Bickett will leave a legacy at Bureau Valley
I hope every basketball fan, Princeton’s and Bureau Valley’s and anyone else in between took a good, long look at the Storm bench Tuesday night at Prouty Gym.
You saw one of the game’s greatest coaches working most likely his final game.
There has been much speculation for the past year about whether Brad Bickett would be working his 15th and final season at Bureau Valley, and 20th overall, including five years at Buda Western. You can go back just a few years ago when he all but hung it up only to come back after receiving encouraging words from a senior player.
Regardless of when Bickett retires, now or five years from now, he will have left his legacy. He has set the standard for years to come at Bureau Valley with 356 career wins and 12 regional titles, including his tenure at Western, and those remarkable three straight third-place state finishes at the turn of the century.
What Chips Giovanine did at Buda Western and L-P, what Eric Bryant did at Hall, what Bob Prusator did at Tiskilwa and what Don Sheffer and Tony Lavorato did at Princeton, Bickett has left his mark at BV with his longevity and standard for excellence.
Sure he gets a little animated and a little worked up on the bench. He can be entertaining at times, as he was early in Tuesday’s game, over some officiating calls.
But you know what you are going to get when you play Bickett’s team — a well-coached team who will play their hearts out, much like the coach did in his day at Ohio High School.
Bickett calls it playing with passion, and he wears it on his sleeve.
Some players haven’t been able to play with that passion at BV for Bickett, and things didn’t work out for them.
I joked with Brad once he was old-school like Eric Bryant and Roger Lowe, and he said, “Sorry, that’s just the way I am.” I told him it was a compliment, not criticism.
Bickett told the media following Tuesday’s game he had made his decision, but declined to divulge what it would be at this time.
His thoughts about his family after the game, said enough. The father of four kids 12 and under (Bailey, Jalen, Claire and Miley), lamented how he missed his oldest daughter’s (Bailey) sixth-grade championship game, Tuesday night, and for the past several years has talked about missing his kid’s activities.
If they lived in the school district, things might be different. But the Bickett family lives in Rock Falls, where his wife, Jolene, teaches and coaches, and the Storm coach has been torn between his two home fronts.
Lance Harris, the “Lightning” to Bickett’s “Thunder” at Ohio High School, drove down from Elk Grove Village Tuesday to watch the game. He heard his old teammate may be hanging them up and wanted to be there for support.
Harris wasn’t surprised to hear of Bickett’s likely pending retirement. He said his good friend has much passion and love for the game, but has even more for his family.
“You’ve got to respect him for that,” Harris said.
If Brad hangs up his whistle, I will miss talking hoops with him and seeing him put his teams together each season, always getting the most possibly out of them.
I will miss that passion he brings to the game.
• Parting shots: I’ve been deeply moved by the devotion and dedication the members of the Princeton High School Class of 1989 have poured out for the wife and family of their teammate, Mike Sitterly, who lost his battle with leukemia last fall. They’ve rallied his family bigtime and on Friday presented PHS with a plaque for the Michael J. Sitterly Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Let me tell you, that’s what real friends are all about. Kai Wahlgren told me “Sitt” might have been a little embarrassed by the attention, but he’d be happy to see how their friendships have lasted and nurtured 21 years later.
I wanted to make a correction on the name of one of Mike’s children pictured in Tuesday. His name is Cody.
Kevin Hieronymus is the BCR Sports Editor. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com.
