Introducing The MSL All-Conference Project
The goal is for you to have it all.
All the Mid-Suburban League all-conference teams that have been chosen. In all sports.
It’s part of the MSL All-Conference Project. Lots of names of some of the best who played games in the MSL since it began in 1963.
We’ll start sharing some of what we’ve found so far in the next few days starting on Sunday, July 6. And you will be able to find them in the section for each sport on the Mid Suburban Legends and Beyond webpage.
It’s been pretty interesting and fun to go through a lot of this history. Especially to see some surprises for some multi-sport all-MSL athletes who made it to the highest level. And some of those who made it to the highest level who didn’t make the all-conference teams because they were late bloomers, got injured or there may have been other reasons.
One comment about all-conference teams is I can’t speak to knowing how every sport and every coach handles or handled their selections. In some cases there were coaches who would nominate only seniors for all-conference selections. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, but just shedding some light on the process.
While doing research on this, I found the 1964 all-Des Plaines Valley League football team was all seniors because of an unwritten rule by the league’s coaches. Which in a bit of a humorous twist was written about in the story in the old Herald publications. What was also fun was to see two future MSL head coaches on that all-DPVL team - East Leyden’s Tom Cerasani Sr. (Palatine and Schaumburg) and Willowbrook’s Mike Mullaney (Hersey).
Hopefully you’ll have fun with this trip back in history. Maybe get a laugh with your friends about players you really liked or couldn’t stand. Some of the latter might have even been teammates.
One of the challenges is digging up the information and then getting it set up to publish. I’ve already had some help from some current and former coaches to fill some gaps which has been awesome. If you have anything you want to share send it over to me at marty.maciaszek@gmail.com.
And I’m sure you will be asking, “when will this sport’s all-MSL teams be published?” While I often think of Smokey & The Bandit and Jerry Reed singing “We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there,” we will get there. Sorry if you now have that song stuck in your head.
People can view the teams in each sport by going to the Mid Suburban Legends and Beyond homepage by clicking below:
Go to the top of the page (see the image below) and you will find all sports and other categories listed.
When you click on a category - such as MSL Basketball (see below) - you will find stories and records related specifically to that sport. Ultimately you will find the all-MSL teams for that sport located in that section as well.
So if you missed an email with an all-MSL team, or another story, don’t worry because you’ll find it here.
Finally, a big thank you to all of you for your support as it’s most appreciated. You might have guessed I’m a bit of a sports history junkie and have been my entire life. The history of the Mid-Suburban League may not matter to everyone, but I know it’s important to a lot of you who were, or are still a part of it, as athletes, coaches, officials, media, parents, fans and administrators.
Mid Suburban Legends and Beyond is published regularly by Marty Maciaszek. If you like the stories and historical content please consider supporting it with a paid contribution of $8 a month or $80 a year or become a free subscriber.