Jeff Cagle
i am a freelance news and editorial photographer living in the chicago suburbs.
my portfolio is at jeffcagle.com. You can also find me at instagram.com/jeffcagle
get in touch: jeffrey [dot] cagle [at] gmail
Ask me anything
-
I just got back from spending the past two days down in Champaign shooting the Illinois state high school wrestling tournament for the Chicago Sun-Times and its suburban affiliates. After firing off a few thousand frames and filing more than 100 photos from nearly as many matches for close to 10 publications between two photographers, this is pretty much how Matt and I felt after transmitting the final image last night at 11:15.
Now off to shoot a video.
-
There’s been a lot of Hollywood-like controversy this week in Illinois high school basketball regarding whether the tiny school of Mooseheart violated recruiting rules when it brought three Sudanese students — Akim Nyang, Makur Puou and Mangisto Deng — into the school that’s part of what’s known as the Child City, a place that provides an education and safe housing for at-risk youth. The Big Three (Nyang is 7’1”, Puou is 6’9” and Deng is 6’7”) sat out from athletics last year per IHSA transfer rules and a fourth Sudanese student, Wal Khat, received a medal at state cross country this year with nary an eyebrow raised until this week when the IHSA revealed it was investigating claims of recruiting violations and suspended the players from competition.
The court system got involved and granted a restraining order against the IHSA and rescinded the suspension until a hearing next week, allowing them to play in last night’s game at Hinckley Big-Rock, which happens to be the alleged source that filed the recruiting violation complaint that got this all started.
Hinckley Big-Rock went on to win the game and it remains to be seen what happens at next week’s hearing, but here’s a couple images from the news story surrounding this game, which drew so much attention the school had to turn people away from its 1,500 person capacity gym a full hour before tipoff in a town that has a population of 2,000.
For some more great photos surrounding the Big Three, here’s a post from my buddy Brian Powers from earlier this week, and check out Scott Strazzante, who’s been following these kids for more than a year.
-
Spent. Peoria, IL
-
Today I learned that cross country is not very fun.
-
Motocross at the DuPage County Fair II
-
“I’m deathly afraid of heights, but I jump motorcycles for a living.” - one of these guys.
-
Motocross at the DuPage County Fair
-
Getting some sports features in the bag for those rainy spring days when games get called. The good part about having to be at the rink before sunrise or you’ve had your coffee is the cold wakes you up pretty fast.
-
As a happy counter-balance to the morning, last night I shot the most epic high school sports game I’ve ever seen, which included six lead changes in the final two minutes, a seemingly winning layup with 2.5 seconds left at the opposite end of the court, then a buzzer-beating jumper on my end that led to fans rushing the court, a couple injuries, and one hell of a celebration. Here’s a few of the celebration and my favorite shot of the night, Aurora Central Catholic fans taunting a Yorkville player before he inbounds the ball, complete with a black Jesus.
Page 1 of 3
