Coach: Shout out to Deerfield!

The debut edition of a newspaper is always exciting.

Almost like an opening day for a baseball team. Something special is in the air!

We here in the sports and recreation section of the paper certainly want to express our excitement in getting to cover the great community of Deerfield. Let it be known that our goal right from the beginning will be to bring out interesting stories, cover the games and highlights of athletic competition and feature as best as possible the many outstanding people and programs involved here in the Deerfield sports community.

We won't forget you either, Highland Park, as after all you are part of the happy District 113 family.

The range of topics to be covered in our new publication is unlimited. From youth sports to middle school sports, club sports and park district programs, travel teams, AAU programs and, of course, the high school programs. We want to bring out the best in the teams and individuals and coaches who play the games.

Fitness centers and fitness trainers, yoga and Pilates, karate, golfers, tennis players, pickleballers, ice skaters, runners and walkers - shout out to all of you as well.

Anything is in play when it comes to bringing out interesting and fascinating stories. That includes not just the above mentioned players, sports, activities and teams, but also all the auxiliary people that make these programs so valuable. That means assistant coaches, front desk personnel, PA announcers, athletic trainers, custodians and field maintenance workers, scorekeepers, team managers, park district board members, camp counselors, gym supervisors ... and the list goes on.

Also on the docket could be history or following some of the former stars and coaches and programs that have gone on here in Deerfield. Where some of our town's best and brightest from days gone by have gone and what they are doing now are all part of the picture.

The list of potential topics is literally endless. And make no mistake, we are up for it.

The key here, though, is we will need your help.

As we delve into and start to learn about the Deerfield community, we will be counting on you to let us know some of what's happening around town, and in the case of this particular section of the paper, what's happening in sports and recreation.

You want to publicize a particular program or person or team? You want to let us know some great human interest stories? We are more than willing to listen, and to write!

Email tips to our editor Melynda Findlay-Shamie at mfindlay@dailyherald.com, or send any ideas to me directly at jcsportsandtees@aol.com.

The Coach's Corner column that I will be writing will not so much be a recap of high school sporting events (our sports writers are on top of that), but I'll be tackling a wide variety of different angles on different programs and people in the community.

I will attempt to bring out some inspirational and motivational stories, as well as put some humor into the columns (Be forewarned: I never take things too seriously, folks.), and throw in some opinion along the way, which you may or may not agree with.

Either way, and however it is written, my hope is that Coach's Corner can be informational and entertaining.

Finally, some quick background on myself. Sadly, I am no spring chicken. This gig is not exactly an internship program for a college I am attending, but more like a late-in-life semi-awakening. Let's just put it this way, the Medicare card in my wallet is still fresh, and my health insurance rates amazingly have gone down (as has my overall health; weird how that works).

Although I have been in Glenview for most of my adult life, I do have some Deerfield connections. Close encounters of a sports kind, you might call them.

I can go all the way back some 4 decades ago when coaching the Glenview Travelers girls softball teams against the Deerfield teams, which at the time were the powerhouse program of the entire Chicago area. Names like Bob Matthews and Pete Williams ran the programs that I competed against.

I did a short gig as sports radio host, broadcast in Deerfield and many other suburban communities, called "The Naked Truth About Sports." I and my semi-crazed partner Seth Marks (a Highland Park legend) were known as "The Coach And The Kid." One guess on which one I was.

I coached many years for the boys and girls Chicago Maccabi basketball teams and was blessed to have some outstanding players over the years from Deerfield.

I remember going to Deerfield High School football games, sometimes as an announcer for Comcast Game of the Week coverage, which I did for many years. Sometimes I was just there as a fan. I still have fond memories of the dominant Paul Adams era (where Deerfield football was the talk of the town), and watching stars such as quarterback Mark Carlson and exciting running back Billy Kerstein.

In the late eighties, I coached The Highland Park Girls varsity basketball teams for four years, and we had some great rivalries with the Deerfield teams coached at the time by a young John Wrenn. My record vs. Coach Wrenn was about the same as the number of World Series wins for the Cubs prior to 2016.

I also coached Loyola varsity girls softball and had some great battles with the Deerfield teams coached back then by Sue Johnson, one of the best athletes ever to come out of Deerfield High School. (I had better success here, thank you very much, due to some great players I was blessed to have on the team.)

Finally, I have spent many years coaching at the now-defunct Joy Of The Game Center in Deerfield. I brought many teams over the years that competed in this longtime Deerfield facility. I also ran some camp programs for them, coached a variety of their travel teams and even spent one year assistant coaching the sixth grade Deerfield feeder basketball team - all consisting of players that, as seniors now, just finished a successful season for Deerfield varsity basketball.

So there is a little history I bring to the table.

But most of all, I look forward to finding out more about the Deerfield and Highland Park communities and the people and programs they are involved in.

My email is listed here at the bottom of this column, so feel free to check in with any thoughts or ideas.

Most importantly, I hope everyone enjoys this first issue! And pass the word if you could. We want people to know there is a new publication in town!

• Jon Cohn of Glenview is a coach, retired PE teacher, sports official and prep sports fan. To contact him with comments or story ideas, email jcsportsandtees@aol.com.