Longtime sportswriter Dave Kindred finds home, hope writing about Morton Lady Potters

MORTON, Ill. (WMBD/WYZZ) — He thought it might be a one-time trip to a Morton High School girls basketball game.

But Dave Kindred was wrong.

“It’s gone about 13-and-a-half years longer than I thought it would,” said Kindred.

He is an award-winning former national sports writer for big newspapers in Louisville, Washington and Atlanta. Kindred covered Super Bowls, World Series and the Masters.

He wrote about Michael Jordan, Bobby Knight, Tiger Woods and Muhammad Ali.

In the middle of the 2010 basketball season, he was invited to watch a friend’s daughter play at Morton. And for the past 14 basketball seasons, he has made his way back to Morton games.

His spot is behind team bench where he takes notes for the stories he writes online.

“I’ve been writing sports for 60 years. I’ve written more words on the Morton Lady Potters than I’ve written on anything, about 500,000 words probably,” said Kindred. “That’s more than Muhammad Ali and I wrote about him 50 years.”

Last year, Kindred wrote a book called “My Home Team.” The book helped underscore just how important writing about this team has become for Kindred.

In his retirement years since relocating to central Illinois and following the Lady Potters, his wife died. So did his grandson.

It’s made the 82-year-old writer reflect. He says writing about the Lady Potters and the relationships he’s build around the team gave him hope.

“It saved me in moments of my life when I could have been alone. I could have been abandoned,” said Kindred.. “I could have walked away but I couldn’t walk away from the Lady Potters.”

Thursday night Morton plays top-ranked and unbeaten Lincoln for a sectional championship. Kindred will write about his home team playing against his hometown team.

“I grew up in Lincoln. Lincoln is my second favorite team,” said Kindred. “That night I’m going to be nervous because somebody is going to lose.”

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