A publication from Alan Look Photography - We've gone virtual. All new stories will be here on out Blog. Old issues are still available via MagCloud. Every photo has a story, every story has a photo. We currently cover the Illini and varsity sports at many of the high schools in Bloomington, Normal, McLean County and the 309 Area Code. We are the Best Look in Sports Action photography.
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Showing posts with label bloomington - Normal sports photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bloomington - Normal sports photography. Show all posts
On September 15th, 2012 Jimmy Garoppolo visited Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University as the starting quarterback for the Eastern Illinois Panthers. Who knew that 8 years later he would become one of 2 starting quarterbacks in the NFL's SuperBowl. Jimmy of course is the 2nd starting Quarterback from Eastern to do well. Ten Years before, another named Tony Romo completed his senior year at Eastern. Tony went on to an NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys.
Freelance photographer Alan Look was fortunate to have captured both players in action. The image of Tony Romo was taken at Eastern during the Homecoming game in 2002 against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. The image has been used by national media and in several books. The images of Jimmy Garoppolo were both used by Upper Deck as trading cards for his rookie season.
The local football season kicked off today with the Illinois State Redbird Red-White scrimmage. A healthy combination of fans and students attended the event and the preliminary activities which included the annual student promo photo on the field in Hancock Stadium with the Big Red Marching Machine, cheerleaders, flag corp, and Redline Dancers forming ISU all wearing red shirts.
High School football will follow in 13 days with the first Friday Lights games.
Get out this fall, support your local teams and see some of the great talent that passes through our communities!
February 2, 2019 - Normal, IL: The Illinois State Redbirds and the Ramblers of Loyola Chicago squared off for a Men's Missouri Valley Basketball game to see who would walk away in sole possession of 1st place in the conference at near the midpoint of the season. Dick Ludtke, a long time broadcaster was on hand to do the radio play by play and was recognized before the battle for his 1000th Redbird Basketball broadcast.
Just over 8100 fans nearly filled the 10,500 seat Redbird Arena and stayed in their seats to watch the entire game. Although the point difference at the buzzer was 8 points in the Redbirds favor, the game was not really settled till inside the 1 minute mark. The frenzied late play kept a crowd that oftens leaves with minutes left on the clock, in their seats till the end.
Wheaton Thunder rumbled into Bloomington Illinois on Saturday September 12th ranked at #12 in D3 football schools. They never rumbled much the first half of the game, but came out in the 2nd half with a long kickoff return that left them just short of the goal and scored on the next play. Illinois Wesleyan Titans got the ball back only to give it up on a fumble due to a pretty hard hit and the Thunder rumbled back into the end zone. That was the last of the rumbles from the Thunder as the Titans muscled their way back up to their feet to push them out of Tucci Stadium. Final score put the Titans on top. The win was a good one for IWU and an even better one for Coach Norm Eash. The win made Coach Eash the winningest football coach in the history of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW).
At the final buzzer, the Illinois Wesleyan Titans 94 and the Alma Scots 75. On the path to get there, Brady Rose scores 35 while connecting on 6 three pointers. Brady had the company of Zach Knobloch who broke the schools 3 point record with 10 three point shots upsetting the standing record by Bryce Dolan who had 8. Knobloch was playing his 2nd game as a Titan after transferring as a sophomore from Wisconsin Whitewater. Jalen Beasley grabbed a career best 12 rebounds.
The Titans move to 2-0 on the season. The Scots fall to 0-2.
Normal West was impressive last night with a 57-18 win over the University Pioneers. They pulled out to an early 10 or 12 point lead and never relinquished it. The Wildcats played what has probably been the quickest up and down game of the 4 games we've seen in the early season. Speed is certainly one of the weapons they have in their arsenal.
The Central Catholic v Normal Community game was all the Ironmen for the first quarter. The Saints never felt out of it and pushed forward cutting the lead by halftime. The final score at the buzzer was just a 2 point win 42-40 for the Iron. Top scorers for each team were Saints Coffman and Iron Wong both with 12 each.
The Classic just concluded. Rock Island Rocks are represented in both the Large School Boys and Girls brackets - winning the boys and taking 2nd in the girls, beating U-High in the boys and losing on a comeback run in the girls to Chicago North Lawndale College Prep.
Small School Boys and Girls brackets were taken by Quincy Notre Dame over Bloomington Central Catholic and Rockford Lutheran ove St. Thomas More respectively.
There will be coverage by Alan Look Photography - Bloomington - Normal's Best Look in Sports Action Photography in the Normalite Newspapers and in the February issue of Best Look Magazine. Until then, you can enjoy this gallery of images.
Yes, it was a chili night on Friday for the Chili Bowl between the Normal Community Ironmen and the Normal West Wildcats. The temps were in the low 60's and there was a pretty good breeze blowing in from the north at Normal West High School's football field. The effects were evidently felt more by the Wildcats than the Iron. The Iron stormed ahead in the first half, but the Wildcats stayed in the game with a couple of pretty solid drives. In the end, it wasn't enough for the hosts with the Iron taking the game and the Chili Bowl.
The high temperatures and humidity across the mid section of the country spawned isolated storms on Friday night. Although some rain fell in the area, the biggest problem locally for football games was the lightning. Many area schools saw their games suspended because of the electric atmosphere. Normal West playing in Collinsville, Normal Community and Bloomington both playing at home and Heyworth were all subject to the suspensions. One report tells of more severe thunderstorms to the east affecting the Champaign - Urbana area, Danville and into west central Indiana.
Play did get started at the Heyworth game. Heyworth hosted the Falcons of Flanagan, Cornell, Woodland. The Falcons started the game kicking to the Hornets and defending the north end zone. Brandon Day accepted the kickoff for the Hornets and made a good run up the field. He followed it shortly after moving the ball much closer to the goal. After a too high pass to Skyler Cox in the corner of the end zone, the Hornets kept the ball on the ground with runs by Keith Hickenbottom and eventually one by Matt Schultz for the first score of 6 points. A 2 point conversion ensued on a keeper run to his right by quarterback Jacob Day.
The game suspended shortly after with the Hornets in the lead 8-0
Friday night August 28th was the first night for IHSA football games. Our usually list to pick from was a little smaller this year than others as the home game schedules only had 3 playing in McLean County. The schedules are a bit tighter this year with Lexington joining the Ridgeview/Blue Ridge partnership. We hear it was a numbers decision associated with potential players and not a financial situation. What ever the reason, it is good to see that those who want to play and the administrators found a way to make it happen. The Ridgeview/Blue Ridge/Lexington team we believe is still known as the Mustangs. They played the Fisher Bunnies at Fisher on opening night. We hope to cover them soon.
Our pick placed us in LeRoy with the Panthers hosting the GCMS Falcons of Gibson City - Melvin - Sibley high school. The Falcons seemed to have the edge early and I believe they won (we had to leave in the 3rd quarter for another commitment), but the Panthers held their own. The game was 7-6 Falcons in the lead as we headed for the bus. The announcer yelled touchdown as we were loading gear, but we didn't hear who it was.
Need something to do on Memorial Day weekend? Ever been to the Middle East Conflicts Memorial Wall in Marseilles Illinois? It is a special place right along the Illinois River. It is a first rate memorial and a solemn place to pay your respects to those who have made the freedom we experience possible. Our cover and a story are dedicated to it. Take a peek, this one is all funded by donations...
Other items in this issue are the basketball wrap-ups for the Illinois State Redbird and Illinois Wesleyan Titans men and womens teams, the runs to state by the Central Catholic girls and the boys teams from Normal Community and Ridgeview. It's Official is back and there are a coupe of pieces on the Chicago Skyline and Christian Stoniev.
Thanks in advance for taking a peek at our publication and supporting our advertisers!
One short week before the May 2015 issue is available for viewing and purchase. In this issue, the cover story deals with the men and women of the US Armed Services that have lost their lives overseas fighting for our freedoms. Other coverage will include the 2015 Chicago Auto Show, a wrap up on area basketball for the 2014-15 season, a local entertainer, the It's Official page and a couple of other features.
Mark your calendar and come by in a week to see the rest!
It's been a very long and sad day for most everyone in Central Illinois today. Waking up to the news that a small plane crashed a couple miles short of the airport in the dense fog and the suspense till the names of the 7 people killed in the crash was enough to wear one down very early. Then hearing the names about lunch time, just seemed to take all the wind from the sail. The dreary day just became gloom.
I sit back of the baseline for most every Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball game. I have been for 15 years. Knowing that most don't really like a camera in their face, I normally just do my job while keeping my distance. People see me, I see them, we probably even recognize each other away from the arena. It was no different with Torrey and Aaron. I don't remember even getting the chance to say hello to Torrey. I probably did to Aaron as he would have moved around the arena more. I don't really recall.
With Torrey, one always knew when he was near the court. He dressed impeccably, and usually had at least one player with him. The respect for him just transcended the commotion. Today, I saw a couple images of him where he was actually leaning into the court shouting something. I didn't see that a lot. He appeared to always be calm, cool and gentlemanly. I'll miss seeing him on the court.
Aaron, worked behind the scenes. Much of what you see around ISU Athletics is due in part to his greatness at his job. He energized the community and the businesses and got everyone behind the 'Birds. I'll recognize more of those efforts now that he is gone, wondering always which may not have happened had he not been on the job.
