Gymnastics coaches jump in to save the day

The Prospect High School football coaches aren't the toughest guys hanging around the athletic fields anymore.

Gymnastics coaches Julian Basler and George Kakis recently chased down a suspected robber, then tackled and detained him until police arrived.

The suspect, Chicago resident James M. Boyer, 29, was arrested and later charged with one count of residential burglary, said Jerry Lehnert of the Arlington Heights Police Department.

"Common sense says people have to be careful in situations like this," Lehnert said. "But these guys felt they had the upper hand."

Basler and Kakis were at Basler's parents' home in the Scarsdale neighborhood of Arlington Heights the afternoon of Aug. 10, when they saw a woman running after two men on bicycles, yelling she'd been robbed.

"I told George to hop in my van, and let's go," Basler said.

After a few blocks the two men on bicycles split up. Basler and Kakis followed the Boyer -- who was carrying a duffel bag of what they assumed were stolen goods. Eventually they caught him.

"I told him, 'Hey man, pull over, you're busted,' " Basler said.

But Boyer kept pedaling, so Kakis jumped from the moving van and tackled him near the Scarsdale Automotive gas station at 445 S. Arlington Heights Road.

"He looked at me like what I was doing was weird," Kakis said. "I guess he was right. It's not something that happens every day."

Basler, 29, is a boys and girls gymnastics coach at Prospect High School. He's also Kakis' former coach. Kakis, 20, graduated from Prospect High School in 2004. These days Kakis helps out Basler at his private gym, teaching lessons and at the high school.

After Boyer was arrested, all the stolen items -- including a laptop computer, camera and other electronic equipment -- were returned to their owner, Lehnert said.

"(Boyer) picked a house with no cars in the garage, he thought no one was home," he said. "He was probably pretty surprised."

The second man on the bicycle never was found, Lehnert said.