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Records
might be made to be broken, but someone has
to set them first, and Arlene (Jones)
Covington did just that in her basketball
career at Centralia High School. The
1983 CHS graduate held marks for single
points in a season, set her junior year, and
following her senior campaign was the
all-time leading scorer and rebounder for
the Orphan Annies while playing for coach
Ann Murray. "Coach
Murray was great," said Covington who
had assumed a regular role in the lineup by
her sophomore season. "She showed
a lot of faith and confidence in me and
provided me with the opportunity to
play. She worked us hard to make sure
we reached our potential." Standing
5'10, Covington was a diligent rebounder
despite often going against taller players
on the boards. "Wherever
the ball was, I just wanted to get my hands
on it," she said. "When I
was in elementary school I played with my
brothers and his friends. There wasn't
a team for girls at that time and I always
had a desire to play. When I did get
to junior high where there was a team I was
ecstatic. Playing against boys
definitely made me a little more
aggressive." Covington
helped the Annies capture Class AA regional
championships in 1981 and 1982 as well as
two South Seven Conference Championships,
and in her sophomore through senior seasons
the Annies were a combined 57-22. In
her junior year and in a late-season game
versus Mt. Vernon she hit a basket in the
first quarter that broke Misty Sprehe's mark
of 408 points in a season. In the
postseason Centralia went on to avenge two
earlier losses to Mascoutah and win the
regional championship, and Covington ended
the season with 537 points. As
a senior the Annies' season ended with a
tough upset loss to Highland in the regional
finals. I
remember it as though it was
yesterday," said Covington.
"It was heartbreaking. But the
ball doesn't bounce your way every
time." "We
wished we could have kept going. But I
was able to play with some great people and
we still keep in touch with each
other." Covington
closed her basketball career with 1,337
points and 739 rebounds, both new CHS
marks. As a senior she averaged 20
points a game while shooting 56 percent from
the field, 80 percent at the free throw
line, and nabbed 11 rebounds per contest. She
also played volleyball for the Annies and
started on the 1982 team that set a school
record for wins in a season and in the
spring in track was a South Seven Conference
champion in the discus and had a personal
record throw of 111 feet. "I
started as a sprinter but one day I walked
over to the discus area and [teammate] Karen
Logullo had me throw it," said
Covington. "I tried it and really
enjoyed it. I had no experience
throwing before high school but it was
something different and I liked doing
it." Covington
played collegiately at Northwest Missouri
State University, later received a degree in
psychology and went on to become a private
school administrator while traveling with
her husband Mart who was in the military. They
eventually returned to Centralia and she
became an administrator at Kaskaskia
College. Beginning in 2002 Covington
was an assistant basketball coach at CHS. "That
was a dream come true," Covington said
of her return to her alma mater.
"I really enjoyed it." Today
Covington operates Positive Potential Plus,
a mentoring organization that works with
youth, conducts diversity training for large
and small businesses as well as colleges and
universities, and she's also an educator for
a private academy. All
four children (Mart IV, Anya, Garrett and
Aaliyah) in her family were standouts at
Edwardsville High School and all went on to
play collegiately with three still active
today. Anya is an assistant women's
basketball coach at her alma mater of
Wisconsin. Garrett recently scored his
1,000th career point at Western Illinois
University, and Aaliyah plays basketball for
Saint Louis University. "Athletics
offers great positives but education comes
first," Covington said of her
children's careers. "We
introduced them to all types of sports when
they were young but the expectations were to
excel in the classroom as well.
Regardless of how far athletics takes them,
they will always have that education to fall
back on. I'm proud of what they've
accomplished." list@morningsentinel.com
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