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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks, TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time best teams in 21 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project gets under way Thursday with baseball and readers will have the opportunity to vote through July 20, with the top teams in all categories announced in late July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4865047x3bA54833-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Shawnee County high schools have won more state team championships in baseball than in any other sport ... by far.
County teams have captured 38 titles on the diamond, 11 more than in any other sport, with Silver Lake (15) and Seaman (9) combining for 24 of those championships.
Silver Lake won its first of 15 state baseball tiles in 1953. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Current Seaman athletic director Steve Bushnell (standing), with former star Ben Carlson, led the Vikings to nine Class 5A state championships as Seaman's baseball coach. [File photo/TSN]
Silver Lake won its first two titles in 1953 and '54, with future Major League pitcher Jim Golden playing a huge role.
Legendary Kansas State basketball player and college coach Lon Kruger helped lead Silver Lake to an undefeated championship in 1970, with the late Rene Poort coaching that Eagle team before going on to a long and distinguished career as a basketball and football official.
Former Silver Lake Hall of Fame coach C.J. Hamilton retired as the winningest football coach in Kansas history, but also led the Eagles to three state baseball championships and served as an assistant coach under Alan Cunningham, who coached Silver Lake to seven state titles and also played on the Eagles' championship team in 1977.
Steve Bushnell coached Seaman to nine Class 5A state championships before moving into the athletic director's position at the school.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It's only been a couple of weeks since former Highland Park and Missouri State basketball star Kyle Weems returned from his 11th professional season, but he's already looking ahead to the future.
Former Highland Park state champ Kyle Weems visits with his high school coach, Ken Darting, and Karen Darting during last Friday's Big Kev Give Back Camp at Washburn University. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Weems, who was in Topeka last Friday to co-host the Big Kev Give Back Camp at Washburrn University, helped lead Highland Park to a perfect 25-0 record and the Class 5A state championship in 2007 before going on to earn Missouri Valley Player of the Year and All-American honors at Missouri State and embarking on a long and successful pro career in France, Germany, Turkey and Italy.
The 6-foot-6 forward has played the past four seasons for Virtus Bologna in Italy, helping the team reach the Italian League finals the past three years, with two Italian Supercup titles as well as Italian League and Euro Cup championships.
"Right now I'm not going back to Virtus Bologna,'' Weems said. "I had a real emotional sendoff and that was something I'll never forget, obviously those fans there being close to me with the loss of my dad (Kevin in 2019) and helping me out through that tough time.
"But I have some things in the works right now. I'm just kind of letting my agent do his job. I'm pretty sure I'll be going back somewhere in Italy. It's still kind of early in the summer market.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Obviously, it was a blow when Michael Wilhoite found out in mid-January that he was losing his job as linebackers coach with the Los Angeles Chargers as part of a staff shakeup.
Michael Wilhoite, outside linebackers coach for the Denver Broncos, talks with his fellow camp coaches during last Friday's Big Kev Give Back Camp at Washburn University. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Former NFL linebacker Michael Wilhoite, who played quarterback at Highland Park, participates in a passing drill during last Friday's Big Kev Give Back Camp at Washburrn University. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And nobody has to tell the former Highland Park and Washburn University standout how fortunate he was to land a job with new Denver head coach Sean Payton as the Broncos' outside linebackers coach barely a month later.
"It's been like that my whole life and I can't explain it in any other way than God,'' said Wilhoite, in town last Friday for the Big Kev Give Back Camp. "That's just him putting me around the right people and giving me the right words and ways to communicate with people, so I'm just thankful and I feel blessed that I've had the opportunities that I've had and I am where I am right now.''
Wilhoite, the former 49ers and Seahawks linebacker, did his best to keep a positive attitude in the wake of his firing from the Chargers after two seasons, realizing that it was just part of sports.
"It's the same thing as Michael Jordan getting cut,'' Wilhoite said. "It's the same thing as Sean Payton losing a job. Jon Gruden's been fired, Tony Dungy's been fired, but what I know is that with the great ones there's growth. You learn and you improve and you see things differently and that's what I'm focused on is the growth I can make from one place to another and how I can be better at everything that I did and impove the things that I didn't do well.
"It can't be that I go from one situation to the other and I don't learn anything and I still think that I know everything and I still think that I'm right. You can't do that. There's got to be growth there and I have growth, and it's humbling.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
When Topeka sports icons Kyle Weems and Michael Wilhoite launched their inaugural Big Kev Give Back Camp in 2022, they were thrilled with the results of the dual basketball/football event.
But Weems and Wilhoite also knew the camp could get bigger and better, something they saw first-hand on Friday.
Kyle Weems exchanges a hug with Ken Darting, his basketball coach at Highland Park, during Friday's second annual Big Kev Give Back Camp at Washburn University. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Mike Wilhoite partcipates in a passing drill with campers during Friday's Big Kev Give Back Camp at Washburn University. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Weems and Wilhoite, who are both Highland Park graduates and members of the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame, made the decision to move the 2023 camp from Shawnee Heights to the more centrally-located Washburn University campus and Friday's event drew more than 150 young athletes.
"It's unbelievable,'' said Weems, who just completed his 11th pro basketball season after starring at Highland Park and Missouri State. "Mike and I wanted to connect more with the inner city as well as the suburban kids. We wanted them from all over.
"We felt we had a good turnout last year but still wanted to get the inner city kids in here and give back because that's where we came from. That's what we know, that's who we are.''
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Multi-sport stars Brooklyn DeLeye of Washburn Rural and Tre Richardson of Highland Park were named the TopSports.news Topeka Shawnee County Athletes of the Year Wednesday night in ceremonies at Washburn University.
DeLeye was a standout in volleyball, basketball and soccer for the Junior Blues while Richardson starred in football, basketball and track and field and also played baseball for the Scots.
Former Washburn Rural multi-sport star Brooklyn DeLeye was selected as the Shawnee County Fall Female Athlete of the Year Wednesday night at Washburn. [File photo/TSN]
Recent Highland Park graduate Tre Richardson was named the Topeka Shawnee County Male Athlete of the Year after starring for the Scots in football, basketball and track. [File photo/TSN]
DeLeye was a two-time Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year and two-time Class 6A player of the year in volleyball while being named to the all-state first team four straight years.
DeLeye led Washburn Rural to the 6A state championship last fall and finished her high school career as Rural's career leader in kills (2,090), most hit attempts (4,086), most hits completed (3,496) and ace serves (277).
"Brooklyn is one of the most dominant game changers that has ever graced the volleyball courts in Kansas,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "People came to our matches to watch her, and little kids idolize her.
"With all of that she is very humble. A better role model for our younger kids cannot be found. A truly once in a coaching lifetime player for us.''
