Falcons' 'Wolf' learns how cattle feel
College football recruiters have to love this: translated into Gaelic, the first name of Wheaton North junior Rafe Kiely means "House Wolf."
Of course, those recruiters and scouts need to know more than that. Kiely was all he could be at the U.S. Army National Combine last weekend in San Antonio. He was among 500 invitees, including locals Nick Lifka of Naperville North, Kyle Bosch of St. Francis, T.J. Lally of Marmion and Jeff Hartzell of Batavia.
"My favorite part of the whole combine was they brought talent in from across the country," said Kiely, a 6-foot-3, 288-pound offensive guard who was informed of his invitation by Falcons football coach Joe Wardynski before Wheaton North had fully embarked on its Class 7A quarterfinal run.
"Getting a chance to see who the next college stars are, in high school, is just a really unique and great opportunity," said Kiely, whose father, Ralph, emigrated from County Clare, Ireland.
After registration on Jan. 7, the combine at the Alamodome was conducted the next day from 6 a.m.-4 p.m. The players were tested in, as Kiely said, "your basic" things - 40-yard dash, shuttle, vertical jump and bench press. As a lineman he also performed in 1-on-1 drills.
The 500 players were split into two more manageable groups of 250.
"You do get to feel like you're cattle when you're there. But at the same time these are the guys you want to be seen by," said Kiely, who in track and field has personal bests of 50 feet, 91/2 inches in shot put and 144-9 in discus.
The junior noted that he's had communications with Kansas, UCLA, Miami (Fla.) and Alabama. Part of the combine deal was dropping off game and highlight tape, which is essential nowadays.
"We'll have to wait and see," Rafe said.
"The phone hasn't started ringing yet, but I'm hoping that by the end of it we'll end up getting something," Ralph Kiely said. "It was a bit of a distance to travel. But it was an opportunity I didn't want to pass on."
Hall of Fame bountyA day or so before York coaches Stan Reddel and Annette Schulte were inducted into the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Jan. 9, another list of inductees was released. The Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class of 2010 is a doozy.Naperville Central's Joe Bunge, Naperville North's Larry McKeon and Benet's Tim Cederblad are retired head coaches who will be inducted into the IHSFCA Hall of Fame, April 10 in Champaign. (It sounds weird for "McKeon" and "retired" to be used in the same sentence. We love Mike Stine, but we're still getting used to Bunge being retired.)Downers Grove South's outstanding John Belskis will be going in while still an active head coach, joined by Mustangs assistant Terry Kent. Bill Hearn, retired from Glenbard South, gains the IHSFCA Hall in a "career" nod for his 32 years in an array of responsibilities and levels.Bob Monken, who years ago made the Hall for his coaching career at Lake Park, is one of two 2010 winners of the Ray Eliot Award for distinguished service to the IHSFCA.Making up for lost timeIt truly is hall of fame season. Friday at Immaculate Conception, at halftime of the boys basketball game against St. Edward, 21 people will be inducted into the IC Athletic Hall of Fame. They're now at 46 in just three years.This class includes athletic directors past (Pete Schmit) and present (Darren Howard), basketball star Katie (Callaghan) Barrett, 1978 graduate and current track coach Bob Cronin, and Bill Schmidt, a 1992 All-Area football player who led the Knights to the 2008 Class 2A championship.Last week, Mark Lacy and Drew Carstens - the awesome basketball player who was our All-Area captain in 2000 - were inducted into the Downers Grove North Hall.Knocking them downOnly six girls have ever averaged 180 or more pins in a game for Hinsdale South, Hornets bowling coach Bob Lichter said earlier this year.He's got Alyssa Ferrando sitting close with an average of 177. Earlier this week Lichter said the senior had 39 games under her belt, with the possibility of 35 more depending on her state series. Shake hands with the headpin, Alyssa!They're No. 1Illinois Wesleyan, the top-ranked Division III women's basketball team in the country, has a few local graduates on its squad - co-captain Stacey Arlis (Driscoll), Sam Rubright (Fenton) and Elizabeth Henderlite (Wheaton Warrenville South). Now 14-0, the Titans come to Elmhurst College Jan. 17 and to Wheaton College on Jan. 19.Speaking of women's college hoops, Loyola senior Maggie McCloskey - daughter of former Montini boys coach Tom McCloskey, now at Riverside-Brookfield - made seven 3-point baskets Jan. 9 to become the Horizon League's all-time leader. Maggie's sixth 3 against Youngstown State was the 278th of her career, one more than Glenbard West graduate Jessica Wilhite made at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.doberhelman@dailyherald.com