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Chapter 5: Small Schools
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5 Small Schools [44.220.245.254] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 08:21 GMT) Aledo: Rekindling a Tradition Michael O’Brien shared the disappointment of his teammates. In fact, O’Brien and the other underclassmen were devastated. Aledo had finished 11–1 in 1998, losing to Stillman Valley in the state quarterfinals. Townspeople said it was the best team in school history, a dominant squad that averaged 40 points per game.Worst of all, there was speculation that Coach Bill McCarty was going to leave.Then he did. “McCarty revamped the program and rekindled the tradition,”O’Brien recalled.“He brought us back to the playoffs. He coached from 1990 to 1997 and turned Aledo into more of a football town. He brought hope to a lot of kids who trained hard but never were able to put it all together.When he left [for Port Byron Riverdale], there was a lot of disappointment. But the kids banded together and hoped for the best.” O’Brien feared that McCarty’s successor would be a second-rate coach. But athletic director Fred Nessler called O’Brien, the team leader, into his office during the summer and assured him that he wanted to continue what McCarty had started. He said he was focusing on a young coach who had taken his Colfax Ridgeview team from 2–7 to 9–3 and the state quarterfinals in four years. Cullen Welter was the answer. He was a good fit, too. A former four-sport athlete while growing up in Mahomet-Seymour and a sprinter on Illinois’ track team,Welter was looking to move closer to his wife’s family in the Quad Cities. He did an extensive background check on Aledo and its football program. He liked what he saw. Aledo,the seat of Mercer County,is a rural farming community of 3,500 located on Highway 17 about 25 minutes from Interstate 74. Many of its residents work in the Quad Cities.There are two stoplights, a McDonald’s, a Hardee’s, a Wal-Mart, a YMCA, two golf courses, Scooter’s bar, and four pizza restaurants. Happy Joe’s, by most accounts , is the most popular.The town’s most famous product is country music singer Suzy Bogguss, a 1975 graduate. In 2007, Aledo celebrated its 125th anniversary. Welter was more interested in determining if he could build a winning football team.It had been done in the past.George Pratt,for whom the football field is named, won 76 percent (89–27–5) from 1946 to 1962. He is credited with making football a Friday night event in Aledo. Jim Smith, who had a cup of coffee in the NFL, was a great player in the 1960s. For the first 15 years of the state playoff,however,Aledo qualified only once (1975). In 1988, Coach Brian Applegate’s team was 13–1 and lost to Carlyle for the Class 2A championship. But Applegate left and Aledo went 0–9 the following year. 134 / Dusty, Deek, and Mr. Do-Right Then McCarty arrived. He won 71 percent (62–25) of his games in eight years. He qualified for the state playoff in four of his last six years, winning 53 games. His 1997 powerhouse, led by quarterback Colin Conway, halfback Travis Boswell, and flanker Todd Baldwin, was 11–1.Then he left. Enter Welter. “McCarty’s shoes were very big and hard to fill. He was the hope of the town as a coach,” O’Brien said.“When he left, we thought nothing would work out.” At a team meeting to introduce Welter,only one third of the squad showed up.The others remained despondent and not too interested. Five of them were so discouraged that they opted not to play football in 1998. But O’Brien was impressed.Welter was very inspiring and professional. “He was very much in tune with the current tradition we had at Aledo,” O’Brien said.“He wanted to further our tradition.And he brought something new to the game. He is a chess player,a mind-oriented coach,very articulate.He knows what he wants. He doesn’t tolerate people who are lackadaisical or have bad attitudes. He gets very angry when players don’t meet expectations he knows they can fulfill.” Welter’s record speaks for itself. In 11 years at Aledo, his teams have posted a spectacular winning percentage of .837 (113–22).They won state titles in 1998, 2001, and 2002...