The Daily Egyptian - November 13, 2024 by Daily Egyptian

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2024

Don’t count them out: The impact of basketball on the youth of Cairo

Carly Gist @Gistofthestory

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade placed Carbondale at the heart of the abortion access debate. As conservative states across the Midwest and South swiftly moved to ban abortion, Illinois emerged as a refuge for people seeking access to reproductive care.

Health care providers saw Carbondale, in particular, as an important access point due to its southern location and train access.

Three abortion clinics had opened shortly after the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, but not without controversy. As quickly as they opened, the clinics began to face anti-abortion advocates. An anti-abortion organization is now challenging the measures Carbondale implemented to protect the clinics in a legal case that could have national implications.

Hill v. Colorado paves the way In 2000, the Supreme Court upheld

FOR MORE PHOTOS AND STORY | 6

Domarion Nunez (left) and Kevin Robinson (right) walk towards town April 26, 2024 in Cairo, Illinois. Kids who grow up in communities that suffer from limited resources will also grow up in communities that have higher crime rates, making it pivotal for children to have outlets - like basketball. The town faces many obstacles including population decline, housing disparity, poverty and lack of government funding. Simeon Harledy | @SimShardphotography

Dawgs stage biggest comeback in school history, beat Youngstown State

NiCk PfaNNkuChe NPfaNNkuChe@dailyeGyPtiaN Com

With three seconds on the clock, Youngstown State had one play to get into the end zone. The ball was snapped, the Penguins quarterback scrambled to his left under pressure and threw up a prayer. The Saluki faithful in the stands could only hold their breath as the ball traveled through the air. When the ball sailed out the back of the end zone, harmlessly, the crowd could finally celebrate the first win since Sept. 14.

The Salukis hosted the Youngstown State Penguins in a Missouri Valley matchup on Saturday, Nov. 9 pulling

off a 37-33 win to break their sixgame losing streak. Coming back from a 28-point deficit marked one of the biggest comebacks in program history.

“I’m really proud of the guys, everyone that’s a part of the program.” Nick Hill said. “We’ve lost six games in a row, there’s been a lot of tough moments in the season, just the resolve of this team, the character of those guys.”

With under two minutes on the clock and down 2 points, freshman quarterback Jake Curry, in his finest performance to date, made three big plays in less than a minute. He completed a big pass

to receiver Bradley Clark, ran for 14 yards, and then found Clark in the endzone to cap off a 28-point comeback, the largest in school history.

Curry’s play on Saturday was one of the biggest reasons the Salukis were able to pick up the victory. Curry completed 19 passes on 26 attempts for 322 yards and three touchdowns, and also used his legs to pick up 72 yards and a touchdown.

“Curry had a game he’ll never forget.” Hill said.

The receiving corps was another big part of the win. Reigning Prairie

Nov. 9, 2024

in Carbondale, Illinois. Lylee Gibbs | @lyleegibbsphoto

Peyton Reeves (90) holds an SIU flag and sings the school fight song alongside his teammates who stand behind him after the Salukis picked up a win over Youngstown State at home, ending a six-game losing streak

at Saluki Stadium

a Colorado ordinance that created an 8-foot “bubble zone” around any person within a 100-feet radius of a healthcare facility, including abortion clinics. The zone prevented any person engaging in expressive activity, such as protests and leafleting, from approaching the target audience without their consent. In the years since the court’s decision, many cities around the country adopted similar laws, including Carbondale, Illinois.

“We’re constantly seeing some form of protest activity at our health centers across the state,” said Patience Roundtree, director of advocacy and organizing for Planned Parenthood of Illinois.

Planned Parenthood is the most recent reproductive care organization to open a location in Carbondale. Its doors opened in December 2023, over a year after CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health and Alamo Women’s Clinic moved to Carbondale in fall 2022.

The organization has seen “an uptick of antiabortion extremists” since Roe was overturned, Roundtree said. Its health center in Peoria was firebombed in August 2023. Due to extensive damage, the facility had to shut down. It reopened in June 2024.

“Fortunately for us no patients, staff, supporters, were injured; that was done after hours,” Roundtree said. “But we’ve seen regular anti-abortion protesters, people who have been showing up for years with maybe a church group in the neighborhood, be recruited by other groups. Those same people have become emboldened and increasingly hostile, and at times, have needed to be removed by the police.”

On Jan. 10, 2023, the Carbondale City Council adopted Ordinance No. 2023-03 to enforce regulations against disorderly conduct. In the ordinance, the council mentioned reports from staff members and patients of the clinics regarding “frequent acts of intimidation, threats and interference from individuals protesting abortion access and services.” Like Colorado, the ordinance made it illegal to come within 8 feet of a person without their consent within a 100-foot radius of a medical facility. But it began to raise a debate.

One pro-life organization had made its way from St. Louis to Carbondale following Missouri’s statewide near-total ban on abortion: Coalition Life, a non-profit with a mission of “ending abortion peacefully and prayfully.”

“Our primary role is to be there for women who feel pressured, coerced or even forced into an abortion,” said Brian Westbrook, founder and executive director of Coalition Life. “We want to be there to offer them real, tangible resources so that they can ultimately choose life.”

Westbrook said being pushed back 8 feet would cause the organization to have to raise their voices at those seeking an abortion, which is not what they intend to do.

“That’s not how you help women,” Westbrook said. “That’s not how you have a genuine conversation with people, is yelling and screaming. Instead, we want to have an intimate conversation, even if it’s just for 30 seconds or a minute. We want to have that one-to-one conversation with individuals.”

According to its website, Coalition Life participates in what they call “professional sidewalk counseling” at five abortion clinics; the three in Carbondale, one in Flossmoor, Illinois and one in Kansas City, Kansas. Westbrook said the sidewalk counselors are made up of volunteers and staff members, who are paid to work sidewalk shifts.

“We don’t call it protesting because we aren’t there to protest,” Westbrook said. “We are there to offer real, tangible resources to women.”

Westbrook said the resources include free ultrasounds and pregnancy tests, STD testing and “options coaching,” which can be conducted at Women’s Care Connect, a pregnancy care center in St. Louis. He added that the organization also connects clients with external resources as needed, such as substance abuse recovery programs and financial assistance.

Thomas More Society, a conservative law firm based in Chicago, filed a lawsuit against the City of Carbondale on behalf of Coalition Life in May 2023 to challenge the constitutionality of the

bubble zone ordinance.

“On the sidewalk, there is no political speech, there’s no violence, there’s no yelling. It’s very much a peaceful and prayerful discussion,” Westbrook said.

“And I think that’s kind of our whole point with the bubble zone, is that the bubble zone would prevent us from having face-to-face conversations and soft conversations that aren’t threatening.”

After a lower court dismissed the case, it moved to a federal appeals court, which also dismissed it on March 8, 2024. The appeals court cited Hill v. Colorado, the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Colorado’s bubble zone law, stating that it “remains binding.” Court records show that Coalition Life conceded in response to the ruling, as “it cannot prevail unless Hill is overruled.”

With help from the Thomas Moore Society, Coalition Life filed a petition for Writ of Certiorari, a formal request for the Supreme Court to review the case. It was filed on July 16, 2024, after the organization requested an extension on May 24, 2024.

Three days before the petition was filed, however, Carbondale City Council repealed its bubble ordinance. But Coalition Life is still putting up a fight, hopeful that the Supreme Court will consider the case.

So what does this mean going forward?

Review of First-Amendment rights

According to SCOTUSblog, the issue of the pending petition Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale, Illinois is whether the court should overrule Hill v. Colorado. On June 28, 2000, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the right to free speech was not violated by Colorado’s buffer zone law.

Westbrook said he believes buffer zones negatively impact both parties.

“If you can’t approach them and have a conversation with them, it’s very difficult to provide resources and information to individuals,” he said. “And so it’s really a violation of both the sidewalk counselors’ free speech and also the free speech of the or access

“very hypocritical.”

“The very definition of what protesters stand for at an abortion clinic is an infringement on people’s privacy, on people’s right to access health care, right to make decisions for their own bodily autonomy…This is the only setting that you’ll ever — you don’t drive to a dental appointment and have to have protesters stop you out in the driveway. This only happens at abortion clinics, and they give false information,” she said.

Roundtree also offered a response to the claim.

“We respect free speech,” she said. “I believe in free speech. They can still exercise that right, but people shouldn’t be harassed or intimidated for trying to access health care. So we just want to ensure that our patients and our staff feel safe.”

“They tell them we don’t do ultrasounds when we do. They give them model dolls, trying to say that this is what your fetus looks like right now, and they’re inaccurate pictures. They tell them that there’s a reversal to the medication abortion, which there is not.”

- Andrea Gallegos

Executive Administrator of Alamo Women’s Clinic

of information of those people who are driving into an abortion facility.”

But Andrea Gallegos, executive administrator of Alamo Women’s Clinic, said that she believes buffer zones are necessary to protect patient privacy and safety.

“Our protesters already are intimidating to patients,” she said in an interview on Thursday. “The tactics that they use are very misleading. They try to wave and smile and get patients to stop for them, and then a lot of patients tell us they think they’re affiliated with the clinic and they’re not. And then they start giving them misinformation, and the buffer zone keeps them within a distance, you know, away from our front entrance. And so once they’re in the parking lot, patients feel safer.”

She said anti-abortion activists who come to the clinic often wear cameras and record the people they talk to.

“What they do about it with those videos, I don’t know, but the further away they can be kept from the entrance of the building, I think the better, and patients definitely feel safer,” she said.

Gallegos said that she finds the claim of an infringement on First Amendment rights

William Freivogel, a Missouri lawyer and professor of journalism at Southern Illinois University noted that the First Amendment is “not absolute.” Freivogel covered the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. from 1980 to 1992 and has written about abortion legislation for 40 years, he said.

“There are all sorts of restrictions on speech, and in the case of abortion protests, where you have protestors sometimes getting in the face of patients seeking legal medical treatment, that is a situation where a protest bubble has been found by the Supreme Court in the past, (in Hill v. Colorado) to be constitutional,” he said.

Repealed law raises questions

On July 13, 2024 – 18 months after the City of Carbondale adopted its bubble zone ordinance – the City Council voted 6-0 to repeal the ordinance in a meeting that lasted just four minutes. City Attorney Jamie Snyder told WPSD Local 6 that the ordinance was repealed because nobody violated it.

The Daily Egyptian reached out to the City Council for comment, but was told by Chief of Police and Interim City Manager Stan Reno that the city does not provide responses on

pending legal matters.

Additionally, City of Carbondale’s brief in opposition to Coalition Life claims that the bubble zone ordinance was never enforced, nor does the city plan to enact it. The council noted that it had already concluded other city and state laws provide “sufficient protection from acts of disorderly conduct.”

Yet Westbrook said he believes that there is still “chilled speech.”

“It took them four minutes to repeal that, and assuming that we stopped fighting, it will take them four minutes to put the bubble zone back in,” he said.

Gallegos said pro-life activists will be at clinics with or without buffer zones. To ensure patients are still protected now that the law is repealed, both the Alamo Women’s Clinic and Planned Parenthood escort patients inside and are working to alert patients about what they might encounter prior to their visit.

Freivogel said that because Carbondale’s ordinance was repealed, he does not believe the Supreme Court will take the case.

“I think it has procedural problems because… the law was repealed and never enforced, and that the Supreme Court would want a cleaner case where it had actually been enforced and inhibited somebody from protesting,” he said. However, he noted that a recent update from the court makes the status of the petition uncertain.

SCOTUS has a decision to make…eventually

Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale, Illinois was distributed for a conference on Friday, Nov. 8. However, on Nov. 4, the conference was postponed and a new date has yet to be determined.

According to SCOTUSblog’s FAQ page, a rescheduled case means it has moved to a new conference without being considered by the justices at the first one. The webpage notes that it is nearly impossible to know the exact reason behind why a case has been rescheduled.

Freivogel offered several possibilities.

“When a case is carried over…from conference to conference, that often means that there is sentiment on the Court to take the case and schedule oral arguments, but I don’t know whether just rescheduling it means that as well or not,” he said. “It might mean that there’s a couple of justices or more on the court who are interested in the case.”

It could also have something to do with the transfer of power in the U.S., he said. Election Day took place on Nov. 5, so it was not yet determined which party would take hold of the Department of Justice. Additionally, neither of

Choices Center for Reproductive Health sign stands outside of the Choices building Nov. 11, 2024 at the Choices Center for Reproductive Health clinic in Carbondale, Illinois.

Dominique Martinez-Powell | @d.martinezphoto

‘Divided

we fall, united we stand’:

Local activists gather, plan after Trump win

Carly Gist @Gistofthestory

On the morning of Nov. 6, Tara Bell woke up at 4:15 with a panic in her chest. After a stressful election night, she turned on the TV to find what she worried had been confirmed – Donald Trump was named President-Elect for the second time.

According to AP News, Trump has proposed many policies that could affect marginalized communities, including women, people of color, immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community. Prior to his victory, he “called for ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government institutions” and to “scrap diversity programs at all levels of education,” the nonpartisan organization states.

Trump also proposed reversing the Biden administration’s Title IX protections for transgender students, and said that if elected, the nation would have “the largest mass deportation program in history.” AP News reports that his stance on reproductive rights remains unclear. He said he would veto a federal abortion ban but has taken credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that established abortion as a constitutional right in 1973. Trump appointed three justices throughout his first term who contributed to the majority decision to overturn Roe.

“Our country betrayed us, and at that point, I just kind of felt like I was moving through Jell-o, that feeling when you’ve taken too much cold medicine,” Bell said.

Bell is the director of social action and education for Pride in Action, Southern IL, an organization that promotes social welfare for the LGBTQ+ community

that they “have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.” The phrase “your body, my choice” has been circulating X and Tiktok, according to The Spokesman Review.

“It’s devastating,” Bell said. “I don’t have any answers yet, and that’s why we’re having these meetings.”

On Friday, Nov. 8, Pride in Action hosted Power in Unity! Public Support and Strategy Planning in Response to the Trump Election. The event included a rally at the Carbondale City Hall, a march down The Strip and a community forum.

Bell said that the morning after the election, the word “again” kept racing through her mind. In 2016, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who was the first woman to win the

“Our country betrayed us, and at that point, I just kind of felt like I was moving through Jell-o, that feeling when you’ve taken too much cold medicine.”

- Tara Bell the Director of Social Action and Education for Pride in Action

in southern Illinois. Like many other members, she raised concerns about what a second Trump term means for the future of the nation.

“First, I do think it’s going to hit our resources and our access to medical and health care; that’s where they already started chipping away,” she said. “I think that after that, we’re going to see the threats increase to marriage equality…families being ripped apart…losing education, losing rights for visibility, all that on that scale. One thing that I’m scared of, that I’m seeing happen already…is the emboldened nature of the Trump supporters and how they’re already starting to lash out.”

Bell referred to two harmful internet campaigns that have occurred in the days since Trump was elected. According to CNN, Black people nationwide have been receiving text messages from unknown numbers, addressing them by name and claiming

national popular vote for president, was defeated by Trump. Eight years later on Tuesday, Kamala Harris, the first woman to serve as vice president and the second woman nominated by the Democratic party for president, was defeated by Trump.

Bell knew she couldn’t keep dwelling on the news – she had to do something.

“My mind starts racing, and the first thing I did, I started reaching out,” she said.

Bell contacted Nancy Maxwell, member of the Carbondale City Council and executive director of Carbondale United, an anti-gun violence and anti-racism organization. She said that Maxwell talked about Carbondale United partnering with other groups and hosting a healing circle for the community.

“It was crucial to me that even though Pride in Action is a predominantly LGBTQ+ organization, we had to

work with other groups,” she said. “We had to work with other marginalized communities, that this affects all of us, not just any one group, and we had to reach out to these other organizations and come together to do something for all marginalized communities.”

She began organizing the public gathering and reaching out to the community.

“Yesterday (Thursday), that’s when we, like, started really putting things into cement…” she said. “I talked with Gaia House, they’re always amazing. They allowed us to use the space. Started contacting speakers and people who we wanted to get on the lineup. Finally, this morning (Friday), I woke up with less fog, so I did all that in two days of fog with a lot of help from my board members. Today, I started digging in and getting the agenda put together and how we wanted to approach a community meeting.”

Around 125 people gathered with signs at the City Hall Friday evening. Organizers distributed pins and pride flags. Bell led participants in chants and introduced speakers from various impacted communities.

Councilmember Maxwell addressed the crowd, stressing the importance of Carbondale remaining a safe space for all. She told the Daily Egyptian she did so to because “people need to speak.”

“We cannot be quiet in this time,” she said. “Quiet is a reflection of acceptance, and we’re not accepting this. We cannot. If we made it through slavery, we can make it through anything. We will make it through this, and we will make it through with a fight.”

Another member of the City Council was present: Clare Killman, the first transgender person in the state to serve as a councilperson. Killman asked the crowd to come closer as she highlighted Illinois’ history of upholding the “right to personhood,” referencing its role in the Civil War.

“Being an Illinoisan has always meant safeguarding the interest of individual self-determination,” she said. “I came to Illinois more than a decade ago to do just that, because I recognized that our values uphold and affirm the

productive,” Bell said. “We only got through half of our agenda, and I kind of anticipated that. I think that we did step one, which was that kind of check in with everybody, get their ideas, see what other groups are doing, get all that written down…I think that as far as a community effort and a community front that the planning went very, very well. It seems like everyone else is happy with how we approached it and I think that the march was very empowering.”

Korey Klausing, also known as drag queen Korra DeVill, gave a speech at the City Hall and participated in the march and forum. They spoke with the Daily Egyptian about the importance of starting at the local level, encouraging support for minority groups and small businesses in southern Illinois.

individual freedom to become yourself, to chart your course and to determine your own destiny.”

Killman expressed deep concern for the future of Illinois being threatened by Trump’s administration.

“I cannot sit idly by while Illinois, a state I love most dearly, and our people, will be subjected to becoming targets of a reorganized federal bureaucracy of sycophants and informants, turning Illinoisan against Illinoisan,” she said. “Our people will be persecuted as political dissidents in retributive, discriminatory campaigns to silence critical thought; stripped of federal recognition and funding for the sake of our values and our shared way of life; and denied access to medical care so vital to Illinoisans and the residents of our surrounding regions.”

She said if the state remains part of the United States, it would “at best, make us passively complicit” and “at worst…be morally corrosive, damning, by forcing our active compliance.”

“In the spirit of what it means to be an Illinoisan, it is with the utmost sincerity, thought and care that I advocate Illinois secede from the United States of America,” she said.

“To wait for the worst to come for us is to rob ourselves of a life worth living.

To act preemptively is the only morally acceptable option to save our state and its soul.”

When the speakers concluded,

“We really need to come together as one and unify, and we really need to focus on each other,” Klausing said. “Because the biggest thing that this election is trying to do is divide us, and divided we fall, united we stand, and we just need to keep that in our minds whenever dealing with hard people to talk to.”

Klausing said they felt it was their duty as Southern Illinois Pride Queen 2024 to “show up and show out for every single event that involves and affects my community.”

“I really feel driven to activism after the recent election and the results we’ve gotten from it,” they said. “So I’m just tired of sitting back and accepting that, ‘Oh, it might get better.’ No, it needs to, and we are going to be the changing force of that, but we have to show up.”

They noted that the effects of Covid-19 are still lingering, which presents a challenge.

“I feel like a lot of people are still stuck indoors, like they really are just comfortable staying to their own in their safe spaces,” they said. “And while that is important and great and we should all have our safe spaces, we need to start getting in the streets. Like, we need to go out supporting the events, supporting the people, supporting the community, supporting the individuals.”

Klausing suggested becoming knowledgeable about efforts from community organizations and encouraged people to venture outside of their safe zones.

“We really need to come together as one and unify, and we really need to focus on each other.”

- Korey Klausing

Drag Queen Korra Devill

participants marched from City Hall to St. Rt. 13 and then back down the strip, finishing at the Gaia House Interfaith Center, which is located at 913 S. Illinois Ave. There, a discussion was held regarding strategies to keep marginalized populations safe and encourage solidarity within the community.

“I feel like tonight was very

“We need to show up and show out, because at the end of the day, these people aren’t gonna know we exist if we don’t make it known,” Klausing said. “Online, you can spout anything you want to and you’ll get a reach, but it’s not (to) the direct people around you that need to hear it. It’s such a wider thing, and I think in times like this, we all need to focus on our communities

Christina Garnette (left) hugs Nancy Maxwell (right) after Maxwell’s speech at the Power in Unity event held by Pride in Action, Southern Il Nov. 8, 2024 at the Carbondale Civic Center in Carbondale, Illinois. Dominique Marinez-Powell | @d.martinezphoto

Cast in Iron

The annual Iron Pour took place Nov. 9, 2024 at the Art Foundry in Carbondale Illinois with a turnout despite the rain. People from the Carbondale community and beyond came to participate and watch the casts be filled. Visitors also were able to see blacksmithing and printmaking.

Alex Lopez, an art professor who teaches scultpure at SIU, said that the Iron Pour has been happening annually at SIU for many years now. “The iron pour’s been happening since before I got here in 2005,” Lopez said.

Several groups came together to make this event happen this year. “The Iron Pour is really made in conjunction with the sculpture program and Critical Forum,” Lopez said. Critical Forum is a sculpture club that is a registered student organization for graduates and undergraduates at SIU.

The funds from the Iron Pour go to the students to offset some of the costs of supplies. “We work together,” Lopez said. “We sell the scratch tiles which helps offset the costs or keeps the costs lower for the students to continue casting in bronze, iron, or aluminum.”

But there were also students from other universities, volunteers, and returning professionals who came to help out at the event as well. Cassandra Rebman, who teaches the sculpture curriculum at Western Kentucky University came to the event with three students. Rebman said that this was their first time coming to SIU for the Iron Pour.

Laura Mullen also was a guest at the event. Mullen runs a YouTube channel called the Iron Gypsy which has over 44,000 subscribers.

Kristy Summers also attended the event as a visiting artist. “Well, they invited me to the event,” Summers said. She said that she used to teach sculpture at SIU almost 10 years ago. Now, she creates art across the United States. “I work in between Bernad, Maine and Bristol Bay, Alaska,” Summers said. From molten iron, to blacksmithing, to printmaking, the Iron Pour brought together a diverse group of artists from across the United States and raised funds for the Art Foundry. “It’s community building,” Lopez said.

Workers at the annual Iron Pour fill casts with iron.

Kristy Summers hoses off hot coals after the annual Iron Pour Nov. 9, 2024 at the Art Foundry in Carbondale, Illinois.

Kristy Summers goads the molten iron before workers carry it to the casts.

Josh Stokes carries a cast that has been painted with graphite to the stands where they will be filled with molten.

Layla Eller (left) and her son Ansel Bailey paint graphite into their casts in preparation for the Iron Pour.

Don’t count them out: The impact of basketball on the youth of Cairo

Simeon Hardley SHardley@dailyegyptian com

Editor’s Note: This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center

The maroon bleachers. The polished wooden basketball court. The white walls that echo the sounds of squeaky basketball shoes.

The Cairo Pilots have been here before. A few months prior, in fact, they took third in the Appleknocker Holiday Tournament, an annual competition of southern Illinois basketball teams in Cobden, another rural town about 40 miles north of where Cairo sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

It’s February and the Pilots are back in Cobden hoping for a title in the regional tournament. For Domarion Nunez and Kevin Robinson, the team’s only two Pilot seniors, a lot is on the line. This could be the last time they lace up their sneakers and run through a tunnel of their teammates as the lineup is called, the final chapter in a formative season of their lives. They have a big challenge: the No. 1 seeded Goreville Blackcats, a team with a record of 32 wins and only three losses. A height comparison between the teams resembles the biblical battle between David and Goliath.

Goreville has eight players listed at least 6 feet tall, with the tallest two measuring 6 ‘6 and 6’ 7. They tower over Cairo’s players, only two of whom are six feet tall.

“We don’t have the depth, we don’t have the height, but we have the heart,” said Steven Tarver, a school board member and Pilots basketball historian.

The Cairo Pilots are heavy underdogs heading into the game. But being the underdog isn’t anything new to this basketball program and being counted out isn’t anything new to Domarion and Kevin.

A Town Called Cairo, a Tradition of Basketball Cairo is Illinois’ southernmost city — a small town with a population around 1,600 located minutes from Kentucky and Missouri.

A hotspot for river trades in the 1800s, the city developed quickly, causing a growth in businesses and population, peaking in population around 1920.

The eventual decline of river trading and the increase in railroad trading struck the city economically. River flooding became an

environmental problem and the town faced decades of racial tension and violence causing businesses to close and residents to move away.

A housing crisis reached a head in 2017.

When the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the demolition of two major housing complexes, it also contributed greatly to population decline.

But the game endures, a reflection of the town’s grit-and-grind culture.

On nearly every street, you’ll find a basketball goal — some new with bright white nets, others weathered, some with no nets, others with no backboards.

This is a basketball town.

The trophies tell the story — hundreds of them: Cairo’s school boasts so many trophies that they spill out into the hallways, library and classrooms. They overflow into other buildings across town. They are for basketball, track, baseball and several other sports, but mainly basketball, Cairo’s crown sport.

In 1981 and 1993, the Cairo High School basketball team placed 3rd at the Illinois

NBA in 1986 and the Taylor brothers are the school’s all-time-scoring record holders and were apart the last teams to lead the Pilots to a competitive state run in 2016 and 2017.

Yet, despite being a town known for developing some of the best talent in the state, Cairo has struggled to keep players through high school. Many families and players choose to transfer to bigger schools for better exposure and more resources. Tarver, the school board member and longtime Cairo resident, has seen the change firsthand.

Cairo is considered an independent school and due to this they cannot compete for a conference title. Every season, the athletic director goes out and finds games and tournaments for the basketball team to play.

“One of the obstacles we have is exposure. We have some very great athletes in our community but we are not in a league or any of the conferences,” Tarver said.

The Pilot Standard

The Pilots know their Cairo basketball

important.

Throughout his first season as head coach he faced numerous obstacles. Coaching a young, undersized team, which consisted of mostly underclassmen, was challenging but one of the biggest challenges was becoming head coach in the middle of the season.

“It was difficult, trying to find my voice when the kids were used to another coach’s voice for so long..difficult for me to find my coaching style, I didn’t have anyone to learn from and I didn’t have any support,” Baldwin said

Baldwin coached junior Varsity, varsity and sometimes freshman basketball games all in one night.

“It takes a lot out of you..the adjustments, trying to keep everyone focused, controlling the bench, dealing with referees..it is hard to do by yourself”

Despite these challenges, the students gravitated towards Baldwin.

“I didn’t expect them to want to be around me, to want my attention as much. A lot of these kids don’t have positive role models, that’s part of it. I feel like, as much as I can try to get them to see a parallel from the basketball court to real life, as much as I can do that, I feel like the better they would be… And I just want to be an advocate for them, to let them know there’s people here that do care about you,” he said.

The Seniors Domarion Nunez didn’t start playing basketball until eighth grade.

“Whenever I first started playing basketball, I would often get frustrated and, you know, try to quit and give up. But I was like, if there’s something that I really want, and I really want to do, I gotta fight through the tough times to get better, I have to fight through, you know, not having nobody to really try to help me and train me,” Nunez said.

moving was the sports culture. Growing up in North Carolina, he played football. But once he moved to Cairo, Robinson realized that there wasn’t an active football program. The football program, which had existed for 80 years, closed down in 2006 due to the limited number of available players.

“Over the many years basketball has become the only sport that’s really been concentrated on in our community...because of enrollment we don’t have a large enough student population to do football...Basketball is one hundred percent (Cairo), our kids know, play, eat, drink, sleep basketball, and it’s been generations and generations,” Tarver said.

Since he couldn’t play football, Robinson quickly began playing basketball in Cairo, a challenge that he was ready to meet.

“It’s good to have the youth playing basketball, keep them out of trouble and everything but giving them something to do…of course it can still happen but that’s what everyone’s trying to do,” Robinson said.

The Final Whistle Sweat runs down the faces of the Pilot players, exhaustion can be seen in their eyes. There is a silence from the bench that shows reality is beginning to set in. As the clock winds down to zero, cheers and claps begin to erupt from behind the Cairo crowd. It’s the grandmothers, parents, siblings and community members applauding the team. The scoreboard reads 9765. Goreville wins.

Despite coming up short in that February regional semifinal game, Cairo still shows its appreciation. The cheers were not meant for a winning team, but for any team wearing the Pilot’s jersey. For Nunez and Robinson, the buzzer had gone off in their final game as Cairo Pilots. They won’t go on to play basketball on the collegiate level or make it to the NBA, but that was never the point.

“Becoming a school officer, joining National Honor Society, joining the Beta

club and competing with people all across the state of Illinois in chemistry and physics competitions” are among Nunez’ favorite memories. He graduated in May, the school’s Valedictorian.

Nunez is on his way — he has now become a solar electrician and his detailing business is taking off. He recently purchased his own equipment — an upgrade from the local car wash vacuums. He has high hopes for his detailing business, hoping to grow it to where he can expand it and increase opportunities for himself and provide jobs in his community.

“I feel like my purpose in life is really to help others… A lot of people think their purpose is different things. But I feel like we should all fall into the category of helping others because if we all help each other, we can all reach our goals,” he said.

second year of coaching, building the team back to a culture of winning. Baldwin said that after Nunez and Robinson graduated, the team has lost two of their toughest players and he’s still looking to fill the hole. The team has gotten better physically, spending more time in the weight room and conditioning.

“We are small so we have to be able to play faster and longer than other teams that are bigger or have more players than us,” he said

The future is bright for Cairo basketball. Last season the junior high basketball team won their regional championship and went to the Class S State Tournament being led by Anthony Duncan Jr. and Rahjon Woodson, possibly the next two great players to come out of Cairo.

High School Sports Association (IHSA) State Championship. In 2003, the Pilots finished 4th place in the State Championship. Some, like local legend Tyrone Nesby, made it to the NBA. Lorenzo Duncan was drafted to the

history and that they should expect to win, even if the competition is stiff. Pilot’s coach Josh Baldwin, who graduated from Cairo High in 2008, played for the Pilots. Now, he’s tasked with leading the basketball team back to greatness, to the highest standard: The Pilot Standard.

“I was a part of it...I watched it as a kid being built, and I got to participate. And it’s a certain level of expectation, it’s a certain level of competition...what I’m trying to do is bring the competitiveness back, the intensity back, the importance back,” Baldwin said Baldwin also recognizes that winning isn’t everything for these kids. What the game of basketball itself can do for them is more important. Many kids who grow up in communities that suffer from limited resources will also grow up in communities that have higher crime rates, making it pivotal for children to have outlets — like basketball.

“I think having extracurricular activities can keep a lot of kids safe, keep them out of making bad decisions, and have them around more positive people,” Baldwin said. Baldwin hopes to take the basketball team back to the “glory days,” but knows providing a good role model for students is more

By his junior year, Nunez had become a top scorer for the team. His breakout game came against Crab Orchard, which happened to be the number one seed in their conference that year. During that game he led the team in scoring with 27 points. But despite those efforts, they still fell short.

As a senior, Nunez took on a leadership role on and off the court. Nunez has lived in Cairo his entire life and seen the reference to it as a “dying town,” but he refuses to be limited by those characterizations.

In 2022, he started his own car detailing business, became a school officer, and joined BETA Club, in addition to his role on the basketball team, all while preparing to graduate high school. Basketball aside, Nunez stands out among his peers in everyday life, a quality his coach recognized and praised.

“He’s pretty mature to be 17. He got a good perspective on life. He’s already started a business, he’s got flyers, business cards...his future is just as bright as any other kid because he knows that he wants more for himself,” Coach Baldwin said.

Kevin Robinson, the second senior on the team, has a different story than Nunez. Robinson was not raised in Cairo but relocated there in the sixth grade. He was born in North Carolina and his family moved back to Illinois to help his grandmother during her fight with cancer.

One of the biggest shocks for Robinson after

“In the future,” Robinson said, “I want to go to Shawnee Community College, to their trucking program to get my CDL license to drive trucks. I want to get certified in a bunch of different things...not limiting myself to one thing” — a drive that he credits his father for inspiring.

Robinson credits sports for having a big impact on his experience and helping him create connections.

In 10-15 years he’d love to retire his parents.

“That’s all I really care about..making sure my people straight, my household family,” he said.

Coach Baldwin is looking ahead towards his

The future is looking up for the city too — in August a 3-D printer started building singlefamily homes in town in hopes of building back some of what has been lost. This past summer, a new grocery store,the Rise Community Market opened. It is the only store that sells fresh produce, celebrating its one-year-anniversary.

Coach Baldwin feels that the town is headed in the right direction.

“We making some strides, some positive changes..we got some people here that are really fighting for this community..for these kids,” he said.

“I tell people, if you can make it here, I feel like you can make it anywhere.”

Staff photographer Simeon Hardley can be reached at shardley@dailyegyptian.com.

Domarion Nunez stands in front of Connell F. Smith Sr. Building April 26, 2024 in Cairo, Illinois. The building was one of the three public housing complexes in town that HUD closed. The closing forced many families to move out of town contributing to population decline in Cairo. Simeon Hardley shardley@dailegyptian.com

Jeserick Pilgram rises up for a dunk while his teammates jump along with him, a pregame tradition Dec. 29, 2024 in Cobden, Illinois. Pilgram was the team’s number one scoring option throughout the season, providing athleticism and height.

Domarion Nunez rinses the tires of a school bus during the Senior Class of 2024 Car Wash April 26, 2024. The car wash was a fundraising event that the seniors hosted, raising funds for their senior class trip from the local community.

Domarion Nunez watches as his teammates play a game of pickup basketball April 26, 2024. Basketball is Cairo’s most prized and accessible sport. It often becomes the outlet for children escaping the struggles of everyday life.

Kevin Robinson walks through the school hallway on his way to the Library May 15, 2024 at Cairo Junior/Senior High School. Robinson plans to attend college and get his CDL license post graduation. “In the future want to go to Shawnee Community College, preceding their trucking program to get my CDL license to drive trucks,” he said.

The 17 members of the Cairo Senior High School Graduating class of 2024 stand during their graduation ceremony May 18, 2024 in Cairo, Illinois. Domarion Nunez was the class Valedictorian. Nunez started his own car detailing business, became a school officer and joined Beta Club, in addition to his role on the basketball team, all while preparing to graduate high school.

Seven down, many more to go: Saluki swim and dive not set to slow down

Ryan GRieseR RGReseR@dailyeGyptian com

As more records fall, more buzz begins to grow among and around the SIU swimming and diving team.

“We’re all feeling really excited,” junior Olivia Herron said.

According to head coach Geoff Hanson, the Salukis have already broken seven program records in dual meets alone this season. In a dual meet against the University of Illinois Chicago, the women’s team, headlined by Herron’s performance, broke four program records, including three by Herron in individual events.

It’s something that Hanson, who is in his sixth year as head coach, hasn’t seen while at SIU.

“(It’s) something I’ve not really seen in this program. We’ve set a lot of school records in the last five years, but not this many this early,” Hanson said.

The success hasn’t ended in the lanes, either. The diving team has seen strong performances early in the year from sophomore Oliver Mebs and senior Lee Haywood, who both have earned NCAA Zone qualifying scores already this season in the three and one meter events, respectively.

Under the flags, 2024 Paris Olympian Celia Pulido has already swum an NCAA B-cut time in the 100 meter backstroke, and a newcomer on the men’s team has also done the same.

Willem Huggins, who earned Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week for his performance in a dual meet at UIC, swam an NCAA B-cut time in the 200 yard backstroke and also won the 100 yard backstroke.

Despite his success and role in helping SIU earn the joking nickname “Backstroke University,” Huggins isn’t letting himself get distracted from what’s ahead.

“I go day to day… work hard in the water, get out, recover and do it again. Obviously, accomplishments will come with that, but right now, I’ve got to put that past me and then look ahead at the future so I can really compete better,” Huggins said.

Hanson and the rest of the coaching staff are happy with where the team is, especially considering the different levels of experience the men’s and women’s teams have. The men,

“This is our best team, I think, in the last five years.”

- Geoff Hanson Head Coach of SIU Swimming and Diving Team

who started a bit slow in the first couple dual meets, have rounded into form in the last few weeks.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys and on the men’s team and then a lot of experienced guys, and not a ton in between, so we’re trying to bring up the other guys and get them experience at the college level,” Hanson said. “We’re expecting good things from the men.”

The women’s team has been a different story; dominant since the season began.

“The women, they’ve been locked in since day one. They really feel good about where they are as a group,” Hanson said.

Herron, who was named MVC Women’s Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 6, says that

the team is riding high going into SIU’s own invitational and beyond.

“The atmosphere, it’s like a buzz of excitement. Everyone’s looking forward to what the season can do,” Herron said.

SIU will host their A3 Performance Invitational on November 14-16 in the Shea Natatorium. As Hanson said, being “the only school in the Missouri Valley that has the ability to host an invitational like this at home,” and one where “our stands are filled with parents, friends and family” provides a huge opportunity for the Dawgs.

“We make it a very athlete-friendly meet. Out of prelims, all of our swimmers will get swims in finals. We do a lot of exhibition relays… it’s an opportunity to swim a lot,” Hanson said.

The Dawgs have come a long way since the beginning of the year, in terms of both performance and team camaraderie. According to Huggins, part of how the Salukis have been able to get to where they are is because of how they’ve “held each other accountable.”

“We call each other out, positive, negative. We make sure that we hold each other to what we need to be doing,” Huggins said. “I think that’s really important in a team atmosphere, just to make sure that we know we need to get better.”

“We’re in a good place. The team can see that, the coaches can see that,” Herron said.

The team is only set to get deeper, too. According to Hanson, there will be a few new faces set to join the team soon.

“We’ve got a couple mid-year additions that will come in in December and join us and help fill some holes,” Hanson said.

When looking up and down the roster, it certainly feels as though this is the most talented, top-to-bottom roster Hanson has had at SIU. Between conference champs, team record holders, and promising newcomers, there isn’t much the team is missing.

“We feel like we’ve got a really deep team, and a team that has fewer holes than we’ve had in my time here,” Hanson said. “This is our best team, I think, in the last five years.”

The team is highlighted by reigning conference champs and NCAA Finals qualifiers Pulido and Santiago, and supplemented by other longtime standout performers like Herron, Tomas Peciar, Donat Czurvarski and Bea Padron, who swam in the 2020 Olympics representing Costa Rica. Several other names, outside of Huggins, are making waves this year too.

Hanson specifically mentioned Ale Hoyos, a distance swimmer who is currently injured but expected to play a big role when healthy;

freshman Elliott Dye; and Liseska Gallegos Gutierrez, a freshman backstroker who has been “second to Celia (Pulido) throughout the season,” which is a big accomplishment in itself.

Adding to her accomplishment, Gallegos was named MVC Women’s Freshman Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 6, making her the second Saluki freshman to earn a freshman of the week honor already this season.

Herron brought up Brooklyn Anderson and Madalyn Booker, both of whom have already had multiple podium finishes in individual events this season.Huggins mentioned sophomores AJ Terry and Benedek Andor.

“Those two, man, they are fast,” Huggins

said. “I think they’re going to swim really well this year.”

Having so many athletes performing well early doesn’t concern Hanson, either. He knows that the team will continue its upward trajectory and be ready to peak in February and March.

“The men tend to peak more at the end of the season than in the middle of the season… we expect big drops from men at the end of the season,” Hanson said. “Our women have been super consistent with how their progression has been.”

Herron isn’t worried either.

“I just trust in the coaches and the training, and just keep doing what I’m doing. It seems to be working, and just continue pushing,” Herron said.

Peaking in the late winter would put the Salukis in position to win conference championships, something that hasn’t happened under Hanson’s tenure but has long been on their minds.

“Those are things we’ve talked about since our first week together… going back to last year, and before we broke for the summer, that somewhere that our returners had on their minds,” Hanson said.

Huggins knows that the team is intensely focused on the same goal.

“We are frozen rope. We are straight arrow on that,” Huggins said. “We have to believe that we’re going to win it, and we do.”

Sports reporter Ryan Grieser can be reached at rgrieser@dailyegyptian.com.

Sophomore Hazem Aboustate swims in the men’s 200m butterfly versus UIC during a meet at Shea Natatorium in Carbondale, IL Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. Jason Isele | @iselephotography

Salukis win first home game of the season against Missouri S&T

Jamilah lewis Jlewis@dailyegyptian com

The SIU Salukis gave the best birthday present their home crowd could possibly wish for.

The Dawgs (1-1) won their home opener against Missouri S&T 86-64, all while celebrating the Banterra Center’s 60th birthday.

Kennard Davis Jr. led the team with 22 points and seven steals, with Elijah Eliiot behind him with 14 points off the bench.

During halftime SIU took the time to honor Saluki Hall of Famer David Lee, who made an appearance at the game. Lee, a walk-on in the 1962 season who was on the first team to call thennamed SIU Arena home, received an All-American honorable mention and scored 838 points during his SIU career.

The Salukis carried a narrow lead through much of the first half, allowing S&T to hang in the game and end the half trailing by only five. Davis Jr. started hot and had two three-pointers in the half, and also made his impact felt on the defensive end of the court, where he had three steals.

“It was a good game. We got to compete, blessed to play another day of basketball,” Davis Jr. said. “Got to play against one of my former high school teammates so that was fun.”

The second half saw a more aggressive style of play from the Salukis side. Ali Dibba put up 11 points in the

half and finished the game with four three-pointers overall. Elliot also scored 12 of his 14 points and made two threepointers.

The Dawgs had yet another slow start out of the half. Though the game never felt like it was really in doubt, the Miners hung about 10 points back before SIU was able to pull away for good with around 7 minutes left.

“Just communicating on defense and offense, just making sure we’re on the same page,” Davis Jr. said. “Just playing hard was really what it was; we were playing a little lackadaisical in the beginning so we just had to play hard and pick it up.”

Head coach Scott Nagy said that though the team improved as the game went on, it was not up to his expectations.

“The first half was certainly not to our standards, and we let them know that. I thought the second half was better,” Nagy said. “Defensively it didn’t feel better but I think they shot 31-32% and we held them under one point per possession.”

According to Nagy, they weren’t “on it” offensively this game and there also weren’t enough rebounds, which is something that concerned him in both this game and the previous game against Charleston.

The team collected only 40 rebounds, 30 defensive and 10 offensive.

“You win by 22, you win a college

basketball game, and you go in the locker room, and it just doesn’t even feel very good,” Nagy said. “I think partly because they know that I have high expectations, and partly they know they weren’t ready.”

Offensive concerns for Nagy are centered around shooting more free throws and a lack of movement on the offensive end, something that is vital for his free-flowing offense to function properly.

“I just want guys that, one, will spend the time on it, and two, have enough to them to put the ball in the basket when you’re standing there, and stop letting it be contagious to our team,” Nagy said. “We’re just not moving the ball. There’s too much dribbling, too much, it’s too much one on one, and not enough ball movement and team play.”

Nagy said the focus in practice will be driving and keeping a steady game on the floor.

“Quit jumping in the air and pivot and pass, drive, pivot, pass, drive, pivot pass,” Nagy said. “There’s gonna be a lot of that probably tomorrow.”

The Salukis will play next at 7 p.m. on Nov. 14 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, when they face off with Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State. The Dawgs went 2-0 against the Cowboys in the last two years.

Staff reporter Jamilah Lewis can be reached at jlewis@dailyegyptian.com.

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About Us

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Ali Dibba (6) druves past Missouri S&T player Jack Zarr (24) on November 08, 2024 at the Banterra Center in Carbondale, Illinois. Emily Brinkman | erb_photo_

Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale, Illinois was distributed for a conference on Friday, Nov. 8. However, on Nov. 4, the conference was postponed and a new date has yet to be determined.

Freivogel offered several possibilities.

“Oftentimes the Supreme Court will ask the Solicitor General before they decide whether to hear a case…to tell them what they think,” he said,

FOOTBALL WIN

Farms SIU Student Athlete of the Week Allen Middleton had 102 yards on seven receptions, Clark hauled in four passes for 64 yards and Jay Jones nabbed two for 71.

“Super proud of those guys.” Hill said. “Guys that a lot of people probably don’t know, so that’s what makes it special as a coach, to see those guys get rewarded.”

The Dawgs looked the same ones of the past few weeks early in the game. The Penguins got the ball first and moved the ball downfield immediately. Youngstown State quarterback Beau Brungard found Cyrus Traugh for a 29-yard pickup on the first play from scrimmage and a face mask penalty would move the ball another 15, to the SIU 22. Another completion from Brungard got the Penguins on the Saluki goalline before he found the end zone with his legs to get Youngstown on the board first.

Starting from the SIU half of the field, the Penguins put some short gains together before facing a fourth and two. Seeing man coverage from the Salukis, Brungard took off and went untouched for a 27-yard touchdown.

On Youngstown State’s next possession, the SIU defense put the Penguins into a third and long situation, but Brungard was able to take off and toe the sideline for a 26-yard touchdown to widen the gap to 21 and marking their third touchdown in four drives.

SIU’s passing offense finally showed some life when Curry completed three passes for 28 yards to help get the Dawgs into Youngstown State’s half of the field. Already down 21, the Salukis went for it on fourth and one, but the Penguins were able to blow it up for a turnover on downs.

On the ensuing Saluki possession,

DIVDED WE FALL

CONTINUED FROM 4

and where we are at, because if we want our communities to change for the better, we have to start in the community, and then that will branch outwardly into bigger things.”

Bell told the Daily Egyptian that many community members

referring to the lawyer that serves in the Department of Justice and speaks for the government in the Supreme Court. “And because as of Election Day, it’s going to be, once Trump is in office, it’s gonna be an entirely different Solicitor General with an entirely different view…I’m thinking, well, maybe the justices just decided, ‘Let’s wait and ask the Trump Justice Department what it thinks.’”

For the case to be argued by the Supreme Court, four justices must vote to take it.

Several outcomes may occur

If the Supreme Court decides to take the case, a decision will either be made in favor of Coalition Life or the City of Carbondale.

“We are very, very hopeful that the Supreme Court will take up Coalition Life v. Carbondale and finally put Hill v. Colorado in the trash can where it belongs,” Westbrook said.

Roundtree chooses not to speculate on a decision, but noted Planned Parenthood’s top priority is “for everyone to have access to essential health care that they need, that they deserve.”

“We plan to do everything within our power to just ensure that our patients and our staff and our volunteer network are not only safe but taken care of,” she said.

Freivogel said Carbondale wouldn’t be the only place affected if the Supreme Court decides to

take the case. For Tara Bell, an escort at Planned Parenthood who helps patients safely navigate protests in Carbondale, that’s a top concern.

“It would be even more unfortunate to see Carbondale lose something and then that precedence be taken and applied to other places as well, where even those cities lose even more rights,” she said.

Freivogel noted the majority of Supreme Court cases start at the local level, but the constitutional rulings apply nationwide.

“It wouldn’t just impact Carbondale,” he said. “If the Supreme Court takes this case and decides that Hill v. Colorado was incorrectly decided, it overturns that precedent, just like they decided in Dobbs (v. Jackson) that Roe v. Wade was incorrectly decided. Then that will have a national impact.”

In Dobbs v. Jackson, Mississippi State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs challenged local abortion clinic Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

“It was a local dispute that resulted in a ruling that had national application,” Freivogel said. “(In) Roe v. Wade, Jane Roe was a woman in Texas who was seeking an abortion. Wade was District Attorney of (Dallas) County. So all these things start as local legal disputes, but when the Supreme Court issues a constitutional interpretation, as they will be asked to do in this case by Coalition Life,

then that has an application across the board.” Bell said, “Even if we lose the bubble ordinance, we don’t want to lose more protections over squabbles with that particular organization regarding free speech.”

If the Supreme Court decides to take the case, the process would be lengthy. Freivogel said it would probably take a year for a ruling to be made.

“If they take it, then after a few months, they schedule an oral argument, which could either be at the end of this court term in their last arguments in late spring, or they would schedule it for the next court term that would begin the following October of 2025,” he said, adding that cases like these often have a large number of amicus curiae briefs written on each side, potentially 100.

Amicus curiae briefs are arguments written by parties that are not associated with the legal case but have been permitted to offer expertise or insight to the court. After the briefs are reviewed is when the oral argument would be held, Freivogel said.

“More months would pass, and probably in early 2026 there would be a decision,” he said.

The Daily Egyptian will continue to follow this case as it develops.

News editor Carly Gist can be reached at cgist@dailyegyptian.com

Gibbs | @lyleegibbsphoto

Curry completed three for 63 yards before running in for a touchdown.. Hill elected to go for two, but the Dawgs didn’t convert. With two minutes and change remaining in the half, the Penguins, little by little, made their way into scoring territory. Youngstown State looked to be in a good position to add to their lead before Saluki safety Desman Hearns picked off a pass from Brungard. It was Hearns’ first pick of the year.

After the interception, the Salukis had 38 seconds to cover 75 yards. They would immediately pick up a majority of those yards as Curry connected with Jones for 55. Curry would then get his first collegiate passing touchdown when he found Allen Middleton in the endzone. SIU again went for two, but a fumble recovered by Youngstown was returned the distance for

expressed fear about coming out that night.

“I totally understand, and that just kind of reinforced the idea that it’s even more necessary for those who can be out to do it, to get out there for everybody else,” she said.

The event concluded around 8:30 p.m. Many stuck around, mingling with one another. Bell said she was

two points of their own.

Jimmy Athans, who has emerged as a consistent threat out of the backfield over the past few weeks, got the next Saluki going out of the break, picking up 17 on three carries, before Curry completed three passes for 52 yards to get SIU onto the doorstep. Athans finished the job with a three-yard touchdown run. A botched snap on the point-after resulted in no conversion.

On a third and long on the Penguin possession that followed, linebacker Ben Bogle got in front of a pass for an interception. The Salukis gave the ball right back to Youngstown State on an interception the following play.

The play of the defense in the second half was a big part of why the offense was able to come back in the first place. The

pleased with the turnout.

“(We) hit the ground running and we did our thing. And I think that the community needed it, and I think it was really effective,” she said.

Klausing mentioned the impact of love, calling it the “biggest message.”

“That is our biggest fighting point, and that’s going to be the

defense only allowed three points in the second half and had an interception and a turnover on downs that really flipped the game on its head.

“We locked in and started playing our brand of defense.” Chris Presto said. “We knew we needed a few turnovers to flip the game and flip the momentum. We got it done and it was huge for us.”

A 34-yard completion by Brungard got Youngstown State into SIU territory and a 10-yard rush from Brungard set up a 38yard field goal for the Penguins.

On the series that followed, the Dawgs picked up 64 yards on the ground, including two carries by Curry for 35. Jerrian Parker finished the drive with a one yard dive to make it an eight point game.

The Saluki defense did their job on their next outing, only letting the Penguins get

thing that wins this at the end, is our unwavering strength to love almost anybody, because we know how it feels to not be loved because of who we are, what we were born as and how we identify,” they said.

To uplift one another during this time, Maxwell said the community has to stick together.

to midfield before punting the ball.

Starting from their own eight with a chance to tie, SIU went three-and-out. Youngstown, starting just inside their own territory, made their way to the Saluki 34 before facing a fourth and six. A first down would likely put the game out of reach, so they went for it, but the Dawgs were able to stop Brungard a yard short and give the offense a chance.

A pair of 16 yard completions, along with a 10-yard penalty, set up a touchdown connection between Curry and Colton Hoag that had SIU a two point conversion away from tying the game. The pass on the attempt was tipped incomplete, marking SIU’s fifth failed two-point attempt of the day..

The SIU defense was able to rally to the ball on the force a three-and-out and give the offense one last shot inside of two minutes.

Curry found Clark on the first play to get the Dawgs into Youngstown State territory. He then took off for a pickup of 14 to the Penguins 35. A targeting call on Youngstown gifted the Salukis another 15 yards before Curry found Clark in the end zone to take the lead 37-33 with 1:04 left on the clock.

The 28 point comeback goes down as the longest come-from-behind victory in SIU history, trumping a 21 point comeback against Northern Illinois in 2007.

“It was a fun locker room to be a part of. It’s one that we’ll always remember.” Hill said.

The Salukis will be on the road next week to take on the twice-defending national champion South Dakota State Jackrabbits.

Sports Reporter Nick Pfannkuche can be reached at npfankuche@dailyegyptian.com.

“We have to work together,” she said. “We’ve separated – divided you fall, together you stand – we got to stand…The things that we can do is look out for each other, work together, and like I said, keep (Carbondale) a safe sanctuary.”

News editor Carly Gist can be reached at

Saluki Jerrian Parker (33) looks up towards the referee as he holds the ball out across the threshold of the end zone in an attempt to score a touchdown Nov. 9, 2024 at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois.

Lylee

Where pumpkins must fall; the smashing of pumpkins

Over 1 billion pounds of pumpkins are grown in the U.S each year, and Illinois is the leading state in pumpkin production. Following Halloween, millions end up in landfills which contribute to 14% of methane emissions each year according to the SIU Sustainability website.

The SIU Sustainability office held the Great Southern Illinois Pumpkin Smash at the SIU Farms Service Center on Nov. 9, 2024. Alongside SIU Sustainability, SIU Student Sustainable Farm, Jackson County Health Department and Green Earth Inc partnered to make the event happen. Several pumpkin smashing locations were available that included a Ladder Splatter, Pumpkin DROP, Pumpkin SMASH with mallets and more.

Evelyn Overturf drops a pumpkin from a ladder at the Pumpkin Smash Nov. 9, 2024 in Carbondale, Illinois. Overturf came with her father Dan Overturf to, “support the idea of sustainability.” Enan Chediak | @enanchediak

Austin and Willow Black prepare to slingshot their pumpkin into the field ahead. Daylin Williams | dwilliams@dailyegyptian.com

Joe Anderson teaches his daughter Bella Anderson how to swing the sledgehammer with maximum efficiency. Daylin Williams | dwilliams@dailegyptian.com