Wednesday, October 18, 2006 7:05 PM CDT
By KEVIN HAGELAND Staff Writer / Plano Star

PLANO - Let’s talk pancakes. More specifically, let’s talk about the Plano basketball team’s pancake breakfast last Saturday morning.

I had the opportunity to attend the event, which started at 8 a.m. My first impression was I am amazed at how many parents were polite and smiling so early in the morning.

“It’s good to see the community rally around our team,” Plano head coach Tom Inman said. “I hope we have so many people come in today that we run out of food.”

This is the second straight year the Wildcats have held such a fundraising event, which Inman said would probably raise around $500 to help the team buy uniforms and other necessary basketball equipment. Inman added the only other fundraising events on tap for the team were a golf tournament and car wash.

For $6, anyone could come and partake in the activity. For that price, people were given three pancakes, two sausage patties, one cup of juice and a partridge in a pear tree. Wait, not that last part, just the food.

Flyers for the breakfast were made and handed out to the football team and to people taking part in a garage sale in front of the school that morning in hopes of increasing attendance.

The Wildcats are the defending basketball state 5A champions and all of the Plano players were at the pancake breakfast, with the exception of senior John Roberson, who was taking the SAT’s. Roberson has already orally committed to attend Texas Tech after graduation.

One of those players in attendance was senior Anton Koralev, who at 7-foot-1-inch, just might be the tallest human being I have ever seen in real life. Sorry Dirk Nowitzki, you have been usurped.

With players, parents and fans in attendance, there was plenty of chatter going on throughout the room on a various number of topics ranging from sports to politics.

One person compared Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers to the late Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers, while another flippantly remarked, “We’re all voting for Kinky right?” Before then adding that Friedman had no chance of actually being elected Texas governor.

The main topic of early-morning conversation though was the Plano football team, with one person saying they didn’t even know sophomore Rex Burkhead had taken over at quarterback for the Wildcats, which was met with a resounding chorus of, “Really?”

Burkhead arrived at the breakfast a little later than most of the players. No doubt he was exhausted from helping the Wildcats defeat Richardson Berkner, 16-0, the night before.

There are five players scheduled to be on the Plano basketball roster playing football for the school as well. One of those five is junior Nate Christian, who is currently recovering from surgery on his right knee’s anterior cruciate ligament.

Christian said he had the surgery three weeks ago and will miss the remainder of the football season. Christian said the average recovery time for an ACL injury is three-to-five months, so he is hoping to be back on the court by mid-season with the goal of giving the Wildcats a boost at that time.

In addition to the food and conversation, there were also several items up for auction, with the proceeds going to the basketball program. Some of the marquee items included an autographed eight by 10 photo from former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman and a hat autographed by Texas Rangers’ centerfielder Gary Matthews, Jr.

However, the two items that appeared to be drawing the most attention were a pair of autographed football helmets. One was a University of Alabama helmet signed by former head coach Gene Stallings and the other was a University of Miami helmet autographed by head coach Larry Coker.

One can only assume the demand for the Coker helmet would likely have gone down had the auction taken place after that day’s game between Miami and Florida International. The contest featured a pier-six brawl between the two teams and has Coker looking at a potential dismissal from the school simply known as “the U.”

During the breakfast, Coach Inman appeared almost giddy when the shipment of the team’s new warm-up jackets arrived. Inman feverishly tried one on and told his team he decided to go with gray for a change. The players he discussed this with seemed convinced it was the right way to go.

However, the best accessory that Inman and all of the Plano players were wearing was their state championship ring. I even saw one player wearing his ring with a chain, sort of like a make-shift championship necklace.

With Inman’s gesticulation style, his ring frequently banged against the table when we were speaking at the breakfast. I hope he has that thing insured against any potential damage.

Inman sports a gold ring, while the rest of the players chose to get the silver version of the championship ring.

“I really wanted the gold ring and the rest of the guys wanted the silver one, so we got different ones,” Inman said. “But now that I’ve seen how good the silver rings look, I might have to buy one of those as well.”

Plano’s quest to get another state championship will begin when the Wildcats start practice Wednesday, Oct. 25. Although the team had eight departing seniors from last year’s 29-8 squad, Inman is still fired up about the beginning of the season.

“The days are getting shorter and the weather is getting cooler. You can just feel that it is almost time for basketball to start,” Inman said. “As a coach, you always head into the start of a new season knowing that you are going to be better than you thought at some things, but also worse at others. It is an exciting time of year.”