Southeast icon Charlie Brune will be missed

Although Charlie Brune lived a long and rewarding life, I was still saddened by the death of the Southeast Missouri State athletic icon.

Brune, the patriarch of what is regarded as the first family of Southeast football whose involvement in Southeast athletics spanned more than 60 years, passed away Friday at age 88.

Brune played football at Southeast in 1940 and 1941 under legendary coach Abe Stuber. He had two sons, Greg and Lance, and three grandsons, Brent, Brian and Bobby, who also played football at Southeast.

Brune helped establish the Southeast Athletic Booster Club in 1953, served as booster club president from 1976 through 1982, and remained heavily involved with the organization after his days as president.

I got to know the entire Brune family quite a few years ago through my coverage of Charlie's grandsons when they played sports first at Central High School and later at Southeast.

What stands out the most to me about Charlie was the warm smile, hearty laugh and firm handshake he greeted me with every time we'd run into each other.

What also stands out to me is seeing Charlie every year at the annual booster club barbecue in August that serves to kick off the Southeast sports year. He was a fixture at those events, until his health began to fail him in recent years.

Charlie was one of the nicest guys I ever met, and I don't recall ever hearing a bad word about him. He will be missed.

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Special thanks to a pair of nice young men who helped me out in the Capaha Field press box over the weekend as I served as PA announcer and scoreboard operator for the National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional.

Cameron Hester, 9, and Riley Hester, 6 -- they're brothers -- did a great job picking out and playing the music that ran over the PA system between innings and between games.

I have to admit, their taste in music is way better than mine.

By the way, the Capahas won their fifth straight regional title -- withstanding a strong effort from the Pine Bluff (Ark.) Braves -- to earn their 28th consecutive berth in the NBC World Series.

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I know not a lot of people around here follow Southeast tennis, but I really enjoy the sport and try to make it out to as many of the Redhawks' matches as possible.

So I'm glad to see that coach Mark Elliott has signed what appears to be three quality players to shore up next season's team.

The Redhawks really struggled this year, having to fill out their roster with several walkons, but that shouldn't be the case in 2010.

Elliott is hamstrung by limited scholarships that place him at or near the bottom of the Ohio Valley Conference, but he's a quality coach with a tennis background that includes a number of years competing on the professional tour and a number of years working with some of the nation's top juniors who went on to pro careers.

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Another of the OVC's talented junior pitchers from the 2009 baseball season has turned professional.

Jacksonville State's Ben Tootle recently finalized a contract with the Minnesota Twins organization, which drafted him in the third round last month.

Tootle, a hard-throwing right-hander, could have returned to the Gamecocks for his senior season.

Tootle joins two other standout pitchers who could have returned to their respective OVC teams next season, but instead signed following their junior campaigns.

Eastern Illinois lefty Tyler Kehrer was selected No. 48 overall, while Murray State lefty Daniel Calhoun -- the 2009 OVC pitcher of the year -- went in the 29th round.

Meanwhile, junior catcher Jim Klocke -- Southeast's lone draftee who went in the 46th round to the Cardinals -- has not yet announced whether he will sign or return to the Redhawks for his senior season.

Klocke currently is playing in the Cape Cod League.

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The OVC will have two new women's basketball coaches next season after Tennessee Tech's Amy Brown resigned early this month.

That came on the heels of Tara Tansil-Gentry's resignation at Tennessee-Martin in late May. She already has been replaced by Kevin McMillan, an assistant at Middle Tennessee State for two seasons who spent the majority of his career as a successful Tennessee high school coach.

Brown, who said she stepped down in order to pursue other professional opportunities, was Tennessee Tech's coach for three seasons after spending 10 years as an assistant with the Eaglettes.

Brown never came close to the success of her predecessor and former boss, Bill Worrell, as the perennial OVC power Eaglettes won no more than 12 games in any of Brown's three campaigns.

Tennessee Tech is currently in the search process for a new coach.

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Sikeston's Blake DeWitt, who has spent the majority of the baseball season in Class AAA with several major league stints sprinkled in, recently hit his first homer of 2009 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

DeWitt, currently with the Dodgers, is batting .174 for the major league season (4-for-23).

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.