Primary colors

By: Ross Boettcher

DEKALB, Ill. — The colors of a rebuilding community came out during senior night at a DeKalb High School varsity basketball game on Saturday.

In any other hardwood match up between the Barbs and the visiting Sycamore Spartans, the atmosphere would be thick with tension because of the game at hand. But after the shooting that took place Thursday, Feb. 14 at Northern Illinois University, both teams shed their own colors for NIU’s black and red scheme to pay tribute to the victims and their families.

“At first this was just a varsity basketball game between Sycamore and DeKalb, it’s a huge event anyhow because it’s senior night,” DeKalb Athletic Director Dan Jones said. “When the tragedy hit, we thought we should make this a community event because the DeKalb and Sycamore communities are so intertwined with NIU community.”

Both squads took the floor donning red and black warm-ups while the bleachers on both sides, home and away, were littered with fans sporting their NIU Husky apparel.

“I never thought I would see the kids wearing red and black on senior night,” said Dan Thompson of DeKalb and father of senior basketball player Travis Thompson.

Thompson said he had always expected Travis to represent his team by wearing DeKalb High’s usual orange and black, but the red and black combo of NIU was a pleasant surprise.

Another Barb parent, Josephine Moran, who is also an associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at NIU, had a different perspective of the event as a NIU staff member. When she first got word of what had happened, Umoren said the feeling was one of numbness, instant shock.

“Oh my gosh, I couldn’t believe it,” Umoren said. “The first thing I felt was disbelief. Normally when I get home from a day of work I change out of my work clothes, but Thursday I couldn’t do anything, I just sat there.”

Dylan Blaum, a senior at DeKalb, had friends who were close to Cole Hall when the shooting took place. With a red and black letter “N” painted on his chest, Blaum remembered the first conversations he had with his friends as “bizarre.”

“At first I didn’t know how to feel,” Blaum said. “They are all acting so much different now. I mean, nobody got hurt, but it’s just bizarre.”

Saturday’s game was one that will be remembered, not only by DeKalb as their seniors’ last home game, but by all as the first game the community played together.

“Just being around friends and being around other community members really helps with the healing process and makes it feel like we’re all going through the same thing,” Jones said, as fans wearing red and black poured into Chuck Dayton Gymnasium. “You hear that all the time, you always think it’s going to happen somewhere else, I never thought it would happen in DeKalb.”