Hall coach Mason Kimberley practicing what he preaches

Mason Kimberley is practicing what he’s been preaching these days.

The Hall High School golf coach gave his Red Devil golfers a lesson on the golf course on Aug. 29, tying Spring Creek’s front-nine course record of 29 from the blue tees.

The course record of 29 is shared with John Potthoff, who set that record on June 23, 2019 on his family’s home course.

Kimberley said it’s always been a goal of his to shoot a 9-hole round that begins with a “2.”

“My putter was really hot at the beginning of my round, if it had stayed hot, I coulda shot 28 or 27, but it’s hard to get greedy when you break 30,” he said with a laugh.

The Hall coach, who was the BCR Golfer of the Year with rival Princeton High School (class of 2007) and golfed for IVCC, figures the lesson he’s shown his kids that if he can do that, then they could do it one day.

“I think they look at me and think, ‘If he can shoot those types of scores, then there’s no reason I can’t do it eventually with enough practice,’” he said. “I’m a small guy, and not necessarily the greatest athlete, so I’m a prime example to the kids that you don’t need to overpower a golf course in order to shoot low scores.”

Kimberley is no Johnny-come-lately. He already holds Spring Creek’s 18-hole course record of 66 from the blue tees.

Kimberley, 32, is one of the young ambassadors of the sport in the Illinois Valley. In addition to coaching at Hall, he started up the Illinois Valley Summer Prep League and is co-director for the Illinois Valley Men’s championship.

Happ-y days in St. Louis: A Cubs fan growing up on the ball fields of Peru, J.A. Happ is finding a nice home with the rival St. Louis Cardinals. Since being traded to the Cardinals from Minnesota, the 38-year-old left-hander out of St. Bede Academy was 3-0 in his first five starts with a sparkling 2.22 ERA. He fanned 23 batters in 22.1 innings and walked only nine for a 1.02 WHIP.

Happ’s latest start was not so good at Cincinnati on Wednesday, however. He failed to make it out of the second inning, surrendering seven runs on eight hits in a 12-2 loss to the Reds.

Happ was the 2001 BCR Athlete of the Year.

Tiger baseball history: Princeton High School baseball coach Wick Warren has chronicled a nice book on the history of Tiger baseball. Did you know that Tiger baseball started in 1911 as a club team?

Since 1975, when it became an organized sport by the school, and no longer a club team, some 430 players have suited up for the Tigers varsity. The Tigers have an all-time record of 560-630-7 since, topped by 25 wins in 2010.

It was played as a summer sport at PHS until it moved to the IHSA sanctioned season in the spring of 1986.

Warren, who has been head coach since 2017, is making the books available to any Tiger alumni player. You may contact him at wcw1.1978@gmail.com to get yours.

Kevin Hieronymus is the BCR Sports Editor. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com