By Dan Vance
MaxPreps.com
Summer has become the busiest time of Derek Evans' entire year. Hard to believe considering that Evans has spent his traditional school year becoming the first three-sport All-Conference star for Fort Wayne South Side in over 20 years.
In the fall, he patrols the gridiron defensively for the Archers, a main ingredient on a team who only last year became a viable Summit Athletic Conference contender again. Come winter, he slides up court and spots up for the co-SAC champions at shooting guard. And again in the spring, he is back in forest green - this time jumping for distance into a pit of sand.
Once summer time comes, he combines them all. Not to mention spending his free time ("yeah right" Evans comments) playing basketball for the Spiece Northeast Stars AAU program.
"It is hard to get everything in," Evans said. "I have to pull myself in so many different directions."
2006-2007 was a breakout year for the still-overlooked star. He received All-SAC nods in each sport as a junior, including his first year among the conference's best basketball players. He joined two teammates (Juston Hairston and Fred Ford) on that list. He also won Sectional titles in basketball and track (individually in the long jump). Not bad for a kid who is often a second thought.
"I don't take it to heart much," Evans said. "I play with a lot of good athletes and I am a team player so I don't need the spotlight."
Last fall, Evans helped lead South to a 9-3 record, getting to the brink of conference and Sectional titles even though he was often overshadowed on defense by an offense that bragged one of the city's top runners in Deontrai Campbell. The year before, he was the key defensive element in taking the Archer football program to a Semi-State title.
"Derek was great in helping me come in and have that success," Archer football coach Mike Cheviron said. "He has leadership qualities that are nice and can adapt well to changes."
Cheviron became the South Side football coach in 2006 after moving from Carroll High School, also in Fort Wayne. Previous coach Matt Land, who had led the Archers to Semi-State, had left to take over the city's indoor football team, the Freedom.
"It is the only time in high school I have ever had that kind of a change, so it was new. But he understood us, we understood him and we just went out to win," Evans said.
Basketball season saw Evans become even more of an important catalyst as teams doubled down on future Division I teammates Hairston and Ford. A late season win over rival North Side (who topped South in December 2006 for the SAC Holiday Tournament crown) propelled the team to a share of the SAC crown, though Bishop Dwenger received credit for winning due to an earlier win over the Archers. A month later, Evans again was crucial as the Archers topped Snider for a long awaited Sectional title.
"Could we have done it without Derek?" questioned basketball coach Ryan Bond. "I honestly couldn't tell you. But am I glad we didn't have to worry about it? Yes."
Springtime saw the aforementioned Sectional crown in the long jump and a sixth place finish in Regionals, just missing a spot in the State meet. When Evans graduates next June, plenty of colleges in all three sports are expected to be valid choices for the student-athlete who will graduate with 12 varsity letters.
But all of that is in the past and even in the future. Right now, Evans is focused on a senior season that will see him be the leader and go-to-guy on the field, court and track.
"I just want to lead my team and my school to championships," Evans said. "There is really not a reason why South Side couldn't be the premiere sports school in Fort Wayne. All I can do is just keep trying to make that happen."
Dan Vance is MaxPreps' Indiana Correspondent and can be reached via e-mail at dan.vance@franchisepublications.net.