By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
An Alumni Reunion and basketball game is a fitting gathering for those who’ve been involved with the Mahomet-Seymour girls’ basketball program over the years.
Cindy Grammer Essex should know.
She was part of the early tradition — as a player — and a part of the current push to build on the past as one of the assistant coaches.
In both cases, she said, “it’s so much more than basketball.”
Essex helped spearhead the first M-S Alumni gathering in December, 2016. Now she is working with Kendra Donley Free for the 2018 event, which will take place Saturday following home games at the freshmen (10 a.m.), junior varsity (11:30 a.m.) and varsity (1 p.m.) levels against Champaign Central.
“When you join the varsity, you paint a brick in the locker room,” Essex said. “There are bricks of past players and that continues to build the foundation.”
M-S varsity coach Nathan Seal is delighted that the project has caught on.
“We talk about the girls’ basketball program being a family,” Seal said. “It’s a great idea to have them interact.”
The Alumni who wish to return to the court will be divided into teams for an informal game that will likely start around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Nearly 20 former players have committed to being in attendance though some are like Essex and will watch or officiate.
“I had shoulder surgery in October, and I’m still on the mend,” Essex said.
Seal has encouraged different promotions for the team’s various home games.
“At our first two home games, we had bitty-ball players listen to the pre-game talk and play at halftime,” Essex said. “That puts in perspective where the foundation comes from.
“It’s awesome for the younger ones who want to be them (the varsity players) someday.”
The reality hits home for the former players, sometimes years after graduation.
“Some day when you look back, it’s not the wins and losses, but making friends and being part of the foundation you remember,” 1989 graduate Essex said. “I’m all about the tradition, giving back and how the sport has evolved at the school.”
Donley Free had the chance to play basketball in college, but said, “some of my best memories are from high school basketball and what the coaches did for me. When I go back (and speak to the current players), I tell them, ‘You’re creating some of your best memories right now.’”
There’s not an exact count on how many former players are expected on Saturday, but Donley Free said, “I’ll be dying if we don’t have some subs (even for a game with a running clock).”
Regardless of the participation totals, she added, “it will be fun to catch up with some I haven’t seen since high school or have only ‘seen’ on Facebook. We’re trying to build a little more on what we did last year.”
The school’s ‘score’ board in the fieldhouse is due to be updated once the season ends.
It lists all of the members of the 1,000-point club in girls’ basketball.
When it was first done, Essex’s maiden name was altered by spell-check and switched to the grammatically-correct name of Cindy Grammar. She will soon become Cindy Grammer again, and two new names will join the list once the current season ends.
The 10 members of the 1,000-point club, with career totals prior to the Tuesday, Jan. 16 game are:
NAME YEARS POINTS
Kendra Donley 2001-05 1,577
Maggie Schmidt 2010-14 1,453
Kristen Belyea 2009-13 1,198
x-, y-Amanda Franklin 2014-18 1,173
Cindy Grammer 1985-89 1,091
x-Kathleen Donoho 2005-07 1,083
Laura Morris 2004-07 1,071
Angela Telthorst 1995-99 1,038
y-Erin Lenschow 2014-18 1,010
Vicki Wheeler 1985-89 1,004
x-denotes players who did not score all of their points at M-S.
y-denotes players who are still active.
