Four Fox Valley locals named to IBCA Hall of Fame
Three local players and a familiar voice gain induction to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame next spring.
The Elgin duo of Marcus Smallwood and Marcus Howard, Kaneland player Dan Witt and Dundee-Crown public address announcer Chuck Feldmann will be inducted at a May 2 ceremony at Illinois State University, the IBCA announced recently.
Howard and Smallwood started as sophomores on Elgin's 1997-98 Elite 8 team. Their Maroons defeated Naperville North 69-58 to clinch a Class AA state berth before losing to Whitney Young in a quarterfinal.
Along with 2011 IBCA Hall of Fame inductee Sean Harrington, Smallwood and Howard helped the 1997-98 Maroons win 31 games, still a school record.
"They were inseparable for our program so I'm glad they are going in together," said former Elgin coach Jim Harrington, himself an IBCA hall of famer. "Not only were they both outstanding basketball players, but they were team guys who played both ends of the floor."
Smallwood was named Upstate Eight Conference Player of the Year as a senior after he averaged 19 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game. He finished as Elgin's all-time leading shot blocker (382). His 1,201 career points ranked seventh in program history at the time.
Smallwood went on to play on scholarship at Northern Illinois. He was named all-Mid American Conference as a junior and honorable mention as a senior. He finished as NIU's 11th all-time scorer with 1,276 points.
Smallwood played professionally in Europe for 10 years, eight in Germany. He is a retired business developer living in Texas.
"It's pretty cool," Smallwood said of the honor. "I had a lot of good times playing at Elgin with my teammates and coach Harrington. To have a good memory of that solidified like this is really awesome."
Howard was named all-UEC as a senior, when he averaged 17.1 points, 5 rebounds and 3.8 assists and led the league in 3-point field goals made.
Howard played on full scholarship at Indiana State University. He started as a freshman on the 2001 team that upset Oklahoma in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He finished his ISU career eighth all time in 3-point field goals and 10th in steals.
"It's a great feeling," Howard said of the honor. "Obviously, you don't play the game to get in the hall of fame or what not, but when you are recognized for your accomplishments and what you did in high school and college, it is pretty special. I'm definitely excited and honored. The cool thing is I'm going in with a really good friend of mine."
His old teammate feels the same way.
"He's someone I'm proud to go in with. He's still a good friend to this day," Smallwood said of Howard. "You always have to have a complement and he was always that other part."
Old School: Witt is a 1969 Kaneland graduate who played four years at Illinois State.
According to his Kaneland Hall of Fame biography, Witt, 68, played three varsity seasons for the Knights. The deadeye shooter scored 40 points in his second varsity game as a 5-foot-5 sophomore.
A two-time unanimous all-Little Seven Conference pick, he was named all-state as a senior. Witt signed the first full NCAA scholarship at Illinois State and started all four years alongside Doug Collins, averaging 11 points.
"There are hundreds of great high school and college players that play in the state of Illinois every year, so it's really an honor and a blessing to be recognized and inducted into the Illinois High School Hall of Fame," Witt said Thursday. "Doug Collins was one of the first inducted to the IBCA Hall of Fame so it's nice to join Doug again in this type of basketball arena."
The accidental announcer: Chuck Feldmann began his public address career as a fill-in.
One night in 1985, the scheduled announcer for the Dundee-Crown basketball game was unable to make it.
Al Zinke, D-C's longtime wrestling coach, pressed Feldmann to handle the duty. It turned out to be a job the 1980 Jacobs graduate truly enjoyed.
"After doing it that night I thought, 'I can do this,'" Feldmann said. "And I looked forward to doing it again."
Feldmann threw himself into the gig. He picked up pointers by attending Chicago Bulls games and games at DePaul, Northwestern, Chicago State and Loyola. He listened to what the announcers said and how they said it "because I wanted to do it right," he said.
Feldmann likes to have fun. After identifying the officials, he inserts fictitious hometowns for them like Walla Walla, Wash. or whatever far-flung town he recently discovered on the atlas. The tradition started years ago when Feldmann joked that referees Dave and Mike Zierk were on work release from the Joliet Correctional Center. "It took on a life of its own after that," he said with a laugh.
Feldmann's most impressive achievement? Three times he announced all 32 games of the Dundee-Crown girls basketball holiday tournament - eight games a day for four straight days. The IBCA will induct him as a "friend of basketball" on May 2.
"It's overwhelming that people thought enough to follow through and make it happen," Feldmann said of the honor. "I couldn't be prouder and I'm really humbled by the whole thing."