Herb Williams - 82

Hey All! How great to discover a Thornridge Track and Cross Country web site! Those years on the track and cross country teams at TR were some of the most influential of my youth.

I was Class of '82 and went on to study computer science at Illinois State where I was Class of '86. I spent a few years doing information systems consulting with what is now "Accenture," before ultimately moving out West and going to law school at University of California - Hastings Law in San Francisco. I lived in Los Angeles for the last several years but have just moved back to the bay Area to work with the legal group at Intel Corporation.

My parent's still live in the south suburbs and I visit Chicago often. Many of you will remember my sister Nina Williams who was a star on the girls track and cross country teams - Class of '80; and my brother Douglas Williams from that same year. He was not a runner but was pretty well known around the school and was good friends with Leon Fuller, Syl Baugh and the gang.

This past February 2009 -- and completely by happenstance -- I discovered that Coach Stolley is a USA Track & Field coach in Santa Monica, Ca and coaches a team there. I found a link for his track club online, dropped him an email and a week later, the Coach, David Wolfe (who happened to be in LA for the weekend) and I had a wonderful reunion over drinks. Stolley is doing great and is still motivating top athletes. Any of you could pick him out of a line-up as he has not changed in the slightest after all these years!! Also, his recall of the details of those years at TR is amazing. It was really great to see him and catch up.

Great years at TR form 78-82. I was a late comer to track and field/xc in that I didn't join the team until my sophomore year. Thus, I only had one full year under Skip Stolley's coaching before he left for Indiana. Of course, like many of you, he made such an impression on me while at TR, that he is probably still one of the most memorable people from those years in high school and beyond.

I left Illinois pretty quickly after undergrad and have since lost touch with most of my high school friends and teammates. I'm looking forward to catching up with more of you and I hope to be able to attend the next reunion. Thanks for the site!