2024 Annual Hall of Fame Luncheon in Cape Coral, Florida

On November 12, The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and the Basketball Museum of Illinois hosted their second annual Hall of Fame luncheon at Duffy’s Sports Grill in Cape Coral, Florida. Many a story relating to Illinois Basketball was shared during our three-hour lunch. In fact, you could travel all over Illinois that day and hear fewer stories about Illinois basketball than those told in Cape Coral. At about the two-hour mark, our waitress finally convinced us to order our food.

Two of Collinsville’s finest players were in attendance: Dennis Pace (1965) and Marc Fletcher (1971-74).

Marc is the son of legendary coach Vergil Fletcher. Marc averaged 28 ppg during his senior season. He also had excellent court vision, which made him a coach on the floor. Marc will go on to play at Tulane University. Dennis Pace was a terrific shooter from the high post, and he will go on to have a fine career for the Fighting Illini. An interesting fact that Dennis shared was that he didn’t play freshmen basketball; he was recruited to play for Collinsville out of a physical education class.

Another speaker, Jim Maxedon, had an incredible career at Effingham High School.

He canceled a doctor’s appointment to be with us. Coach Maxedon began coaching at Effingham in 1968 after stops at Clay City and Sparta High Schools. Building a dynasty at Effingham, Jim’s Flaming Hearts won 10 regional titles and 4 sectional crowns, and three of his teams reached the state finals. In 1968, Effingham was 30-1; in 1980, his team reached the state championship game.

Author Scott Lynn, who wrote the book on the great Thornridge teams, also spoke.

Most long-time basketball fans in Illinois consider the 1972 Thornridge team the greatest Illinois High School team of all. We did not know that in the year-plus it took Scott to research and write his book, he was also fighting for his life, battling cancer and infections. His stories and experiences kept us spellbound. By the way, there are very few Thornridge books left. If you have one, keep it.

Two great Hall of Fame Officials, Bill Mitze from Monticello and Dave Figueira, who officiated in the Springfield Region, joined us. They discussed some of their career highlights and some coaches who were a handful on the court.

After three hours of shared great memories, we concluded the event with pictures and handshakes. It was a day that made you feel blessed to be part of a state steeped in basketball richness. Our event made you realize that when it comes to basketball, Illinois has millions of stories.

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