St. Joseph's Pingatore sets state wins mark

St. Joseph's Gene Pingatore became the winningest boys basketball coach in Illinois high school history Friday night after his team beat Carmel 49-26 in an East Suburban Catholic Conference game in Mundelein.

Pingatore's 827th victory put him past Dick Van Scyoc, who capped a 44-year career at four schools with a Class AA state title at Peoria Manual in 1994.

Pingatore started at St. Joseph in 1969-70 and has spent his entire head coaching career at the Westchester school. Four of his first seven teams finished with losing records but he has had only one losing season since 1976.

The Chargers have a full set of top-four state trophies capped by a 1999 Class AA state championship. Pingatore's 1978 team, lead by future Indiana University and Detroit Pistons star Isiah Thomas, finished second in the state.

Also looking to pass Van Scyoc is Rockford Boylan's Steve Goers, who had 825 career victories going into Friday night's game with Rockford Jefferson.

The only other boys coach with more than 800 wins is the legendary Arthur Trout, who was 810-330 at Centralia.

Dorothy Gaters of Marshall is the girls all-time record holder with 897 wins.