The best basketball competition in Oak Lawn may not be in the Spartans’ gym, where the boys and girls teams are both chasing another South Suburban Red title — the boys’ third straight and the girls’ fifth in a row.
No, the battles get even more heated in the Dempsey family driveway.
That’s where Danielle and Jack, sister and brother — daughter and son of former Oak Lawn standouts and starters on their respective teams — engage in furious games of HORSE.
“We would always play when we were younger and always want to beat each other. To this day, we still play,” said Danielle, 11 months and one day older than Jack. “We’ll play HORSE and somehow, get into a fight because we want to beat each other. We’d get in so many fights growing up because we’re so competitive.”
Countered Jack, “Sometimes we’ll start ‘chatting’ with each other, trying to dig deep into the other’s skin. When we were young, we didn’t want to talk to each other for a while, but now, it’s like, ‘Whatever.’ It’s not the end of the world, who loses.”
Mom Erin agreed.
“They argue and get on each other, but never where I had to separate them,” she said. “It ends up with one laughing or her brother just giving in because he was always told, I can’t rough up the girls.”
Said proud father George, “I say they’re the best of friends and the worst of enemies sometimes.”
Case in point, Jan. 4, when Oak Lawn hosted and swept Stagg in a boys/girls doubleheader. Danielle, a senior, led her Spartans in scoring (15 points) and rebounds (eight). Jack, a junior, led his Spartans with 21 points, including a season-high five 3-pointers. After her game, Danielle watched Jack’s game from the stands with her parents.
Said George Dempsey, “I told her, I’m proud of how you want 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, and she looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, betcha Jack can’t do that!’ All my friends just started laughing. It’s so great how they’re so competitive.”
Some parents push their children into sports as a way of living dreams they never experienced. That’s not the case with Erin and George Dempsey. Each were varsity athletes at Oak Lawn, and each coached as well.
In Erin’s case, you can still see the name Erin Haubenresier on the all-time stats board in the Oak Lawn gym, owner of the rebound records for a game (26) and a career (948). Her sister Janet is also there as the holder of the girls team’s coaching records for a season (28-2 in 2013-14) and a career (257 wins). Today, Janet Meyers is a media technology coach at Oak Lawn.
“I’ve been there and did that,” Erin said she told them as they grew up. “Don’t do this for me. Do this because you want to do it.”
They do, with contrasting styles.
Jack largely plays it cool on the court, not ruffling opponent’s feathers, but getting the job done. His 21-point showing in the 65-37 win over the Chargers was as quiet as they come, without demonstration or a great deal of emotion. He systematically took his opponent apart.
“It wasn’t always like that,” Jack said. “When I was younger, I was really emotional on the floor. You could definitely see it. But over the years, I’ve learned to control my emotions more, to stay calm. But we’re both emotional when it comes to basketball.”
“He gets pretty intense sometimes too,” boys coach Jason Rhodes said. “I needle him every once in a while: ‘Your sister’s a better rebounder than you are. Your sister’s tougher than you are.’ ”
Danielle plays with her heart on her sleeve. There was a point in the third quarter of Saturday’s 44-39 win over the Chargers when Stagg’s players were guarding her so tightly, she finally threw an elbow into the ribs of one of the players. The action wasn’t seen by the officials, but coach Mark Sevedge quickly sat her down for a minute lest her temper get the best of her.
“She’s not going to back down from anybody,” Sevedge said. “That gets into the minds of our opponents and their coaches play for that because they know how she is. Those are the kinds of players, like the old Detroit Pistons bad boys, you hate going against them but the second they’re on your team you love them.”
Her game — the precision passing may be better than her rebounding — opens the door for others to take open shots. With Dempsey double-teamed, a trio of 3-pointers in the final nine minutes, two by Teagan Krzystof, another by Kaitlyn Berkery, made the difference against Stagg.
“If we can attract their attention to Danielle and have her get in the paint and drive and kick it to those shooters, it really helps our offense,” Sevedge said.
“I just try to get my teammates the ball more than I try to score myself,” Danielle said.
This was one of the few occasions this season where they could watch each other play, and where Erin and George could sit in the same gym for both games.
Each is a three-sport athlete, with golf the fall sport for both. Danielle plays softball in the spring while Jack plays baseball. Both hope their athletic success is the final piece of the collegiate puzzle. For Danielle, who has had inquiries from two schools, that will be this fall, for Jack, a year from now.
“It’s come complete full circle,” George Dempsey said. “Jack and Danielle are the third generation of Dempseys who have come through here. My dad was in the first four-year graduating class, around 1956. My friends tell me, enjoy it because it goes by in a heartbeat. I can’t even believe Danielle is a senior.”