A three-ring circus for four quarters

Every football stadium press box has its own personality.

There's the two-tiered box at Lake Park, the multicompartmentalized box at York, the wide-open windows of Downers Grove North.

A platoon could be fed by the various chicken wings, cookies, chips, veggies and pop provided in the Neuqua Valley press box. A little north at Waubonsie Valley it must be all business. Who knows? - press is typically relegated to the smaller soccer box on the visitors' side.

At Wheaton Warrenville South it's one long line of workers and coaches seated at a long table stretching the length of the box. Same, of course, at Wheaton North.

At some of these structures, like at Glenbard West with its low ceiling, it's hard to believe the home and visiting coaches stationed at opposite ends of a relatively small space don't steal info from each other. There must be a code of honor.

Press boxes can be phone-booth tight. Eye-in-the-sky coaches must climb the ladder to watch from the tree-shaded rooftop at Immaculate Conception's Lewis Stadium; they can spill out the doorway at St. Francis. Benet and Lisle staffers sit in comfy swivel chairs while battling glaring sun at Benedictine University.

Reporters who are "sideline guys" as opposed to "press box guys" miss the atmosphere courtesy of the press box crew at Montini's John L. Duffy Memorial Field.

Montini athletic director and public address announcer Don Riley is the ringmaster of this circus. Several among them have maintained their responsibilities for more than a decade manning the scoreboard, spotting for ball carriers, tacklers and yardage, or writing down statistics.

"Numbers! No names. Numbers!"

Must have heard that a hundred times over the years.

There's no doubt these men take pride in what they provide to the knowledgeable fans. It's also a loose group not adverse to joking about, say, the aftermath of eating the excellent chili steaming in the crockpot next to the popcorn machine along the back wall.

Unencumbered by coaches because Montini assistants Joe Consalvo and Matt Andriano head up to the roof, the press box crew crams into their customary spots, dressed in their official maroon, collared Press Box Crew shirts ... and hats, sometimes slacks.

"It depends on what they can talk me into," Riley said.

Once the group of men comes together for its traditional pregame chant - hands in the middle, "One, two, three, win!" - the action in the booth is nearly as entertaining as the game on the field.

Sometimes more so. Riley, Chris Pfluger, Bill Massani, Bill Timmons, Frank Serio, Brandon Runge and offspring Mark Riley and Billy Massani sling one-liners like the Broncos' spread offense throws the ball. Often.

Timmons and Pfluger both had sons who played football for Montini. The boys graduated in 2002 and 2003, respectively, but the dads return to their press box jobs each home contest.

Pfluger said he returned "because of Donald. That's the reason."

"I know that Mark (Riley) always had to dodge my binoculars," Pfluger said, "because I used to throw them like three times a game when (son Christian) was quarterback."

There was the time the senior Massani, Riley's brother-in-law, returned to his post for the first time after suffering a heart attack. He was greeted by a makeshift IV stand.

Don Riley's right-hand kid Runge takes food orders late in the second quarter and delivers lunch from the concession stand at halftime. Before Montini's game Saturday against St. Francis, Riley recalled the time a hamburger was fumbled and knocked out the public address system before the Broncettes' halftime performance.

Sitting and listening to the hilarious, ongoing babble, it's surprisingly easy to understand the difference between a "big" play and one that is "huge."

"That was huge," one of the men said after a first-half defensive stop.

"That was big," countered another. "You can't have huge in the first half."

Not a matchmaker, but...

At Hinsdale South's media breakfast Wednesday, Hornets girls cross country and track coach Gail Huster announced that her cross country assistant, Janeen Tomas, and one of her track assistants, Dave Bonner, will be getting married Saturday.

Huster said Tomas, a math teacher, and Bonner, a physics teacher, kept a very low profile around school before their engagement last fall.

When Huster told her cross country team of the impending nuptials, "a lot of the girls had run for me for track and knew Dave Bonner and they had no idea," she said.

The couple will be married in Chicago with a reception at the Chicago History Museum.

"I do not claim to be a matchmaker," Huster said. "They did this pretty much on their own."

Fore a good cause

Apologies for the late notice, but the third annual Kevin Meyer Memorial Golf Outing will be held Saturday at Tamarack Golf Course in Naperville.

Kevin was a Neuqua Valley student who passed away from cancer in 2005 at the age of 15. The Kevin Meyer Memorial Foundation has held two golf events that have raised more than $40,000 distributed to six local families and Children's Memorial Hospital, where Kevin was treated.

The event includes lunch, dinner, a variety of golf contests like closest to the pin, and a silent auction. For costs and other details, visit kevinsgift.org.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com