See these two good looking Marksmen? They have quite the basketball pedigrees. And, wouldn't you know, their histories cross paths. Luke Carroll, the boy on the left, has a grandpa named Ed King. Judd Mathews had a grandpa named Don Mathews. Both of these boys' grandpas played basketball at Bradley University. On the same team. Here they are below.
Ed King is in the back row, number 41. Don Mathews is in the second row to the right of Ed in the photo. They both came to Bradley on scholarships from high schools that had gone to State in their senior year (Ed from Mt. Vernon and Don from Spalding.) In 1954, Ed and Don's senior year at Bradley, the Braves finished second in the NCAA tournament.
As if that isn't enough coincidence, Luke and Judd's fathers also both played at Bradley, though not at the same time. Above, number 21 is John Carroll in 1969. Below Eddie Mathews is in the back row, two players to the right of Coach Versace.
This is Luke's last year as a Marksmen. Judd is in 7th grade, so he will have another year. But he is a good player and plays up. So Luke and Judd are teammates, just like their grandpas.
As any parent will tell you, as far as raising children goes, though some of the days move slowly, the years whip by. It's hard for me to believe that Luke is in 8th grade. This basketball season has particularly gone fast. It's been a good one. I should know their record, but I don't. However, it contains far more victories than defeats, including most recently an exciting overtime win against St. Thomas for the consolation championship in the big schools Catholic tournament. (Ed: Found out from Coach Stephens that their record is 16-6.) Next up is regionals, and from here on they will keep playing as long as they win. No matter how long that is, it's been a great run of five years for Luke playing basketball at St. Mark's. And you know what they say.
Once a Marksman, Always a Marksman!
