Nobody can do everything in life. Not even Tim Lavery.
In the end, his mother said, a decision her son had struggled with for a long time was crystalized by a single realization:
“He did a lot of thinking over semester break,” Kathy Lavery said. “It came down to the fact he was just tired of being average at everything. I think it was a wise choice.”
When Lavery told Illinois head football coach Ron Turner Tuesday that he was quitting the football team–to concentrate on baseball–no one was too surprised.
Except by Lavery’s timing.
Juggling two Division I sports plus a demanding academic schedule was wearing down the redshirt freshman. He said he knew someday he would have to drop one sport but as recently as two weeks ago Lavery had put the “he’s-quitting-football” rumors temporarily to rest.
“We talked before he left,” Turner said. “I thought he was going to try to do both a little longer. But his mind was pretty well made up. I didn’t try to talk him out of it.”
Lavery had indicated he would report for spring drills in April to compete for the starting quarterback job he lost to junior Mark Hoekstra last fall. The more Lavery thought about trying to play two sports again, however, the more he knew he couldn’t go on stretching himself thin.
“I went home over Christmas,” Lavery recalled, “intending to play both sports, but then I started wondering, `Is this the best decision?’
“Last year was definitely tough. We’d leave on spring baseball trips on a Thursday, travel all day and not get back till Monday. I felt I was being unfair to my teammates in both sports. It was like, `Oh, Lavery decided to show up today.’ “
As a left-handed pitcher, Lavery was 3-2 with a 5.14 ERA. He started five games at quarterback for the 0-11 Illini last fall, completing 62 of 158 passes (39.2 percent) for 623 yards and two touchdowns. He had 41 rushes for a net 22 yards but dropped to No. 2 on the depth chart after the Northwestern game. Lavery said falling behind Hoekstra was a factor in his decision but not the overriding one. He said Turner and baseball coach “Itch” Jones did everything they could to accommodate him.
“Last spring I was always trying to catch up,” Lavery said. “I’d be at football thinking about baseball. I was fighting an uphill battle to learn the new offense.”
He was also fighting an uphill battle in the classroom.
“I think this will help my studies too,” Lavery said. “I’ve got a C average right now. With one sport it’s tough enough to concentrate on academics.”
At Naperville Central High School, there was nothing average about Lavery’s skills. As a senior he was chosen All-State after leading the Redhawks to a 13-1 record in football and a second-place finish in the state. In baseball he was a 14th-round draft choice of the Cubs.
Lavery turned them down to stay in school (“We did,” Kathy Lavery said. “Tim didn’t.”)
Lavery only hopes it’s not too late to make good on his boyhood dream–pitching in the major leagues.
“Because of football last year, I wasn’t happy with the innings I was getting–or my performance,” he said. “Deciding to quit football is a weight off my shoulders. In the long run it was something I had to do. I just didn’t think it would come this early.”
Turner said he feels comfortable with Hoekstra, sophomore Kirk Johnson and freshman Jeff Ziegler, who was redshirted last fall, as his top three quarterbacks going into the spring. Quarterback recruits who have committed orally to the Illini are Schaumburg’s Kurt Kittner and Rich East’s Walter Young.
“I don’t know what effect not having Tim will have,” Turner said. “If he divided his time between baseball and football it would have been tough for him to be an impact player anyway. We hope he has a great baseball career.”
