Bob Shannon still the ‘right kind of hero’
By Cedric Williams
For the St. Louis American
It’s been 15 years since a Bob Shannon-coached team won a prep football state title. And in that time a whole generation of young men have grown up in St. Louis without knowing anything about the most accomplished head
football coach this area has ever seen.
Bob Shannon’s East St. Louis Flyers of the 80’s and early 90’s were the story of legend. The Flyers won six state championships and two USA Today national championships with Shannon at the helm. Shannon himself received many awards and honors, including being named national coach of the year after the 1985 season. There was even a best-selling book written about Shannon called The Right Kind of Heroes.
“It was great back then,” Shannon said. “I loved those kids. And we really had a lot of fun.”
But Shannon abruptly left his beloved position as coach of the Flyers in 1995, when no one listened when he tried to blow the whistle on rampant corruption in the district administration system. Shannon was vindicated two
years later, when former East Side athletic director Terry May was sentenced to federal prison on charges of fraud, theft and embezzlement. Shannon did a short stint as head coach at Alton before taking over a burgeoning CBC program in 1999. And after a few years building the program, Shannon is back on top with his Cadets winning the Class 6 city championship and advancing to the first state title game appearance in school history.
CBC will play Kansas City-area champ Blue Springs South, Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Edward Jones Dome. The game will be televised live to a statewide audience on FOX SportsNet.
“We’re all very excited about this,” Shannon said. “We’ll see what happens. I talked to a guy from Jefferson City (which lost to Blue Springs South 42-7), and he said Blue Springs South is a nightmare waiting to happen. So
we’re going to have to play well to win.”
CBC’s run to the title game this year is a bit surprising, considering the Cadets had only made the playoffs twice during Shannon’s tenure and were just 2-8 last year.
“It’s all about improvement,” Shannon said. “These guys, since Day One, just wanted to improve and get better. They’ve worked so hard. That’s really the best part of getting to the championship. Seeing all the hard work pay off.”
And seeing Shannon walk the sidelines of a championship game again, for many will bring back the memories of all those great East Side teams of the past.
But Shannon said he only thinks of his days at East Side when he’s alone.
“I never even talk about it,” Shannon said. “That was all so long ago. Some of the guys (the CBC players) might have read the book. But I bet most of these guys don’t know anything about it.”
One player on CBC’s team who was happy to say he knew of Coach Shannon’s legendary past was star RB Rayon Simmons. Many fans may remember little Rayon from his days as a star player in the Kirkwood JFL leagues. This year, he burst onto the prep football scene with a breakout season and is the area’s current leader in rushing and scoring with 1,936 yards & 28 TDs.
“I know all about Coach Shannon,” Simmons said. “He’s a legend. And I know we got to state only because he’s our coach.”
Well, Rayon helped a little. The 5′ 10, 190-pound junior took over at RB this season, even though Clay Wolff, a 1,000-yard rusher in 2005, was returning for his senior season, and has completely rewritten the school’s
rushing record books.
“I didn’t know what to think,” Simmons said. “But Clay basically volunteered
to move. I was happy to start. I knew I could do it.”
Shannon said after seeing Simmons and Wolff in preseason practice, it was really a no-brainer to have Wolff move to WR.
“We just knew we had to get both those guys on the field at the same time,”
Shannon said. “Clay said he could make the adjustment. And he’s such a fineplayer, we had to give it try and see how it went.”
A stroke of absolute genius is how it went, with Simmons on the verge of a 2,000-yard season and Wolff on the verge of breaking every area receiving record there is. Heading into Friday, Wolff has caught 70 passes for 1,408
yards & 20 TDs. QB David Kannapel has also been phenomenal, passing for 2,414 yards & 27 TDs.
“We’ve got a good group,” Shannon said with a wry smile. “Maybe a
championship group. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
