About Mid Suburban Legends and Beyond

Mid Suburban Legends and Beyond is a newsletter and website with a focus on the stories and memories of the great history of high school sports in the Mid-Suburban League, northwest suburbs, Chicago area and state of Illinois. It also includes things currently happening on the high school sports scene.

Mid Suburban Legends and Beyond was created in October 2022 by Marty Maciaszek, who started covering the MSL on a regular basis in 1992 for the Daily Herald and has been covering high school sports for newspapers since 1981 as a sophomore at York High School. He has an affinity for compelling sports stories and history and this is a chance to keep alive many of the great traditions, stories and records from a league that started in 1963.

It is particularly important to keep this history alive because two of most influential figures in newspaper coverage of the MSL and high school sports, Bob Frisk and Keith Reinhard, had a significant commitment to storytelling and record-keeping. They understood that the history also lends context and perspective to current events.

A lot of other leagues in the Chicago area and state have come and gone or been subjected to massive changes where you regularly need a proverbial new scorecard to keep track of the schools who are a part of it year after year.

The Mid-Suburban League is different. Since Barrington joined in 1977, the only changes in membership were from the school closings of Arlington in 1984 and Forest View in 1986. The championship games between division winners are a tradition that matters to the athletes, coaches, parents, fans and media. And that’s why keeping that history matters.

I hope you enjoy what is basically an ongoing history of high school sports through Mid Suburban Legends and Beyond.

Subscribe!

Subscribers to Mid Suburban Legends and Beyond get the latest published stories and content delivered to their email inbox. We hope you will also consider being a paying subscriber for $8 a month or $80 a year.