Jacobs to honor Tamburino, Keller
The Jacobs High School Athletic Hall of Fame will announce its Class of 2016 at halftime of the Golden Eagles' home football game on Friday.
Coach Crenden Keller and 2010 graduate Maria Tamburrino will be honored.
Tamburino was a three-sport athlete at Jacobs, earning 10 varsity letters: four in golf, three in basketball, and three in soccer. She was awarded both all-conference and all-area honors in golf and basketball, scoring 1,023 total points during her high school basketball career. She was on the first Jacobs Fox Valley Conference championship team and was the school's 2010 Female Athlete of the Year.
She continued her athletic career at Roosevelt University, where she made the CCAC all-conference basketball team for three years, and was named an NAIA Honorable Mention all-American. She was on Roosevelt's first regular season and conference tournament championship teams and the university's first two NAIA National Tournament teams.
Upon completion of her degree, Tamburino served as a graduate assistant coach at Roosevelt. She then went on to become the head girls basketball coach at the Chicago Math and Science Academy.
Keller served as a teacher, dean of students, assistant athletic director, and athletic director in District 300 from 1978-2011. However, his passion was always coaching. Keller coached wrestling and track, and assisted in cross country. Compiling outstanding records in wrestling and track, Keller's teams were 77-23-1 in wrestling and 277-103-2 in track. He coached track for 27 years, 21 one as the head girls track coach. Keller's goals not only included winning, but also encouraging his athletes to pursue academic excellence. His efforts helped many Jacobs students to improve their performance on the field and in the classroom.
Keller has continued to be involved in the community and athletics. He was instrumental in starting the Jacobs Athletic Hall of Fame which honors past athletes, coaches, and athletic backers at Jacobs. He has served as a starter for 25 years for cross country and track meets and for 32 years he has been a certified IHSA official at the boys state track meet. In 2015 he was the Honorary Referee.
Keller is a graduate of Aurora University. As a student-athlete at Aurora, he lettered in wrestling and golf. He stills holds the record for the fastest pin (13 seconds) in Aurora University wrestling history.
For more information, please contact JHSHOF@d300.org