My sophomore year, I was too scrawny to play high school football and too young to drive to the game against one of our biggest rivals. So, I rode the fan bus.

A few hours later, we had beaten our rivals and we wanted everyone to know. As we pulled through the parking lot, our cheerleaders chanted: “We are better than you! Say, we are better than you!”

Our rivals, gathered at the parking lot exit, didn’t take it well. They threw trash at our bus. Then drinks went flying. I remember looking at the girl sitting next to me, telling her everything was going to be OK, turning back to the window, and hearing a loud crash.

Someone had thrown a rock that shattered the window and hit me square in the mouth. I didn’t think I was hurt that badly until I turned back to the girl and she screamed.

My mouth was covered in blood, and eventually I went to the hospital in an ambulance. That night I went home with Mom and Dad, sporting several stitches I hadn’t brought to the game.

The next day, I went to my cross-country meet. At the race, I realized something else was wrong. I couldn’t open my left eye without pain, and it only hurt a little less when I kept it closed.

I took my second trip to the hospital in 24 hours. Turns out that some of the shattered glass got in my eye, and when I rubbed it out, I scratched my cornea. This time, I went home with Mom and Dad sporting an eye patch.

I was mortified to return to class, but the story had spread, and I was greeted as a hero warrior who took a rock in the face from our bitter enemy on behalf of our school.

I would trade all of that brief glory for the opportunity to travel back in time and counsel our cheerleaders to show a little more humility in victory.

Mom raised me to be humble. I think most Midwesterners are raised that way. That game and that rock further solidified in my mind that we should not brag over our defeated opponents. We should not belittle those who are down.

That said, I would like to brag just a little about some good news we have in the state treasurer’s office. We are about to surpass $2.5 billion in missing money returned to Illinois residents, businesses and nonprofits. To put this into context, my two predecessors combined returned about $850 million.

I’m not declaring victory just yet though — we have more unclaimed property to get back to you. It never stops coming in, so there’s always work to do. Forgotten bank accounts, uncashed rebate checks, unclaimed life insurance policies and stuff in safe deposit boxes arrive at our office twice a year.

Mom also raised me to share credit. We accomplish very little in life by ourselves, and there are other people to credit for this missing money success.

We have a hard-working, creative team that is always looking for ways to improve the ICash program.

We have friends in the General Assembly who help us return money by inviting us to their public events and by making calls to track down owners. Lawmakers also have approved changes to make it easier for us to return money. We could not have implemented Fast Track, e-claiming and our Money Match programs without their support.

We have set numerous records with unclaimed property under my watch, but don’t intend to rest on our laurels. We are celebrating today and then getting back to work tomorrow to shoot for $3 billion.

If you would like us to celebrate that milestone sooner rather than later, please visit our website and see if we have money that belongs to you. Then see if we have money that belongs to your family members. Then check for your friends. Check for your business or any nonprofits that you support. We still have more than $5 billion that we would like to return.

Checking for missing money may not be as much fun as your team beating their biggest rival, but it is probably more financially rewarding, and definitely less painful than getting hit by a rock.

A native of Gifford in Champaign County, Michael

Frerichs is Illinois’ elected state treasurer. He can be reached at michael. frerichs@illinoistreasurer. gov.