Longacre's assistance went way beyond athletic fields
Behind every great head coach are great assistant coaches.
Jim Longacre was a great assistant coach.
He retired from Wheaton Central High School well before our current prep athletes were even born. But his contributions to the Tigers football program - and Wheaton football tradition in general - will be honored this April by a posthumous induction into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
"When I picture an assistant coach in the developmentmental level that was ideal to the program, the picture I see was Jim Longacre, and I don't care what sport it was," said Naperville North principal Ross Truemper, a lineman for Longacre's Wheaton Central sophomores in 1967.
Longacre, a Pekin High School graduate who retired as a math teacher in 1978 after 28 years in the Wheaton district, also coached track and served as head basketball coach for a couple of his early years with the Tigers. He died in 1999.
Truemper, himself retiring at the end of this school year, first nominated Longacre in 2001. The next year Truemper nominated him for the IHSFCA's Ray Eliot Award for humor, integrity and pride in service to the IHSFCA.
George Turnbull, the former longtime Wheaton North assistant who led the Falcons to a state title in 1981 while Jim Rexilius was at Wheaton College, is on the committee that in December cleared Longacre's induction.
Turnbull noted Longacre's "hard-nosed, disciplinarian" coaching style and his support of fellow Hall of Famer Howard Barnes, then the Tigers' head coach.
"Their style of coaching in that day and age was right on target," Turnbull said.
When Barnes resigned after the 1968 season upon compiling a record of 65-29-4 at Wheaton, Longacre followed suit.
Such was the loyalty of a man who was in the game to develop and teach players, not to be the head man.
"He was really a feeder system for the varsity. He kept the kids interested," said Ed Ewoldt, the Wheaton wrestling legend who coached with Longacre on the sophomore level.
Both math teachers, Ewoldt said Longacre coached in the same practical style as he taught.
"He used to say, 'We'll scout them the first half and play them the second half,' " Ewoldt said.
Ewoldt also saw Longacre's humorous side whether playing practical jokes on each other in class or on the football field.
When Ewoldt was assigned to Longacre's sophomore squad, Ewoldt asked what Longacre wanted him to do.
"'Just stay a yard away from me,' " Ewoldt was told. "He paced back and forth like a tiger in a cage."
This old-school Tiger did leave a mark - on a generation.
"We were better people for being coached by Jim Longacre," Truemper said. "Better football players and better people."
Huskies in the Hall
Naperville North will introduce its fourth class of Athletic Hall of Fame inductees on Jan. 16 in the school gym after the sophomore boys basketball game against Wheaton Warrenville South, at about 6:45 p.m.
The Class of 2009 includes: Tim Carlson, a two-time state swimming champion in 1997 and 1998; Aileen Guiney, an All-America soccer player who was twice an all-Big Ten pick at Northwestern; Rachel Karos, a three-sport star who went to on an award-winning career in both basketball and softball at Eastern Illinois University; and Dan Pettigrew, the only four-time letterman in the 23-year career of former soccer coach Dave Bucher.
Also: Stan Gruszka, the former assistant football coach and head wrestling coach who is in the state prep halls of fame for both sports; Bart Smith, a five-time all-state hurdler who won the state 300 hurdles in 1987 and 1988; and Gene Drendel, Naperville North's former assistant superintendent who passed away in 2008.
Before the induction ceremony, Huskies baseball coach Carl Hunckler will be honored for his induction into the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Cream of the crop
Downers Grove South junior quarterback Chandler Whitmer was chosen among the top 25 prospects who participated in the U.S. Army National Combine in San Antonio in early January.
According to Brian Davidson of the National Collegiate Scouting Association, Whitmer, a two-year starter and 2008 All-Area selection for the Mustangs, was "maybe the best looking passer at U.S. Army."
Run it past you
Picking up a copy of Chicago Athlete Magazine is a good way to keep track of some former track and cross country athletes.
The January edition's race results included times by former Wheaton Academy state champion Matt Field and 2008 Hinsdale South graduate Brian Denk, as well as familiar names Paul Jellema and Brandon Mull.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com