Rock Island's Scott Deopere and Moline Alicia Gerlach are two local athletes that made national headlines in 2001.

Deopere, a 1997 Rock Island High School Graduate, was named the NCAA Division III Soccer Player of the Year, after finishing his collegiate career at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh as Division III's fifth all-time leading scorer.

Gerlach a 1998 Moline High School graduate, became the University of Iowa women's softball all-time home run leader, while leading the Hawkeye's to the 2001 softball Final Four.

For this Deopere and Gerlach have been named The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus' Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year for 2001.

It's been an exciting, if not surprising, year for Deopere, starting with an unannounced call from the president of the NCAA last Spring.

" I was at home and my mom hands me the phone and it's the president of the NCAA," said Deopere. I had no idea why he was calling, so when he told me I was named the Player of the year I was shocked. To be the one player picked out of more than 8,000 players is quite an honor."

Deopere may have been surprised by his selection, but the Rock Island native had been drawing attention from professional scouts, who recognized his talent. His stats were hard to ignore. He established 14 season and career records at Oshkosh, including most goals in a season and career, most total points in a season and career and most game-winning goals in a season and career.

Recognizing his pure goal scoring ability, the Cincinnati Riverhawks selected Deopere in the first round of the 2001 draft. He became the first soccer player in Quad-Cities history to be selected in the professional draft. The Riverhawks are part of the USL A-league, Major League Soccer's developmental league. They're affiliated with MLS's Columbus Crew. Cincinnati sent Deopere to train with the crew for two weeks last March.

"That was a great experience," said Deopere. I performed pretty well and got a chance to talk to guys like Brian McBride."

McBride, who plays on the U.S. National Team, is one of the U.S. premiere soccer talents in this country.

"We had some things in common, so he gave me some advice and confidence," said Deopere.

Deopere has recently signed with the Minnesota Thunder, another USL A-league club, after asking for a release from Cincinnati.

"I'm going to give this my best shot," said Deopere. The USL really tries to get guys to the next level. I'll work hard and hopefully I can make it to MLS in two or three years.

Home-run queen

While Deopere begins his dream of pursuing a professional career, Gerlach still has another year in the amateur ranks. The Moline native is in her senior year at Iowa and it will take an extraordinary effort to repeat her junior year accomplishments.

Aside from becoming Iowa's all-time home run leader, and leading the team in runs, hits, RBI's, doubles and triples, Gerlach was named second-team all-Big Ten and an NFCA all-American. There was also the crowned jewel of the season, advancing to the NCAA softball Final Four in Oklahoma City.

"It was such an exciting year," said Gerlach. "We had so much fun as a team. Of course are goal was to go to the Final Four, but it still was a bit of a surprise to make it."

On the heels of the team's trip to Oklahoma, Gerlach was selected to play for the Chicago All-Stars this past summer, a team of the state's best players. The All-Stars played several exhibition matches against the USA Gold softball team, a team comprised mainly of the same players that won gold for the U.S. in Sidney. Pitching phenom Lisa Fernandez was there. Gerlach was the only member of the All-Stars to get a hit off of Hernandez.

"It was the fifth inning and no has even been on base," said Gerlach. I slapped one out there past the third baseman."

The experience was gratifying and left her with the feeling that she could at least compete on the same field with some of the country's elite players.

"If you believe, you can do it," said Gerlach.

Gerlach will graduate next summer with a degree in education. She hopes to get into teaching, but may put those career plans on hold, if the now defunct Women's Professional Softball League reorganizes. There's been talk that the WPSL will field teams next summer. For Gerlach, it would be a dream realized and a far cry from what she ever imagined when she first picked up a glove.

"It wasn't until late in my high school career that I even thought I could play in college," said Gerlach. I never thought I would be playing against women on the national team, it's amazing."