Sunday Slam: Foundation for McClure, Dickerson Has Big Event Wednesday
Former Elk Grove Star Copeland Takes NIU Baseball Job; Camardella Returns to Prospect Hoops in Role Reversal
Conant alumnus Vaughn McClure and Buffalo Grove grad Jeff Dickerson are two of the biggest Mid-Suburban League sports media success stories who became friends through their coverage of the Chicago Bears and NFL with ESPN.
Sports were a big part of their lives growing up in the MSL. McClure played on Tom McCormack’s 1990 Conant basketball team that came up just a point short of making the Elite Eight in Champaign before going to study at Northern Illinois University. Dickerson played for BG coaching legends Rich Roberts in football, Doug Millstone in basketball and John Wendell in baseball before heading south to the University of Illinois.
They became well-known for the stories they shared so eloquently and gracefully. McClure covered the Bears for the Sun-Times and Tribune and ultimately covered the Atlanta Falcons for ESPN. Dickerson covered the Bears for ESPN 1000 and ABC-TV. But their own stories were tragedies that silenced them much too soon as McClure passed away in mid-October of 2020 from cardiac arrest at 48 and Dickerson in late December of 2021 from colon cancer at 43.
Fortunately, their impact lives on through The Vaughn McClure & Jeff Dickerson Foundation, which helps support a variety of causes close to them and provides journalism scholarships. On Wednesday, the third annual Vaughn McClure & Jeff Dickerson Benefit Dinner will be held from 6-10 p.m. at TAO Chicago at 632 N. Dearborn St. The cost for tickets starts at $150.
Those who can’t attend the benefit dinner can make a donation or participate in an auction on-line. Auction items include all sorts of sports memorabilia and in-person games and events.
Donations will go to research on heart disease, cancer, lupus and mental illness. Proceeds will also be used toward a journalism scholarship for a diversity candidate in McClure’s honor at NIU and for a journalism scholarship in Dickerson’s honor at BG.
NIU Puts Baseball Hopes on “Cope”
It was only a matter of time before the success ex-Elk Grove baseball star Ryan Copeland was having at Division II Illinois-Springfield led to bigger opportunities. That came to fruition Tuesday when Northern Illinois turned to Copeland to resurrect its baseball program as its new head coach.
Copeland spent the last four of his eight seasons at UIS as head coach and had a 131-38 record with a trip to the NCAA D-II Elite Eight in 2022, three D-II regional appearances, two Great Lakes Valley Conference regular-season titles and a GLVC tourney title. This past season UIS went 36-15 and led D-II with 11.5 strikeouts per 9 innings.
Copeland was the Daily Herald’s All-Area captain as he led Elk Grove to the Class AA Elite Eight in 2006. After an excellent career at Illinois State, the lefty pitched three years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization before arm trouble ended his career. After a two-year stint on the staff at ISU, Copeland went to UIS as a pitching coach and recruiting coordinator in 2016.
"His record of success on the field speaks for itself as does his proven ability to recruit and develop quality student-athletes, and in particular in-state talent,” said NIU VP and Director of Athletics Sean T. Frazier in a statement. “He checked all of the boxes we were looking for in a head coach, including his ability to connect with the local and campus communities."
Copeland was named the GLVC Coach of the Year in 2021 and the 2021 and 2022 NCAA Division II Midwest Region Coach of the Year and has coached five Major League Baseball draft picks.
UIS also excelled in the classroom with 86 GLVA Academic All-Conference honorees as well as four College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selections and six Academic All-Americans.
"I'd like to thank Sean Frazier and [Deputy Athletic Director] John Cheney for giving me the opportunity to lead the NIU baseball program," Copeland said in the NIU statement. "I'm excited to get started in DeKalb as we begin to develop a foundation of competitive excellence within our program. I'm grateful for the opportunity ahead to work with our student-athletes."
Copeland’s 2023 UIS roster listed 33 of the 41 players from Illinois. Only 16 of the 35 players on NIU’s 2023 roster were in-state players as it finished 10-43 overall and 5-24 in the Mid-American Conference in the eighth and final season under head coach Mike Kunigonis. NIU has had only seven winning seasons since the program resumed in 1991 after an eight-year hiatus. Five of those came under current North Central College coach Ed Mathey and the last was in 2011 at 30-27.
One of the endorsements of Copeland was from Mike Shildt, the San Diego Padres Senior Advisor and former Cardinals manager.
“I had the privilege of managing Ryan in 2010 when he was the Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year and helped lead the Johnson City Cardinals to the league championship,” Shildt said in the statement. “Ryan is a fierce competitor and proven winner. I'm confident he will continue developing players at a high level at NIU and take the program to the next level both on and off the field."
Role Reversal for Prospect Boys Basketball; Other Coaching Moves
Prospect boys basketball coach Brad Rathe didn’t have to look far for an assistant coaching candidate to replace Bobby Reibel, who took the job as the Lake Park girls head coach in late May.
“Rathe walked in my classroom and asked if I wanted to run the offense again,” former Prospect head coach John Camardella said in an email of his longtime assistant’s job offer. “There was no chance I could say no. I’m very excited to be back with the Knights.”
Camardella was 229-149 in 14 years as head coach with 10 shared or outright Mid-Suburban East titles, 3 MSL crowns and 2 regional championships. The ex-Hersey star stepped down after the 2020 season to take a year sabbatical from teaching and study at Harvard University and was succeeded by Rathe. The Knights reached a sectional final this past season for the first time since 1991.
Rathe’s prediction in late March that Reibel “will get a (head coaching) job somewhere soon” became a reality. Reibel takes over a Lake Park girls program that just won its third Class 4A regional title since 2019 under Brian Rupp, who stepped down after 10 seasons. The Lancers finished fourth in 4A in 2020 and went 26-10 to match the school record for victories.
* Jay Brizzolara is coming back to St. Viator as head freshman boys coach after just completing his first year in that position. Brizzolara, who was a Daily Herald All-Area pick at Hersey and played at Elmhurst University, also coaches in the Viator feeder program.
* Schaumburg head coach Jason Tucker announced Justin Orr will be his new varsity assistant. Orr played at Murray State and Ohio University and was also a high school coach in Ohio.
* LaMario Richards was named the new men’s head basketball coach at Harper College. Richards previously coached as an assistant at Olive-Harvey College in Chicago. He replaces Sean Stochl, who left to become the boys head coach at Marian Central Catholic in Woodstock.
Unique MSL Baseball Coach-Player Distinction for Belo
Five MSL alums have taken baseball teams to the state tournament finals as a head coach but Paul Belo is the only one to also get there as a player. Belo, who will be retiring after next season as head coach at Palatine, led Fremd to fourth place in Class AA in 2000 and was a starting second baseman when Hoffman Estates made the AA Elite Eight in 1985.
Paul Belo’s head coach was Hoffman alum Ray Gawron.
Schaumburg won the 1997 AA title, took second in 1989 and made the Elite Eight in 2005 under Wheeling grad Paul Groot.
Prospect alum Ross Giusti, who played his first three years at Arlington before it closed in 1984, led his alma mater to third place in Class 4A in 2011.
Rolling Meadows grad Terry Beyna took Elk Grove to the AA Elite Eight in 2006.
Pacella Has Powerful Freshman Year at ISU
Daniel Pacella didn’t have much trouble making the adjustment of going from Mundelein to Division I baseball at Illinois State. The 6-foot-3, 235-pound lefty-hitting outfielder had a record-setting year and was named a freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after hitting .307 with 16 homers and 56 RBI. Pacella also received honorable mention all-Missouri Valley Conference honors.
Pacella tied the ISU freshman homer record and broke the RBI mark by one of Maine West grad Frank Mustari. Mustari finished his three-year ISU career (1985-87) with 41 homers and 149 RBI. He was drafted in the 25th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1987 and played for two years in the minors and is a member of the Chicago 16-Inch Softball Hall of Fame.
Spiwak Honored for Work at Harper College
Doug Spiwak, who retired as the Harper College Director of Athletics and Fitness last June, received the 2023 L. William Miller Award from the National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators. The Miller Award goes annually to an NATYCAA member who demonstrates excellence in leadership, service and integrity in an athletics program at a two-year institution.
Spiwak spent the last 18 of his 33 years at Harper in charge of the athletic program after 15 years as the head athletic trainer. The school won 27 national championships during his career and he strengthened the women’s programs, transformed the Hawks’ brand and supported the renovation of the Foglia Foundation Health and Recreation Center. Spiwak was also on numerous local, regional and national junior college committees and was the junior college athletic director of the year in 2019-20 by the National Collegiate Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
Legendary Dual-Sport Coach Beals Passes Away
Roger Beals was best known for coaching small-school Class A basketball at Chrisman, about an hour southeast of Champaign. Beals, who passed away Tuesday at 85, won 541 games and had teams finish second in 1985 and third in 1987 in the Class A state tournament. The 1985 team lost in the championship game 95-63 to a Providence-St. Mel team led by 1989 Flying Illini Final Four starter Lowell Hamilton and Fernando Bunch. Beals won 14 regional and 4 sectional titles and was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame.
Beals had even bigger success coaching cross country by winning Class A girls state cross country titles for the Christman boys and girls in 1988. The two teams also combined for two runner-up finishes and a third-place trophy.
Beals success came about 15 minutes north of Paris, where the legendary Ernie Eveland did win titles in both sports. Eveland’s basketball teams were state champions in 1943 and 1947 and his cross country teams won the first three state meets from 1946-48.
So awesome! Great article