A player who helped propel West and Northern Illinois University to its greatest heights checks in at No. 30 on our list.
Reggie Sims is the older of two Sims brothers to make this list (Vernon Sims, No. 42) and the third-highest West Warrior in the top 100.
Sims improved those marks to 24 catches for 373 yards and five touchdowns for the 1980 Warriors. He finished third in the conference in receptions and yardage. He also helped open holes for Lee Hicks (No. 41 on the list), his future college teammate, who finished second in the conference in rushing.
The 1980 Warriors tied Boylan for the conference title and the school's first trip to the IHSA playoffs. The Warriors knocked off Arlington Heights Viator, 14-6, to earn a bragging rights game with Boylan. West earned a trip to the semifinals with a 7-6 where the run ended in an 18-6 loss to Darien Hinsdale South.
Hicks and Sims both signed with Northern Illinois University, which finished its first season under promising coach Bill Mallory. Sims lettered but played little as a freshman as the Huskies fell from 7-4 to 3-8. In 1982, Sims worked his way into the tight end rotation, catching six passes for 94 yards as the Huskies improved to 5-5.
In 1983, Sims and NIU took off. Reggie recorded 27 catches for 279 yards as the Huskies went 10-2, winning the Mid-American Conference championship and qualifying for the first bowl game since NIU moved to the highest level of college football in 1968. The Huskies beat Cal State-Fullerton in the California Bowl in Fresno. Sims had four catches for 43 yards.
That season earned Mallory a job in the Big 10 where he would coach several others on our Greatest 100 list, including Chris Simons, Mike Larson and Leonard Bell. Lee Corso took over NIU for one season and the Huskies slipped back to 4-6. It wasn't Sims' fault. He finished his NIU career strong, catching 39 passes in 11 games for 475 yards. He finished his career with 72 catches for 848 yards.
That appeared to be it for his football career. After NIU, he went to work for the DeKalb County Youth Service Bureau as a recreational and employment coordinator. But he had one more "season" left in him.
In 1987, the NFL players went on strike. The owners decided to go on with the season using replacement players. Sims dug out the football shoes and made the Cincinnati Bengals roster. He got in 20 plays as a backup tight end in the season opener. Unfortunately, that cost him his job in DeKalb and, while he tried to work that out, his position as a replacement player as well. Still, he is one of rare NIC-10 players to play in a regular season NFL game.
Sims re-entered the working world. He was working for United Parcel Services and living is Oswego when he died of a heart attack in 2004 at the age of 41.
| No. 30 - Reggie Sims, West | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Level | School | Accomplishments | Points |
| 1979 | High School | West | Winning Team | 1 |
| 1980 | High School | West | First Team All-Conference | 2 |
| League Leader (TD receptions) | 1 | |||
| Conference Champion | 1 | |||
| Playoff Team | 1 | |||
| IHSA Final Four | 1 | |||
| 1981 | College | Northern Illinois | Letter Winner in Division 1A | 3.5 |
| 1982 | College | Northern Illinois | Letter Winner in Division 1A | 3.5 |
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| 1983 | College | Northern Illinois | Letter Winner in Division 1A | 3.5 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| All-MAC | 1 | |||
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| Bowl Team | 1 | |||
| 1984 | College | Northern Illinois | Letter Winner in Division 1A | 3.5 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| 1987 | NFL | Cincinnati | Replacement Player | 2 |
| Total | 29 | |||
No comments:
Post a Comment