| |
 |
Carpe Diem
PROLOGUE
OCTOBER 1
Several beads of sweat trickled down his nose. As he settled into his favorite chair, Coach Ben Reynolds noticed that his entire coaching shirt was still damp from the night’s activities. He was tired, yet happy. He was a little spent, but glad. He was back…back in the arena that had meant so much to him, back on the football field coaching a group of young men who rallied around his presence.
The Homecoming game that night against Willbury had been anything but a model of beauty, but somehow Hillsdale found a way to win. A loss might have sent his Hillmen squad spiraling towards a losing season, something Reynolds had not experienced in a long time, certainly not recently. The emotional win, however, now could propel them on their way towards a late season playoff run.
Not that they were a threat to win State. That wasn’t even the issue. Just the thought that they now had a good shot to keep playing in November was enough. For now. He had dreaded the idea of coming to practice the next Monday IF they had lost that game tonight. It might have been too much.
He also thought of his mentor, J.W. Wilson, who was lying in a hospital bed after collapsing on the field after the game. It was J.W. who had spearheaded this whirlwind of activities the past week that had breathed some life back in the school, the community, and the team. Ben could still see the old coach riding on that float in Friday’s parade, playing that song on his guitar with the amp blaring away. A slight smile came to his face.
Ben and his wife Julie had just returned home from the hospital. The weird situation between Wilson, his son J. T., or Tom Thomas, or whatever his name was, and the girl Amber Sloane and her off-the-wall mother was enough to keep both of their heads spinning. Julie had enough and had gone to bed.
Ben felt he needed to unwind a little bit by watching some of the game on DVD first. He had just popped it in and flopped into his chair when the phone rang.
Reynolds’ initial reaction was alarm. Who would be calling at one in the morning? Was it the hospital? Was it one of his coaches? The police? On the other hand, he was also annoyed, annoyed that someone would have the gall to call this late.
Fortunately, the phone was in the kitchen, and Ben could pick up another slice of pizza that his son Tommy had left for him on his way to answer it. He already had spilled a little sauce on his shirt from the first piece.
He didn’t want it to ring again because it might wake up his family who were sleeping upstairs. He picked it up and looked at the “caller ID.” It read “Unknown Caller.”
Ben thought about not even answering it, not at this hour. But he decided it might be urgent.
“Hello.”
“This Reynolds?”
“Yeah.” He thought he recognized the voice.
“You might’ve thought you heard the last from me, you sonuvabitch! You screwed me over, and I’m going to get you before I’m through!”
“Hey !You got no right…!”
“Listen! I’m watchin’ ya’ now, and I’ll be watchin’ ya from here on out! You can’t run! You bastard!” Click.
Ben ran to the front door as a pair of taillights vanished down the street. He looked at his phone. He did know that voice
Bubba Brown!
| In The News |
|
Former Pontiac football coach Mick Peterson writes novel
By Jim Benson
| In the Classrom |
 |
PONTIAC — Mick Peterson didn’t have football players to coach this fall. Gratefully, Peterson said he still had students to teach. One more thing: Peterson had a juicy story to tell. Well, sort of.
Put those all together and the result is “Once A Coach,” the first novel written by the retired Pontiac High School football coach who is in his last year at the school as an English teacher.
“People who have finished it have told me it was a good read,” said Peterson. “It could have been a soap-box story, and it’s not. I didn’t want it to be.”
Peterson said he got plenty of help and encouragement from the seniors in his Composition II class, from editing and marketing to designing the cover.
The 250-page paperback book was recently published by AuthorHouse of Bloomington, Ind. It is the fictional story of the Midwestern town of Hillsdale and its football-hungry community. Peterson draws on the many experiences he encountered in a 34-year coaching career.
What the book is not totally about, said Peterson, is just one experience. Still, he knows many will think that.
Peterson was suspended for one year by the Illinois High School Association in 2002. IHSA executive director Marty Hickman said Peterson used “undue influence” to lure quarterback Isaac Monts to transfer from Woodland High School to Pontiac. Monts also was suspended.
While the Monts case served as a starting point in the book for the main character, Coach Ben Reynolds, Peterson said only one other situation (a family moving away) actually happened during that time.
The rest is pure Peterson story telling.
For example, Peterson said the head of the state athletic association in the book is drawn from a character in a movie, “Clear and Present Danger.” Peterson said another character is loosely based on former Pontiac player Jason Drengwitz, who worked for awhile at State Farm Insurance Cos. and is now coaching and teaching at Normal Community.
“The funny thing is everyone is going to go, ‘Who is this guy and who is this guy?’ As a writer, you say can you guess,” said Peterson. “I’m sure people in Pontiac will get this and say, ‘This guy is this guy.’ ”
Peterson has thought about writing a book for a long time.
But fiction wasn’t his first idea.
“I was going to do one that dealt with philosophy and motivation (titled) ‘So You Want To Be A Coach.’ It would be, so, you think you’re good enough to do this. Well, this is what you’ll have to go through,” said Peterson. “I thought, while it would not necessarily be boring, who am I to say something like that? So I said no to that.”
Peterson said the idea for a novel came during the spring after he decided to retire from coaching. He worked three Bishop Dullaghan Football Camps in the summer and, during the down time, that’s when he created Ben Reynolds, who was named after Ben Newcomb, Peterson’s college coach at Augustana.
When the school year began in August, Peterson let his Composition II students get involved. They read some of the early chapters and not only became a sounding board, but editors as well.
“They pushed me and challenged me. They’re all going to college,” said Peterson. “Whenever something came up with it, they wanted to know more. Then I wrote more.”
Peterson credits one student, Carrie Chandler, with doing much of the editing. Chandler read the entire book, asked questions and made numerous suggestions.
Chandler said her age group should like the book “because of the drama aspect of it and the fact high school kids are involved and probably people they can relate to.”
Anthony Easton said he joked around with Peterson about designing the cover. Easton should have known better. Peterson took him up on the offer.
“I tried to explain my idea to him. I went down to our art room, made a rough sketch and he liked it,” said Easton. “He sent it (to the publishers) and they liked it. I didn’t think it was going to be used.”
Another Composition II student, Kelly Vietti, also is in a marketing class at the school. Peterson talked to that class and, with Vietti serving as a liaison, they are helping to market the book.
AuthorHouse is a self-publishing company. That means authors pay for their books to be published. Peterson said he needs to sell about 500 to break even.
While Peterson said his suspension by the IHSA wasn’t the total focus of “Once A Coach,” he admitted that episode in his life was difficult to handle.
“It was cathartic in many ways,” said Peterson of writing a book. “I needed to get it off my chest.”
| Mick Peterson goes from coach to author |
|
|
|
| |
By Jim Mattson
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 10:54 a.m.
For years, Pontiac Coach Mick Peterson entertained fans with an exciting brand of Friday night football. Now Peterson is entertaining fans with a new book, "Once a Coach." The book is a fictional story of a high school football coach in a football crazy town. Peterson's book is available on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Peterson will also host book signings in the Pontiac area. Peterson is a English teacher at Pontiac High and got lots of help from his senior composition class in writing the book. Special credit goes to students Carrie Chandler for editing and Anthony Easton for the book cover design. Just like Mick has authored his first book--the following is my first ever book review:
Once a Coach- author- Mick Peterson- publisher- AuthorHouse
I began this review with full disclosure. Journalists like myself loved covering Mick Peterson. Peterson was always a joy to interview---interesting, funny, irreverent, unique. Interviews with Mick always made it on the air and always made my sportscast more entertaining. So, it's little surprise Mick's first attempt at authoring a book, "Once a Coach" is also very entertaining.
The book is a fictional story of Coach Ben Reynolds, the retiring head football coach at Hillsdale High. The book is about high school football---but only features one high school game. That's what makes the book so interesting. It's about the high school football we fans often don't see. Sure, the action under the Friday night lights is a blast. But for a high school coach like Ben Reynolds or Mick Peterson, those 9 Friday night games are just a small percentage of the now 365 day a year job as high school coach. The book looks at the importance of a coaches family, the role of overzealous parents, the media's role in high school sports, and how much the game means to the young men, coaches, and towns that love high school football.
When you read the book, you'll think often of Mick Peterson and Pontiac and that's to be expected. Peterson was a high school coach for 33 years and the people in this book are fictional characters based on the real people Peterson has worked with for over 3 decades. The book deals with a state association investigating a claim of illegal recruiting against Coach Reynolds and Hillsdale High---a situation nearly identical to what happened to Coach Peterson and Pontiac in the 2002 football season.
But even if you don't know Mick or Pontiac, you'll enjoy this book. It's about what makes the sport of high school football great and about what might some day ruin the great sport of high school football. Coach Ben Reynolds is a unique, interesting figure who has dedicated his life to leading young men on and off the football field. Just about every small town can relate to a guy like Coach Reynolds. "Once a Coach," allows you to see more of what coaching is about and why it's such an important job.
The best thing about the book--the ending will want you to know what happens next with Coach Reynolds and the Hillsdale Hillmen. Just like after Pontiac High scored a touchdown, fans wanted to know would Mick Peterson go for two. I hope Mick goes for two and writes another book about Coach Reynolds. I'm looking forward to that book and strongly recommending this book, "Once a Coach."
|
|
|
|