CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. --- Prairie State College Associate Head Baseball Coach, Deandre Gilmore, couldn't be more excited to pilot a franchise in one of the Midwest's premier collegiate summer leagues this year.
 
Gilmore will serve as the manager of the Chicago American Giants of the Northern League (formerly the Midwest League).  Gilmore, who just completed his third season on PSC head coach Pascual Santiago's staff, is more than ready to get the summer season underway.
 
"For me, taking up the offer to manage this team was a no-brainer," Gilmore said.  "The two guys in charge, Darold Butler and Keronn Walker, are so invested in helping guys who are from the inner city that I just had to be a part of it.  Helping those same kind of kids is exactly what I'm about.
 
"My last season of college baseball was 2014 and since then, I've been trying to give back to communities by helping younger kids and young men in the game of baseball."
 
Gilmore, who played collegiately at Calumet College of St. Joseph, knows that this opportunity with the Northern League could definitely translate into on-field success for PSC's program as well.
 
"I have really high hopes of having success here in the Northern League and hopefully transferring that success into our program at Prairie State as well," Gilmore said.  "And by transfer I mean shining a light on our program at Prairie State as our program is slowly making changes to benefit the student-athletes and the college."
 
Last season, Gilmore received his first taste of managing in a highly-competitive summer collegiate league, skippering the Minutemen of the now-defunct Midwest League. 
 
"I'm really excited to be managing in this newly-formed Northern League and hoping to keep the Giants as competitive as they were last year."
 
Originally founded in 1902 as a full-on professional league, the circuit has now become a home for both collegiate and players with a small amount of service time in professional baseball. 
 
The league features six teams, including the Giants (Northwest Indiana Oilmen, Crestwood Panthers, Joliet Generals, Southland Vikings, Lake County (Ind.) Corndogs).
 
The American Giants, who take their name from the former Negro National League franchise which competed in Chicago from 1910-1956, of the same moniker, play their home games at De La Salle Institute (3434 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago).