Naperville Central's Bee joins the Hall

As retired athletic directors often do, Marty Bee was heading out to play golf when we interrupted him.

He declined to specify his handicap.

"It's getting better," he said.

When you encountered Bee at a Naperville Central athletic event you'd get that positive vibe. He exuded a calm, comfortable presence, his pleasant disposition and smile suggesting he knew exactly what was going on at all times. Probably not coincidentally, Redhawks athletics enjoyed a halcyon period of success.

Bee's role and influence was acknowledged on April 30 in East Peoria when he was inducted into the Illinois Athletic Directors Association Hall of Fame. Since 1996 many DuPage County administrators have been enshrined in this body including his mentor, retired Naperville North athletic director Neil McCauley.

After a great tenure as Naperville North's girls cross country coach, including the 1993 Class AA title, Bee transitioned into administration as an assistant under McCauley. When the chance arrived Bee became Naperville Central's athletic director, from 1996 to his retirement in 2012.

He participated on many commissions and boards for the IADA, Illinois High School Association and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. For years he's been on the board of the JKB Experiential Education Foundation, the leadership project for high school student-athletes.

Peers respect that commitment to service. Retired Andrew High School athletic director Rich Piatchek nominated his old friend for the IADA Hall.

"I guess he felt I deserved to at least be nominated," Bee said.

By November 2012 Marty and his wife, Barb, had relocated to Georgetown, Texas, outside of Austin. Their oldest son, Eric, lives close by with his wife and three children. Marty and Barb return to Illinois about four or five times a year, he said, to visit their mothers, two other sons, and undoubtedly a lot of former golfing buddies.

Their most recent trip to Illinois, for the induction ceremony, came with a bonus.

"The best thing about the whole night is Neil McCauley and his wife, Penny, came down for the induction. Neil was the one who got me into the whole business. For my wife and I it was special to have them there," Bee said.

One program's loss, another one's gain

In a sudden and surprising development, on May 6 St. Francis head football coach Mike Fitzgerald informed the school that effective next school year he was going to teach social studies at Naperville North and become the Huskies football team's offensive coordinator.

"It was extremely difficult to tell the kids," Fitzgerald said.

That's because his consideration and enthusiasm are infectious and players respond to it.

Fitzgerald's arrival at St. Francis in 2014, a first-year head coach after serving several seasons as Marist's offensive coordinator, helped create one of the feel-good stories of that season.

The Spartans' 10-3 mark that season was their best since Greg Purnell led St. Francis to the 2008 Class 5A title in similarly out-of-nowhere fashion - though Purnell effectively ran an old-school Wing T offense while Fitzgerald is a spread-offense type.

Players would run through walls for Fitzgerald. Indeed, quarterback Clint Bobowski, the 2014 Daily Herald DuPage County All-Area captain, separated his shoulder twice in the second round against Lakes and returned to lead a 39-36 come-from-behind victory.

St. Francis took heavy graduation losses but went 5-4 last season. One of those victories came as a forfeit, and lacking sufficient "playoff points" the Spartans missed the playoffs.

"It was a very difficult decision because I've really enjoyed my time here at St. Francis," Fitzgerald said, "but this is a great opportunity for me and my family."

Lofty heights

Naperville North was the sixth-ranked girls soccer team nationally by Top Drawer Soccer/SIMA this week. That was before the Huskies' 1-0 win over Wheaton Warrenville South on Tuesday.

Naperville North (16-1-1) was tops in the state, the website said, and trailed only unbeaten Lee's Summit, out of Missouri, in the Midwest region. The Huskies also lead Daily Herald rankings.

Top Drawer had Edwardsville and Collinsville both among the nation's top 16 teams with St. Charles North, Naperville Central and St. Charles East all in the high 20s.

Greetings from the seeding committee

Badminton is the rare sport whose state series is still hand-seeded at the Illinois High School Association headquarters in Bloomington.

We caught York badminton coach Nicole Young Tuesday afternoon, heading back from the mother ship after five hours of name-and-numbers crunching (plus a lovely IHSA lunch). The badminton state finals are this Friday and Saturday at Eastern Illinois University's Lantz Field House in Charleston.

Glenbard East coach Brad Lundine and Naperville Central coach Tamara Burke were in the car with Young, part of the 16-coach committee chosen by IHSA badminton administrator Stacey Lambert. Downers Grove North's Anthony Calderone and Hinsdale South's John Charters - who have won five state championships between them - also sat on the seeding committee.

It's now all on the badminton pairings Web page, but the Young-Mobile contingent spilled the beans that Hinsdale South's 2015 state runner-up Judy Yang was the No. 1 seed in singles, Neuqua Valley's defending fourth-place finisher Lauren Ho was No. 2 and Neuqua's Eva Chen and Sophia Li were the No. 1 doubles team entering state competition.

Neuqua Valley won its first badminton state title in 2015. DuPage County teams crowded the top five, adding Naperville North, Hinsdale South and York.

According to Young and her passengers, the official favorite was: "It's hard to predict."

Nurse Nikki

Following "Career Goals" in Nikki Simpson's University of Illinois softball biography from her senior season of 2012 is "Something in the medical field."

It's nice when plans work out.

Now Glenbard East's third-year softball coach, Simpson will be a registered nurse when she graduates from College of DuPage with a pinning ceremony Saturday morning at the Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove.

"Ultimately I want to be a nurse practitioner, so I'll probably look at graduate school in the next year," she said.

An all-state center fielder on Glenbard South's 2008 Class 3A third-place softball team, at Illinois Simpson studied pre-nursing with a double major in community health and hospital administration.

"I really want to go into pediatrics," she said. "I love working with kids, obviously with the coaching."

You've got to love it. For the past three weeks she's had to work 12-hour shifts on consecutive days at a DuPage Medical Group facility in Naperville. Despite these shifts - slated again for May 11-12 - Simpson said on Wednesday that she'd missed only missed three games. When that happens, Rams assistant coach Don Finnie backs her up.

"I've made a commitment to the girls to be there so I try my hardest to make it all work, and Finnie has been awesome," Simpson said. "(He said) 'get your stuff done, I want you to graduate, whatever you need.' We work as a team, we work really well together."

She's from a wildly athletic family including sister Jasmine, who set the University of Iowa's record for hammer throw; Wheaton Warrenville South senior baseball player Jeran; and their grandfather, Cubs legend Billy Williams.

Encouraged to apply for the Glenbard East softball position by Julie Fonda, her coach at Glenbard South, Simpson hopes to continue coaching the Rams while she continues her medical studies and subsequent career.

"I wouldn't want to not coach," Simpson said. "I love it, it's something I enjoy doing. Especially since I played at the next level I want to help kids make their next level and reach their potential."

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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