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let's' talk (a) 300 is more than a number to Ludwig SHAW-FREE PRESS PHOTO AAcHenry Warrior coach Ken Ludwig gives his team some words of wisdom during a timeout in a game with Woodstock last week. When Kenneth Ludwig decided it was time to leave Newton after leading the Eagles to three straight Conference titles, he was looking for the right community. He was looking for the kind of community he could settle his family down and do what he does best - teaching young men the facts of life through basketball. McHenry High School* was no basketball factory. Ludwig knew that. There were good ballplayers, but there would never be superstars year, and year out. Just good ballplayers .who wanted to play the game of basketball - Ken Ludwig's type of ballplayers. Ludwig found Mcftenry in 1967, or maybe McHenry found Ludwig. But 207 victories later, Ludwig wouldn't have it any other way. Last week Monday, Ludwig ex­ perienced a feat very few basketball coaches can claim, no matter the level. When his McHenry Warriors defeated Downers Grove North 69-41 in the Wheeling Holiday .Tournament, it marked Ludwig's 300th career win. Although it was unforntunate the event was held away from the friendly con­ fines of Buckner Gym, his family and some of his friends were there to wit­ ness. When Ludwig looks back on the 300 wins, he doesn't just see numbers, he sees 25 years of setbacks and ac­ complishments. "It's a great ac­ complishment," Ludwig said. "It makes me feel good I'm not coaching at a basketball factory. I took a program at Newton and made it a good program and I went to McHenry and turned it around. I'm very happy with the success." It all started in 1959 as coach of the Newton Eagles. He coached eight years there, compilmg a 93-97 record. His squads captured the conference title the last three years. His final team finished with a 23-3 record. The move to McHenry wasn't easy. He Sport Talk by Mike Lamb Sports Editor inherited a team that only managed three wins in the last two years. His first squad finished with a 0-21 record. The losing streak would hit 28 games into the second season. He finally won his first game at McHenry against Geneva in the Batavia Holiday Tournament. Ludwig remembers that first win as vine of his greater moments as a coach. "Our fans went crazy. It w^slike we won a state tournament." That 1968-69 team finished with a 4-17 record, but the road would get smoother. His next seven squads finished with winning records. His 1969-70 squad went •17-6. His program peaked between 1974 and 1976. The two squads in that span finished with 23-5 and 25-5 records, a Conference titles ^eluded Ludwig's grasp throughout that span. In fact, Ludwig has never won a North Suburban or Fox Valley title. His teams finished second fiddle several times. He also won several regional titles. His 1975-76 team won the regional and sectional titles, but lost in the super-sectionals to West Aurora. * "As for his knowledge of the game and organization,' I never met a individual that cares for the game as much as he does," said Terry Reilly, his current assistant varsity coach and former player. "He is first class. He is well liked by the players and the people involved with the game. He won being open- minded, learning every game." Ludwig has a1 ways gone along with the times in his coaching career, but he says he always hat1 the same philosophy. "To be successful you have to be / disciplined. In basketball, defense is the key," said Ludwig. ~"If anything has changed, I let my players run more. When I first started, I was more pat­ terned. I didn't let the kids leave the pattern. "I'm getting more liberal. When I first started crew cuts were in style. I was very conservative. I have changed a little bit." After the 1975-76 success, two lean years followed. But he came back with a IS-# record in 1979-80 and 17-9 in 1980-81. He ran into some player problems in 1981-82 and settled with his worst record since he started at McHenry, 3-20. Last year's team finished with 9-16. His present squad is 3-6, but he sees promise for a good finish. "He's a hard working coach," said Dick Rabbitt, West Campus teacher and Plaindealer sportswriter . Rabbitt has covered the McHenry Warrior basketball team for tjie Plaindealer for several years. He's always been well. respected by other coaches and always put a representable team on the floor. He's never been embarrassed at a-game. The kids all seem to like him. "He's always well prepared. He's a good bench coach. He can make ad­ justments." The characteristic Rabbitt most respected Ludwig for, was his patience with reporters after a game, no matter what the final score. "When he ever got beat, he was never growly with repor­ ters." „ With 25 years of coaching under his belt, Ludwig could be considered the dean of Fox Valley coaches. "I always wanted to be a coach," said Ludwig, who played basketball and baseball at Eastern Illinois University. Continued on page 20 Warren rolls past Lady Warriors CARPENTERSVILLE After playing what coach Pat VYirtz described as two good ballgames, the McHenry Warrior girls' basketball team ended play in the Dundee-Crown Holiday Tournamejit on a sour note The Lady Warriors were eliminated by the Warren Blue Devils 58-29 last Friday. McHenry finished the tour­ nament with a 1-3 record, and settled with a 3-5 overall record for the season. McHenry starts Fox Valley play against Jacobs' at Buc kner Gym Thursday. Johnsburg visits the Lady Warriors on Saturday. "We were not reajdv to play basketball,"' said Wirtz on Friday's game. Wirtz's squad "lost a heartbreaker to Jacobs on Thursday, 4^-39. "We let t hem drive right to tl^e y hoop. Our guards got the ball inside, but we were unable to score with any consistency. By the second quarter, our guards became impatient and we had too many turnovers," Wirtz said. Warren jumped out to a 20-6 first quarter lead. McHenry shot one-for-14 from the field, while Warren hit 10-of-14. In the second half, McHenry was just outscored 24-17, but the gi was wrapped up. For the game, McHefiry only shot 19 percent from (the field and shot 42 percent from the line. Renee Mezzano continued to lead the Lady Warriors in scoring, scoring seven, while Andee Norton also scored seven. Shelly Raftis scored 18 for Warren. Mezzano also led McHenry scoring in the Jacobs loss with 14 points. Sarah Prust was right behind at 12. The Lady Warriors took a 10-8 lead after one quarter, but Jacobs came back in the second to outscore McHenry 22-9. That ended up the difference, as McHenry held Jacobs to only 12 points the entire second half. McHenry scored 20 in the second half. Again, McHenry had problems on the free throw line, hitting on only five-of-17. The Warriors missetf the front end of five one-and-one situations. "We're being haunted by the free throw syndrome. We're killing ourselves that way," said Wirtz. Heather Rayka scored 16 for Jacobs, 10 of which came in the second quarter. McHenry 11th at Boylan tourney RO( KFO.RD Even ex­ perience failed the McHenry Warrior wrestling-team at the Rockford Boylan Invitational last Wednesday and Thursday. Only two Warriors managed to ..place in the tourney and McHenry finished 11th in the 16- team tourney Joliet Catholic won the tourney title with 173 points, while Pekin was second with 155 McHenry scored 41 "We lost a couple kids in the first* round that should have won," said McHenry coach Marty Sobczak. "Our light­ weights. experience took its toll on them Even several of our juniors and seniors found themselves out of the tour­ nament early. Those are kids I thought should have given us jjiore points." Bob Sarabia raised his overall record to 13-6 with a fourth place at 126-pounds. Jeff Greany, at 185-pounds, took a fourth and raised his record to 12-8. Sarabia defeated the number one seed at 126-pounds during the second round. He defeated Jeff Taylor of Rockford- Jefferson 5-2. But he lost the next match to Pekin's Tom Kettle. In the third place title match, he lost to Dale Bearfield of Joliet Catholic in what Sobc­ zak called "Sarabia's best match of his career." Bearfield scored a 10-5 win. "It looked like two cats out there. It could have gone either way," said Sobczak. Greany pinned Tom Weaver of Loves Park-Harlem in the first round, but lost the next match to Barry Hartel of Plainfield. In the consolation round, Greany defeated Greg Kosirog of Chicago-St. Patrick 8-5. Greany was knocked out of the tourney, losing to Jeff Tucker 8-5. "Christmas tournaments are kinda tough, unless you are pushing," Sobczak said. "The lead in the top five changed many times." The Warriors will entertain Wauconda on Thursday, and then get back to Fox Valley Conference action, traveling to Crystal Lake South on Friday. •i •' fv .:> jLjt* Andy Harris of Jacobs, looks like he wants to give the ball to Jeff Kruse of AAarian Central, but he ended up keeping SHAW FREE PRESS PHOTO it. Jacobs went on to defeat AAarian for the Northern Illinois Classic title. By Rrian Spears Shaw jSs&ree Press Service HAMPSHIRE The Jacobs { Golden Eagtes^with the help of five starters in double figures, --took the Northern Illinois Classic championship last night, defeating Marian Central Catholic, 82-64. Five members of Jacob's well- rounded attack accounted for 76 points as the Eagles claimed their second consecutive championship. "The §core is misreading because we had to foul to stop uje clock and hope they miss the free throws. With the clock stopped we could, come down and make another run at them, but they made the free throws," Marian Qoach Hans Rokus said. The Hurricanes loss took little away from the outstanding performance by forward Chuck Hartlieb. Hartlieb gunned in 27 points in the championship, and was named to the all- tournament team. "That's probably one of the finest shooting performances of the year. They knew we were gojng to go to him (Hartlieb) in the end and he was double teamed and he was still popping them in - some from 25 feet," Rokus said. Jacobs built a quick lead in the game, scoring its first three trips down the court for a 6-0 lead that it never gave up. The Hurricanes narrowed the lead to as little as-14-12, but the Eagles ended the first period with a jump shot and a three-point play for a 19-12 lead. Marian had begun the gafne in a man-to-man defense, but quickly switched to a zone when Jacobs took the early lead. "I knew they were going to go hiside even with the man-to-man and that's why we had to go to the zone - because they were hurting us inside. When we went to the zone,"we stopped them," Rokus explained. "I think their defense forced us to change our attack," Rokus said. "That's the most size we've seen. They bring the zone out a little farther and our shot selection at the beginning wasn't as good as it could have been. You have to credit their defense - they're a well-coached team," Rokus commented. The second quarter was even, with each team scoring 14 for a 33-26 haiitime score. The third period, too, was a very even battle, with the Eagles having a 19-18 edge. Tournament MVP Mark Slimko dropped in nine for his team, while Hartlieb countered with nine "for the 'Canes' in the quarter. A three-point play by Hartlieb pulled Marian Within three points, but Slimko hit three straight jump shots to widen the Eagles' lead. MC went into the final eight minutes trailing by eight, 52-44. On jumpers by Jeff Kruse and Hartlieb, Marian cut its deficit to just four points, 52-48, But with time running out, the Hurricanes had to foul, and Jacobs hit the free throws, 18-of- 23 in the fourth quarter, to hold its advantage. "Overall we played a pretty good ballgame. We got it down to two in the first quarter and four in the fourth and then we missed a couple inside and Slimko hit a few from the baseline - that's what killed us. That pretty much broke our backs -- that was the turning point of the game," Rokus said. Slimko and Joe Lipinsky were Jacobs' high scorers with 17 each. Chris Baine, Andy Harris, and Paul Adams had 16,12, and 14 points, respectively. Dan Lalor had 13 and Kruse added 12 for the Hurricanes. Marian was 3-1 in the tour­ nament to improve its recdrd to 5-3 this season. "These four games did a lot for us. We played pretty good basketball in . this tour­ nament. I wasn't a° bit displeased," Rokus said. JacobsH2 ^ .Marian 64 Jacobs (82): Baine 6 4-5 16, Lipinsky 6 5-8 17, Slimko 8 1-1 17, Harris 4 4-5 12, Adams 3 8-8 14, Suma 2 1-1 5, Braun 0 0-1 0, Zange 0 2-2 2. Totals 29 24-30 82. ? Marian Central (64): Kruse 5 2-3 12, A. Hartlieb 2 0-0 4, C. Hartlieb 13 1-2 27, Lalor 3 7-8 13, Ferrero 1 0-0 2, Wozny 1 0-0 2, Truckenbrod 2 0-0 4. Totals 27 10- 14 64..' Jacobs 19 14 19 30 -- 82 Marian Central 12. .14 18. .20 -- 64