Remembrances: Jack Leese's Coaching Influence Had Far-Reaching Impact
Legendary East Leyden State Champion Football Coach Passed Away at 92
Jack Leese left an amazing legacy at Leyden when he led the East campus football program to an unbeaten Class 5A state championship in his final season as head coach in 1977.
Leese’s influence also translated to tremendous success for many of his players and assistant coaches who became head coaches in a variety of sports. Leese, who was a member of six halls of fame in football, wrestling and officiating, passed away on Sept. 30 at 92. A celebration of life for Leese will be held at East Leyden on Sunday, Nov. 12 from noon-3 p.m.
Leese was part of an incredible trio of ex-Marines and Hall of Fame head coaches and close friends in Norm Goodman in basketball and Chuck Farina in wrestling at East Leyden before it combined athletic programs with West Leyden in 1981. Goodman and Farina were also football assistants and Farina was a wrestling assistant.
“We really controlled the roost and the kids loved it,” Goodman said in 2009 before the basketball court was named in his honor in Farina Fieldhouse.
Tom Dore was part of Leyden’s incredible basketball run with future Indiana NCAA champion and longtime NBA executive Glen Grunwald in the mid-1970s. Dore went on to play at Missouri and was part of a successful TV broadcast tandem with Johnny “Red” Kerr during the Michael Jordan Bulls’ championship dynasty.
“Every once in a while a school gets a group of coaches like we had all at one time who dedicate everything they’ve got to the kids,” Dore said in 2009. “Those three, they were unbelievable.”
Leese was 98-29-4 from 1963-77 at East Leyden and his only losing season was his second. He had unbeaten 8-0 teams in the pre-playoff era in 1971-72 and the latter challenged Elk Grove for the mythical state title. His championship team with the backfield of future Maine West coach Ray Pettenuzzo, Jim Benedetto and Joe Sambucci ran his wishbone option to perfection and pitched 8 shutouts, including an 8-0 victory over Deerfield and legendary coach Paul Adams in the title game at Illinois State.
Benedetto rushed for 1,359 yards in 1977 and had 114 and the only touchdown in a game played in a sub-zero wind chill. It was also the last time Leese supposedly wore the same thin black tie he donned for all of his 15 years of coaching at East Leyden.
“We were going to play for a state championship and we were very loose and he kept us loose,” Pettenuzzo said in 1999.
“Cold? What cold? There was a heatwave out there tonight,” Leese told the Daily Herald’s Keith Reinhard after the game. “If you don’t believe me, ask any of my players.”
As for his famous tie, Leese joked he was “planning on having it bronzed.”
Mike Shanahan, who was East Leyden’s starting quarterback in 1969, is the most prominent Leese protege as he won a pair of Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos in his successful head coaching career.
But Leese’s influence in the high school coaching ranks continues today at Leyden with head coach Tom Cerasani Jr., whose late father Tom Sr., was an all-conference free safety for Leese and a 1965 East graduate. Tom Jr.’s late mom Joan also graduated from East in 1968.
Tom Cerasani Sr., is the winningest coach in Schaumburg history at 105-98 from 1984-2004 and his 1999 team finished second in the state in Class 6A. He returned to Leyden as an assistant when his son Tom Jr., took over the program in 2005. When Tom Sr. was elected to the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2008 he was thrilled to be joining Leese and his assistants Bill Ohlson and Len Janik.
“It’s a great honor to get in that group,” Cerasani Sr. said. “There are some great coaches in there. (Leese and Ohlson) said, ‘Well coach, someday you’ll be in here with us.’”
Cerasani Sr. came to Schaumburg as an assistant for Bob Ferguson, who played with triplet brothers Doug and Jack when Leese won his first conference title in 1963. Ferguson was Schaumburg’s first head football coach and in the first year of the state playoffs in 1974, his team won the Mid-Suburban League Super Bowl with star quarterback Russ Zonca and lost 14-8 in an opening-round game against East Leyden and Leese.
“It’s a big thrill for me,” Ferguson told the Herald’s Art Mugalian before the matchup against his former coach. “Jack Leese is one of the premier coaches in the state with one of the premier teams.”
Pettenuzzo is the winningest coach in Maine West history with 69 from 1991-2006. Rick Benedetto, who was an all-conference quarterback for Leese, is Wheeling’s winningest coach at 60-52 from 1983-94. Pettenuzzo also assisted Benedetto before moving over to Maine West.
“He was the type of coach I look up to,” Benedetto told the Herald’s Mark Ruda before his first season in charge at Wheeling. “Very disciplined. Very organized. He was well-read. He knew it inside and out.”
Jack Derning, who was an assistant for Leese’s state title team, went 104-78 in 19 seasons at Lyons. Pete Ventrelli, who coached at West Leyden, used Leese’s option offense to lead Morton to its only playoff berth and victory in 1983 and brought it to Downers Grove North, where he went 107-53 with a state runner-up finish in 1990.
Mike DiMatteo, whose successful coaching career included stops at Leyden, Lake Zurich, Hinsdale Central and Buffalo Grove, wrote a book “Confessions of a High School Football Coach” and considered Leese a mentor.
“He influenced and helped so many and his loss will be felt by many as well,” DiMatteo said on Twitter.
Leese’s mentorship also carried into other sports. Jim Cartwright, who was East Leyden’s starting quarterback a year before Shanahan, led Conant wrestling to three second-place state finishes during his 26-year head coaching tenure. Rich PIetrini (Palatine), Rick Lombardi and Mark Egan (Maine West), Dave Froehlich (Rolling Meadows), Ferguson and retired Leyden athletic director Randy Conrad were also products of the school who had tremendous success as wrestling coaches.
Bill Murmann, who was an offensive lineman for Shanahan and Leese, had successful stints as a girls basketball coach at St. Viator and Schaumburg and was a football assistant for Cerasani.
Leese was also a long-time wrestling official and announcer who worked the IHSA state tournament, Big Ten, Midlands and NCAA Division III nationals. He was named official of the year in 1982 and 1985, was one of the state meet’s Grand Marshals in 1991 and was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association, the Illinois chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Illinois Coaches and Officials Hall of Fame.
The 1949 Lane Tech graduate was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 2022. Leese also attended last year’s dedication of Lane Stadium as Fritz Pollard Field to honor the Pro Football Hall of Famer who was the NFL’s first African-American head coach and one of its first African-American players.
Torresso Returns Niles West to Playoff Eligibility
Nick Torresso was a three-year starting lineman for Schaumburg and a Daily Herald All-Area pick as a senior in 2006. When Torresso committed in January 2007 to play at Bowling Green he said he wanted to become a teacher and coach and do what people like Schaumburg head coach Mark Stilling and assistants Mark Steger and Joe Rupslauk did to help him.
Torresso is now in his third season of turning around the Niles West football program as it became playoff eligible with its fifth victory on Sept. 29. The Wolves had a tough 21-17 loss to Highland Park to fall to 5-2 and can officially secure a postseason berth with a victory either at unbeaten Maine West this week or against 1-6 Maine East in the regular-season finale.
Niles West went 2-7 and 3-6 in Torresso’s first two seasons. In the four seasons before he took over the program it sandwiched a pair of 1-win seasons around consecutive 0-9 finishes. The school’s last winning season was in 2014 when it went 6-4 in its third consecutive playoff appearance under Scott Baum.
Torresso’s offensive coordinator is Palatine graduate Tim Lazzarotto, who just retired from teaching and was a longtime coach in baseball, football and basketball at Wheeling, Hersey and Rolling Meadows.
“Drev” Drives New Trier to Boys Golf History
Pete Drevline played a big part in Buffalo Grove athletic history as a senior in 1984 when the boys basketball team won its only sectional title and the baseball team won its first regional crown. But it’s been in boys golf where Drevline has made his mark as a head coach at New Trier.
On Saturday, Drevline led the Trevians to a second consecutive title and state-record 11th as they edged Hinsdale Central by 2 shots in Class 3A. They also won back-to-back titles in 1965-66.
Drevline took over the boys program in 2009 and his teams also finished second seven times and third once. He has also been a varsity baseball assistant with Rolling Meadows grad Scott Klipowicz for Mike Napoleon, who set the state record for career victories this spring.
Conant’s Simon Says Time for MSL Golf History
Conant’s Nicolas Simon became the third Mid-Suburban League boys golfer to win a state title when he claimed the Class 3A state crown Saturday in Bloomington by 1 shot over Moline’s Isaac Rumler.
Simon joins Buffalo Grove’s Jon Schram (2001) and Barrington’s Erik Ciotti (1994), who won Class AA titles. Gary Hallberg won the last single-class title in 1974 for Barrington when it was still a member of the North Suburban Conference.
Simon is Conant’s only boys all-state medalist as he also took fifth in 3A in 2021. Kris Yoo won AA girls state titles for Conant in 2008 and 2009.
Joe Carlson (2008) and Danny Stringfellow (2009) won 3A titles for St. Viator.
Hersey’s Harris Starts Arizona Fall League Play
Oakland A’s prospect and Hersey grad Brett Harris had only 7 official at-bats with 2 hits in his first 3 games in the Arizona Fall League. But Harris has drawn 7 walks, scored 5 runs and stolen 4 bases for the Mesa Solar Sox.
Barrington Fields of Dreams Honored
Barrington’s “Fields of Dreams” has long been one of the premier facilities in Illinois high school softball under coach Perry Peterson. The “Fields of Dreams” was recognized as the 2023 High School Field of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and Netting Professionals.