Colbert: The Chicago Marshall girls team, and track and baseball developments

Last week, Chicago Marshall boys basketball program was chronicled. It would be remiss for me not to mention the girls program, as well.

Under legendary coach Dorothy Gaters, Marshall won 10 state titles and brought home another 13 state-placing trophies over a 45-year period. Her record of 1,155-217 surpasses that of Gene Pingatore (1,035-383) of Westchester St. Joe.

Like Gaters (girls), Pingatore (boys) stayed at the same school during his 50-year tenure. They are the only two coaches in Illinois, along with David Powers (1,020 for girls), to have over 1,000 coaching victories. Gaters never had a losing season, while Pingatore and Powers had a handful of them.

In her 45 years, Gaters had 20-plus wins in 39 of them. On paper, she is unmatched in Illinois prep basketball coaching annals.

Starting as a student teacher at Marshall, after attending school there a few years earlier, Gaters was tasked with a club basketball team for the girls, mainly because no one else at the school wanted to do it.

This was at a time when there were few Black women coaches.

But, Gaters had a built-in advantage of growing up under two hard-working parents who instilled life lessons in her. A quote from her grade school wall always stood out to her:

“If a task is once begun, never leave it until it’s done. Be the task great or small, do it well, or not at all.”

That’s what Gaters did in assembling a powerhouse program at Marshall that was the envy of all of the state.

In the world of high school sports, Sam Ramirez doesn’t quite have the cache of one Dorothy Gaters, but he has distinguished himself the past 26 years as the play-by-play announcer for Oregon Hawk football. In a post on social media, Sam shared his intention to take his act to Sterling Newman, his alma mater.

On Friday nights this fall, he and sidekick Mark Herman will be missed on 95.7 FM. Thank you gentlemen for enriching the Hawk grid program with such enthusiasm.

Spring sports are in full swing, with a few teams making a team for themselves early.

In softball, it is perennial power Stillman leading the way. The Cardinals edged BNC rival North Boone by one run a couple weeks ago. The Illinois Coaches Association ranks both teams among the tops in 2A.

Among ranked 1A teams, Dakota, Morrison and Orangeville from the NUIC are top 15.

In track & field, Rochelle pole vaulter Andrew Nuyen has recovered from mononucleosis, which sidelined him for much of the indoor season. A 16-foot-6 vault has him ranked No. 2 in all the state.

The only problem is the top vaulter, 18-footer Isaiah Whitaker of Bloomington Central Catholic, is also in 2A after winning 1A the last three years.

Putting up the best marks for girls track in the county is sophomore Jillian Hammer of Oregon, who is currently state-ranked in the 100 hurdles and 200 meters for 1A. She would have also been near the top of the 300 hurdle rankings, but took a bad fall on the next-to-last hurdle at the Gebhardt-Worley meet on Saturday.

At the G-W meet, the Oregon girls 400-meter relay posted the 10th best time in 1A at 51.54. Also at that meet was Lena-Winslow, who has the top times in the 400 relay, 800 relay and 1,600 relay for 1A.

Top relay unit among the boys hail from Forreston-Polo, with top 10 rankings in the 400 and 1,600 relays, with junior-dominated foursomes.

Recently retired Oregon Athletic Director Mike Lawton was back in Oregon working the G-W track meet as an official. He also got into officiating basketball this past winter.

Speaking of the G-W track meet, mention should be made of whom it is named for. Edward Gebhardt was teacher, administrator and head coach at OHS from 1946-84. J.R. Worley was a long-time coach and athletic director at Mt. Morris, along with being an IHSA official for many years. With the merger of Oregon and Mt. Morris in 1994, the meet, now in its 46th year, was named to honor these two gentlemen.