High School Sports in Illinois City Facing the Ax Again

To all the Orange County coaches, administrators and fans fretting about proposed athletic budget cuts, the people of Rockford, Ill., would like to say a couple of words:

Stop complaining.

OK, it’s not a direct quote. But understand that many Rockford residents have experienced much worse than anything Orange County might go through in the near future.

Cuts in lower-level programs? Elimination of assistant coaching positions? Price increases at the snack bar?

The people of Rockford wish they had it so good.

In Rockford, 85 miles northwest of Chicago, sports programs aren’t being squeezed, they’re being squashed. For the second time in 15 years, it appears Rockford high schools will go an entire school year without extracurricular activities of any kind , including sports.

Rockford school board administrators say the cuts are imperative. Rockford must offset a $3.7-million deficit by next year, and slashing sports programs in the city’s four high schools will save $578,921.

Last week, Rockford residents had a chance to save high school sports through a referendum that would have increased property taxes by an average of $75. The measure failed by a 2-to-1 margin.

Now, Rockford waits for its school board to announce the cuts, expected within two weeks. Sports are reportedly at the top of the hit list.

Some in Rockford say the referendum failed not because residents are apathetic toward high school sports but because (choose one or more) 1) they think the state should provide more funding instead of allowing property taxes to do the job; 2) they think they shouldn’t bail out school board administrators who bungled the budget in the first place or, 3) because they believe the board might be bluffing in its no-sports stance.

The third possibility makes many people cringe. Especially those who were around during the 1976-77 school year, when Rockford locked its locker rooms, gymnasiums and stadiums and closed down high school sports.

Those who witnessed the shutdown--still the only documented case of its kind in the nation--remember the devastation of school spirit, the mass exodus of athletes to other districts, the increase of crime among teen-agers and the sudden resistance among industries considering Rockford as a relocation site. They also remember how some coaches, angry and depressed over a situation they could not control, sought psychological help.

They don’t want to see those Rockford Files reopened.

Bill Zavadil is the football coach at Rockford Auburn High. After an 0-3 start last season, his team won eight consecutive games and reached the state quarterfinals--the first time Auburn had played in the state tournament. Because many of his players are returning, Zavadil thought the 1991 season might be Auburn’s best. Now, he has more immediate concerns. Such as how he’ll feed his family.

“I’ll try to do some roofing and carpenter work for extra money,” said Zavadil, who, with 28 years in the district, probably will stay as a physical education teacher. “That’s what I did in ’76. I went out and got a carpenter job for after school.”

It’s not the loss of his coaching stipend, though, that bothers Zavadil most. He’s concerned about his junior-class athletes, many of whom he believes are capable of earning athletic scholarships. Now, like many of the top athletes in Rockford, they will either move with their families to other districts or enroll in one of Rockford’s private schools.

Corey Patterson, a junior quarterback, left for Houston last week. His father had moved there, but Zavadil said Patterson was going to live in Rockford with his grandmother so he could finish his senior year. Now that the referendum has failed, Zavadil doesn’t expect Patterson to return.

Brian Perteete is a junior at Rockford East and one of the area’s top wrestlers. He and his mother decided they will move, probably closer to Chicago, so he won’t miss out on sports--and scholarship opportunities--next year.

“It’s devastating, but we think moving is our best option,” said Sylvia Perteete, a native of Rockford. “Brian’s been preparing for his senior year since his junior high days. We’ve invested a lot of money in wrestling clubs and camps and tournaments. . . . With the cost of education what it is, (earning) a scholarship would be worth it.”

Whitney Giardini plays volleyball for Rockford East. It’s not the loss of scholarship money that concerns her, but school spirit. She says she might transfer to a private school.

“I don’t know what I’ll do. I just know I want to go to a school that has sports,” she said. “Football and basketball games? That’s the best part of high school.”

Asked if she understood why the budget cuts were being made, Giardini said: “All I know is it’s wrecking my senior year.”

That sentiment is widespread in this city of 135,000, the second-largest in Illinois. Residents say you can feel the gloom and doom from the 100-store CherryVale Mall to the Sinnissippi Gardens, a park-like tourist attraction of flowers, streams and rocks.

“I’ll tell you,” Auburn Athletic Director Leonard Guenzler said, “I shudder for the town and the kids. To go through this twice . . . it’s a sad commentary on our town.”

Can it happen in Orange County? Guenzler certainly doesn’t know, but he advises parental involvement in school board activities and stresses accountability on both sides.

“People need to be on top of their leaders,” he says.

Otherwise, like Rockford, we might find ourselves hitting rock bottom.