MSL to NFL: Ex-Barrington Softball Player Part of New England Women's Pro Football Dynasty
Rolling Meadows' Max Christie Stars for Lakers in NBA Summer League; Fremd's Nick Varon Commits to NIU After Two Successful JUCO Seasons
Barrington graduate Carolyn Dacunha Glynn is part of a football dynasty in New England.
No, not that dynasty. The one Glynn plays for is much more dominant than the Patriots.
Glynn, who played softball at Barrington before graduating in 2010, has been a defensive back since 2017 for the Boston Renegades in the Women’s Football Alliance. Glynn moved into the starting lineup this season and on Saturday she helped the Renegades roll to their 40th consecutive victory and fifth consecutive WFA title 35-7 over the St. Louis Slam at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
Glynn, a corporate attorney who lives in Brookline, Mass., found out about the Renegades and joined the team while attending the Northeastern University School of Law, according to her biography on the Renegades website.
“The game of football is meaningful to me because it allows me to be my true self - competitive, loud, feisty and unapologetic,” Glynn said in her bio.
One of Glynn’s biggest football highlights occurred in May when she got her first start of the season and returned an interception 53 yards for her first career touchdown in an 84-25 rout of the DC Divas. No team came closer than 20 points to the Renegades as they outscored their opponents 470-64 en route to a 9-0 finish.
“They work so hard all week long and all year long really, and for some of them like defensive back Carolyn Glynn, who is starting for the first time this year, getting an interception for a touchdown is awesome to see. You love to see players being rewarded for their hard work. It’s a great feeling,” head coach John Johnson told Kevin Stone of the New England Football Journal.
“I knew they wanted to throw the ball, and I just trusted my coaching,” Glynn said told Stone. “When I saw the flash of the ball key, I just flew forward, jumped in front of her and then just kept going to the end zone. I didn’t have a great first half so I wanted to shift my mindset in the second half and thanks to my teammates lifting me up and supporting me I was able to do that and the result was a pick six. It meant everything. It’s been a long road. I have been on this team for seven seasons, and this is my first season starting.
“I am just honored to take the field, but to go out there and have a big play and make an impact for my team, that is everything to me.”
Glynn is among the 745,000 females age 7 or older who participated in tackle football in the United States in 2022, according to the National Sporting Goods Association’s (NSGA) Sports Participation in the US report. (Full disclosure, I’m closing in on 11 years with NSGA so I’m definitely using our research).
Being a trailblazer of sorts is nothing new for Glynn, who also is a competitive obstacle course racer. She played Little League baseball until she was 12.
“When I tried out, most of the dads gave me weird looks, but when I got on the field and didn’t miss a play, I actually garnered some applause and was picked by a team,” Glynn said in her bio. “At the same time, I was also doing ballet four days a week. Many times I would wear my ballet tights under my baseball pants so I could quickly race from the game to rehearsal.”
Christie Stars in Summer League
Former Rolling Meadows star Max Christie had a big summer as he looks for more playing time in his second season with the Los Angeles Lakers. Christie was named NBA All-Summer League second team as he averaged 19 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 blocks in 3 games before sitting out the final two games with a hip injury.
Christie averaged 3.1 points and 12.5 minutes in 41 games in his rookie season with the Lakers after spending one season at Michigan State.
Los Angeles Times’ Lakers beat writer and Hersey grad Dan Woike wrote that two games into the summer Christie “has looked every bit the part of a second-year player ready to make a leap.”
“The goal is to play, like I said at my exit interview, as much basketball as I can in terms of winning on the floor,” Christie told Woike. ”So whatever that takes. Whether that’s defense, shooting, being a leader. Whatever it is, I’m willing to do it because I want to be on that floor and I want to contribute to winning.”
Trip South Leads Fremd’s Varon Back North
Two successful baseball seasons for first baseman-outfielder Nick Varon at Southwestern Illinois College led the 2021 Fremd graduate back north. Varon recently committed to play at Northern Illinois for new head coach and 2006 Elk Grove grad Ryan Copeland.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Varon is one of nine players to make a Division I commitment from SWIC, which is located near St. Louis in Belleville. Varon slashed .303/.417/.521 this spring with 7 homers, 8 doubles and 46 RBI in 47 games and slashed .284/.416/.422 as a freshman. He also has a 3.915 grade point average.
MSL Baseball Draft Additions
As mentioned in the story a couple of weeks ago about the baseball draft there was no doubt I was going to miss a few picks. My apologies to those I missed and thank you to a few readers for these updates:
Pitcher Bob Artemenko (Elk Grove, Northwestern) in the 19th round in 1972 by the Yankees
Shortstop Scott Quade (Prospect, Austin Peay) in the 34th round in 1993 by the Expos.
A big thanks to John Sciaccotta for sharing the Barrington baseball prospectus and these five additional draft picks from the program:
Catcher-outfielder Leo George (SMU) in the 20th round in 1980 by the Mariners.
Pitcher Elliott Skorupa (Eastern Illinois) in the 35th round in 1981 by the Expos.
Pitcher Dave Shotkoski (Kishwaukee CC) in the fourth round of the January 1985 phase by the Braves.
Third baseman Byron Bradley (Indiana) in the 15th round in 1992 by the Cubs.
First baseman Kevin Minchk (Iowa) in the 45th round in 1992 by the Padres.
Barrington’s Lidge Repeat American Association All-Star
Speaking of Barrington and the baseball draft, two-time pick Ryan Lidge made the American Association All-Star Game for the second consecutive season with the independent Chicago Dogs. The catcher was a two-time Daily Herald All-Area pick and team co-captain as a senior in 2013 when he was also the MSL West Player of the Year.
Lidge is slashing .313/.413/.456 with 6 homers, 37 RBI and 10 doubles in 51 games and has cut his passed balls from 10 to 1. He slashed .322/.426/.481 with 12 homers and 80 RBI in 95 games last year and .312/.451/.433 with 6 homers and 45 RBI in his first full season with the Dogs in 2021.
Lidge was drafted in the 40th round by the Red Sox in 2013, went to Notre Dame, and was drafted in the 20th round by the Yankees in 2017. He spent three years in the Yankees system and got as high as Triple-A for a 3-game stint.
Kelly’s Record-Setting Incentive
Retired Hersey boys basketball coach Don Rowley went to Maine East when Larry Kelly set the national high school record in the 880 yards at 1:50.4 in the 1964 state track meet in Champaign. Rowley was classmates and friends with Ted Zillmer, Jeff Murdy and Paul Skiba from the national record-setting two-mile relay.
Rowley shared that Kelly, who passed away in late March at 75 and we wrote about last Sunday, may have had a little extra incentive to get the record.
“Larry Kelly’s parents told him that if he broke the record in the 880, they would buy him a car,” Rowley said. “He ended up getting a red 442 Oldsmobile!”
Gacanovic Takes Over Harper Men’s Soccer Program
Vlad Gacanovic, who has coached in the Elk Grove girls soccer program since 2019, was named the head coach of the Harper College men’s program. Gacanovic was hired as an assistant in the women’s program in 2022 that advanced to the Region IV championship.
Gacanovic has coached soccer for 12 years and spent a year as youth coach with the Chicago Fire Soccer Club. He attended Carthage College and will continue to be a women’s assistant at Harper.
“My number one goal is to provide student athletes with the ability to pursue their passions, both academically and athletically,” Gacanovic said on the Harper website. “I want to be able to provide as much guidance and feedback as I can based on my experiences as a student athlete myself. Positivity is my main driving factor and I want to make sure that everyone remains optimistic and focused on what they want to achieve during their time at Harper and beyond.”
Hank Schau will also be the new pitching coach for Harper baseball and head coach Nelson Gord. Schau had been coaching at Glenbrook North.
Kipnis Returns to Glenbrook North as Volunteer Assistant
Jason Kipnis, who graduated from Glenbrook North in 2005 and had a 10-year major league career, is returning to his alma mater as a volunteer assistant coach at all levels. New Spartans head coach Justin Weiner announced Kipnis’ addition via Twitter on July 7.
Kipnis spent 9 of his 10 big-league seasons with Cleveland and finished with the Cubs in 2020. The second baseman was a two-time American League All-Star who hit .260 with 126 homers and 136 stolen bases. Kipnis also hit .290 with 2 homers in the 2016 World Series vs. the Cubs.
Kipnis joins Kerry Wood (New Trier) and Jim Thome (Nazareth) as prominent retired big leaguers who are assistant high school baseball coaches in the Chicago area.
Borucki Pitching In for Pirates
Mundelein grad Ryan Borucki has been in a groove in July for the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 2.61 ERA in 10⅓ innings. On Saturday night in Anaheim, the Pirates used the lefty as a opener and Borucki threw 1⅔ hitless innings in a 3-0 victory over the Angels. Borucki got Shohei Ohtani looking for 1 of his 3 strikeouts.
Borucki also got his first victory with the Pirates on Wednesday with 1⅓ innings of relief. Overall his ERA is 4.05 with 12 strikeouts in 13⅓ innings.
Quinn Priester (Cary-Grove) also made his big-league debut for the Pirates on Monday against Cleveland. The team’s No. 1 draft pick in 2019 had a strong first 3 innings but ended up taking the loss by allowing 7 earned runs in 5 ⅓ innings.
The Dodgers’ Bobby Miller (McHenry) continued his strong rookie season as he improved to 6-1 on Saturday in a 16-3 win at Texas. Miller gave up 3 earned runs and 7 hits and had 6 strikeouts and no walks in 6 innings. Miller has a 4.28 ERA with 53 strikeouts in 54⅔ innings.
Former Carmel Tennis Star Minor Makes Major TV Move
Jasmine Minor, who won a state singles tennis title at Carmel in 2010, has become a star in TV news. It was announced last week that Minor will be joining Chicago’s ABC-7 (WLS) affiliate as a race and culture reporter.
Minor, who was born in Arlington Heights, is coming home after a stint as an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter at WISH-TV in Indianapolis. She also worked for local affiliates in Cincinnati and Cape Coral, Fla., and at ESPN.
Minor played tennis at Georgia Tech and Oregon, where she got her bachelor’s degree, and got her master’s from Northwestern. She played two years for Carmel and went 37-0 with the state title as a senior and finished third in the state as a sophomore in 2008.
Remembering Highland Park Legend Chuck Schramm
I didn’t know Chuck Schramm but heard quite a few stories about the Highland Park legend, who passed away July 12 at 89 after a battle with cancer. Most of them were from my friend Bill Pemstein, a fixture on the high school sports scene for Pioneer Press and the Daily Herald before passing from ALS in December 2020, who was a huge Schramm fan.
Schramm graduated from Highland Park and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Famer had a great college career at Northern Illinois and Western Illinois. He was drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft by Red Auerbach’s Boston Celtics in 1957 and played for Wichita in the National Industrial Basketball League.
He returned to his hometown and had an impact on thousands of kids as a teacher and coach. His 52 years of coaching high school basketball, baseball, softball and golf at Highland Park included 11 as the boys head basketball coach. He also coached at the College of Lake County and was instrumental in working with kids in Highland Park’s Park District sports programs.
Highland Park athletic director and longtime basketball coach Paul Harris was 10 years old when he started playing in Schramm’s park district programs.
“There are multiple generations who learned how to play the game from coach Schramm,” Harris said in an excellent tribute on the Highland Park Park District website. “He was a role model and a mentor who taught us all how to ‘play it right,’ and how to win with class and dignity.”
Here’s a wonderful story Bill Pemstein wrote for Patch in 2011 that encapsulates Chuck Schramm’s life.