Hall of Famer now, Schalz still focused on helping kids
It says a lot about a person when you call him up and though he doesn't know you from Adam leaves you laughing after an hourlong conversation.
Above all the technique and drive he injects into the Rosary and Marmion swimming programs, that easy, agreeable nature must be what makes Bill Schalz one of the state's most successful high school coaches, any sport. At the Illinois Swimming Association all-state banquet on Dec. 8 in Elmhurst he was inducted into the association's hall of fame in addition to being named ISA coach of the year for his work with the 2014 state runner-up Rosary Beads.
Schalz is like a millionaire everyone likes; a wealth of accomplishments minus the braggadocio. When offhandedly he cops to periodically socializing with Olympic coaches he does so without one ounce of hoity-toity.
"Bill is one of the best," said Darryl Mellema, who has years of personal experience to back that up.
Mellema not only works in the communications department for Moose International but as a longtime journalist has covered, by his estimation, about 35 Illinois High School Association boys and girls state swim meets. Those include Marmion's 2000 title (with Schalz's son Chris on the squad) and Rosary's four straight championships from 2006-09, making Schalz one of two Illinois coaches to have won girls and boys state swim titles.
Mellema touts Schalz's use of innovative video coaching techniques, his ability when required in practice to really light a fire under his swimmers. At the core, though, is compassion.
"Bill has a huge heart," Mellema said.
Schalz admits he "isn't much of a legacy guy." In 2011 perspective slammed down hard on he and his wife, Robin - they met on the Aurora YMCA pool deck, Bill coaching the Academy Bullets swim club, Robin coaching the West Chicago Sharks - when surgery to correct their daughter Kylie's scoliosis went awry, causing temporary paralysis from the chest down. After two subsequent surgeries the former Division I softball pitcher is walking with a cane, living and working in New York City.
Perspective seems to be right in Schalz's wheelhouse. He calls himself a "mediocre" swimmer in his own career at Marmion (Class of '79) and Loras College, though he qualified for the NAIA national meet; his "claim to fame," he said, is coaching his girls to faster times than his.
"Not great for my ego," Schalz said, "but it's good for my career."
Schalz has every right to take pride in the yard-long list of all-state swimmers he's produced at both schools, the direction he (along with his wife at the youth level) provided to help make former Rosary superstar Mary DeScenza Mohler one of the top swimmers in the country. He's won 92 percent of his meets with Rosary, where in 24 seasons the Beads have compiled 16 top-five state finishes.
The memories he brings up, though, have a "little guy" aspect to them. Counseling a swimmer distraught by her performance - a girl he didn't coach, by the way - for three hours on the phone, hearing her out. Reassured, she went on to a satisfying college career.
The Marmion swimmer who struggled in high school, persevered, and is now is a doctor. The 1997 Academy Bullets boys team that won a national title with eight swimmers, ahead of an Atlanta club that brought 30 - kind of like Schalz's 2001 Marmion team that finished third with a mere four swimmers.
"That was kind of a 'Hoosiers' moment," he said.
In a sport where results are impartially decided by a clock, Schalz sees swimming as analogous to life itself.
"I think swimming is really a great vehicle, as are other sports, to give kids some real-life experiences. The highs and lows, the disappointments and all the other things," he said.
"Rosary and Marmion are both rigorous academic institutions so there's a balance there, too. And we have high expectations for the athletes of both schools to be successful not only in the pool but in the classroom. That's always been my main goal in coaching, is to help kids."
There's more to come.
"I don't spend a lot of time reflecting on my career," he said. "I was talking to somebody, and (said) the day after the Hall of Fame I went to practice, so it's the same-old. But to have a group of peers think that highly of my body of work is very rewarding."
Welcome to the club
Batavia girls basketball coach Kevin Jensen reported that junior Hannah Frazier is just 4 points away from 1,000 entering the Bulldogs' next game, noon Saturday against Rich South at Oswego's Hoops for the Troops tournament. With 996 career points the 6-foot-2 forward ranks fifth in Batavia program history.
The leader, who Frazier may challenge next season, remains Liza Fruendt with 1,921 points at Batavia. Incidentally, on Nov. 24 the Missouri Valley Conference named Fruendt, a Missouri State freshman, its newcomer of the week after she became the first Lady Bears player since 1997 to score in double figures her first three games.
The other three girls Frazier is chasing are Katie Issel (Class of '99), Kelly Pollard (1988) and Natalie Tarter (2008), each between approximately 1,600 and 1,200 points.
Head of the class
Dan Thorpe has won football coach of the year awards in past stops in Wisconsin and Ohio, but Marmion Academy added to his nonathletic trophy case.
At a school assembly Dec. 5 the college guidance counselor and varsity track and football coach was presented the Fr. Alcuin Deck Distinguished Service Award for the first semester. The Deck Award recognizes a Marmion staff member's service, contributions, "spirit of charity and dedication."
Football obviously is huge in these parts but it doesn't overshadow Thorpe's commitment to school responsibilities.
"I appreciate the work that I put in," he said before a recent Cadets basketball win over Montini.
"I do see myself as a counselor first, a football coach second. I know people maybe don't believe that, but sincerely that is my job first and foremost, and then track and football is on top of the foundation," he said.
"Like I told the student body when I received it we're all in a journey, mine and yours. The kids give back to me so much that it motivates me to do more and inspires me."
In 2011 Thorpe was honored by Sports Faith International as an "All-Star Catholic High School Hometown Hero" for lifetime achievement and coach of the year, coming off the Cadets' 2010 Class 6A runner-up season. In each stop of his 33-year coaching career his teams have won conference sportsmanship awards.
The Wisconsin native called Marmion "a neat place."
"We've got great kids and a great faculty and a great administration," Thorpe said. "It's been fun. That's the bottom line, it's been fun. I love pressure and there's a lot of pressure doing the college applications and scholarship. I'll be in the juniors' English classes the first day after Christmas as we start the college process for the juniors right away on Monday the first day after Christmas. Start it all over again."
doberhelman@dailyherald.com
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