Mention “Polk Brothers” to a lot of Chicagoans and they think of the furniture and electronics stores that closed their doors in the early 1990s.
But around Oak Lawn football, the Polk brothers are a dynamic duo back to lead the Spartans again this fall.
Kamari is a junior slotback, while Karmoni is a senior offensive lineman who also will see time on defense this season.
Some observers are surprised to learn that Kamari, who’s 5-11 and 166 pounds, and Karmoni, who’s 6-3 and 280, are related.
“Yeah, sometimes it’s, ‘How are you so little and he’s so big?'” Kamari said.
Physical appearances aside, the brothers have an understandably strong bond on and off the field, They both started playing football later than some of their peers, Karmoni as a freshman and Kamari as an eighth grader.
But now they’re key cogs for the Spartans, who are coming off a breakthrough season. Oak Lawn ended a 16-year playoff drought and finished 7-3 last season in coach Ryan Pattison’s fifth year.
“It’s great, he’s making me look good,” Kamari said of Karmoni. “He’s doing all the dirty work for me.”
The Polks both earned All-South Suburban Red honors last season, along with quarterback Danny Strelow, now a junior, and fullback Jayden Schlosser, who’s a senior this year.
Kamari wound up with a bigger role than he expected when the Spartans had some injury issues.
“Our team, we were really resilient,” Kamari said. “We faced a lot of adversity before the season even started with summer camp. I didn’t even know I was going to step up.
“I was like, ‘I have to step up. I’m not a freshman anymore.”
Kamari actually was set to start on defense before veteran John Oleljniczak suffered a season-ending injury in week two and he was needed on offense. Then Kamari missed time later in the season with an injury of his own.
“Kamari, he’s recovered really well from his injury,” Pattison said. “He’s another one that could easily play both sides of the ball.”
Meanwhile, Karmoni is getting work on both lines.
“(We’re) trying to provide a little bit of a spark for the defense,” Pattison said. “… He was our best offensive lineman last year, so we don’t want to lose him there. But at the same time, we think he can be really good on the defensive line, too. So we’re gonna give him a shot here and see how it goes.”
The Spartans, who return 16 starters, also are eager to see how this season goes. They are seeking to post back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since going 5-4 in 1985 and 6-4 in 1986.
“When I first got here, I sat down with the staff and we kind of came up with a hierarchy of what this program needs to (accomplish),” Pattison said. “Our goal was always not to get lucky (just) one year. … It was always how to be perennial (contenders).”