Meadows' Gumz joins tennis Hall of Fame

Football, basketball and baseball were the sports of choice for Jim Gumz before he graduated from Prospect in 1968.

Then tennis became his game when he came to Rolling Meadows to begin his career in education. And 36 years later, it resulted in Gumz being inducted into the Illinois High School Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Friday at the Marriott Lincolnshire.

"It's really a validation of all the things we've done at Rolling Meadows," Gumz said. "Not just me, but the athletes, parents and administration.

"It's a very nice award for me but also an award for Rolling Meadows High School and all the people involved."

Gumz played a year of baseball at Illinois State but wanted to get into coaching when he got to Meadows. He jumped into the opening in the tennis program.

He first coached the frosh-soph boys and then led the varsity from 1979 until 1990, when he became the girls athletic director. He coached the junior varsity girls and in 1983 took the over the varsity program he still runs today.

"I looked on this as a lifelong experience for kids," said Gumz, who called former Prospect basketball coach Dick Kinneman as one of his biggest influences. "It's one of those sports that's a lifelong sport and you can give players something they can do well beyond high school."

Working with Neal Peterson, who started Meadows' boys program and was an outstanding high school and college player, and studying the game helped Gumz gain the knowledge he needed to succeed.

Gumz's boys and girls teams have won 327 meets and tournaments, 9 Mid-Suburban League division titles and 8 sectional titles and have finished in the top 20 of the state tournament six times.

Tennis also became a family affair for Gumz, who also has a big role in running the state tournaments. His son Alex, a sophomore at Rose-Hulman University, his daughter Shelby at Fremd and his wife Wendy all play and love the sport.

Because of that passion, Gumz has no desire to call it game, set and match any time soon on his career.

"It really has been enjoyable," Gumz said. "When you have great kids competing and it's a beautiful day, I think that's a pretty good deal."

Basketball

Chris Childs (Barrington) is proof a player doesn't have to start to play a big part in a team's success.

Childs, a junior guard at Elmhurst College, was named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin player of the week Monday. Childs came off the bench to average 17 points and 41/2 assists in two victories last week.

Childs also led the 19th-ranked Bluejays to a 72-66 upset of top-ranked Wheaton. He scored a career-high 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting and 6-for-8 from 3-point range.

•Brian Centella (Grayslake) passed 1,000 points for his career at Loras College and earned Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference male athlete of the week honors Jan. 18. Centella had 21 points and 8 rebounds and Ricky Kolze (Fremd) added 18 points and 7 rebounds as Loras improved to 12-6 with a 68-66 overtime win over Luther on Saturday.

•Senior guard Melissa Gorski (Buffalo Grove) became the sixth-leading career scorer in the history of the Monmouth College women's program with 26 points and 16 rebounds in an 80-66 win over Carroll.

Football

Former Mid-Suburban West foes Dan Zeller (Conant) and Buddy Dudczak (Fremd) received honors at Western Illinois' football banquet Saturday.

Zeller received the offensive hustle award for the second straight year. The junior has started all 11 games at center each of the last two seasons.

Dudczak earned the "Green Beret Award" for significant contributions to the kicking game. The junior linebacker played in all 11 games and blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown.

Diving

Junior Katelyn Prorok (Hersey) has rebounded from redshirting last year at Illinois State because of injury. Prorok won the 3-meter board with a personal-best 266.10 and was second on the 1-meter board with a 247.13 in a dual meet with the University of Illinois.

Wrestling

Brothers Derrick and Dillon Pousson (Round Lake) are having successful seasons at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Dillon, a freshman 141-pounder, is 16-8 with 12 pins and was the school's athlete of the month for December. Derrick, a 149-pound sophomore, is 12-12.

Track and field

Palatine products Jocelyn Kuksa and Ginny MacFabe were in different events but had successful meets in the Bob Eubanks Open at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

Kuksa, a freshman at Grand Valley, pole vaulted for the first time collegiately and cleared 12 feet, 31/2 inches to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Division II national indoor meet.

MacFabe, a junior at DePaul, won the weight throw.

• Sophomore Arthur Baptist (Prospect) of the University of Chicago won the 3,000 meters in 8:48 at his school's Phoenix Indoor Invitational.

•Junior Max Petersen (Mundelein) won the 55 meters (6.63 seconds) to help Augustana win the five-team Midwest Invitational at Monmouth.

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