Lake Station interim Principal Jerry Hale was not going to miss the moment.
Last week, Hale and his wife went on vacation, which had been planned months before he took the position.
But after he returned home on the afternoon of March 4, Hale collected himself and headed to Hanover Central to watch Lake Station’s boys basketball team play in a Class 3A sectional championship game against the host Wildcats.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Lake Station coach Bob Burke said. “He made it a point to get back and support.”
What Hale and a growing number of supporters witnessed was history. The Eagles’ comprehensive performance in their 66-48 win netted their first sectional title since 1941 and their second ever.
Hale’s presence underscored how the Eagles, who also won the Greater South Shore Conference title, have galvanized the school, the district and the broader community in a city with a population in the vicinity of 13,000.
“The community has rallied behind our team every game,” Hale said. “Every game, the community base has increased. Coach Burke kept our players accountable all season as they won the conference title and the long-awaited sectional victory. It really was a long drought. Our school is very excited.”
So, too, are city officials, such as Mayor Bill Carroll.
“We’re just very proud of these gentlemen, the coaches, the parents and the community involvement,” Carroll said. “We couldn’t be happier for the students. It makes everyone feel good. It’s a win for Lake Station.”
More and more alumni have been attending games. In addition to the players’ families and a loyal base of die-hard fans, the group has grown larger and more diverse as the season has progressed.
“People are happy and coming together,” Carroll said. “People who you’d never think would come together are coming together. That’s what we want, a unified Lake Station.”
For Burke, it has meant a virtually nonstop stream of congratulatory texts, calls and emails from alumni and people with a tie — direct or, in some cases, merely tangential — to Lake Station.
He noted that the school’s entire administration staff, including Assistant Principal Ryan Vondrak and Dean of Students Kevin Johnson, attended the game at Hanover Central. Superintendent Tom Cripliver and Assistant Superintendent Christine Pepa also were part of Lake Station’s contingent that “traveled well,” in Burke’s words.
“It’s a really big deal,” Cripliver said during a conference call with Carroll. “It’s really important to us. It’s been 82 years in the making, and we’re proud it happened for the boys this year.
“The team has been working together since they were in junior high school. They’ve worked together and stayed together. It’s been the development of the team over a period of time to get to this point. They’ve worked hard and been dedicated. This has been the goal of the players and the coaches, and to have it materialize, we couldn’t be happier.”
Pepa was the school’s principal for more than six years before becoming the assistant superintendent late last year.
“I feel like those are my kids,” she said. “I’m beaming with pride just as much as if they were my own children.
“They’re a single unit. They’re a family. They genuinely care about each other. As a small school corporation and a small community, we feel like a family. We get to know each other very well. There’s that intimacy, like at graduation. I know everybody who crosses that stage, and they know me. There’s that feeling of togetherness.”
Cripliver said the team’s success has been a unifying experience.
“There’s a community connection, couldn’t be more supportive,” he said. “The school is an important part of the community; the community is an important part of the school. They work hand in hand.
“It’s brought a tremendous amount of school pride from our alumni and community and current students. It’s brought us together not only as a school, but also our teams and students, whether they’re athletes, academics-oriented or participate in clubs and organizations. It’s made us cohesive.”
Carroll agreed while noting the effort behind the team’s success.
“It takes a village,” he said. “The parents have sacrificed a lot. Everybody has sacrificed a lot. It shows what teamwork, trust and dedication will get you. It’s a huge positive for the community as a whole. There’s a great sense of pride.”
The players have appreciated the support.
“We have a whole team,” senior guard Willie Miller said. “We have all of this energy. Everybody’s behind us.”
The Eagles have drawn inspiration from the idea that their accomplishments have meant so much to so many people.
“It’s for our community,” senior guard Armoni Gonzalez said. “It’s just a great feeling. Great feeling. It’s crazy.”
The team received a warm welcome on its return trip from Hanover Central. The evening ended with a feast of pizza and cake at an American Legion post.
“When we got back to the city, the amount of people off Central (Avenue), it was unbelievable,” Burke said. “We got a police and fire escort throughout the city and back to the school. The people on the streets cheering and supporting the boys, it was pretty cool.
“The boys didn’t expect to see everybody on the side of the road. It was a nice opportunity for the boys to see the love that they created.”
Indeed, beyond the sheer amount of time elapsed between sectional titles, this team in particular has resonated with observers.
Pepa has an extra level of insight. She was an assistant coach for Crown Point’s girls basketball team when it was the state runner-up in 1997, the last year of the single-class tournament, and she was the softball coach for the Bulldogs when they won a sectional title in 2003, their first in 18 years.
Pepa sees parallels between those Crown Point teams and this Lake Station team — really, a common thread among all championship-level teams.
“Teams have the most success when they play together, when they care how their teammate does as much as they care how they do as individuals,” she said. “They represent our school and community so well.”
Pepa pointed to the former players on Burke’s staff, indicating their loyalty to him, the program and the team’s “we is greater than me” mantra.
“There are a lot of individually talented players, but they work together,” Pepa said. “The coaching staff and kids work together as one unit, and I’ve told coach Burke how proud I am of him. He has the coaching aspect of the sport, but he also teaches them how to be good young men. He has helped raise them, just as we do as educators.
“It’s just been extremely exciting. Our school and community have been bonding over the excitement and wonderful achievements of our boys basketball team. Our city has always been good about supporting our school and encouraging and recognizing students who do well, with academics or sports. It’s all about the kids, and it’s just nice to see everybody getting behind them.”
A pep rally was scheduled for Friday as the Eagles (22-3), ranked No. 8 in Class 3A in the poll by The Associated Press, prepare for their stiffest challenge yet against top-ranked NorthWood (24-2) in the South Bend Washington Regional on Saturday. The city has been discussing “several events” with the school and district administration to honor the team, Carroll said.
Lake Station’s coaching staff and athletic director Jeff Bean trekked to NorthWood on Monday to check out its win against West Noble in a rescheduled sectional final. The trip was a full-circle moment of sorts for Bean, a graduate of Plymouth, which is a conference foe of NorthWood. He, too, has been inundated with congratulatory messages.
“It’s a nice time to be a Fightin’ Eagle,” Bean said. “It’s an exciting time. There’s been nothing but well wishes and good tidings for the team. We’re kind of in uncharted waters right now. But we keep saying we’re not done.”
Lake Station has never won a regional championship.
“Experience is lacking playing this time of the year,” Burke said. “We want to keep it as normal as possible. We want to keep the excitement going. It was important for us to get over the hump with the sectional. But we definitely want to keep playing for a few weeks. We keep telling that to the boys. We don’t want it to be over yet.”
