Fremd Baseball Regional Final Puts Piggotts on Opposite Family Sides
Their Matchup is the Latest in Some Memorable Meetings with Coaches and Kids Competing for Bragging Rights at Home
Surely the Piggott family looked ahead and saw this coming when the Class 4A postseason baseball seeds and matchups were released.
Sure enough, on the final Saturday morning of May, they’ll be together at Fremd in one of the state’s top regional championship matchups. The top-seeded Vikings (26-4) have been one of high school baseball’s biggest stories after their incredible 22-0-1 start. Eighth-seed Lake Zurich (24-11) has won 11 of its last 13 under first-year head coach Mike Manno.
And the matchup comes with a family sidebar. Manno’s starting left fielder, senior Jackson Piggott, is the son of veteran Fremd head coach Chris Piggott. It’s not the first time it’s happened around the MSL but it is one of the more high-profile, high-stakes instances of family matters being settled on a field or in a gym.
Here are some more memorable family battles from the Mid-Suburban League. I know there are others I’m not aware of so don’t hesitate to share those stories, too.
Otto-Pilot
Rolling Meadows’ Al Otto was one of the most successful and respected baseball coaches in MSL history. He won 8 division titles and 6 league championships during his 17 years in charge of the program he started.
The Mustangs’ 1982 team rolled to the MSL South title at 16-3 and beat Wheeling for the league crown. And Otto’s son Dave happened to be one of the best pitchers and athletes in league history.
Dave Otto, the 6-foot-7 lefty and future big leaguer, also happened to play for Al Otto’s good friend Larry Peddy at Elk Grove.
Naturally they met in a regional semifinal where Dave Otto homered and got 2 strikeouts in the seventh inning to save a 3-2 victory over the Mustangs that helped kick-start the Grenadiers’ incredible run to the Class AA Elite Eight.
“When we beat dad’s team, it was like, ‘We’ve got a shot here,’” Dave Otto said for a story before Elk Grove’s return to the Elite Eight in 2006.
“That was one of our best teams,” said Al Otto, who became a long-time scout for the White Sox, in 2006. “We had two outstanding pitchers in Frank Messina and Bob Koopmann. We didn’t deserve to win that day. It was kind of their year.”
Dave Otto, who had an eight-year MLB pitching career with Oakland, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and the Cubs, started 5 of the Grens’ 6 postseason games and went 4-1 with a 0.64 ERA in 33 innings. He allowed just 14 hits and 5 walks with 49 strikeouts. The loss was 1-0 to Edwardsville in the state quarterfinal in Springfield where he threw a 4-hitter with 2 walks and 12 strikeouts.
Blaney-Mania
Grant Blaney was in the early stages of building one of the MSL’s premier football programs at Buffalo Grove in the late 1970s. The Bison would finish second in the state in Class 5A in 1978 and win the league’s first state title with an unbeaten powerhouse in 1986.
One of BG’s biggest rivals in the MSL North was Hersey, where Blaney’s son Brett was a standout in football and basketball. The first meeting of the Blaneys in football during Brett’s junior year in 1978 was big news.
“I don’t think my dad will make a big deal of it,” Brett told Dorothy O’Sullivan for a big feature story in the Daily Herald. “He will probably try to keep the pressure off as much as he can because he knows I get it at school and just thinking about it.”
Grant Blaney, who passed away in 2021, said he knew exactly where he expected family loyalties to fall.
“They’ve got to be on Brett’s side,” Grant said. “That’s right where they should be. Blood’s a lot thicker than your father’s job. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
BG beat Hersey in football for the first time 7-3. A year later, Brett Blaney caught a touchdown pass and kicked the extra point to put the Huskies ahead by a point with 7:35 to play, but BG came back to win 12-7.
“It’s the same old story,” Grant Blaney told the Herald’s Don Friske. “I want to win and I want my kid to look good, and I think that was the case tonight.”
Mueller, Mueller …
Kevin Mueller grew up a big Schaumburg fan since his dad Tom was an assistant coach in basketball to Ron Cregier and Bob Williams and in baseball to Paul Groot. But the friendships Kevin made as he grew up had him stick with attending rival Hoffman Estates.
And in the second MSL baseball matchup of Kevin’s senior year in 2003, a Mueller was in the Schaumburg dugout watching a Mueller warming up in the Hoffman bullpen.
“Paul turned to me and said, ‘Well, what do you know about this pitcher,’” Mueller said in late-May 2003 story. “The kids were kind of smirking and I said, ‘Let me tell ya, the day he was born’ … The kids just cracked up.
“When I saw him warming up on the bullpen mound I said, ‘Uh, oh, this is going to happen.’”
Schaumburg won the game 10-3. At the time of the story dad held a 4-3 edge in their baseball-basketball meetings and they hoped there would be one more matchup. Kevin got even as Hoffman pulled off a dramatic 9-8 victory in 8 innings in the regional championship game.
“That would be perfect,” Kevin Mueller said in the 2003 story. “Then no one could ever brag 30 years from now.”
But Kevin, who is a teacher and coach at Rolling Meadows, and Tom probably still trade some funny stories 20-plus years later.
Widlowski Crosstown Rivalry
Bob Widlowski grew up in one of the MSL’s fiercest rivalries as a 1986 Palatine graduate. Then he saw it from the other side at Fremd, first as an assistant basketball coach before taking over the program in 2002 after Mo Tharp retired.
Widlowski would go on to have great success at Fremd that included a fourth place state finish and two perfect regular seasons. His son Bobby would become an accomplished three-sport athlete at Palatine and that resulted in some basketball battles like the first one in the 2021 season where the Pirates held on to win 44-42 in overtime.
“I think Bobby has handled the whole thing very well,” his dad told the Herald’s Dick Quagliano before the matchup. “We are proud of him before he steps on the court. We are proud of him for what he has done in the classroom and as a kid. He has set his own path athletically at Palatine.
“We compete in everything. We compete in golf. It has become a theme for us. We play in the driveway. I want to win. He wants to win. We play golf, he wants to win, I want to win. This is just one more opportunity for us to compete.”
A Gummerson Track Tradition
It wasn’t that unusual to Conant boys track coach Ron Gummerson to coach against his sons Kevin and Brendan at Schaumburg.
Ron ran for Proviso West when his dad Roy, known as Illinois’ Mr. Track and Field for legendary status in the sport, coached at Oak Park-River Forest.
“One of the Conant guys came over the other day and said, ‘You know, when we run against Schaumburg, you can’t lose, can you?’” Ron Gummerson said for a series of stories on the 100th anniversary of the state track meet in 1994. “I said no.”
Conant and Schaumburg had just competed in the Mid-Suburban League’s indoor meet. Kevin ran the varsity 3,200 and Brendan ran in the frosh-soph meet for the Saxons.
“It’s kind of weird,” Brendan said.
“When we have meets against each other it’s kind of fun beating them,” Kevin said.
Roy probably got the most joy out of continuing to watch the Gummerson family’s track legacy continue. He was the Grand Marshal at the 1994 boys state meet.
“Whenever I had the chance I’d hurry over to try and watch him,” Roy, who was 80 at the time, said in 1994. “I used to have the kids say, ‘Well, who are you gonna pull for when we run against them.’ I’d say, ‘Naturally for you guys, but I may make an exception.’”
Ron Gummerson left us much too soon in 2011 after a bout with cancer. Kevin Gummerson has been a long-time teacher and coach in track and cross country at Minooka.
Great Net Results for Van Grondelles
The Van Grondelle family has been a major part of the MSL’s badminton success. Chris Van Grondelle, who was just inducted into the Illinois Association of Badminton Coaches Hall of Fame, led Buffalo Grove to three second-place state finishes from 2010-15.
Van Grondelle’s daughters Katie and Maggie combined to win seven state medals in doubles competition for Palatine. They finished sixth and fifth together in 2009 and 2010 and Maggie teamed with Tomoyo Tsurumi to win the state title in 2011.
They nearly had a dad vs. daughter battle for a state doubles title in 2008 when BG’s Heather and Ashton Nisbet and Palatine’s Katie Van Grondelle and Nikki Patel were in opposite semifinals. The Nisbets took second and Van Grondelle and Patel lost the third-place match.
“The parents at Buffalo Grove recognized it before I did,” Chris Van Grondelle said for a story before the 2009 season. “They said, ‘What are you going to do if it really comes down to it?’ It was fun to think about, that’s for sure.”
Rewarding Night for Wandro Family
Jacobs basketball coach Jim Hinkle understood the importance of giving Sean Wandro his first varsity basketball start at Hoffman Estates in 2006. It was the place where his dad Bill led the program to a pair of Class AA Elite Eight trips in 1996 and 2004 en route to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
The younger Wandro played well for Jacobs and scored 4 points against some of his close friends from Hoffman, which pulled out a 67-59 victory.
“Wandro played the best game of his life,” Hinkle said afterward.
“Nerves … and at the same time I was very excited for this game,” Sean Wandro said. “This is what I’ve dreamed about since I was a little kid. I’ve grown up on this court and in the back gyms and in the summer I’ve basically grown up with these guys and we know each other pretty well.”
After the final buzzer, Bill Wandro hugged his son who persevered after not making feeder teams in seventh and eighth grade.
“I’m proud he stayed with it,” Bill said. “To see him start tonight was pretty cool. He grew up in this gym so win or lose we both came out winners tonight.”
A Big Giusti Boost
Prospect and Fremd wouldn’t be considered intense baseball rivals since they are in opposite MSL divisions. So one of the memorable moments for retiring Prospect head coach Ross Giusti and his son Connor didn’t come in a head-to-head battle.
Prospect clinched at least a share of the 2017 MSL East title with a 5-1 win over Schaumburg. It turned out to be an outright title for Giusti and the Knights after Connor, who was a sophomore, had 3 hits and 2 RBI in an 8-4 Fremd victory that knocked Buffalo Grove into a second-place finish in the East.
“I play for Fremd always,” Connor Giusti told Quagliano after the game. “It felt good to be able to contribute for my team. It is going to be a very weird dinner at home.”
But it would be a memorable one.
“I am really proud of him,” Ross Giusti said. “He is learning a lot playing as a sophomore. There is always something to look forward to when I get home. I’m glad he stepped up and was able to contribute.”
Split Decision for Belo
Palatine coach Paul Belo thought his team was in position to continue a late rally against Jacobs in a 2018 nonconference Saturday night game at Trout Park in Elgin. Then he saw the sophomore shortstop make a stellar defensive play to seal a 4-2 win for the Golden Eagles.
The shortstop was Bryan Belo, making the kind of play his dad had worked with him on countless times.
“It was a great experience,” Bryan Belo told the Northwest Herald’s Joe Stevenson, who retired a year ago after a stellar prep sportswriting career. “We had some talks in the house about beating each other. There was one thing he said when he was putting on a bunt play, and I picked it up right away. That was kind of cool.”
Understandably, the Belos took a little more time than opponents usually would in the postgame handshake line.
“There’s a dad side and a coaching side,” Paul Belo told Joe Stevenson. “There was a confluence of different emotions and feelings. I’m his dad and his own personal coach. It was tough to manage. It really was. He punctuated the game with a beautiful play. He’s always taken pride in his defense.”
Palatine won the 2019 matchup 3-2 in 8 innings. Unfortunately they wouldn’t get a chance to claim bragging rights with the 2020 season canceled because of COVID-19.
Give Them A High Fivelson
Conant had its best baseball season in program history last year as it won 30 games and finished second in the state in Class 4A under head coach Derek Fivelson.
But one of the Cougars’ rare losses came to Hampshire 12-1 in 5 innings as Fivelson’s son Ari, who was a junior, went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
“It was fun seeing him bat,” Derek Fivelson told the Northwest Herald’s Joe Stevenson. “I don’t get to see him bat very much in the spring. Only really in video. It was nice to see him in person. He’s a very good player and tough to get out, he showed it today.”
Ari Fivelson told Stevenson: “We played against Conant freshman and sophomore year, but it’s pretty cool to play with him right on the third-base line. First thing I thought of was I was excited to play him.”
Ari Fivelson went 2-for-3 with a double and triple and RBI in Hampshire’s 11-1 win in 5 innings this season on May 10.