Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, quietly may have been the greatest day in NIC-10 history.
No, this was not a day when Rockford West won back-to-back state basketball titles in the 1950s, or Belvidere in the 1990s or Boylan in the 2000s did so in football. This was an alumni day. And while former NIC-10 stars may have occasionally reached a greater height — Fred VanVleet winning an NBA title and making the All-Star team and Jake Smolinski setting a Texas Rangers’ record with eight hits in his first four Major League games immediately come to mind — never have so many done so well at the highest level on the same day.
So this Thanksgiving week, many in Rockford are grateful they can watch Fred VanVleet, Dean Lowry, Vederian Lowe and Robert Jones on their TVs, playing in the NBA and NFL, this country’s two most popular pro sports.
“It’s been a golden era this last decade for Rockford athletes playing at the highest level,” said Dan Appino, who coached both Lowry and Lowe in high school. “As a kid, I don’t even remember one guy playing in the pros. We had stories about guys trying to make the rosters in training camp, but that was it. To have four guys playing at that highest level is amazing.
“And they are all the same kind of guys too: driven, soft-spoken, hard-working and decent human beings to boot.”
More:Rockford’s greatest basketball players No. 1: Fred VanVleet: Rockford’s greatest keeps getting greater
Here is a look at what these four NIC-10 alumni did on Nov. 17:
Dean Lowry’s sack
Lowry, the biggest star on those Boylan state championship teams, was a key piece of Green Bay’s defensive line for six of his seven years with the Packers. He didn’t do much in his lone season with the Vikings and missed the final eight games with a torn pectoral muscle. He signed with the Steelers this year and had been little used until Appino went to Pittsburgh to see him play against the Jets in Russell Wilson’s first game as quarterback.
“Dean didn’t get in until the fourth quarter, but he blocked a field goal,” Appino said. “He was pretty excited. He thought he was turning the corner.
“I’ve gone in every year somewhere and watched him play. He claims I bring good mojo. Every time I’ve gone in, he’s intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble, deflected a pass or something. He’s had a good game every time. I would love to come in and watch him play every time if he is going to play like that. I have been really blessed to watch his best moments.”
This last one, Appino had to watch on tape. He was watching a re-run of Pittsburgh’s biggest victory of the season — 18-16 over the Baltimore Ravens — when this reporter called. That game featured Lowry sacking two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, for his first sack of the season and 17th of his nine-year NFL career.
“I thought it changed the game,” Appino said of Lowry’s sack.
More:Growing up BIG or Taking (some) gentle out of the giants
Vederian Lowe’s TD
Auburn’s Vederian Lowe tied the Illinois school-record by starting 52 games for the Illini but played briefly in only four games in his lone season in Minnesota, after being drafted in the sixth round by the Vikings. Since moving to New England, Lowe has started 15 games at offensive tackle for the Patriots the last two years. Two weeks ago, he returned close to home and helped the Patriots upset the Bears 19-3 in Chicago. Then on Nov. 17, Vederian scored a big-man touchdown. The Patriots lost 28-22 to the Rams, but Lowe caught a 4-yard TD pass from rookie quarterback Drake Maye on a tackle-eligible trick play. Videos of his TD were featured on both ESPN and NFL.com. The Patriots included it on their Sights and Sounds video of the game.
After losing six straight games at one point, the Patriots have now won two of their last four, with Maye showing signs of being a potential star. And Lowe in the starting lineup.
More:‘It’s just a blessing to be here’: Rockford’s latest NFL player a lesson in perseverance
Robert Jones starts again
Jones doesn’t draw the same notice as Lowry or Lowe, who started all four years at Auburn, helped the Knights win their only four playoff games in school history and then started so long at the state’s premier university. Jones was in the NIC-10 for just one season, leaving Chicago to live with his uncle. He graduated from East in 2017 and anchored the E-Rabs’ offensive line during that fall 2016 season.
Jones joined an E-Rabs team that was 21-105 the 14 years before he arrived. He helped East go 4-5 in his one year in town. He then went to junior college for two years before playing for Middle Tennessee State for two years. Not exactly a fast-track to the NFL. But the 6-foot-4, 321-pound guard has now started 23 career games for the Dolphins, including all 10 for Miami this season. Like Lowe, he has beat up on the Bears — his second career start was a 35-32 win in Chicago in 2022. On Nov. 17, he started in Miami’s 34-19 win over the Raiders and the Dolphins have won their last two games now that quarterback Tua Tagovailola has returned from a concussion.
Fred VanVleet drills Bulls
Beating Chicago is a common theme for NIC-10 pros. Dean Lowry leads the way with a 14-1 career record against the Bears, but no Rockford player has put up better individual stats against Chicago teams than VanVleet torching the Bulls. Rockford’s greatest basketball player ever has averaged 14.6 points, 6.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds in 20 career games against Chicago.
On Nov. 17, VanVleet had another standout game, scoring 28 points with 7 rebounds and 7 assists for Houston in a 143-107 rout at the United Center. He made 10 of 16 shots to shoot 63 percent, his second-best of the season trailing only a 91-percent outing against the Spurs.
After signing a three-year, $128 million contract, VanVleet has helped the Rockets improve from 22-60 the year before he arrived to 41-41 last year and now an 11-5 record that has them in first place in the NBA’s Southwest Division.
“It’s pretty hard to beat that kind of a day on that level of sports,” said Auburn’s Bryan Ott, VanVleet’s old high school coach.
Or beat the kind of people doing those things.
“What a great role model Fred is for our kids,” Ott said of a player who was also an honor student at Auburn and continues to give back to the community, including his annual turkey giveaway for Thanksgiving. “You can say the same thing about Dean or V (Lowe) and although I don’t know him, I assume the same with Robert Jones. They are all worthy role models.
“They are people that kids in our community should be looking up to. They show how to do things the right way and how to act when you have achieved such great success.”
Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at mtrowbridge@rrstar.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @MattTrowbridge.
