Remembrances: "Mr. Saxon" Karl Barons Had Booming Voice and Big Heart
Halpin Takes on New Role with St. Viator Golf; Manno Heads to IHSBCA Hall of Fame
Karl Barons had a voice that didn’t require amplification.
Barons had a tone that could be best described as a booming. One of Schaumburg’s first teachers had a distinctive approach as the public address announcer for football and other sports.
It even led to him running afoul of the law (sort of) before Schaumburg’s Gary Scholz Stadium had lights. For Saturday home games, Barons would announce the freshmen at 9 a.m., the sophomores at 11 a.m. and the varsity at 2 p.m. Barons would start around 8:30 with longtime colleague and friend Stu Hymen working the scoreboard.
“One of the neighbors complained to the police,” Hymen laughed. “He had to stop announcing the freshman games.”
Barons, who was known as “Mr. Saxon” or “Mr. Schaumburg” for his enthusiasm for the school and its students, passed away Nov. 13 at 78. His wife Judy, who also taught at the school, passed away Feb. 15.
“He loved the school and the kids loved him,” said Hymen, who was friends with Barons for 49 years. “He was a great teacher.”
There were numerous tributes paid to Barons on Facebook from former students who said his support was instrumental to their success. Barons and his wife, who met and got married at Illinois State University, were the first English teachers hired for Schaumburg’s opening in 1970 and they retired together at the end of the 2001-02 school year.
“Very sad day for Schaumburg High School,” said former student and football standout John Cerasani on Facebook. Cerasani’s dad Tom was Schaumburg’s head football coach from 1984-2004.
Bruce Miles, who had a successful career as a sportswriter at the Daily Herald, is a 1975 Schaumburg graduate. As a senior, Miles had a class where Barons taught newspaper and broadcast journalism.
“He was a highly respected English and journalism teacher,” said Miles, who covered the Cubs from 1998-2019 for the Herald. “His journalism class was college caliber.
“One assignment was to write about the Schaumburg-Conant football game from both teams’ perspectives. In another, we had to get up before the class, interview a classmate and then write a feature based on that. Whenever I would cover games at Schaumburg, I always said hello to Karl.”
Barons was born in Latvia and Miles said “he told a great story of his family escaping Europe while fleeing the German army during World War II. He said one of his parents was carrying him over one shoulder. A bullet whizzed by the other shoulder.”
When he got to Schaumburg he and his wife immersed themselves in the school.
“The unique thing about Karl is he would announce almost everything,” said Hymen, who did basketball PA for 27 years after Barons stepped away from that role. “On Thursday night he’d do gymnastics, on Friday he’d do basketball, on Saturday morning he’d do wrestling and if there was another basketball game on Saturday night he’d do that. And on Sunday he couldn’t talk.”
An opposing Mid-Suburban League basketball coach once claimed Barons was worth 10 points. Whether it was a term of endearment might be open for debate. Hymen recalled one occasion where Schaumburg’s football players were backing up on fourth down expecting a punt and Barons said over the PA, “It looks like they’re going for it on fourth down.”
“Opposing coaches hated him,” Hymen said with a laugh.
Those close to offensive linemen loved Barons since he always gave them some acclaim for their typically overlooked efforts. He made sure fans knew when Schaumburg star Jason Hawkins, who went on to play at Northern Illinois, broke a single-game MSL rushing record with 317 yards for the 1999 Class 6A state runner-up. That season was his most memorable since he was on the mic for the state semifinal victory over Lincoln-Way.
But even though he was an admitted “homer” he maintained a sense of balance. Miles was covering the final regular-season game in 1981 when Barons announced that Elk Grove’s Tom Napholz set an MSL single-season rushing record.
“The Schaumburg coaching staff was somewhat displeased with that, but Karl recognized the accomplishment,” Miles said.
“I think it’s important for the announcer to get involved in what he’s doing,” Barons said in a 1981 Daily Herald profile. “I like to be prepared when I announce. If someone was all-conference last year, even for the opposing team, I’ll announce it. This is an honor and people should know about it.”
Hymen said Barons had a “Saxon Action” newsletter that was a legal-sized piece of paper that would be filled with noteworthy accomplishments and taped up on the school walls. The print at the bottom would get smaller and smaller because he had so much information to share.
At pep assemblies, Barons would dress up as the opponent of that week’s big game and have the defensive linemen tackle him. Or he would have the students tear apart a rubber chicken if the Saxons were playing Hoffman Estates or a stuffed tiger if they were playing Conant.
“He did so much for the school,” Hymen said.
Big Changes For St. Viator Golf
St. Viator boys coach Jack Halpin and girls coach Mick Drewes announced their retirements Friday, per a Twitter announcement from athletic director Jason Kuffel. Halpin is taking on a new role as Director of Golf Operations for both programs and will serve as interim girls coach until a new coach is hired. Boys assistant coach Jon Dean will take over as boys head coach.
Halpin’s boys teams won three consecutive Class 3A state titles (2007-09), with the 2008 team tying the tournament record for low team score (583), and finished second in Class AA in 2006 and second in Class 2A in 2017. He also coached individual state champions in Joe Carlson (2008) and Dan Stringfellow (2009).
The Lions also won 9 regional, 5 sectional and 12 East Suburban Catholic Conference titles during Halpin’s tenure. He is a member of the ESCC and Illinois Golf Coaches halls of fame.
In his new role, Halpin will assist with scheduling and administrative duties and run all summer camps for the boys and girls programs.
Drewes spent 17 of his 21 years in the Viator girls program as head coach and this year’s team finished third in Class 1A. His teams won 5 regional and 5 ESCC titles and one sectional crown.
Dean played golf collegiately at Notre Dame after a successful high school career in Michigan.
Manno Going to Illinois Baseball Hall
It has been an eventful year for Mike Manno. He had a 35-3 record in his final season as head baseball coach at St. Viator before leaving to become the athletic director at Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park. And he and his wife Carolyn just had a baby girl, Olivia Grace, on November 2.
Manno also got some big news that he will be part of the Class of 2023 of Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association (IHSBCA) Hall of Fame. Manno was 336-251 in 16 years as Viator’s head coach with Bears tight end Cole Kmet leading the way to a Class 3A state title in 2017 and a fourth-place finish in 2016. Manno’s teams also won 10 regional titles.
Manno played for Bill “Chico” Pirman, who passed away last month, at Viator and succeeded him as head coach. Pirman was the IHSBCA Man of the Year in 2019 and the Distinguished Service Award winner in 2005.
Super Sunday for Wolanski
It was understandable for Tony Wolanski felt like a proud dad watching San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and Chicago Bears linebacker Jack Sanborn start games last weekend. Wolanski coached Garoppolo when he was quarterback at Rolling Meadows and was offensive coordinator at Lake Zurich in 2016 when Sanborn played tight end and running back in addition to linebacker.
Garoppolo was 19-for-28 passing for 240 yards and ran for a TD in the 49ers’ 22-16 win over the Chargers. He has thrown for 1,941 yards and 11 TDs with 4 interceptions.
Sanborn made the most of his first NFL start with 9 tackles and 3 assists and 2 sacks in the Bears’ 31-30 loss to the Lions. Bears tight end Cole Kmet (St. Viator) had 4 catches for 74 yards and 2 TDs last week and now has 23 catches for 274 yards and 5 TDs. Former Glenbard North star running back Justin Jackson had 4 carries for 14 yards for the Lions and is in his first year in Detroit after four years with the Chargers.
Scotty Miller (Barrington) had 2 catches for 25 yards last week as Tampa Bay beat Seattle 21-16. A week earlier, Miller had 7 catches for 53 yards in a comeback win over the Rams and has 21 catches for 170 yards for the season.
Tight end Eric Saubert (Hoffman Estates) caught 1 pass for 12 yards for Denver in a 17-10 loss to Tennessee. Saubert has 8 catches for 95 yards and a TD this season.
Harper College’s First QB Ending Career for State Title
Ken Leonard, who was the first quarterback for Harper College and coach John Eliasik in 1971, will conclude his decorated high school coaching career in Champaign in Friday night’s Class 4A state championship game. Leonard’s Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin team beat Rochester, coached by his son Derek, in a wild 56-42 semifinal. SSHG trailed 28-0 early in the second quarter but scored the game’s final 35 points.
Ken Leonard will retire as the state’s winningest football coach with a current record of 418-80. He is 386-71 in 39 years at SSHG with five state titles and four second-place finishes. He was 32-9 in four years in his first head coaching job at Gridley.
Palatine Football Doubles Up Again
Palatine’s 10-2 finish extended its Mid-Suburban League best of seasons with double-figure victories to nine. Barrington is second with seven seasons of 10 or more wins, Prospect and Buffalo Grove are tied for third with six and Fremd is fifth at five.