Dave Hinton: Heritage's driving force thankful for the experience

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Congratulate Lori Archer if you see her at any Heritage school events.

Her career as a do-about-anything school official will come to a close after 30 years next spring.

She won't miss the 12- to 15-hour days, but she will miss the staff and students.

As athletic director, Archer has been knee-deep in basketball activities this week at the Broadlands school, located 36 minutes southeast of Champaign-Urbana. Heritage co-hosts a holiday tournament with BHRA. Five teams play at each site, with the final day featuring crossover games. Friday marked her 29th and final tournament.

While Archer has enjoyed her time at Heritage, she said it's a good time to retire.

"I had a really rough year mostly (getting) officials and umpires," she said. "I replaced 69 officials.

"Mentally and physically I'm just worn out."

Archer said most of the cancellations were due to illness.

She said getting officials and umpires is getting more difficult. It's no wonder the people who ref the games are more reluctant to face the taunts and second-guessing of an increasingly ill-tempered fan base.

"Fans, I've seen a trend of them getting more mean toward the officials," Archer said. "A lot of these men and women who do it, obviously it's not their main job. They drive an hour or an hour and a half to a game" for not much money.

Archer said there are many things to keep track of as an AD.

"It's not just a matter of scheduling a game and being done," Archer said. "It's a 24-hour-a-day job."

Scheduling must be done a year or two ahead "just to get your games on the schedule and get your officials and umpires."

"It helps to be organized, that's for sure," she said.

Archer learned a few of the duties of an athletic director from her late husband, Jim, who was also a teacher-coach in the Durand school district, near Rockford.

The Archers had been married only five years when he passed away at age 42 from cancer.

At Durand, Lori was school librarian and drove a bus route.

Growing up in Bethany, south of Decatur, she graduated from Millikin University. After her husband's death, she took the Heritage job to be closer to her family.

Archer lives in Villa Grove. Her 83-year-old mother, Judy Stroyeck, lives just 45 minutes away.

Lori herself was diagnosed with cancer in 2005.

"Having lost my husband to cancer, I immediately went to the lowest place you could go," she said.

The cancer was caught soon enough, and she licked the disease through chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

One of the first people to show up at her door after she received the diagnosis was boys' basketball coach Lyle Loman. Archer had been encouraging the legendary coach to remain at the helm until he got his 400th win.

"He made me promise to do what I had to do to beat (the cancer) and be there to see him get his 400th win," she said. "He said if I wouldn't make that promise, he would walk away from coaching right then, with 394 wins."

It gave Archer even more incentive.

She came through with a clean bill of health, and Loman went on to record 416 wins after 30 years at Heritage.

Sadly, Loman himself was later was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 2008. He was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.

Athletic director is just one of Archer's jobs. She also teaches kindergarten; first-, second-, third- and eighth-grade physical education; seventh- and eighth-grade health; and has a morning and afternoon bus route.

Archer used to drive a bus to sports activities. During the summer, she has done mowing work for the school.

Heritage has had its "ups and downs" athletically during Archer's 30 years.

"I believe my first two years here we had made the football playoffs," she said. "That was very exciting for the team and the town. The year that Lyle came back and coached one more year we had a very successful year."

Even so, the school never won a regional basketball tournament.

"The last couple of years were very successful in volleyball, and we made it into the sectionals," Archer said. "The baseball team ... made it into the finals of the sectional.

"The softball team won conference four years in a row and the Little Okaw Valley Conference."

Heritage is now in the Lincoln Prairie Conference.

Heritage High's enrollment has dropped over the years as it has in most rural districts from 175 some 30 years ago to about 125 today.

"With our numbers dropping, we have gone through several co-ops," first with Shiloh and later with Villa Grove. But those have ended.

Sports remains Archer's favorite hobby.

She played basketball and track in high school and said she was an "OK player."

"Looking back, I didn't work as hard as I should have," she said.

Archer is a "huge Duke basketball fan," since the '80s.

Archer is also a Chicago Cubs fan. She formerly rooted for the Green Bay Packers when Brett Favre played there and now roots for the Kansas City Chiefs because of Patrick Mahomes.

Just try to keep Archer away from Heritage games after she retires. She plans to come to a lot of them, "walk in the door and enjoy."

"I do appreciate all of my time here and the friends I have made," the 58-year-old said. "I'll miss my officials and the relationships I've had with them and all the teachers. But I'm close enough that I can come back."

Archer, who plans to remain in Villa Grove, hopes to travel.

Farm Alliance honors Chrisman woman

Robin Rank, a beginning farmer in Chrisman, is one of four people to receive awards from the Illinois Stewardship Alliance for their leadership.

Rank was named local food caucus leader of the year.

She is an environmental expert and advocate for a just transition to a resilient, regenerative local food and farm system.

Rank honed in her advocacy skills by participating in member training workshops, dove into racial equity in agriculture in the alliance's first equity earning circle cohort, championed local food and soil health policies in the caucuses and took countless actions on state and federal policy to urge legislators to prioritize local food production.

She also pitched in to make sure the alliance's annual harvest celebration event was a success and supports the alliance monthly with a recurring gift as a sustaining member.

Others honored were Cliff Schuette of Breese as soil health caucus leader of the year; Derek Ervin of Johnston City as farm leader of the year; and Kevin Atchason of Springfield as leader of the year.

The alliance recognized Schuette's commitment to making meaningful change on big issues.

He raises beef and is a seed distributor in Breese, in the metro east area. Schuette champions soil health solutions by being a knowledgeable and steadfast presence in the soil health caucus, building relationships with policymakers at lobby days at the capitol and by telling his story as an experienced farmer by writing op-eds for local media outlets.

Ervin was recognized as being a champion for farmer-led change.

He and his wife, Libby, hosted a southern Illinois soil health symposium and a roundtable with Sen. Dale Fowler to discuss the importance of building local food infrastructure.

Representing the non-farmers, Atchason hit the ground running as a new member of the alliance and attended all of its leadership training events.

Beckett's backChampaign County Sheriff Dustin Heuerman swore in an old familiar face to the sheriff's office this month — former county investigator Tim Beckett.

He has rejoined the law enforcement division.

Fisher 4-Hers spread cheer

The Fantastic 4-Hers of Fisher were full of Christmas cheer this month and spread it around. They delivered 250 laundry care packages, which included laundry soap and dryer sheets, in Mahomet, Champaign and Fisher.

Club members decorated a float with a gingerbread house theme for the Fisher Christmas parade Dec. 2.

Members also sang Christmas carols for people at Villas of Hollybrook in Rantoul.

Fisher girl wins title

Jordynn Huskisson of Fisher has earned another queen pageant title earlier, being named Miss America 2024 Miss Central Illinois Teen.

She gave a monologue on her survival story from bullying and all that came from it — self-harming, suicide attempts and an eating disorder.

Huskisson, 13, will compete in June for the Miss Illinois Teen title in Marion.

She is a daughter of Chuck and Amy Huskisson.

Her platforms are Blankets of Hope by Jordy, where she makes tie blankets for children with cancer; Jordy's blessing boxes to help stamp out food insecurities; and Rise Above empowering mental health and resilience to combat bullying.

Her previous titles are Little Miss Champaign County Fair 2017, Little Miss of Illinois 2018, Little Miss of Midwest 2020, Little Miss of America 2021 and International Junior Miss Illinois Preteen 2023.