Bladel retiring from Lake Park, but his legacy will continue

Either way, Dean Bladel goes out a winner.

The Lake Park football program he's served all but two seasons since 1975 - he recused himself one year following the death of his father-in-law, another year to finish his master's degree - enters Week 9 with a 4-4 record and hosting 7-1 Naperville Central.

If the Lancers snag the upset they advance into the playoffs. A loss will leave Bladel totally free for the first time since 1974, free to tend his garden in Glen Ellyn and visit Yellowstone with his wife, Laurie.

"I have mixed feelings," said Bladel, 66.

How could he not? He has no regrets, he says, but there is the nagging disappointment that his Lancers have never won a state football championship. The closest they've come is in 2003 when Maine South beat Lake Park in the Class 8A semifinals.

There is always another class of promising freshman, the level Bladel coached most of his career. There are always players like center Marco Ibanez, receiver Anthony Marino, running back Melvin Smiley and quarterback Jaron Fields who are positive, tickle Bladel's funny bone and actually listened to his directions.

("And I'll tell you," the man said, "that's not always the case.")

Coaching is about strategy, of X's and O's, but at the high school level it's also about people. It's here where Bladel's feelings get mixed. The death two years ago of his younger sister, Nancy Chamberlain, got him thinking.

"It made me re-evaluate how much time I've been spending doing things for other people," he said. He taught chemistry 33 years at Lake Park until his retirement from the classroom in 2004, though for the first six weeks this semester he was back there as a substitute teacher.

Bladel is unique among his peers in that he never played high school football. As an eighth-grade student he suffered an injury that required hip surgery his freshman year at Alleman High School in Rock Island.

As a 26-year-old at Lake Park, however, he heard the football program - then under Bob Monken's leadership - needed a coach.

"I told Bob I was willing to put in the time if he was willing to take a chance on me, and he did. I never believed it would became such an integral part of my life," Bladel said.

Not his alone. Laurie Bladel was well-versed in the game after watching it with her father. She put up with Dean's scouting and responsibilities and attended her husband's freshman games - selectively, though.

"Laurie came to the first, fifth and ninth games because she wanted to see the progression," he said.

Primarily an offensive line coach, Bladel started with Lake Park's varsity right off the bat under the tutelage of Jerry Blew. Bladel coached at all levels, freshman coach more than half of the 17-year career of Andy Livingston, Monken's successor.

He also was the sophomore coach in 1988 when current Lancers varsity coach Chris Roll was a quarterback on that level. Bladel said he felt closer to that team than any other and enjoyed their quirky 3-3-3 record.

"I always teased them, you guys showed you could be a perfect .500 with a nine-game season," Bladel said.

He also got a kick out of the fact that as the sophomore coach his staff included one of Bob Monken's sons, a rookie named Todd. Fast forward and Todd Monken is in his third year as coach at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Though the passing game has gained predominance, Bladel doesn't believe football has changed that much over his 40 years - it still comes down to blocking and tackling. The greatest change, he believes, centers on technology. He used to drive to places like Momence and Antioch to scout games in person; now coaches can scout from home watching Hudl videos filmed from drones.

Bladel also considered students much the same, though he felt today's prep football players are even more dedicated considering the speed camps and summer contact days and year-round conditioning coaches expect.

"Other than that teenagers are still teenagers," Bladel said. "They have the same concerns as you and I did: Whether people like them, whether they're doing the right thing. Pretty much the same as when you and I were a teenager."

We-Bat

Wild-Dogs was a mascot name sorely lacking among area athletic teams until the co-op of West Chicago and Batavia girls and boys swimming and diving teams came to be.

In its third year and strengthened by the joint signing in June of a two-year "intergovernmental agreement" by each respective school's board of education, the partnership is showing results this fall in the girls season, in and out of the pool.

"Each year we're growing, which is what we want to do, We want to grow exposure over at Batavia, have more kids seeing us, being interested, seeing that we exist," said Nick Parry, the girls coach of the officially named West Chicago Wildcats.

"Wild-Dogs" - or as Parry noted, "We-Bat" - is the unofficial slang favored by the fun-loving swimmers themselves, unencumbered by intergovernmental agreement legalese. Nicole Cleveland coaches the boys team, which starts two days after the girls season ends the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

"From our perspective here at West Chicago it's providing more kids for the team, which is doing two things: It's providing a more competitive environment (and) it's providing more relationships with the kids," Parry said.

The boards' agreement mainly affected the operation as a formal financial partnership, a 50-50 split of costs. The program, recognized by the Illinois High School Association since it began, remains West Chicago-centric from selection of coaches to the official Wildcats name to all practices and home meets held at West Chicago's 37-year-old pool.

When money is involved the investment is greater. Anyone experienced with Batavia athletics knows those parents are as supportive as can be found. They are not shy about attending middle school open houses or the annual Corn Boil kickoff, and the 22 girls on co-op swim include nine Batavia students, doubling last year's contribution.

"Our parents have been really, really good at showing up to that stuff and trying to get the word out," Parry said. "Just like that (Batavia) football team that won a (2013) state title, that's what we're trying to do. Whether or not we get there is not due to lack of effort."

West Chicago state qualifiers Natalie Nelson and Lindsay Bruce are joined by Batavia swimmers such as two-time state qualifier Myanna Cook and Raquel Cox. They finished 4-4 in dual meets and on Oct. 17 won the Maine East Relays a third straight year. A ninth-place finish at the 15-team St. Charles North Invite was their highest finish in five years.

When the boys get going, West Chicago's Tyler Cook - who last year set the school record in the 200-yard freestyle - will welcome Batavia teammates, including fellow sophomores Garrett Clasen and Ryan Sego.

"We want to get out there as much as possible and let people know that while the team may not necessarily be in the (Batavia) building there's still hard work being done to produce a championship for both West Chicago and Batavia," Parry said.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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