Remembrances: Jerry Cunningham's Wide-Ranging Impact at Conant
Prospect's Palczewski Makes Broncos' Roster But Lands on IR; Meadows' Nikolich-Wilson Heads to Summit League Hoop Power North Dakota State
Jerry Cunningham always seemed to be smiling.
It didn’t necessarily mean Cunningham was always happy with what he was witnessing during his time as a coach at Conant. He also wasn’t afraid to speak what was on his mind. But he just seemed to have that disposition regardless of the outcome.
Cunningham, who taught and coached multiple sports for 33 years at Conant, passed away at his Schaumburg home on August 23 at 85. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Dorothy, and his daughter Annette. There will be a visitation Friday and funeral Saturday in Belvidere and there will be a memorial service Oct. 7 at Our Saviour’s United Methodist Church in Schaumburg.
Cunningham had a tremendous run of success with Conant’s girls basketball program from 1991-2001 with two Mid-Suburban South titles and a trip to the sectional finals. He also led the baseball team to an MSL South crown in 1971, was the head girls softball coach for three years and was a boys basketball assistant for two supersectional teams.
Others paid tribute to his impact after his final game as girls head basketball coach when Conant lost to Rolling Meadows 48-43 in a 2001 Class AA regional game. Cunningham was retiring after 33 years of teaching and coaching at the school.
“There are no finer gentlemen than Jerry Cunningham,” Meadows coach Mark Thorne told the Daily Herald’s girls sports guru John Leusch.
“He’s a really nice person,” Conant player Julie Madura told Leusch. “He’s always encouraging us and firing us up.”
Cunningham was an assistant to Barb Bostian from 1980-91 as Conant won five regional titles in that span. He took over a program coming off a 1-25 season, but two years later he won 15 games and his only losing seasons were his first and last as he finished with a 186-105 record.
Daily Herald All-Area players such as Lindsey Wantroba, Heather Kusch, Tracy Schader, Rebecca Curtin, Jennifer Pettyjohn, Jill Bergmann and Sheryl Jedd were part of five consecutive 20-win seasons under Cunningham. The 1996 team went 24-7 and won the South and two years later his South titleist went 29-3, was ranked 16th in the Class AA Associated Press state poll and lost in the sectional title game.
Cunningham was Conant’s head baseball coach from 1970-76 and his second team led by future Kent State players Bill Arkus and Keith Steelman and John McDonald beat Forest View and future White Sox first-round draft pick and pitcher Larry Monroe, then a freshman, to win the South crown. The baseball program’s only other division title was in 1999 under Mike Fritz.
When Cunningham stepped down as baseball coach, one of the reasons he cited publicly was the lack of quality facilities for the sport in District 211, which would remain an issue for another couple of decades.
Cunningham was also a boys basketball assistant from 1968-80 during the successful tenure of Dick Redlinger. It included Sweet 16 trips in 1972 and 1980, four regional and MSL division titles and two MSL crowns in 1974 and 1980.
One of the things Cunningham lamented before retirement was the decline in three-sport athletes since he was a standout in football, basketball and baseball at Belvidere before playing a year of football at Wisconsin and a year of baseball at Western Illinois. He was a teacher and coach at Orangeville, about 40 miles northwest of Rockford, for three years and in boys basketball had a 60-15 record with three conference titles before coming to Conant.
“I don’t like the specializing in high school sports today,” Cunningham told Leusch in a story prior to his retirement. “It takes away the kids’ ability to compete as a team and represent their high school. Every coach seems to be pulling them in a different direction and they’re not able to be high school kids.”
Cunningham stayed around the high school scene after retirement as a bus driver for District 211 and a softball umpire that included working MSL games and a league championship game. One would suspect he did both challenging jobs with a smile.
Mixed Week for Prospect’s Palczewski in Denver
Former Prospect standout offensive lineman Alex Palczewski got some big news Tuesday week when he made the initial 53-man roster of the Denver Broncos. The tough news for the 6-foot-6, 314-pound right tackle, who was undrafted after a stellar career at Illinois, was getting placed on the team’s short-term injured reserve list Thursday with a hand injury. Palczewski will have to miss at least 4 games before returning to the active roster, which unfortunately means he can’t play against the Bears at Soldier Field on Oct. 1.
Palczewski played in all three of Denver’s preseason games and started the finale. He was getting some reps with the starters, according to Jon Heath of Broncos Wire, and made a big impression on new head coach Sean Payton.
“[Palczewski’s] tough and smart,” Payton said in Heath’s story. “He’s played a lot of football. It’s not always pretty, but there is this quality of ‘he gets the job done.’
“I said this at the beginning of camp — after the draft, I thought we did a good job in that two-hour period of signing free agents. Sometimes offensive linemen are hard to get. We were able to sign a pretty good class of undrafted offensive linemen that has helped us and will help us, not only this year, but in the future. I’m encouraged.”
Meadows’ Nikolich-Wilson Lands at Summit Power North Dakota State
Mark Nikolich-Wilson, an all-state and two-time all-MSL basketball player at Rolling Meadows, has joined Summit League power North Dakota State. The addition of Nikolich-Wilson to the roster was announced Friday by head coach David Richman.
"Mark is a high-character individual and a terrific student from a very good Rolling Meadows High School program in Illinois," Richman said in a release from the school. "His skill level and competitiveness have us very excited for his future here as a Bison."
The 6-foot-8 Nikolich-Wilson was third-team all-state by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) as a senior as he averaged 14 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists a game while shooting 65 percent from the field. He was a big part of Meadows extending its streak of unbeaten MSL East titles to three years and an overall record of 56-13 the last two years.
Richman enters his 10th year in charge with a 175-114 record and the Bison made their fifth consecutive Summit League tourney title appearance, where they lost to Oral Roberts to finish the season 16-17. They have earned four NCAA tourney bids in the last decade. Larkin grad and all-state guard Damari Wheeler-Thomas just finished his freshman year and averaged 7.1 points and 1.6 assists in 28 starts.
Nikolich-Wilson joins Cameron Christie (Minnesota) and Tsvet Sotirov (St. Louis) as Meadows 2023 grads going to play D-I basketball.
Legendary Cowboys’ Exec Gil Brandt’s Connection with George Bork
Gil Brandt, who helped build the Dallas Cowboys into America’s Team and made the Pro Football Hall of Fame, passed away Thursday at 91. Retired Northern Illinois University sports information director and Prospect grad Mike Korcek recalled a meeting with Brandt and a discussion in 2006 that took a local turn.
Korcek went with NIU tailback Garrett Wolfe, who starred at now-shuttered Holy Cross High School and played for the Bears, to a Playboy magazine preseason All-America team photo shoot in Phoenix. Korcek was talking with Playboy’s Gary Cole and Brandt, who was with NFL.com after working for the Cowboys from their inception in 1960 until 1989. The discussion turned to Arlington High legend George Bork, whose passing exploits at NIU led to his induction in the College Football Hall of Fame. Bork was the first quarterback at any NCAA level to throw for 3,000 yards in a season in 1963.
Korcek also shared the story in 2011 in a column for the Kane County Daily Chronicle.
"Mike," Brandt asked, "how long have you been at Northern Illinois?"
“A long time,” Korcek told Brandt.
"What was the name of that great quarterback they [NIU] had in the early 1960s? Bork? Yeah, George Bork. Great passer, that kid," he added. "I can still remember driving to DeKalb from Chicago in August to see him in two-a-days. It was a two-lane road surrounded by seven-foot corn stalks on both sides. Has that changed?"
“Thankfully, no, except for I-88,” Korcek said to Brandt.
Bork didn’t end up with the Cowboys or in the NFL but did play three years in the Canadian Football League with the Montreal Alouettes and three years in the Continental Football League with Montreal and the Chicago Owls. Bork also coached Prospect to its first team state title in boys golf in 1976.
Walsh Helps Wyoming Make National Splash
Redshirt sophomore Jack Walsh of Fremd was featured in a story this week for WyoSports by Alex Taylor as he earned a starting spot at right guard for Wyoming. That put the 6-foot-3, 314-pound Walsh wound up in the national spotlight - as much as it’s possible for an offensive lineman - as the Cowboys hosted Texas Tech, ranked 24th in the NCAA coaches poll, on CBS on Saturday night.
“You look at these teams that are playing on ABC and ESPN, and they’re playing for national championships. Now, you get to play against them,” said Walsh, who will also get a shot to play at Texas in two weeks. “It’s a huge challenge, but it’s something you dream about as a young kid. I’m excited for it.”
Walsh couldn’t have envisioned just how exciting it would be as the Cowboys rallied from a 17-point deficit to pull off a 35-33 upset in double overtime. Walsh helped clear the path for Sam Scott’s game-winning 2-point conversion run by driving a defender well into the end zone and then was the first player to embrace Scott and start a wild celebration in Laramie.
Walsh played 11 games last year and started two en route to academic all-Mountain West Conference honors. He is also wearing the No. 79 his dad John wore when he played for Wyoming’s Western Athletic Conference (WAC) title teams in 1987-88.
Rutkiewicz, Dolphin Lift NIU to “Boneyard Win”
When Northern Illinois beats a team from a larger conference it’s regarded as a “Boneyard Win.” The Huskies got their 18th “Boneyard Win” since 1983 in a dramatic 27-24 overtime comeback Saturday at Boston College from the Big East.
Senior wide receiver Kacper Rutkiewicz of Hersey led the Huskies in receiving with 5 catches for 46 yards. Rutkiewicz caught 26 passes for 432 yards and 6 touchdowns last year after playing at Illinois State from 2019-21.
Junior Jaden Dolphin from Maine West started at safety and assisted on 2 tackles. Dolphin, who played in 10 games last year and started four, is the son of former Maine West star Alex Voltaire. Jordan Hansen (Hersey) and Joey Rattin (Fremd) also saw action in the game.
Harris on Tear in Vegas
A rare rainout Friday couldn’t cool off Las Vegas and Oakland A’s third base prospect Brett Harris. The Hersey grad continued his hot streak at Triple A on Saturday night against Salt Lake with his third homer in two games (click below for the video).
Harris went 4-for-5 with 2 homers and 3 RBI on Thursday night against Salt Lake to finish August at .283 with 3 HR and 10 RBI. He is at .275 with 4 HR and 13 RBI since his promotion to Triple-A in mid-July.
Mariani’s Head Coaching Debut a Huge Hit
Palatine grad Bubba Mariani’s high school football head coaching debut at Boulder City (Nevada) was a smash hit. Mariani’s team rolled to a 45-8 victory as his team threw 6 touchdown passes.
Mariani had extensive assistant coaching experience in the Las Vegas area before taking the job about a half hour south in Boulder City. He helped Palatine finish second in Class 5A as a sophomore in 1994, was the Daily Herald All-Area captain as a senior for a 12-1 team that lost in the 6A semifinals and also starred at Harper College.
IHSA Soccer Coaching Legend Baker Passes Away
Gene Baker won a state record nine state championships as the head boys soccer coach at Granite City and it might have been 11 if it weren’t for two legendary MSL title teams. Baker, who won 661 matches as a boys and girls coach, passed away on Aug. 26 at 79 after becoming ill recently and having a surgery in late July, according to a story by Alton Telegraph sports editor Pete Hayes.
Baker was on the verge of his 10th boys title and the 11th for the school in a sloppy monsoon at Fremd in the 1994 final when Palatine’s Mike Huber scored the tying goal with 20 seconds left in regulation. John Wolowiec scored early in overtime to give Willie Filian’s team a stunning 2-1 victory in what turned out to be Baker’s final state tourney trip as Granite City’s boys coach. His 1988 team lost in the state semifinals to eventual champion Buffalo Grove, coached by John Erfort and led by the legendary Brian McBride.
Baker took over the Granite City boys program in 1973, one year after the school won the first IHSA state tournament. He won five consecutive titles from 1976-80 and also had teams finish first in 1987, 1989 and 1990. He retired in 2000 with a 503-125-55 record.
His Granite City girls teams won a third-place trophy and finished fourth twice with third-place game losses to Schaumburg in 1991 and Palatine in 1994. After he retired at Granite City, he had a successful tenure as the men’s and women’s coach at Blackburn College in Carlinville. The Granite City soccer field is named after Baker.
May-be Historic Moment in IHSA Officiating
Amber May was the lead referee when Newton hosted Shelbyville to open the high school football season. May, a native of Charleston in east-central Illinois, may have been the first woman to lead a crew in an IHSA varsity football game, according to the IHSA Officials Twitter account.
