COD giving MacDougall his own football field
For two decades it was very much his football field. Now it'll be made official.
During halftime of Saturday's Iowa Central-College of DuPage football game in Glen Ellyn, a ceremony will be held naming the Chaparrals' refurbished facility as Bob MacDougall Football Field.
MacDougall, who between 1993-96 directed COD to a national junior-college record 36 straight wins and is the second-winningest junior college football coach in history, will be there with his wife, Judy. They're taking a break from a full itinerary of vacation spots visited since MacDougall's retirement from Joliet Junior College in 2005.
"It is a tremendous honor," MacDougall said of the COD naming ceremony. "I'm very humbled by it."
From 1976-1996 MacDougall's Chaps rarely were humbled. COD went to 15 bowl games and compiled a record of 174-59 under MacDougall, now 66.
MacDougall coached a reported 37 All-Americans at COD, including NFL players Paul Spicer, Mike Bellamy and Aaron Bailey. He said 92 percent of all the players who started for him earned college scholarships he valued at $5.5 million.
"They were outstanding players," he said. "I'm just grateful COD was there to be used as a steppingstone for these kids, to further their education, to go on to their degree and become a meaningful part of society."
Such wild success made it "very difficult to understand," he said, why after the 1996 season the college administration suddenly decided to drop football without debate.
MacDougall, who came to Naperville after serving as head coach at St. Clement in Detroit and as defensive coordinator at Michigan Tech, hung on as a counselor at COD. He also volunteered to coach linebackers at Naperville Central under Joe Bunge. MacDougall helped the Redhawks win the 1999 Class 6A title, 56-31 over Schaumburg. Three of the MacDougalls' sons - Kevin, Scott and Alex - played football at Naperville Central.
Bob MacDougall was hired to coach at Joliet Junior College starting in 2000, and over the next six seasons he added national championships in 2001 and 2002, went 48-16 and coached current NFL players Kelvin Hayden of the Indianapolis Colts and Rob Ninkovich of the New England Patriots.
"I don't think anyone's more deserving, not just because of what Coach MacDougall has achieved, but because of the kids he's helped," said Matt Foster, a defensive backs coach under MacDougall from 1991-96. Foster went on to become Wheaton North's head coach, and now is an assistant at North Central College under another luminary, John Thorne.
"It's countless guys that he's helped," Foster said, "a million stories I could tell you about him helping kids all over the place. He's one of those old-school guys that doesn't like to talk about himself. But he's good as gold."
MacDougall recalled "mixed emotions" about going to Joliet after becoming a legend at College of DuPage. That's now water under the bridge. COD is doing right by honoring MacDougall, a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame. His 26-year record of 222-75-0 ranks second in victories behind only John Eliasik of Harper College, who went 249-120-3 in 35 years.
"We had so many great people working there, great kids, we had great assistant coaches," said MacDougall, who invites all his former COD players to a postgame reception at Alfie's Inn in Glen Ellyn.
"We averaged close to nine wins a year for 21 years. Those kids who played there are really responsible for that facility to be built. It's a stadium that's going to last for the next 35-40 years."
The Demon did it
As reported last week, DePaul freshman goalkeeper Claire Hanold was sitting on 7 shutouts entering last Friday's game at Seton Hall, one away from setting a new Blue Demons season record.
Hanold, who set the IHSA career shutouts record with 73 at Waubonsie Valley, did indeed get the mark against Seton Hall. Hanold needed to make only 1 save in DePaul's 2-0 Big East Conference win in East Orange, N.J., to eclipse Lindsey Deason's 7 shutouts in 2003.
"It's really cool to set a school record as a freshman," Hanold said afterward. "I hope we can keep on breaking it."
Welcome to the club
Augustana College will induct its 14th class into its "Tribe of Vikings Hall of Fame" on Saturday. Two local athletes will also be honored at halftime of Augustana's football game against Illinois Wesleyan.
Naperville Central graduate Scott Tumilty and former Waubonsie Valley athlete Raphael Wilson will be among the 117 in the Vikings' Hall.
Wilson, who graduated from Augustana in 1995, went 175-5-1 in a four-year wrestling career that featured three national championships. Twice he was named Most Outstanding Wrestler at the national tournament, and in 2000 Wilson was inducted into the NCAA Division III wrestling Hall of Fame. After losing four matches his sophomore year, Wilson went 90-0 from then on.
Tumilty was named Division III male athlete of the year by College Sports Magazine in the year of his college graduation, 1996. He earned 10 varsity letters in three sports - baseball, football and track - and was an All-America in the latter two. At the time of his graduation, Tumilty held Augie records for, among other things, career pitching victories, career football rushing yardage and points, and fastest 1,600-meter relay.
A real hallmark
Have you purchased that perfect clipboard? Perhaps a lovely chrome-plated whistle?
You haven't forgotten?
Oct. 15, is National Coaches Day.
Maybe just a hug or thoughtful card will do.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com