Warren's Ramsey has enjoyed the ride
Two years. That's all Chuck Ramsey was hoping for out of Warren.
Back in 1973 when he and his bride Chris left their small hometowns in southern Illinois for Gurnee, Ramsey was intent on making a quick return. Warren was in need of health education teachers and Ramsey, a recent Southern Illinois University graduate who responded to an ad in a placement bulletin, was in need of a job.
The plan was to get some experience and then head back south to find a similar job that would allow for him and Chris to be near family and friends again.
Of course, Ramsey wasn't counting on making so many friends at Warren, or on getting sucked into a close-knit family that revolved around one of his other loves: basketball.
Nearly four decades later, Ramsey is still a Blue Devil. And he'll continue to be one, for at least another month or so anyway.
Ramsey will be stepping down as the boys varsity basketball head coach at Warren at the end of the season, ending one of the longest periods of service in Lake County high school sports history. The Blue Devils will honor him throughout tonight's North Suburban Conference Lake Division tilt (7:30 p.m.) against visiting Zion-Benton.
Widely recognized as one of the best boys basketball coaches in IHSA history, Ramsey has spent 39 years at Warren, 37 of them coaching basketball.
Over the last 19 years with Ramsey as varsity head coach, Warren has become the gold standard of Lake County boys basketball.
The Blue Devils have won 394 games during Ramsey's tenure, averaging more than 20 wins per season. They've also won 9 North Suburban Conference titles, 13 regionals and 6 sectional championships.
In 1999, Ramsey hit a magical pinnacle as Warren earned a trip downstate for the first time in school history. With a second-place finish that was the highest for any boys team in Lake County at that point, the Blue Devils became the toast of the town and beyond.
Last year, Warren made its second trip downstate, and again finished as the state runner-up. At 17-2 and with many of the same players back, including Division I signees Darius Paul and Nathan Boothe, the Blue Devils seem well on their way to making a return trip.
And they'd love nothing more than to send their coach riding off into the sunset on the first state title in program history.
“That's our goal,” Warren senior point guard Jameris Smith said. “A lot of us grew up playing feeder basketball together and we would go to the high school games together and watch Coach Ramsey on the sideline and talk about how we couldn't wait to play for him.
“He's kind of that old-school coach, and what he wants is going to get done. He's got goals and a drive to accomplish them. He's intense. But what a lot of people don't know is that he's got a pretty good sense of humor, too. He can be funny. He knows how to lighten a moment. It's been fun playing for him and I think it might get a little emotional tonight.”
The events at tonight's game will play out like a “This Is Your Life” for Ramsey. Old pictures of him in his early days at Warren will be on display. And players from past teams are planning to return to wish him well.
For good measure, here is another retrospective of Ramsey's stellar career at Warren, from how it all got started to his thoughts on his best players, his best wins and his future in basketball.
Patricia Babcock McGraw: After 37 years of coaching basketball at Warren, 19 years as head coach, it's hard to imagine you not being on the sideline at Warren. Take us back to when the dream of coaching began for you.Chuck Ramsey: #8220;When I was in grade school, I used to go to the games at our local high school, Johnston City. I really liked it. I really enjoyed watching all the games, the freshmen games, the sophomore games, the varsity games. I watched the players and I watched the coaches and I thought that's a cool thing. That would be fun.
#8220;I loved to read about the games, too. I would read the local sports pages. I would follow all the teams in the area. I was just interested. It was a great time in southern Illinois basketball. There were a lot of good teams and good players, great coaches. It was just a really interesting time and I was pretty sure that's what I wanted to do.#8221;
PBM: What were you like as a player?CR: (Laughing) #8220;I was an average player on my best days, but I loved to play. I was a decent catch-and-shoot and pass player. I wasn't very good off the dribble, I wasn't very athletic. I could shoot and I could pass. We ran a lot of plays and I knew all the plays and all the positions. Maybe I couldn't carry out the play, but I knew what it was supposed to be.#8221;
PBM: You paid your dues before becoming the head coach at Warren, coaching underlevel teams for 18 years before that. What did it feel like when you finally got the job?CR: #8220;Working my way up through the system was frustrating at times. I wasn't a head coach until I was 43, so I was very excited (to be named head coach). I wanted the job badly and I felt like I had done everything I could to prepare myself for it. I had been head sophomore coach for 14 years. I was planning and hoping and doing everything I could to be in position to get the job when it opened.#8221;
PBM: What exactly did you do to improve yourself as a coach, and to prepare yourself to be a head coach? And who did you model your style and philosophies after?CR: #8220;I had one uncle, Uncle Dean. He was a grade school coach when I was a kid growing up. He was a role model to me. He was my favorite uncle and I think he had a lot to do with me going into coaching.
#8220;In high school, I had an outstanding coach my junior year, David Lee, who is in the IBCA Hall of Fame. I learned from him.
#8220;I went to Southern Illinois in Carbondale and I took coaching classes there. I observed the coach there, Jack Hartman, who had a great career at Southern and at Kansas State.
#8220;I student-taught at Herrin High School and I did it during basketball season and I was able to work under a great coach there, a gentleman named Bruce Jilek. I learned from him.
#8220;Then when I came to Warren, I had a year as a volunteer assistant under Darrel Bader. That was his last year as sophomore coach. The next year when he was varsity coach, he hired me and I learned a lot from him.
#8220;From there, I tried to become a student of the game in terms of coaching clinics and books and periodicals and talking to coaches and just trying to be a learner. I've really tried to do that throughout. I still go to clinics. I still purchase and read coaching tapes.#8221;
PBM: You've been a part of nearly 400 wins over your career as varsity head coach. Do you remember the first one?CR: #8220;It was against Carmel in the Thanksgiving tournament at Warren in 1993. It was our third game. We started off 0-2. It was a struggle early, to be honest with you. We weren't very good. We had no returning starters from the year before. We were struggling. The beginning of that year, the whole year, it was a struggle. We struggled to score. We were real young and inexperienced and it was a battle.#8221;
PBM: Those struggles didn't last long. Two years into your tenure as head coach, Warren won a sectional championship (1995), and you've been on a roll ever since. What have been the signatures of your program that have served as the foundation for all the success?CR: #8220;Defense is the thing that would probably be there first. Every one of the coaches I mentioned (who were early mentors) were defensive coaches. And if you think back to the 70s, when I was sort of developing what you'd call a coaching philosophy, that's when Bobby Knight and Dean Smith were the best-known college coaches. That's where a lot of high school coaches were looking to learn the game and try to get better. I think that (defensive focus) was kind of the philosophy across basketball during those times.#8221;
PBM: Warren has won a lot of games with that tough defensive mentality. What have been some of the best wins you've been a part of as head coach?CR: #8220;The first regional championship in 1995. At that time, it was an expectation at Warren that you win the regional and we did that. We beat a very good Highland Park team at home in the regional final. Right after that, the next week, we won the sectional. We were seeded fourth that year, so that was a big win for us.
#8220;The next really memorable big one to me was the supersectional in 1999 (over Maine South). That may be the single biggest one. It was Warren's fourth supersectional and the previous ones had all been really frustrating games. To finally win one was just an exhilarating feeling.
#8220;After that we didn't stop. We went downstate and just played fabulous. We had a stretch in that supersectional and the Elite Eight game against Lincoln and the Final Four game against Schaumburg where we were just playing tremendous team basketball. We couldn't pull it off in the title game against St. Joe's, but those were tremendous wins.
#8220;I would put the supersectional win last year right there, too.#8221;
PBM: You've been downstate twice in your career, last year and in 1999 for the first time in school history. How were those experiences similar and how were they different?CR: #8220;The first one, until you've done something, you don't know if you can. It was just a major barrier for us. My son (Ryan) was on that team, so I had a different relationship with the players on that team. Those were his buddies, his peers. I had known those kids and their parents before I was even head coach at Warren. I watched those kids chase soccer balls and chase baseballs and come to summer basketball camp and all that when they were younger. I just knew the kids better and the families. It was a different kind of relationship. It made it special in every way.
#8220;Then last year, we had a really strong team, but a young team. The first team that went downstate was primarily seniors and a small team. Last year we were younger and pretty big. Our kids last year were really excited and enthused and just did a great job. One of my best memories of last year was of us walking back to the hotel from Carver. Our student fan buses were still there and there was this loud racket. The (student fans) were reacting to our kids walking out. The kids came running out of the buses. It was kind of a spontaneous celebration. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.#8221;
PBM: Both trips downstate resulted in second-place finishes. Now that you are in your final year at Warren and about to ride off into the sunset, do you ever think about the fairytale finish, ending with a state title in your final season?CR: #8220;I try not to, because I think it gets you away from what you need to do on a daily basis. But I do get asked that a lot.
#8220;My career at Warren, if we don't win another game, has been just magic to me. I could not have asked for anything more. I got this coaching position at a time when the school was growing and we started to get more talented basketball players. I was very fortunate.#8221;
PBM: Who are some of the most talented players you've coached at Warren?CR: #8220;There's no way I can list everybody and I'm sure I'm leaving some out. But these are some of the best players I've coached: Brandon Paul, Ceola Clark, Jourdain Milot, Mike Brandow and Langston Hughes. I think that's probably my best five. However, Darius Paul and Nathan Boothe are not finished. We're evaluating everyone else based on their completed careers. By the time their careers are completed, they're going to be contending for that also.#8221;
PBM: What was it like getting to coach your son Ryan, who was a senior on the 1999 team that finished second in the state#8221;CR: #8220;I remember just how great it was. You can't duplicate that or simulate that in anything else. Coaching your own kid is its own set of challenges. I didn't get into coaching to coach my kid. But it was a great experience to watch him grow and develop. To be able to share a bond was just fantastic. In the championship game, he hit a 3-pointer right in front of our bench. Even though we lost the game, it was a good way to finish it up, playing the last game of the year. I was very fortunate we were able to share those years and those experiences.#8221;
PBM: The experiences on the court at Warren are coming to an end. What will you do with your newfound free time?CR: #8220;I intend to relax and have a real nice summer. This will be the first summer I haven't worked since probably high school. I'm looking forward to relaxing. My wife and I will probably do some traveling. Also, a big change in our lives is that we're expecting our first grandchild in March. Our daughter Abbey is due on March 29.
PBM: Are you sure that you're totally done with coaching? You still seem to have such a passion for the game. Is it possible you'll someday resurface elsewhere?CR: #8220;I'm stepping down at Warren, I'm not necessarily retiring. Given my choice, I probably would have come back to Warren next year. But I don't have that choice. I was told (around the time he retired from teaching in 2007) that I had to pick a year for my last year. So, I picked this year and I'll move on. Once I decided to step down this year at Warren, I decided I was going to put everything I had into this season. When the season's over, I'll decide if I want to coach somewhere else and if there's anywhere I fit. Not everyone is looking for a coach that doesn't teach in the building. So I'll see if I want to coach and see if I can get a job somewhere. I wouldn't rule it out.#8221;
PBM: Officials at Warren are planning a tribute for you during tonight's game against Zion-Benton. Will you get a little emotional? Will every moment for the rest of this season be emotional for you?CR: #8220;I probably will be emotional. Professionally, I put everything I had into this. I don't have any regrets. There are a zillion things I could have done better, but I gave it my best effort. I really did. I put everything into it and it's been a big part of my life. I will feel it (when it's over).#8221;
pbabcock@dailyherald.com