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glenviewlantern.com sports
the glenview lantern | December 28, 2017 | 31
The Lantern writer named to hall of fame
Carlos Alvarez/22nd century
media
1st-and-3
stars OF THE Week
1. Max Hubbard
(above)
South’s junior
guard led the way
for the Titans with
10 points against
the Trevians in
a hard-fought
conference battle
between the two
foes.
2. Sarah Healy
The Titans
gymnast tied
for third on the
vault against the
Trevians while also
finishing fourth in
the all-around.
3. Thomas Lundal
The GBS sharpshooter
made
the most of his
opportunity,
scoring the Titans’
boys hockey
team’s winning
goal in overtime.
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
Lou Boudreau, Dan Issel,
George Mikan, Isiah
Thomas and Jerry Sloan are
Illinois basketball greats
have all been inducted
into the Illinois Basketball
Coaches Association Hall
of Fame.
But now they’ll have to
move over to welcome a
new member to the group:
longtime sports and current
22nd Century Media
reporter, Loyola football
beat writer, and Wilmette
resident Neil Milbert.
Earlier this month, the
association announced its
2018 hall of fame class,
which includes Milbert,
who will go in as one of
seven media members during
a May 5 banquet at Illinois
State University in
Normal. Milbert is being
honored after many years
at the Chicago Tribune
and the last seven years of
writing for 22nd Century
Media.
“The body of work led
me to getting the nomination
to the hall of fame and
it’s humbling because it’s
a big honor. It was unexpected,”
Milbert said. “I
got a lifetime achievement
award from the National
Turf Writers Association
a few years ago, but this
one means more because
there’s more basketball
writers in Illinois than there
are racing writers in the entire
country.”
The sport of basketball
has been a favorite of
Milbert’s going back to a
young age. As a child, Milbert
was diagnosed with the
rheumatic flu one summer,
causing him to spend an entire
summer in bed and really
knocking him out from
any sporting activities for
two to three years.
That, in a way, turned out
to be a blessing in disguise.
“I became a student of
sports as a child because,
when I was in bed that summer,
I knew every player in
baseball,” he said.
After graduating from
Marquette University in
1961, a paper in Ottumwa,
Iowa, hired the Iowa native
to work on its news
side, but he was only there
for a couple months due to
being drafted and enlisting
in the Marine Corps. After
six months of active duty
and then serving four and
a half years in the reserves,
Milbert joined his college
roommate in New Jersey
and worked the sports desk
at The Jersey Journal in
Jersey City, New Jersey,
beginning in September of
1962.
Milbert worked his way
up to the St. Peter’s College
beat in 1965. He held
the beat for three years, and
witnessed some incredible
moments.
“I got these guys when
they were sophomores,”
Milbert said. “When they
were juniors, the [National
Invitation Tournament] was
a big tournament because
the NCAA field was much
smaller. They got invited
to the NIT and got blown
out by Southern Illinois. So
low and behold, the next
year they managed to get
back to the NIT and their
first game they win against
Marshall. Second game,
they play Duke, which was
No. 4 in the country, and I
thought, ‘St. Peter’s is going
to get blown out again,’
because Duke had been upset
in the ACC Tournament
and therefore didn’t qualify
for the NCAA Tournament.
Low and behold, St. Peter’s
upset Duke.
After coming to the
Chicago Tribune in the
early ’70s, Milbert had
few opportunities to cover
basketball. He mainly followed
high school state
playoff games when the
paper would have its staffers
cover regional and sectional
games. At the time,
Milbert was a Blackhawks
beat writer, as well as the
paper’s main horse racing
reporter.
That was until the mid-
’80s, when he was assigned
the Northwestern men’s
basketball beat.
“One [team I’ll remember]
was a really good
Northwestern team that had
a bunch of guys transfer
out. This new group came
in as freshmen and Ricky
Byrdsong came in [for] his
first year as head coach,”
Milbert said. “They went
undefeated in nonconference
play but struggled in
conference play. To make it
to the NIT, they needed to
go .500 and had one game
left, against Michigan, who
had four of the Fab Five
remaining. It was a terrible
matchup, but Northwestern
took them to overtime,
upset them and went to the
NIT.
“That was monumental
see how far these guys had
come.”
Milbert would follow
that up with covering the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
team that
made the NCAA title game,
as well as sitting right in
front of Bryce Drew when
he hit an iconic 3-pointer
to beat Ole Miss in the first
round of the 1998 NCAA
Tournament.
“I was sitting there, thinking,
‘Oh boy, not enough
time, three seconds,’” Milbert
added. “I see this guy
wind up, throw the long
pass the entire court, one
of the Valpo players set it
up to Bryce Drew and he
hit the shot right in front
of me. It was an incredible
moment, I’ve never seen
anything like that.”
Milbert left covering college
basketball after leaving
the Tribune and started
writing for 22nd Century
Media’s North Shore papers
in 2010. One of his
first assignments was a
summer league basketball
game between Glenbrook
South and Loyola Academy.
He has a few high school
basketball games he’ll always
remember covering.
“A memorable team
is Steve Weissenstein’s
GBS girls team when they
played in a tournament
in Schaumburg,” Milbert
said. “They struggled there,
but Steve said, ‘Oh, we’re
going to be good at the end
of the year. These are all inexperienced
girls and I like
some of the things I saw. I
wouldn’t want to play us in
February.’
“And he was right. They
turned it around and really
had a good year. That to
me was a mark of a good
coach.”
Milbert noted that one
of the major differences
between covering high
schools and colleges is that
high school reporters have
to do many things themselves.
When covering college
teams, reporters get
stats handed to them and
can request players and
coaches to talk to through
the media relations employees
at the schools.
High schools are a different
story.
“I’ve always had a respect
for high school writers
because in the old days,
they always had to find a
phone, to plug their computers
in, and it’s always
been more difficult because
of that aspect,” he said.
“I’ve only done a handful
of professional games,
but I like the high school
game better. I like the
coaches strategizing, things
like that. I feel like there’s
more coaching on the high
school level, maybe not
more than college but more
than in the pros.”
Listen Up
“I’m proud of them for coming back
and for not getting frustrated.”
Jim Philbin— The GBS boys hockey coach on his
team’s performance against New Trier Blue.
tunE in
What to watch this week
The GBS boys basketball team travels to Wheeling to
compete in its holiday tournament.
9 a.m. Friday, Dec. 29 at Wheeling
Index
28 - Girls Gymnastics
27 - Coach Talk
Fastbreak is compiled by Sports Editor
Michal Dwojak. Send any questions or comments
to m.dwojak@22ndcenturymedia.com