Webster’s Pocket Dictionary defines the word character as “A quality or trait that distinguishes an individual or group.” As the old joke goes, next to the definition is a picture Saint Charles West coach Terry Hollander and his entire 2004-05 basketball squad.
Hollander’s Warriors could have, and many in attendance would say should have, blamed their 50-47 loss to Westminster Christian Academy on the officials. The fact is the Warriors were whistled for 21 personal fouls to Westminster’s 12. The fact is the most fouls any Westminster player had was 3. The fact is the Warrior’s defensive specialist, senior Eric Crider fouled out with five, while the team’s leading scorer and floor leader Jeff Coffey finished with 4. The fact is Westminster hit 16 of 25 free throws while West hit 3 of 6. The fact is the Warriors failed to attempt a single free throw in the second half, not one!
Regular readers of this column know all to well I subscribe to the Oelklaus philosophy of officiating; officials never determine the outcome of a contest. Philosophies are very much like religions, and Saturday’s contest certainly toyed with my faith, almost to the point of turning me into a convert.
Hollander would have no part of it. Rather than focus on the officiating, he wanted to discuss his team’s character. Rather than make mention of the questionable “moving screen” call on Crider that negated freshman phenom Kramer Soderberg’s three pointer, he wanted to praise his team’s effort. “I have always wondered what it would be like to coach the perfect team; perfect in that they do everything a coach asks of them. A team that was limited in their athletic ability, but made up for it with desire and work ethic. I now know just what it would be like, because those boys in the locker room are just such a team.” Was that a bead of sweat or tear on his cheek?
When told his team did not get a free throw in the second half, St. Hollander acted as if he were unaware of such, “Is that right,” he said, “well maybe we didn’t deserve one.” Bad breaks, he called it,.“We had a couple of bad breaks that cost us 5 points. Those 5 points changed the outcome of the game.”
The Warriors finished the season with a 23-7 record. In addition to their second district title in the past three years, and their sectional victory over St. Francis Borgia, they earned the Gateway Athletic Conference North division title. Not bad, not bad at all for a group of young men with “limited athletic ability.”
Congratulations men, you not only represented your school, you represented your families and the entire St. Charles community very proudly.
