Exactly where did Bob Cantrell lose direction?
Post-Tribune (IN)
April 3, 2009
Talk about a fall from on high.While it may have been a slow and gradual descent, that didn't lessen the intensity of bottoming out.
Political power broker Robert Cantrell may have seen the rest of his life pass before him Tuesday when he was sentenced to 78 months in prison. That can be an eternity for a guy who is 67 years old.
One has to wonder where he went wrong. Perhaps he had difficulty coping with life after being put on a pedestal at 18.
In 1960, Cantrell was on top of the world. No one in Indiana Harbor was bigger.
Cantrell that year led the East Chicago Washington Senators to the Indiana high school basketball championship.
Moments after cutting down the nets, Cantrell received the Arthur L. Trester Award for Mental Attitude.
It goes each year to a player based on "mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability."
Cantrell was all of those things and more. If there had been a nationwide search for the all-American boy, they would have found him dribbling
He went off to the University of Michigan, where he shined as well. He also picked up master's and doctorate degrees.
And then he came home to the Harbor. And it all began to unravel for the Trester Award winner.
Cantrell found his way back into the East Chicago athletic environment that had been his springboard to stardom.
He became one of several athletic directors in the East Chicago school system.
There were some who used to complain they had more athletic directors than guidance counselors there.
That could well have been.
But while he remained a gym rat, he also ventured into politics -- which was even more popular than basketball in the Harbor.
Cantrell fashioned himself as a Republican and even ran for office under the GOP banner. That was all a charade -- little more than a way to ensure that Cantrell was a player in East Chicago.
Bobby Cantrell was a Democrat. Everyone knew it.
Somewhere along the line he was offered a legitimate job -- although perhaps not for legitimate reasons -- and he took it.
Cantrell, the East Chicago political worm, was named superintendent of the River Forest School Corp.
It lasted less tha a year, and Cantrell bounced around political jobs in Lake County, promising jobs and poor relief for votes. He also became a master at putting bogus candidates on the ballot in an attempt to thwart the interest of his enemies.
Yet he was good at what he did, largely because he was bright and, more importantly, because he never got caught.
But when he started extracting money for getting some elected officials to hire a consulting firm tied to him, people started noticing.
Playing politics is one thing. Extracting a dime for pulling someone's chain is another.
What a sorry end to what was such a promising start.
Breaking the law is one thing. Dragging "Hail Noble Washington" into the gutter is inexcusable.
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