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Battle of Bunker Hill

St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Mandy St. Amand had an interesting column about Bunker Hill (Ill.) High School basketball coaching legend Jim Hlafka. There was a movement to make him the girls basketball coach at the school, but the job went to someone else.

Hlafka led the boys team for 42 seasons, winning 754 games until his retirement in 2002. A few of those came against my alma mater, Southwestern High School in Piasa, Ill. You always could count on a wild game, whether it be in the somewhat spacious gym at Southwestern, the cozy gym at Bunker Hill or in a neutral site during Macoupin County Tournament. Bunker Hill was THE RIVAL of Southwestern. Although Southwestern is a considerably bigger school than Bunker Hill, Hlafka always would find a way to make his Minutemen a competitive team. The only tarnish to his coaching career was that his teams usually didn't do too well in the postseason.

I interviewed Hlafka many times during my early journalism career and found him a class act. From the evidence provided in this column, it looks like he handled this in the same manner. I'm not surprised.

Roger 0 comments 12:49 AM