WARDIE SAIN
15
EVERYDAY HEROES
By ALLISON SELK
Shaw Media correspondent
The Herald-News/TheHerald-News.com • Saturday, October 24, 2020
Wardie Sain spent most of his days with his siblings and the neighborhood kids at the park until sundown. When he was older, he acted as a mentor to those children at the park to the point where it became natural to coach or give pointers to younger players. Later, Sain’s two degrees led him to work as a physical education teacher in Joliet at Washington Junior High and Laraway Middle School. He went on to become an administrator, retired briefly and then returned to the administration department. In tandem with his career in education, Sain worked as a program director with the G.W. Buck Boys and Girls Club of Joliet — part-time during the school year and full-time in the summer. His love of sports as a kid pushed him into a natural role as coach. He has been a basketball coach for over 40 years at the club and in summers. Even though football and track were his sports of choice in his own school years, Sain loves basketball. “I like to teach the kids how the game should be played so they can get better and better each day. They don’t have to like me, but they need to play for me and respect me. My job was to educate them so they had a good chance to make the high schools teams,” Sain said. Sain is proud of one success story in particular. He had a young boy who was never picked for teams on the basketball court, but he encouraged him to practice and “hang in there,” until he went from the athlete not picked to the one the older players wanted on their team. “‘See what hard work will do for you,’ I would tell him. This boy played at the club, moved on to play high school ball, graduated from college and is now a high school teacher and high school basketball coach,” Sain said. “It was great to see him blossom.” Sylvester Cottrel, fellow coach and G.W. Buck Boys and Girls Club of Joliet employee said, “Wardie was a father figure, friend, teacher and mentor.” Cottrel and Sain worked together and remember a 7-year-old boy who came to the club and gravitated toward Cottrel and Sain. Together they helped him over humps in his life and tried to keep him away from the
negative things going on outside the club walls. “Wardie will go the extra mile if he needed to save a kid to keep them out of trouble, give them bus fare, lunch money, a ride home or just a person to lean on,” Cottrel said. While at school, Sain could be found in the classrooms of his students when he had a break, ensuring the student-athletes asked questions, attended class and engaged with the
teacher. Education came first over sports; however, the two went hand in hand, said Sain. “Basketball was harder than the classroom, where they have time to think about the answer — on the basketball court, they think constantly and move constantly,” he explained. All encompassed, Sain said he loves to see the student athletes progressing into their academics and athleticism and being respectful and
caring for others. He also donated his time with private basketball lessons at no charge, simply for the love of the game and the desire to see the children in the community embark upon something productive and positive. “At one time all five starters on the Joliet Central High School team played for me. I had tears in my eyes; that’s why I usually sit by myself when I watch them play,” Sain said.