MSL Wrestling: Hersey's Sweet State Repeat of Early 1970s Stands Test of Time
Hersey’s wrestling program was in need of a rebuild when Joe Rupslauk took over in 2017. Rupslauk has constructed a group that won a second consecutive Mid-Suburban League and looks to add more decorative hardware for the school when it starts the postseason this weekend in the Dundee-Crown Class 3A regional.
It was a much different situation in 1968 when the new high school in Arlington Heights and the growing northwest suburbs opened its doors. Building a foundation for successful athletic programs figured to take some time against established schools.
But the plan turned out a bit different for Hersey wrestling with a pair of Hall of Famers in coach Tom Porter and wrestler Brad Smith leading the way. In the program’s third year of existence it brought home a state championship trophy. A year later there was another state title trophy celebration.
And the meteoric rise of Hersey’s wrestling teams of 1971 and 1972 remains unmatched in Mid-Suburban League’s history of the sport more than a half-century later.
A “Pied Piper” Builds the Foundation
Tom Porter stood just a shade over 5 feet tall but he knew what it took to accomplish big feats in Illinois wrestling. Porter wrestled at 112 pounds on Thornton’s 1959 state championship team under Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) Hall of Famer Ted Czech.
Porter lettered in wrestling as a sophomore at the University of Illinois and then transferred to Indiana State, where he was a two-time NAIA All-America after a pair of fifth-place national tournament finishes and two conference titles. He had a brief stint as an assistant coach at his college alma mater and then came up to District 214 and Prospect to teach and join the wrestling staff with Dick Mudge and Dave Ziemek.
After four years at Prospect, Porter got his head coaching shot at Hersey. It didn’t take long for him to make an impression upon another former coach who had pulled off an incredible start in a different sport. New Hersey athletic director Dick Kinneman won 47 of 51 games in the first two years of Prospect’s basketball program.
“He seemed to attract kids like the Pied Piper,” Kinneman told the Daily Herald’s Keith Reinhard after Porter left Hersey to become the head coach at Illinois in 1973. “His enthusiasm and knowledge were excellent qualities to begin with but he enhanced them by making them contagious. He put an awful lot of hard work into wrestling all year round. I think the kids sensed the commitment and responded by striving harder themselves.”
They had to in a program with no seniors in its first year of varsity competition. The Huskies were pounded by Prospect 38-6 and finished 2-7 in MSL dual meets and in ninth place.
But positive signs quickly emerged as Porter drew 137 kids out for wrestling in his second year to work with a strong staff of Rick Mann, Larry Travis and Dan Summers. The Huskies tied Glenbard West after getting skunked 50-0 in their dual a year earlier. A sophomore named Brad Smith was beating everyone and Jim Battaglia, Don Robinson, Tad DeLuca, Pat Teefey, Kevin Immel and Bob Vercruysse were among the building blocks for success.
How successful was something few could have imagined.
Ultimate Prize Twice as Nice
It didn’t take long for Hersey to make a statement the 1970-71 season could be special. It came in an early-season MSL matchup against the oldest kid on the block, Arlington, which had not lost in 21 consecutive duals over two-plus years.
Hersey won 24-21 in what would be Arlington’s only MSL dual defeat of the season. The Huskies then won the Glenbrook South tournament as Battaglia, Smith and DeLuca were individual champions. The varsity, junior varsity and sophomores all went 9-0 in league duals.
The MSL held a wrestling tournament for the first time and Hersey easily outdistanced Arlington 91-48 with individual titles at half the weight classes from Robinson (112), Battaglia (119), Smith (126), DeLuca (145), Teefey (167) and Immel (heavyweight). The postseason started well as Hersey topped Arlington 91-85 in the district tourney with Battaglia, DeLuca, Robinson, Teefey and Smith winning and Immel and Vercruysse taking second to advance to the West Leyden sectional.
And then came a bit of a hiccup. Hersey took second to East Leyden and only three wrestlers made it out to state - Smith remained unbeaten with a title at 126 and Battaglia and DeLuca finished second to advance. Team titles were determined in the traditional big-meet format through 1983 so a team like East Aurora, which had five qualifiers out of a tough sectional, had much better odds for success.
Still, the Pied Piper remained optimistic about the possibilities in Champaign.
“We have a possible chance to take it,” Porter told the Herald’s Larry Everhart. “I’ve seen a team take it with only two qualifiers. All three of them are capable of going all the way with a little luck.”
Smith, who saw an unbeaten season end in a district upset a year earlier, finished at 33-0 at 126 with a 3-2 victory in his title match. Battaglia (28-2) had his only close call at 119 in a 1-point semifinal decision and cruised in his title match 11-4. DeLuca took fourth at 145 after a tough OT loss in the semis and 1-0 loss in the third-place match.
It all added up to 35 points for Hersey as it edged East Leyden sectional foes Addison Trail (29) and DeKalb (28).
“And how!” Porter exclaimed about his surprise in the Herald. “But we thought we had the ability and this is what the boys were shooting for. We didn’t do as well in the sectional as we expected but our sectional was really strong. It’s really unusual for the top 3 teams in the state to come from one sectional.”
It certainly wasn’t normal for a three-year old school to finish as the top team in the state. Hersey’s wrestlers came back to school Saturday night to find the halls decorated and on Monday were honored at a school assembly on Monday.
Legendary Herald prep writer Bob Frisk wrote in his weekly Friday column, “For a guy who stands 5-feet-2, Tom Porter feels mighty tall these days. He’s not looking up when he talks, he’s looking down, from that cloud he climbed on Saturday in Champaign.”
Porter told Frisk, “It feels great, just great. When I think about how these kids came through, the work they put into it and the work of our coaches and everybody associated with the program, this championship just means so much, so very much.”
They had a solid core back for more in the 1971-72 season. Hersey lost its opening dual to West Leyden by 2 points and Porter speculated he might have a better tournament than dual-meet team. The Huskies won again at Glenbrook South and took second in the powerful Tri-State Invitational at the University of Wisconsin Fieldhouse to a team from Waterloo, Iowa. Smith, now up at 132 pounds, won his 47th consecutive match for a Tri-State title along with DeLuca (145), Frank Czarnecki (155), Vercruysse (167) and Teefey (185).
Hersey had no trouble repeating as MSL champs 84.5-57.5 over Elk Grove as Smith, DeLuca and Teefey remained unbeaten with repeat titles. Czarnecki and heavyweight Kevin Pancratz also topped the medal stand. And Hersey would repeat as district champions with titles from Smith, Teefey, DeLuca and Pancratz, who pinned all 3 of his opponents in just over 6 minutes. But Czarnecki was the only other wrestler to advance to the sectional and Porter expressed some apprehension about another title run.
“I would have liked to think we’ll be a contender at the state meet again this year,” Porter said in the Herald. “Five kids may not be near enough, though, if we get them all through sectionals. I know there are going to be several teams strong in numbers and quality down at finals to contend with.”
Although Hersey lost again to East Leyden in the West Leyden sectional, this time just 47-45, the news was slightly more encouraging than a year earlier. Four wrestlers advanced to the state finals at Illinois State University’s Horton Fieldhouse as Smith and Teefey remained unbeaten and DeLuca and Pancratz took second.
“I still can’t believe we won it all last year,” Smith told Frisk as he took a 60-match win streak into the 1972 state tourney. “It all came as such a surprise. But we know what we have to do this weekend and we just hope we can repeat.”
And repeat is what the Huskies and Smith did 42.5-31.5 over East Leyden. The team title was clinched before Smith’s title bout when Pancratz claimed fifth place with a pin. DeLuca took second and Teefey pinned future NFL running back Scott Dierking of West Chicago for third place.
All that remained was for Smith to complete a perfect ending against 43-1 Doug Wilson of Granite City. Smith ran his winning streak to 64 in dramatic fashion as he broke a 1-1 tie with a takedown with five seconds left in regulation. It also earned him a spot in Sports Illustrated’s prestigious Faces in the Crowd.
“It was a moment of pride for all the coaches and assistant coaches and managers and cheerleaders and fans and for the wrestlers themselves within the MSL,” Reinhard wrote in the Herald after Fremd’s Jeff Alvis also won the title at 112, “who have worked and struggled and competed and strived to build within themselves, their teams and their conference an image of strength and importance.”
Hersey’s feat continues to stand the test of time in the MSL. The closest another school has come to a team title was a trio of second-place finishes by Conant under Jim Cartwright in 1983, 1996 and 2000.
Lasting Legacies
Brad Smith went to Iowa where he was connected with his idol, the legendary Dan Gable, who was then an assistant before taking the program to incredible heights as a head coach. Smith won the NCAA title at 142 pounds as a senior and received all-Big 10 honors three times. DeLuca went to Michigan, Czarnecki to Illinois State and Vercruysse, who wrestled and played football his senior year with torn knee cartilage, went to Illinois.
Porter drove the Huskies to another perfect finish in MSL duals and a title in the league meet in the 1972-73 season as Pancratz (heavyweight) and Jeff Reinhard (185) won individual crowns. There wouldn’t be a third consecutive team title trophy but Pancratz took second in the state at 33-1 and went to U of I to wrestle and play football.
And he would end up being coached by Porter. In late March it was announced Porter was headed to Champaign to succeed the retiring Jack Robinson in wrestling and work as an assistant in football.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with all these people and leaving them is one of the toughest things about accepting this new assignment,” Porter told Reinhard. “I wouldn’t have taken the job if I wasn’t convinced I could make a success out of it.”
Porter had a big challenge with a struggling program that had no full scholarships. He did things like hold an Illinois-Minnesota dual at Hersey to expand interest and he made some positive strides, but after going 39-50-1 in five seasons, he took a job as an assistant athletic director where one of his innovations was starting the football TailGREAT in the 1980s.
“It was probably the toughest decision I’ve ever made in my life,” Porter told Reinhard of leaving coaching.
But it turned out the IWCOA Hall of Famer wasn’t done on the mats. After he retired at Illinois, in 2001 he became an junior high assistant coach at Mahomet, just outside of Champaign, and then he led Mahomet-Seymour High to fourth in state in 2002 and eighth in 2003. His son Rob was an individual and team state champ at the school.
Rick Mann took over for Porter and continued Hersey’s successful tradition for nearly 30 years. He led the team to sectional titles and dual team Elite Eight trips in 1993 and 1997 and was also inducted into the IWCOA Hall of Fame.
And Smith is still continuing the tradition of success in his 45th season as a high school coach in Iowa. Smith just won his 700th career dual and has claimed 19 team state titles at Lisbon and Iowa City high schools. Smith, who learned a lot from Gable on how to build a program, hasn’t forgotten his roots and did a zoom call with the Hersey wrestlers a couple of years ago.
“It was a great experience wrestling at Hersey and being a part of it,” Smith told the Daily Herald’s Larry Weindruch after his IWCOA Hall of Fame induction in 1991. “I knew someday that I’d be rewarded but I wasn’t quite sure how. This is quite an honor.”
One befitting a legendary championship legacy for Hersey.