Aurora rivalry powers high school basketball in Kane County

The Sun-Times’ high school basketball Mount Rushmore project highlights the sport’s biggest names and greatest stars.

With the prep career as the criteria’s centerpiece — with a sprinkling of post-high school success and overall stature used as a separator — we’ve created a Mount Rushmore for 10 geographical regions throughout the Chicago area.

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The East Aurora-West Aurora rivalry is the second-oldest in Illinois history. While the rivalry’s heat has been tempered over the last decade, these two programs have churned out a long list of stars who thrilled the basketball fans in this area.

There have been some splendid stars up and down the Fox Valley area from Aurora to Elgin, but it’s no surprise three of the four members of Kane County’s Mount Rushmore hail from the East and West sides of Aurora. They also happen to be three wildly entertaining players who thrived on endless energy, passion and unmatched activity levels.

Throw in a basketball Hall of Famer in the mix and this is an awfully fun foursome.

Kenny Battle, West Aurora

The West Aurora program’s rich history includes a state championship in 2000, 15 state appearances and 11 state trophies. There are legendary coaches, including John McDougal and Gordie Kerkman. There is a fantastic old gym and a number of great players who starred in it.

But the Kenny Battle mystique is something different when you start discussing West Aurora basketball.

He led the Blackhawks to a 31-2 record and third-place finish in 1984, leading the state tournament in scoring that year and providing so many highlight-reel plays. The two-time all-stater averaged 19.5 points and 11 rebounds as a senior and finished with 1,188 career points.

Battle, though, was so much more than an accomplished star. He resonated in a way few high school players do. There remains a deep reverence surrounding him when old-school fans talk about his game and presence.

Was there a player in his generation who did more to fire up a crowd?

First, Battle is arguably one of the five best in-game dunkers we’ve seen in high school basketball in this state. The high-flying 6-6 Battle dunked on people consistently and ferociously.

Then there was his competitive spirit and hustle. It was unmatched, which was clearly identified during his playing days at Illinois but began in high school.

It’s why the Battle-led Northern Illinois teams filled the old Chick Evans Fieldhouse in his two seasons playing in DeKalb. And it’s why he became a fan favorite while playing at Illinois in his final two years, which included being a central figure on the “Flying Illini” Final Four team in 1989.

Ryan Boatright, East Aurora

By the time Boatright was a senior in high school, the dazzling 6-1 point guard had become the player where you checked the schedules, marked down certain can’t-miss games and wrote the dates down on a calendar. His games became a spectacle.

He was that dynamic, that exciting of a player and in a league of his own when it came to the speed he played at with the basketball in his hands. In the open floor, Boatright was mesmerizing, jetting past defenders and exploding to the rim.

Boatright, who averaged 31.2 points as a senior, scored 63 points in one game, 55 in another. He scored more than 40 points seven times.

He single-handedly ended the season of one of the state’s best teams, triggering one of the biggest upsets of all-time — a sectional win over unbeaten, nationally ranked Benet, finishing with 29 points and six assists.

The co-Mr. Basketball Award winner as a senior, Boatright was a household name well before. Although he ultimately signed with Connecticut, he grabbed everyone’s attention when he committed to USC and coach Tim Floyd as an eighth-grader.

Boatright played a huge role for the 2014 UConn team that won a national championship and has enjoyed a lengthy professional career overseas.

Dan Issel, Batavia

Many people forget what a dominating and legendary basketball player Issel, now 76 years old, really was over the course of his career.

Upon his retirement from the NBA in 1985, only three players — Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving — had scored more professional points than Issel. He played six years in the ABA and 10 in the NBA, scoring over 27,000 points. He was nicknamed “The Horse” as he missed just 24 games in his 16-year career.

While at Kentucky, Issel was even more dominant. He averaged 33.9 points a game as a senior and finished his career in Lexington with 2,138 points and 1,078 rebounds. To this day he remains the all-time leader in both categories in the illustrious history of Kentucky basketball.

Issel’s number is retired by the Denver Nuggets, and he was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.

Many people forget it all started at Batavia, where the 6-9 Issel was born and raised and turned into a high school All-American. He averaged 25.8 points for a Batavia team that finished 26-3 during his senior year. He led the Bulldogs to a pair of regional championships.

Thomas Wyatt, East Aurora

Anyone who truly watched Wyatt from 1986 to ’90 will tell you he was an absolutely fascinating player.

This nugget pretty much tells it all as it pertains to that fascination: Wyatt is one of the top 25 scorers in state history without being a dominating big man or being able to shoot a perimeter jumper.

The skinny 6-5 forward with an endless motor played like a cheetah.

Wyatt’s instincts to make plays and overall impact on games was resounding and endless. Yes, he scored. A lot. But he was a dominating rebounder and defender who feasted at the top of the Tomcats’ nonstop full-court press.

The two-time all-state selection averaged 27 points, 10 rebounds and four steals a game as a senior. Wyatt led East Aurora to 99 wins, three sectional championships and a pair of state appearances in 1988 and 1989, scoring 2,575 points in his four years.