Sitting alongside Dave Kindred, the Babe Ruth of sports writers

Imagine if you were a coach and got to sit on the bench alongside John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski or Bobby Knight and pick their brain and see how they manage the game.

Or imagine you’re an aspiring pitcher and took the mound next to Greg Maddux or Adam Wainwright for an up close look at how they do their craft.

That’s how I felt Tuesday night at the Class 3A La Salle-Peru Girls Basketball Regional and watched Dave Kindred at work. Dave is the Babe Ruth of sports writers.

Think of any big-time sporting event over the past six decades and Dave was there: World Series, Super Bowls (43), Olympics (8), Indianapolis 500s, U.S. Masters, Wimbledons, World Cups, NBA finals and NCAA Final Fours.

“I’ve seen everything I ever wanted to see,” he said.

And the best part about it, Dave’s from my tiny hometown of Atlanta, Illinois. He paved the way for me and two other longtime sports writers, Kip Cheek of the Mendota Reporter and Randy Kindred (not closely related) of the Bloomington Pantagraph, to follow in his footsteps.

Since retiring from the big-time sports writing, Dave has spent the past decade back in central Illinois writing about the nearby Morton Potters girls basketball team on a nightly Facebook platform. It became a life’s diversion after his beloved wife, Cheryl, his high school sweetheart from old Atlanta High, had a catastrophic stroke and since passed away last year.

The Morton girls program, which has provided Dave with many good things to write about with a stretch of four state championships from 2015-19, undoubtedly is the only high school around that has a nationally renowned sports writer covering its games. The Potters’ nightly write-ups are done like none others.

I asked Dave if he prefers a high school girls game like this one at Sellett Gymnasium in La Salle with a few hundred fans on a cold February night or one of the many big-time events he’s covered in front of thousands of spectators and millions of TV viewers.

His answer might surprise you.

“I got tired of the spectacle [of the big events],” he said. “I liked the games. The spectacle wore me out. I didn’t care about any of that. I was at 43 Super Bowls. I never watched one halftime show. Didn’t miss it. I was writing most of the time.”

I took notice that Dave has one those simple reporter’s notebooks, just like I do, and keeps notes, just like I do. He joked that when he first got back into covering high school events, he couldn’t remember how to track a basketball game.

But it all came back to him quickly, he said, “that I just had to write a line down the middle of the page,” with one team’s plays on the left side and the other team’s plays on the right.

He doesn’t write much play-by-play these days, he said, maybe one turning point of the game and a summary of the scoring leaders. He’s always looking for the personal touch of the game.

One of Dave’s comments struck me most.

“If you’re really paying attention, you’re going to see something you’ve never seen before,” he said.

At halftime this night, he said he still was looking for it.

The Potters overcame a sluggish first half, in which they led only 26-20 at the break on a 40-foot 3-pointer, to defeat Galesburg, 59-35.

Dave can readily cite key Morton numbers and statistics over the years, including their state tournament series record of 39-2 in the past seven seasons, not counting the 2021 COVID-19 spring season: “7-0, 7-0, 7-0, 3-1, 7-0, 6-1, 2-0 this year.”

An author of numerous books – his most recent sharing the tragic story of his beloved grandson, Jared, and Jared’s addictions that cost him his life – Dave is writing his memoirs of why a guy with a track record like his now is writing about high school girls basketball in his “retirement.” It is due out at the end of 2023.

So I asked him, “Why do you do this?

“I don’t know. I like basketball. I like to write,” said Dave, the starting point guard of our hometown Atlanta Redwings’ only regional champions in 1959, sinking clutch free throws late to beat powerhouse Lincoln in the championship game to remain undefeated.

His life’s story was featured on CBS’ “60 Minutes” last year, filmed in the heart of downtown Atlanta. He explained that he’s writing about high school girls basketball because “writers write.”

Dave, who now demands a paycheck of Milk Duds for his services, still has tight deadlines to write his stories these days, which he refers to as “grandma deadlines.” He knows all of the Morton faithful, including the many grandmas of the team, eagerly await at their laptop or mobile device each night to read Dave’s game story before they go to bed.

The Morton community knows it is spoiled and appreciates Dave’s devotion to its team.

“First of all, he’s a great guy. And he’s a sports legend, writing about our girls and our town. It’s a really special thing,” said Potters dad Stig Rexlow, whose freshman daughter, Anja, came off the bench to score five points Tuesday night.

Morton scorekeeper/fan Sue Cushman said Dave is well respected in the Morton community.

“We read Dave’s stories and say, ‘You did it again Dave. I didn’t know you could write a story that was better than the last one,’” she said.

And they all can’t wait for the next story when the Potters battle Mid-Illini Conference rival Washington, which knocked out No. 1-ranked Geneseo on Tuesday, in Thursday’s championship game starting at 7 p.m.

• Kevin Hieronymus is sports editor of the Bureau County Republican. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com.