Ike Reilly, Matt Foley, LHS athletic stars, lifelong friends

• The following is part of an ongoing series of articles in celebration of Libertyville High School's 100th anniversary.

Ike Reilly ('80, known as Mike Reilly in high school) and Matt Foley ('81) were top LHS athletes, college rugby teammates, very successful in their careers, and lifelong friends.

Though he played two years of football and was captain of the sophomore team, Reilly earned his top Libertyville High School sports honors in running. He switched to cross-country as a junior and was two time All-Conference. He was the county champ in the 3200-meter run and two time All-Conference in track.

Matt Foley was a football running back and sprinter on the track team. He qualified for state in the sprints. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards as a sophomore. He was named team captain his senior year in both sports.

Both Reilly and Foley began college at different schools for sports: Reilly for running at Wisconsin-Lacrosse, Foley for football and track at Illinois Wesleyan. They both switched to Marquette University their second year of college and joined the rugby team.

Reilly was a two-time team MVP. Because of his leadership ability, Foley was the club president and a top player himself.

While on the rugby team, both Reilly and Foley made a close friendship with a soon-to-be-famous teammate, the late Chris Farley of Saturday Night Live fame. Chris was known for his movie roles such as "Tommy Boy" and his SNL character "Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker" (wait, "Matt Foley," is that a coincidence? No, it isn't).

Reilly graduated Marquette in theology and political science, thinking he was going to law school. But he developed a love for music in college and decided he would give a try at rock music for a career.

He worked as a hotel doorman for 14 years while breaking into the music business. He got his first recording contract at age 38. His band, The Ike Reilly Assassination, has a style referred to as folk punk blues. Their seventh album, "Crooked Love," came out May 18 of this year.

Foley graduated from Marquette in philosophy and political science. But while in college he felt the call to go into ministry. After graduation, Foley went to seminary training to become a Catholic priest.

With a ministry starting in 1989, Foley has served twice at parishes on Chicago's West Side and in Mexico, serving mostly indigenous farmers.

From 2008 to 2013, Foley was commissioned into the U.S. Army as a captain in the Chaplain Corps. He was deployed to Afghanistan four times. Since 2013, Matt Foley has been the pastor for St. James Catholic Church in Arlington Heights. Father Matt has performed many weddings, with his first wedding being Ike and Kara Reilly.