Boys Basketball: Stephens brothers to stage family reunion when St. Charles East comes to town

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1/26/12 Evanston Herb Stephens is the safety director at Evanston High School and has worked there for thirty one years. The Stephens family has a long history of involvement in Evanston High School sports. Two of Herb's siblings are in evanston's athletic hall of fame, Herb is the remaining sibling still involved at evanston. | Tamara Bell~Sun Times Media

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Updated: March 3, 2012 11:24AM

The Stephens brothers are to Evanston basketball as the Plumlees are to Duke.

While the three of them graduated long ago, the family will celebrate a reunion of sorts Feb. 11 when Everette Stephens and St. Charles East visit Beardsley Gym to play the Wildkits. Everett serves as an assistant coach for the Saints, and his son Kendall is a starting guard for the Upstate Eight River squad.

“It’s going to be very surreal,” said Herb Stephens, the oldest of five siblings. “To have my brother come back to where he had so many great games is going to be exciting.”

Everette was a guard/forward on the Wildkits when they took second place in the state in 1984. The only game they lost that season was to Ben Wilson and Simeon in the Class AA championship.

After a stellar career at Purdue, he was drafted in the second round by the Philedelphia 76ers.

He realizes how strange it will be to sit on the other side of the scorer’s table next week.

“I’m sure it will feel weird,” said Everette, whose son is a Division I recruit. “But it’s part of the basketball world. It will be nice to go back there, to the gym where I have so many great memories.”

Herb started the basketball tradition when he played for Jack Burmaster. The Wildkits reached the first Class AA Elite Eight, losing to Peoria Manual, in 1972 after winning the state title in 1968.

“I’m so blessed that basketball was part of our family,” said Herb, who’s worked in the safety department at Evanston for 31 years. “We were all students first, then athletes. But sports was a way for us to learn values of life.”

The late Tony Stephens, who died in 2010, followed Herb to the basketball court in the late 1970s.

But it was Everette and Evanston’s 1983-84 club that captured the community’s imagination. The team took a 32-0 record into the championship game before losing 53-47 to the Wolverines. It was Simeon’s first state title.

“That team was unbelievable,” said Tom Livatino, who graduated Evanston in 1987 and now coaches basketball at Loyola. “And Everette was the man. He was an unbelievable athlete. He was charismatic and had a great smile. He was always happy.

“That team was so much fun to watch.”

Tom’s brother Chris agreed.

“That was an extremely special team,” said Chris, Evanston’s athletic director. “When you think you Evanston basketball, that team is near the top of the list. It’s an exciting opportunity to have Everette come back to the gym and bring his son to play in our gym where Everette gave us so many memories.”

Even though the Wildkits didn’t win the state trophy, Everette said it was an incredible experience.

“What a good ride,” he said. “The community was so excited and energized.”

Both Everette and Herb had children who played sports at Evanston. Everette’s daughter Paris won a state championship in track and field in 1991, while Herb’s son Lorenzo played football for the legendary John Riehle.

A Stephens family story isn’t complete without including Gail. The 1980 graduate didn’t play basketball, but she was one of the best track and field athletes to ever compete at the school. She’s in both Evanston’s Hall of Fame as well as at Eastern Illinois, where she ran in college.

Gail’s oldest daughter Akiya Alexander played basketball at Evanston and two seasons at Wisconsin. Twin daughters Iman and Hanan Richmond are seventh-graders at Chicago’s Walt Disney Magnet School, where they play basketball.

“There are special families that touch schools, and the Stephens family definitely is one of those,” Chris Livatino said.