St. Charles Soccer alumni invited to 40th reunion

High school reunions are major events to organize, mostly because - even in the Facebook era - it is not always easy to find all of the students you'd like to reach.

This is especially true when those reunions start carrying numbers like 30th, 40th, or 50th on them.

Other groups like sports teams, bands, churches or businesses may also try to put together a special reunion.

But how about a 40th reunion for a sports program, meaning players, parents and coaches of teams for the past 40 years are invited to join in?

That idea popped into the mind of Kane County Circuit Court Judge Clint Hull, a 1985 graduate who was a standout soccer player at St. Charles High School.

It's resulted in his attempt to draw attention to a St. Charles Soccer Alumni reunion for the Saints' boys' soccer teams at St. Charles (and then East) High School from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at the St. Charles Moose Lodge.

"It was my original idea, but there has been no shortage of guys wiling to help," Hull said, mentioning Gary Cole, Karrsten Goettel, Sam Mele, Terry Keenan, Bruce Rasmussen, Cory Jones, Phil Krahenbuhl and Jim Cooke as members of a committee that has been meeting monthly.

For a period of time, the planners considered whether the reunion should include girls' teams as well as St. Charles North teams. It was decided to focus on a Saints' boys' teams reunion to keep it manageable, and also to acknowledge that maybe the overwhelming success of the girls' teams should possibly have its own recognition in the future.

In the meantime, Hull has been writing short summaries of each soccer team season on a Facebook page for the reunion.

"We are looking to reach out to all past players, parents and friends," Hull said. "The goal is to have a representative from each of the 40 teams at the Sept. 7 Saints' game prior to the dinner."

It's been some time since coach Tim Dailey first brought a St. Charles soccer team to the field in 1979. Since then, it's been a program under various leaders tallying more than 600 wins and two state titles.

As if organizing an event of this magnitude isn't a big enough challenge, the committee members are also working on creating a list of the Top 11 players for each decade, and then revealing a Top 11 in the history of the program at the reunion.

It should be noted that when soccer was in its infancy in these parts, there were many parents who played key roles in getting youth soccer programs started and then supporting the high school program. Some of those people have left us.

"One of the reasons for the reunion was to remember and celebrate the many parents who helped the program get going who have since passed," Hull said. "We want to remember all of them."

Hull is also quick to point out that a sports editor from the early years of the program accurately noted in a 1983 column after the boys lost in the state finals that "the St. Charles soccer program has come of age … the Saints can play with the best of them, and they know it … reaching the state finals may become habit now, rather than a rare occurrence."

Apparently, a young Dave Heun made that bold prediction.

"You were right," Hull said.

A vital workshop:

A true barometer of what makes a community tick is often measured by what it does for its citizens facing physical or mental challenges.

That's what has made the Valley Sheltered Workshop in Batavia so important for 53 years now.

The workshop is hosting its annual pancake breakfast from 7:30 a.m. to noon Sunday, May 5, at 325 W. Main St. in Batavia.

All proceeds from the event will help support the workshop. Children 3 and younger eat for free.

Supporting the workshop at the pancake breakfast certainly helps, but let's not forget this is a nonprofit organization that offers to help companies with various tasks with competitive pricing and quality work.

It's little surprise that Valley Sheltered Workshop has Burgess Norton Manufacturing, Fermilab and various other companies on its customer list.

Those in the workshop handle various tasks, including packaging and assembly, collating, sorting, hand packaging, inspection, mail stuffing, labeling and light assembly.

More information is available by contacting workshop supervisor Sue Lusted at (630) 879-2395.

A hope for Commons:

To the naked eye, the parking lots at Geneva Commons seem to be quite busy. This means the retailers there are still drawing customers at a good clip.

Still, there are between 7 and 10 empty storefronts in this main economic driver along Randall Road. That's not a significant number, considering what has happened to other shopping areas in the past few years. But it's a number, nonetheless.

The retail landscape is changing dramatically and we have to hope that, a decade from now, the Geneva Commons is not sitting virtually empty like so many other shopping sites. That would be a bitter pill to swallow.

But here's a reason that might not, and should not, happen.

Retailers are figuring out that today's consumers are increasingly enamored with online shopping.

But the mix of the physical retail experience and mobile interaction with consumers, known as multi- or omnichannel, is becoming more common and appealing.

In many ways, the mobile devices we use to comparison-shop, order and pay for items, or receive coupons or offers, are the same devices that will also draw us into stores.

It's not going to save those retail franchises that time has passed by, but it should keep many vibrant - and places like Geneva Commons continuing to see fairly full parking lots.

No handyman here:

Am I a good handyman around the house? My wife would say no, and I would have to agree.

Can I at least fix a few things or figure out what might be causing a problem? On occasion.

Have I ever made something worse by trying to fix it? Many times.

Have I surprised myself by fixing things that others struggle with? That would be rare, but it has happened.

I would venture to say my specialty is hooking up electronics stuff and fixing it when something isn't quite right.

One of my great accomplishments might have occurred about 10 years ago when I hooked up a DVD player to my mother-in-law's old TV set, one that was not made to accept such advanced technology.

Let me sum it up this way. Like many others, I would consider stores like Ace Hardware, Home Depot or Menards to be havens for the typical handyman.

They seem to have most anything men or women who consider themselves handy would want.

But this best explains my handyman skills and desires: I've been to Menards many times, but what was the only thing I bought during some of those visits?

A couple boxes of Dots candy. The price seemed pretty good.

dheun@sbcglobal.net