Ten years after Robby Collum ascended into the clouds, he remains up there.

It was in March 1999 when Collum played a key role in leading the Case High School boys basketball team to the WIAA Division 1 state championship. This was one year before public and private schools were unified under one governing body and a boys program from Racine County had not won a WIAA championship since Park in 1943.

Case had coined the motto "Up where we belong" back then and Collum seems to have taken that phrase to heart. On any given day, Collum can be found in the clouds flying a Cessna 172 as a licensed pilot.

Basketball remains an integral part of his life and he hopes to continue making a living in the sport after most recently playing for the Cancun (Mexico) Pioneros. But flying is a close second among his passions and he hopes his skill will develop into a career once his playing career ends.

"You're up there in control of a half-million-dollar airplane," Collum said. "I got to see a lot of the Midwest from flying. I flew to Iowa, Minneapolis, Indiana, Michigan … I've been all over the place."

Ten years ago this month, Collum completed perhaps his most impressive journey. Teaming with Taron Barker to form one of the greatest backcourts ever seen in the county, the Eagles went 25-2 en route to their historic state championship.

What's perhaps most impressive after all these years is which teams Case beat to bring home that gold basketball. After recovering from a 28-20 halftime deficit in the quarterfinals against a 22-1 Rhinelander team, Case went on to a hard-fought 61-52 victory.

And then came the real tall timber. Case was matched against three-time defending state champion Milwaukee Vincent in the semifinals. Collum went just 1-for-6 from the floor in that game, but came through with four free throws and a key steal in the final 46 seconds to lead Case to a 43-38 victory.

Such a performance illustrated how Collum was raised to play the game by his father, longtime Racine coach Rudy Collum. The 6-foot guard rarely wowed anyone with his statistics, but he always seemed to be the one who came up with key plays.

"One thing he always stressed were the fundamentals," Collum said of his father. "That's the thing that's going to

determine whether you win or lose the game … you know, taking care of the ball, passing, defense and just having an overall sense of what's going on on the court.

The victory allowed Case to play Milwaukee Bay View in the championship game in the Kohl Center, but this one wasn't going to be any easier than Vincent, which went on to win the next two state championships.

Bay View defeated Case 89-85 in the second-to-last regular-season game and entered this showdown with a 25-1 record behind 6-5 forwards Larry House and Feonte Moses.

It was again a shootout with Bay View taking a 46-40 halftime lead. Barker, who went on to play for Bob Huggins at Cincinnati, got into foul trouble and scored just four points in the game, but Collum directed the show in his absence with a typical performance.

Directing the flow of the game to standouts Barry Thompson (18 points), Bryan Bedford (17) and Jermaine Jones (13), Case went on to a 73-68 victory. Collum, who had eight points, five rebounds and four assists, helped spearhead a defensive effort that allowed Bay View just seven points in the pivotal fourth quarter.

"We played real good defense down the stretch and we made our free throws when we had to," Collum said. "It was tough. We knew we had to rebound from the loss they gave us and, obviously, we knew their team. We just had to go out there and execute our game plan and take care of the things we could take care of."

Since Case's championship, St. Catherine's has won four WIAA championships and Catholic Central two. And Horlick had the chance to become the first Division 1 team in the county since Case to win a championship this month, but fell short against Madison Memorial in the championship.

But while championships have become fairly commonplace for Racine teams in Madison, back in 1999, winning it all was especially historic. And Collum was one of the biggest reasons why a county team was able to end a 56-year drought.

"We had to the opportunity to make history and be a part of something special," he said. "It feels good that we had the opportunity to make it there and be successful."

The Collum File

NAME: Robby Stephen Collum

BORN: Nov. 30, 1980 in Kenosha.

HIGH SCHOOL: Case '99

COLLEGE: Collum attended Kankakee Community College in Illinois for one year, where he started on the basketball team. He then transferred to Western Michigan in 2000 and went on to be a three-year starter for the Broncos. Collum graduated from Western Michigan in December 2003 with a degree in aviation flight science.

RESIDENCE: Racine

FAMILY: Collum became engaged to be married to Theresa Makowka March 1. They are hoping to be married in the summer of 2010.

OCCUPATION: Collum played for Cancun (Mexico) Pioneros of LNBP League from June 2007 to June 2008. He is currently looking for another opportunity in basketball.

ATHLETIC CLAIM TO FAME: Collum a three-year starter for Case and helped the Eagles to the WIAA Division 1 state championship as a senior in 1999. He was MVP of Western Michigan as a junior and was honorable-mention All-Mid American Conference as a junior and a senior.