Acevedo calm as he takes over Waubonsie baseball program

Bryan Acevedo said heading a baseball program was a dream job. Just don't expect him to turn somersaults over it.

Keeping an even keel is something he learned during five years with Dan Fezzuoglio at Waubonsie Valley. Following Fezzuoglio's resignation as Warriors varsity baseball coach Sept. 19 citing family reasons, the 31-year-old Acevedo has been tabbed as his successor.

"Obviously, (from Fezzuoglio) I kind of picked up some of the ins and outs of different drills," said Acevedo, a 2001 Jacobs graduate and Waubonsie's sophomore coach the last two seasons.

"And a lot about how he managed a baseball game, as well as his demeanor," Acevedo said. "He never got overly excited and I think the kids took to that and kind of played the game the same way."

That's not to say Acevedo is not passionate about baseball. A 5-foot-9 middle infielder at Jacobs and Benedictine University, hustle and work ethic were his calling cards. In high school he played for Andy Jakubowski, now at Huntley, who remains a mentor.

"He's just one of those people whose passion for the game spreads and rubs off on their players," Acevedo said.

A native of Long Island in New York, Acevedo coached at Wheaton North and Hinsdale South before coming to Waubonsie Valley. He's a business teacher, assistant athletic director and also coordinator of Waubonsie's Link Crew, a mentoring program between upperclassmen and freshmen.

"I'm extremely excited and just happy for the opportunity," he said. "This is a great school with a very good baseball program, and I couldn't really be happier. This is something that I've always wanted when I got into teaching, and to get a (head coaching) job here at a place I'm already working at, it's kind of a dream come true."

Drive, he said

Glenbard East boys basketball coach Scott Miller is set to increase his frequent-driver miles.

Friday he's got an early-morning practice followed by a day at school. Then it's about a 300-mile round-trip down to Bradley University in Peoria, which hosts a men's basketball game against Texas-Arlington featuring former Glenbard East star Johnny Hill.

Saturday morning Scott Miller heads another practice with the Rams back in Lombard. Then he and his wife, Lisa, will circumnavigate 520 miles to Ann Arbor to watch their son, Zach, and Hillsdale College open their season at the University of Michigan.

"Should be a fun trip," Scott said.

Good Will

A friendly smack on the back, a grin and he's off, ball cap snug, stopwatch ready. Will Kupisch - on the hoof to bark encouragement and splits to the Downers Grove North boys track and cross country runners he unabashedly loves, respects and, during training, runs ragged for their benefit.

Kupisch has the bearing of a football coach. A linebacker's physique, too - at least one from his era at Fenton, the late-1960s, early-'70s before weight training turned mandatory and they played on guts and guile and attitude, when a coach could grab attention by rattling a face mask.

Training year-round for the American Birkebeiner, in which he finished 20th last time out, it's doubtful the 59-year-old has expanded his belt one notch since helping Fenton win the 1973 state wrestling title in the last year of a one-class system.

"Coach Kup" (that's a hard 'u'), 22 years as Trojans boys cross country coach plus six as an assistant upon his 2011 retirement, a 33-year track and field assistant who remains in both programs as a volunteer, recalled being brought to tears by Downers Grove residents and school supporters who, after nominating him as a 2002 Winter Olympics torch bearer, showed up at dawn in Evanston to cheer him as he ran his leg.

Hear the sincerity, passion and humility of this man, recently selected for induction into the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Jan. 10, and it's hard not to get misty-eyed yourself.

"The toughness of what the sport demands, both mentally and physically, there's nothing like it," Kupisch said of distance running. "And then, it's always paralleling life. When it's raining outside, no one likes the rain. But nothing grows without it."

Out of Illinois State he came to Downers North to teach history and physical education and, he anticipated, coach football, wrestling or basketball. That wasn't the package offered. Track coach Mike Kayse needed an assistant.

"I said I'd do the track thing and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. What a blessing it was," Kupisch said.

He started in 1978 as a throws coach. After figuring that out he helped Joe Marconi, son of the former Chicago Bears fullback, to the 1981 Class AA shot put title.

Switched to distance his boys won 40 state medals with his 3,200-meter relay squads earning all-state eight times capped by the 2001 Class AA title of Matt Formato, Eduardo Borjon, current Trojans track coach Eric Buhot and Mark Eckerle.

"Seeing them run on the track is amazing to me because our workouts are tougher than the meet itself, and if they were doing the things I was asking them to do it moved me. I told my boys, I love them," Kupisch said.

He said someone asked his wife, Cathy, what happened after those boys graduated; "The season would start and he would fall in love all over again," she said.

In cross country Kupisch's "humble warriors" qualified for the state meet eight times, claiming 16 all-state medals and placing third in 2000. Downers North broke York's 15-year home dual-meet victory streak which, of course, was a big deal.

Those numbers are good and strong, but they're numbers. Downers North girls cross country coach Tim McDonald nominated Kupisch for the ITCCCA honor also because of his ability to create roles for every boy, not just the stars; for his character as race director for the Bonfield Express Foundation 5K, held in honor of late Downers North teacher, coach and dean of students Jim Bonfield.

Since the event debuted in 2004 - last year 6,200 people ran and walked on Thanksgiving morning - the foundation has provided more than $250,000 in scholarships to students from Downers North and Downers South, Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South, Lisle and Westmont high schools.

One of seven children now with two of his own, both teachers, Kupisch visited Bonfield in the hospital before he died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma at 53. Another family man, Bonfield told him, "Toughness is not how strong you are but what you can endure."

That resonates with Kupisch, who embraces and extols the pain, and the glory, of the long-distance runner.

"That's what life is," he said. "It's hardship sprinkled in with some great things."

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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