday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

"Coach always talks about tradition and 100 years, it doesn't seem like it's been 100 years. That's a long time to be playing basketball," said junior David Bryant. "It's going to be fun playing on Saturday and watching all the alumni come back."

When Fruendt and his teammates took the court for the 2006 sectional championship game last March against West Aurora, there were hundreds of kids in the stands who wound up crushed that night that Batavia lost.

Just like Fruendt himself 10 years earlier.

Many of those kids will grow up with a love for basketball, and Batavia. They will be going to summer camps. They will be shooting baskets in their driveways.

And, as Holl knows, those kids will be lucky to be part of the same program he is.

"The student section is great, we get great fan support for home games and away games. It makes playing basketball special when people in the school and community care about what you do."