Daniels | Winning a big part of this family's legacy

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CHAMPAIGN — John Paddock seems destined to start at quarterback for Illinois on Saturday.

It's been well-documented this week of Paddock's family connections to the Illini and how his great-grandfather, grandfather and uncle all played football at Illinois.

No offense to the Paddock and Wright family with the following sentence. But the Small family is arguably the first family of Illinois athletics these days.

You have Bill Small, a guard on the 1963 Big Ten championship men's basketball team. You have Andy Small, who was part of two Illinois baseball Big Ten tournament championship teams in 1989 and 1990. And then you have Mike Small, the dean of Illinois coaches these days who has had two-plus decades of unprecedented success he's had as the Illini men's golf coach. Who also was part of a Big Ten championship team during his Illinois playing career in 1988.

"They grew up in Danville, and we worked in Danville for 30 years," Bill Small said Wednesday evening during a radio appearance on WDWS' "SportsTalk" at the Esquire. "One time, we had Jim Turpin come over and speak at rotary. First thing he said after he was introduced and recognized me was this: 'Bill had a good basketball career at Illinois. Good family. The best thing he did for the University of Illinois was father two sons.'"

All Mike Small has done since he became the coach at his alma mater at the start of the century is turn a northern golf school like Illinois into one of the premier college golf programs in the country. OK, the minority of detractors might say Illinois still hasn't won a national title under Small's direction. True. Then go out and try shooting consecutive quality rounds of golf yourself on back-to-back days.

Illinois has become what Ohio State and Michigan are to Big Ten football on the men's golf scene. Winning 13 of the last 14 Big Ten titles proves just that. Finding themselves among the nation's top-ranked programs each spring, with a legit shot to win a national title and churn out future pro players each year proves just that.

Mike heard all about the Illini growing up courtesy of his dad, who was a three-year starter for coach Harry Combes' teams in the early 1960s. And heard about his own dad's basketball career that first gained attention when he starred in high school at West Aurora and later on in Champaign when he played alongside Dave Downey, Bill Burwell, Tal Brody and others, culminating with a 20-6 record during his senior season in 1962-63 that saw Illinois win a Big Ten title for the first time in 11 years.

"We moved to Danville in 1974, and he had been out of school about 11 years, but he was still in people's minds," Mike said. "Wherever I went, I was always Bill Small's kid, and I was expected to be a really good basketball player and really good athlete. I embraced the pressure. I liked the attention."

And liked the stories he would hear about his dad's basketball ability.

"I always heard how he could shoot from anywhere," Mike said. "Some guys said he never missed. Some guys said he never saw a shot he didn't like."

But one aspect he learned from his dad at a young age, that is still embodied in Mike all these years later, is winning.

"When you play at Illinois and you're on a Big Ten championship team, it's on a whole different level," Mike said. "To play at Illinois is a big deal. It's a great legacy thing to have throughout your life, but if you're on a championship team, Illini Nation really respect the winners. People remember the championships. That's always something that's been cool to me."

Wednesday evening marked a chance for father and son to reminiscence a bit, too. Like the time Mike defended a future Flyin' Illini starter on the basketball court.

"We have a picture at home of him guarding Lowell Hamilton at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament," Bill said.

How did that go?

"It did not turn out well," Mike said with a smile.

Or Mike getting introduced to Steve Stricker by former Illinois coach Ed Beard. This was before Stricker became an All-American at Illinois, a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour and the captain of the victorious United States team at the 2021 Ryder Cup.

"The first time I met Strick was my freshman year and he came on a visit," Mike said. "Coach told us this was a guy we needed, so we put on a good show for Strick. He came the next year and turned everything around for us."

Much like the entire Small family has done for every Illini athletic program they've touched.