WHAT'S CAUSING ALL THIS?
Arrivals and departures
By MITCH LUCAS

LUCAS

Scattershooting just a little bit about recent events. By the way, the headline on this column is "Arrivals and Departures," and it's not talking about American Airlines.

• The Departure: Since there's just one real departure of note, we'll discuss it first.

When I arrived in Kilgore about six years ago, Scott Schumacher was a few months away from beginning his seventh season as Kilgore College men's basketball coach.

I grew to know Schumacher, a tall, imposing man with a very bold voice (when he introduces himself, it sounds like he's saying 'Scaat Shoomocker'), well enough to use the name his friends call him: "Schu." And if you know Schu, you know that he may growl like a bear, especially during games, but few coaches have as good a sense of humor or a relationship with their players like him.

If you haven't seen the news, Schumacher resigned this week after 13 seasons with the Runnin' Rangers to accept a position at North Dakota State College of Science, quite a hike from East Texas. He and wife Lisa, as well as their young children Ross, Lonna and Alec, will be greatly missed by this community.

File photo by Lester Murray MOVING ON - Scott Schumacher (right) and daughter Lonna were all smiles in this photo taken before basketball season. Schumacher, the former Kilgore College basketball coach, is moving to North Dakota.

Lots of people know about Schumacher's coaching and recruiting ability, but few know about Schumacher the guy, and I just wanted to share a few things with you that you might not have heard.

First off, every time I ever called Schu, he always made time to talk to me, no matter what might have been going on in the background. And he always answered his phone the same way when I called: "MIIIIIIITCHHHHHHH! What's happenin', buddy?," he would shout.

Just about every year, coach Schumacher brought his team together for Thanksgiving meal, in lieu of going off to spend it elsewhere with his extended family. Lots of times, he and members of his team would help the Rotarians place the American flags around town, during non-basketball-season patriotic holidays.

He was the instructor at the first sports camp my son, Jacob, ever attended, and loves children. In fact, one of my favorite things about Schu was his interaction with his own kids, particularly Ross.

File photo by Lester Murray DEFINITELY, AN ARRIVAL - Kilgore High School junior Drake Bickham (above), voted newcomer of the year in District 12-4A, is going to help KHS boys basketball get back to the playoffs. That's the opinion of sports editor Mitch Lucas, who says there are others who are arriving this year, as well.

My parents taught me early in life, though, that the one thing that's always constant in our lives is that nothing is forever. Everything changes (except Jesus). And while I selfishly would love it if Schu wasn't leaving, I have to wish he and his family the very best in North Dakota. He's assured me it's a good opportunity that he's accepting both for his family and for his career, and who can blame a man for that? I did the same thing six years ago when I found an advertisement for a vacancy as the sports editor of the Kilgore News Herald.

Unexpectedly, as I was finishing up this column, my 11-yearold daughter, Teresa, bumped into Schu at the ballpark for KBBA picture day. She handed him the cell phone, and we had a short conversation.

A lot of you know our photographer here at the paper, Les Murray, who also has a great sense of humor. Les found out I was on the phone with Schu. I told Schu that Jacob was really going to miss him, and Les barked out, "Tell him I'm not gonna miss him!"

Schumacher heard the comment and laughed. "Tell (Les) my family will miss him more than I will!"

Schumacher said he'll never forget his time in Kilgore.

"Everybody, all the coaches, often would ask me about my job here," he said, "and I told them the best part was living in Kilgore, being a part of this community, and going to work with the people that work at KC, just some great people."

Thirteen years is such a long time in coaching, and to stay at one place for that long is just a rarity these days. We were lucky to have Schumacher here as long as we did.

But we haven't seen the last of them, Schu told me. Lisa's family lives in Gladewater and Schu's family lives in Houston, so...

"We'll be back around the holidays and things," he said.

We're holding you to it, Schu.

• Arrivals: I was thinking about Schu's departure, and that led to me considering some notable "arrivals" this school year, people who I believe will make an impact on the 2008 school year, and possibly years to come:

- Kilgore High School basketball player Drake Beckham. Through hemhawing around and a lack of space, I put off having the District 12-4A boys basketball All-District team in the paper. But here it is now, about eight weeks late, and it's led by another imposing basketball figure: Beckham, who's finishing up his junior year.

In 28 games this year for KHS, Beckham scored a whopping 450 points (that's 16.1 points per game), averaged 9.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocked shots, and 2.1 assists per game, and shot 55 percent from the floor. He was first-team all-district and named newcomer of the year by the district coaches.

Here's the good news: he's back for his senior season next year.

Others who were named alldistrict were senior Corwin Rowlet (148 points - 10.5 per game - 2.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.2 steals per game), who was named all-district second team, along with another senior, Michael Hardeman (168 points - 6 per game - 3.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.8 steals per game). Xavian Sanders, a junior, was honorable mention. Sanders averaged 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 2.5 steals per game, and was the Bulldogs' best on-ball defender.

The playoff drought for the KHS boys basketball team is extended into the decade range now, but with four teams making the playoffs next season in 4A, and with Beckham and a good nucleus, as well as coach Jimmy Williams, returning, I'm going on the record right now that 2008 will be the year the Bulldogs are back in the postseason. We'll see.

Speaking of Williams, did you know the coach has a connection to national champion Kansas?

Jeremy Case, a senior guard for the Jayhawks, played three years for Williams in McAlester, Okla.

"He was the fourth guard off the bench," Williams recalled. "He got about three minutes in the first half of the semis (for KU) and played at the end of the game but did not get in during the finals. He is the last Roy Williams recruit. He's a great kid and led us to three state tournaments while I was coaching him. He kind of made coaching easy."

- A golf arrival: Courtney Hodgkins, who was the only KHS golfer to qualify for the regional tournament. The KHS boys also could be listed as an arrival, since four of their five will be back next season.

- A track revival: Kilgore High School track & field team. KHS boys track coach Phillip Lane has told me on several occasions that he and girls coach Kerry Strong want to get Kilgore track back to the high plain it was on in the 1970's, and with more performances like they've gotten lately, they're going to be well on their way.

Several KHS track athletes are going to be representing the school in the regional track meet in Denton on April 25-26, hoping to run, jump or throw their way into the state meet in Austin in May. I'm sure not going to bet against them. It's been a great year for Kilgore track, and - forgive the pun - it's making strides back to prominence each year.

- Football, too: We talked about Kilgore's connection with the University of Texas a bit already this week, updating the status of Pat McCrory and Casey Whitmer with the Longhorns' baseball team, and Shelby Savony with the UT softball program.

Three other former Kilgore stars look to see more playing time on the football field this year for the 'Horns. Both Britt Mitchell and Michael Huey, a pair of kids who look like they could be professional powerlifters, got a good bit of playing time during the 'Horns' spring game, and should see the field quite a bit this year. Wouldn't that be cool, for two of the five offensive linemen on the field to be from Kilgore?

Kilgore's Eddie Jones will be right in that mix, too. Jones is a defensive end, and already had caught the coaches' eyes last year when he replaced an incumbent starter who was injured. Jones was banged up himself quite a bit, and didn't get in the spring game. But he should see a good bit of playing time this fall, as well.

Thanks for listening. And watch the sports section in upcoming days for more on Kilgore High School's spring sports push. The school year might be almost over, but there are still a lot of things going on.