Du Quoin coaching great Roger Craft inducted into basketball Hall of Fame
Having been beaten soundly by a fully galvanized Pinckneyville Panthers only two weeks before, Du Quoin Indian basketball great Monte Kuhnert to this day remembers how it felt to beat the Panthers in the 1986 sectional game at Nashville.
"We got up to Nashville two hours early. The atmosphere was amazing. There were already fans up to the rafters. Instead of walking diagonally to get to the floor, Coach Craft told us to walk around the ENTIRE court in front of the Pinckneyville fans. It made a statement: We are not afraid!"
It wasn't being cocky, but it was an attitude, Kuhnert remembers. "We had to have an attitude because Pinckneyville was very, very good."
"It was soooo coach Craft," he said.
Kuhnert remembers one of the greatest runs in Du Quoin basketball history under coach Craft. Supersectional appearances in 1985 and 1986. Carbondale Holiday Tournament champions. Sparta Mid-Winter Tournament champions. And, a record of 124-71 in seven seasons.
That was one of DHS' athletic Golden Eras that Roger Craft brought to Du Quoin basketball. For that reason he was inducted last weekend into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Illinois State University in Bloomington.
At the outset of a career that began in 1970 at Nakomis High School, his freshmen team went 12-0. His next three jayvee teams went 45-7 and between 1975 and 1979 his teams went 76-30.
His Du Quoin Junior High teams went 135-42.
Craft was intuitive about talent. He recruited Kuhnert in eighth grade to be a varsity starter. "He had confidence in me and I give him credit for playing me up," Kuhnert said.
He played for Craft all four years in high school.
"Steve Marek and I have talked about this a lot," said Kuhnert.
"Coach Craft taught us to 'keep it simple'," Kuhnert said. "Get the ball inside the paint. We did a 1-2-2 full court press."
"Having your coach as the high school cross country coach didn't hurt. We ran all the time. We would wear the other teams out."
Kuhnert also remembers how a first class Craft handled the death of teammate Darrell Anders. "He got us together to tell us. He told us we weren't just a team, we were a family."
"And, he was great at taping ankles before every game," Kuhnert remembers.
Coach Craft was a man for all seasons. He served as cross country coach from 1979 to 1998 and his team finished fifth in state in 1982. He coached track for 33 years and baseball alongside son Tim through junior high and high school.
He has been football announcer since 1979.
He has always had a huge sense of community and organized basketball and football leagues at the Du Quoin Boys Club.
His connectivity with Indian basketball continues to this day as announcer for Indian basketball on radio WDQN. In between, he taught art to thousands of young people.
He is part of a very successful family that includes wife and career educator Barb; daughter Angela who is a designer and pattern coordinator in the fashion industry and son Tim, a Du Quoin Middle School teacher, coach and computer technology coordinator.