Gill returns to C-U for annual golf outing

SAVOY — Kendall Gill’s annual golf outing in support of Cunningham Children’s Home looked a bit different on Monday morning.

The benefit at the University of Illinois Golf Course was still sold out — as is typical for the event that celebrated its 35th year — as community members turned out to raise money and rub elbows with the likes of Gill, Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman and men’s basketball assistant coach Orlando Antigua.

But it was the first golf outing since the birth of Gill’s oldest son, Phoenix, that the recent Northwestern men’s basketball commit wasn’t in attendance.

“He’s taking care of his business right now,” Kendall Gill told the crowd before the first wave of golfers ventured onto the course, with Phoenix playing in the Peach Jam AAU tournament this week with the Mac Irvin Fire.

Phoenix Gill announced his intention to play for the Wildcats on June 10, selecting Chris Collins’ group ahead of finalists Stanford and Iowa State.

It was great news for his mother, Wendy, a Northwestern alum herself. Less so for a still-supportive Kendall, an Illinois Hall of Famer who led the Big Ten in scoring in 1990 and played 15 seasons in the NBA.

“Northwestern was the absolute right fit for him,” Kendall said. “As much as I would have liked to have seen him come here and play his college basketball, the fit just wasn’t as good as Northwestern.”

Gill’s youngest son, Kota, was on hand Monday to swing the sticks as Kendall — nursing two broken fingers — served as his caddy.

Kota grew up visiting the UI campus alongside Phoenix and seeing the spots where his father shined in the late 1980s as part of the famed Flyin’ Illini.

“It’s fun to see where dad hung out,” Kota said with a laugh. “Like where he got in trouble, where he spent most of his hours on campus in his old days, his younger days. Now since he’s an old man.”

Collins and the Wildcats had been locked in on Phoenix — about to start his senior year at St. Ignatius in Chicago — since he was in eighth grade.

It’s a process the younger Gill handled with grace, according to Kendall.

“It was hard for Phoenix because Phoenix is fiercely loyal,” Kendall said. “Does not like change. And when you’re being recruited and you get a relationship with different coaching staffs, you can only tell one of them yes.

“That was the hard part about it. I think that’s why he made his decision early.”

Phoenix’s rise through the prep basketball ranks has taken place almost exclusively for the Wolfpack, who have qualified for two of the last three Class 3A state finals.

“A lot of people are saying, ‘Well, you know, he’s a three-star, this and that,’” Kendall Gill said. “Well, he’s a three-star because I didn’t let him play AAU (earlier). That’s why, but he’s proven what level he’s on now that he’s playing against all those top guys. He’s happy about it. He’s improving.”

Gill’s hopes of having a son compete for the Illini continues with Kota, 15, who is eyeing an avenue toward a professional golf career.

Kota’s aim for Monday’s round was to break 80 on a warm, humid afternoon.

“(It’s) coming along,” Kota said. “It’s been a fun journey. Meeting a lot of new people, especially in the St. Ignatius program. I’ve made a lot of friends in that.”

The elder Gill — now an analyst for NBC Sports Chicago — has also been keeping tabs on recent Illini standouts Terrence Shannon Jr. and Marcus Domask during their first professional games in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Shannon’s physical style of play is good for his prospects with the Minnesota Timberwolves in Kendall’s estimation.

“His game is going to translate to the NBA because you can’t touch anybody,” Kendall said. “There’s no hand checking rules and the way that Terrence gets to the basket, it bodes well for (him at the) next level.”

And Kendall sees hope for Domask with the Chicago Bulls if he can find a consistent stroke from beyond the arc.

“In my opinion, (Domask has to be) a knockdown shooter,” Kendall said. “The Bulls drastically need three-point shooting. It’s something that he can do. If he can do that at a high clip, I think he stands a great chance of making the team.”

Domask could join former Illini Ayo Dosunmu on the Bulls roster with a strong showing in the coming weeks.

It wasn’t long ago that Dosunmu found himself with something of his own to prove.

“Now that the Bulls are starting to head towards the younger generation, he’s going to be a true veteran now,” Kendall said of the former Illini All-American guard about to start his fourth season with the Bulls. “He’s got to step up and be a leader.”

That Shannon became the first Illini drafted in the first round since Meyers Leonard in 2012 is yet another encouraging sign for Kendall — who went fifth overall in the 1990 draft to the Charlotte Hornets — that Brad Underwood’s program is back on the right track.

“I’m glad that our program is now back on the map,” Kendall said. “It’s one of the top programs. For a while, people were saying Illinois is a mid-major job some years ago before Brad got here. I’m glad now that we are a program that is taken seriously.”

Kendall and his former teammates still keep in touch during and after games in an active group text chat.

“I have so many roots here,” Kendall said. “Myself, Stephen Bardo, Nick Anderson, Marcus Liberty, Lowell Hamilton, Kenny Battle, Ryan Baker (and P.J. Bowman), we’re all still in contact with each other. We’re still very close. ... It’s still family to me and always will be.”