Sometimes all we can do is sit in the cheering section and hope for the best.
I generally get the aisle seat which means the incessant vendors, late-arrivers, and the early departing can ruin the focus on the event. Saying a fond farewell to some dear ones this week has had somewhat of that same interrupted focus.
By now, of course, Chief Illiniwek has departed. It is still difficult to accept the “hostile and abusive” finger-pointing, but if all parties are invested in dignity as has been inferred, then it is time to package up that tradition and move forward.
It has been reported that it was the band director at that time, Ray Dvorak, who instituted the idea of extending the “Illini” metaphor into the band’s participation in athletic events.
Recall that before the days of big-time television coverage and the participation of over-the-hill athletes and know-it-alls in telling us the debatable or unnecessary things about the game at hand, the marching band was considered a viable part of the broadcast — loyally absorbed by alumni and appreciated by those who had returned from the purpose for which the halftime had been declared.
The chief managed to grow beyond the baton twirlers, interactive formations and big brass blast that other schools presented year after year. He was not entertainment. He was tradition. He was special.
Here’s a connection that might not have surfaced yet: Ray Dvorak moved on from Illinois to the University of Wisconsin. If you have been to an indoor or outdoor Badger event (includes Big 10 events, bowl and tournament encounters, closing time at the bar, alumni at a tail-gate, opening week and commencement or a listening party), the last stanzas of the Alma Mater, “Varsity” include a hand-waving salute. Everybody begins by swinging the arm out to the right, then back and forth, ending with a wave of the hand and sometimes a cheer and a tear.
That same “We need a chief” inspiration from Ray Dvorak at Illinois made for “Let’s do an enduring a capella salute at the end of the Alma Mater” from the moved-across-the-border Badger band chief at Wisconsin. Many would say that the salute is one-armed because professor Dvorak had lost his left arm.
Fortunately for that cheesehead tradition, “Varsity” has not been deemed hostile and abusive except, perhaps by the dreaded opponent Ohio State and their vegetable-neutral Buckeyes. Which reminds me that, according to Bill Krueger, Batavia’s Badger booster, there will be another gather-and-cheer for the Badgers at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, at the Old Towne Pub on State Street in Geneva. It’s the Big 10 showdown vs. Ohio State.
Good-bye Ragamuffin
How is it possible to say farewell to the folks at the Ragamuffin Coffee House in St. Charles. Troy and Gen Bristow are not only closing that highly appreciated, peaceful, and yet joyful coffee house, but they are ending a chapter in their lives. Their vision had been to build a place of peace and joy where friends could meet. I say down with the hostile and abusive bulldozers and wrecking balls on First Street in St. Charles and up with the Bristows as they end this dance.
Leslie Hunt is my idol
“The American Idol” is broadcast on Wednesdays and this will be in print on Thursday. I will have been in my aisle seat on the sofa cheering for Leslie Hunt. Leslie grew up in St. Charles and is on her way to showcasing her talent in the biggest possible way. Go Leslie!
The last time I saw Leslie’s mother, Anne Hunt, she was a guest speaker at my sports information class at Aurora University, telling the communication students about her entrepreneurship with a women’s softball publication. I note further that Mary Hunt, Leslie’s cousin, appears at the Baker Hotel as the “Mary Hunt Duo.” There’s a whole lotta Hunts associated with the St. Charles Singers, too.
Jeffrey Hunt, Leslie’s Uncle Jeff, will be directing those talented and professionally prepared St. Charles Singers as they present the “Derufle Requium” as their Lenten concert at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church on Saturday, March 31.
Contact Joan Arteberry Zavitz at: jarteber@hotmail.com or (630) 584-0904
