With his high school basketball career slowly ticking away last March, Brian Vance calmly dribbled to the top of the key and launched a shot that ranks as one of the most dramatic game-winners in state history.
That his 3-pointer came with six seconds left and sealed Rock Falls' first state championship underlined the drama of the moment - and the importance of Chuck Rolinski's tireless efforts on behalf of two-class basketball.
Without the split to two classes in 1971-72, Vance's shot would probably never have swished through the net and the city of Rock Falls would have not have turned out en masse one day later to celebrate a Class A crown. But thankfully, since the move to two classes we've been blessed with a rich collection of small-school basketball memories like that one.
It's because of the split that Ed Butkovich regularly runs into strangers who want to reminisce — to talk about the spine-tingling spring of 1976 when tiny Mount Pulaski shocked the state by winning a boys basketball title.
It's because of the split that Lawrenceville and coach Ron Felling are legends in this state.
It's because of the split that state title dreams are realistic for every basketball team in Illinois, no matter how small.
Rather than destroying the state's basketball tradition as purists once feared, the move to two classes has enriched it. Small schools like Mount Pulaski that for years toiled in obscurity with no hope for a moment in the spotlight have received exposure that was once unthinkable.
"At the time it happened (the split to two classes) rejuvenated basketball in Illinois," Butkovich said. "I think all the coaches were a little skeptical at first because we'd been in one class for so long and along with Indiana were one of the last states to still have one class.
"But look at what it's done for schools like Ridgway and T-Town and Havana and Pana. To this day I still always thank Chuck Rolinski for his efforts in getting the two-class system."
Often called the "Father of Two-Class Basketball," Rolinski started his push in 1968 while coaching at Toluca High School, which had an enrollment of 170 students.
Under the system in place at that time, small schools were assigned to district tournaments as the first step in the state championship series. From there, district winners advanced to the regional tournaments where they competed against larger schools.
In describing the situation, at that time Rolinski said: "I hate to use the word discrimination, so I'll say that we sometimes feel like we're being fed into a grinder to make hamburger."
To back up his claim, Rolinski pointed out that from 1936-69 only 10 small schools advanced from the district level to the Sweet 16 and that only 56 teams advanced from the district to the sectional. What's more, Hebron was the only district team to ever win the state title, that coming in 1952.
"I saw the futility of it and I could see the power shifting to the industrial cities which were getting all the best coaches," Rolinski said. "I really felt it was unfair and that something had to be done."
Rolinski's cause received a major boost in 1969 when Carrollton superintendent Lou Schneitner sent a survey to 693 schools in the state seeking their opinion on adding at least one class to the state basketball tournament. Of 638 replies, 56 percent were in favor of revising the system.
Three seasons later, after member schools voted 317-290 in favor of two classes, Lawrenceville became the state's first Class A champion. And though at the time Lawrenceville coach Ron Felling expressed reservations about the split, he later spoke glowingly about the added class.
"I was not originally in favor of a Class A system and a Class A tournament. I thought it would dilute basketball in the state," Felling said after Lawrenceville won its second title in 1974. "But it has become successful. And the teams who win the tournament are just as happy as if they'd won the NCAA championship."
One of the reasons Class A was
such an instant success is that coaches and
players quickly realized they had a chance at
attention previously reserved for large schools.
"It gave you something to shoot for that was
very realistic," said Jack
Blickensderfer, who coached Cerro Gordo to Elite Eight berths in 1973 and 1974. "I don't know if six classes is good or not, but I think two classes of basketball the way we have it is excellent."
Success stories like that helped upgrade the tournament according to Liz Astroth, former executive director of the Illinois High School Association.
"It really provided an impetus for the coaches and the kids. In the first couple tournaments the Class A schools looked like they weren't as skilled," Astroth said. "But once this recognition came there was a great upsurge in the coaching at the Class A schools. After that second year the caliber of the Class A tournament has been very high."
That's due in part to the way
the two classes were treated, Astroth said.
"The administration and organization of the two
tournaments was identical and both were treated as
first-class citizens. They had the same number of
TV games and everything," he said. "It wasn't
like we were just giving a bone to the dog to
pacify them."
In return, the Class A tournament has rewarded state basketball fans with a long list of memorable moments. Think what fans would likely have missed had we stayed with one class:
• The Lawrenceville legend. Lawrenceville greats Jay Shidler, Marty Simmons and Ron Felling may be household names in Illinois today, but would they be without Class A?
• Epic upsets—The 1984 tournament brought us one of the greatest upsets in state history—Mount Pulaski's 76-74 semifinal shocker over Providence-St. Mel. The loss prompted St. Mel coach Tom Shields to say, "Those little midgets ran a ring around us."
• Two for T-Town. Teutopolis captured the state's fancy in 1986 by becoming the only school to win a girls and boys basketball title in the same season. But how likely is it that the Wooden Shoes would have been able to get past that year's Class AA boys champs Chicago King and Marcus Liberty?
• Game for the ages. Somehow despite a stunning 51-point explosion in the 1997 title game, Spring Valley Hall junior Shawn Jeppson was upstaged. First came Bill Heisler's clutch buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send the game into overtime, then a 92-85 overtime loss in one of the most dramatic Class A title games on record.
• Abundant underdogs. Pana's run to the state title in 1988 stirred the City of Roses to new heights of passion, as the team entered the postseason ranked 13th and was an overwhelming underdog in the finale against Pinckneyville before winning 62-58.
Doing the Panthers one better was unranked Nauvoo-Colusa, which in 1998 became the second straight team from Hancock County to win a state title.
• Smallest ever. Finally, without two classes we would never have heard this classic quote from Eric Smith in 1992 after he and his teammates made Findlay the smallest school in history to win a basketball championship. "That's a nice title. Some people probably think we're hicks with just 96 people in the school," Smith said.
"But I think it really says something about us that we could band together like this and do something extraordinary."
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Illinois High School Association.