Elgin legend Chesbrough passes away
To anyone who has ever entered the field house at Elgin High School, or who knows the tradition of Elgin High boys basketball, there's one person they quickly point to as being the patriarch of the Maroons.
“Ches".
Bill Chesbrough, the legendary former boys basketball coach and athletic director at Elgin High School, passed away this morning at Provena St. Joseph Hospital at the age of 92.
Chesbrough had reportedly been in failing health for the past several weeks.
He coached basketball at Elgin High for 35 years, winning 573 of the 919 games he coached, a .624 winning percentage and a win total that places him 37th on the all-time list for wins in Illinois High School Association boys basketball history.
“He's probably one of the finest human beings I've ever met in my life as well as being a first-class basketball coach, said Jim Harrington, who succeeded Chesbrough as Elgin's coach in 1985. “We don't have people like him in our profession anymore. It was a pleasure to be associated with him all these years.
Chesbrough retired after the Maroons' supersectional loss to Homewood-Flossmoor in 1985. He remained a resident of the Fox Valley area and as recently as a year ago was still active at community events as well as a spectator at a basketball game or two.
Chesbrough's 1955 Elgin High team finished second in the IHSA state tournament, losing to Rockford West in a championship game that has been voted the most memorable game in IHSA state tournament history.
His teams made three other Elite Eight appearances, the final one in 1983 when the Maroons lost to Chicago Marshall in the quarterfinals. His teams won 21 regional championships and 10 sectional titles.
Born March 17, 1918 in Hartford, Conn., he came to Elgin in 1949. After an auto accident left then head coach John Krafft unable to coach the team, Chesbrough took over. “I thought I'd be here a while, Chesbrough told the Daily Herald in 2000, when Elgin celebrated 100 years of high school basketball. “But I never thought it'd be that long."
The field house at Elgin High, which opened in 1972, is named in his honor. He also coached football and baseball during his tenure at Elgin. He is a 1986 inductee to both the Elgin Sports Hall of Fame and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was nominated as one of the 100 greatest legends in Illinois high school basketball state tournament history.
He coached countless players who went on to play in college, including 1975 graduate Derrick Mayes, who became an All-American at Illinois State University.
“I just had to sit back and process it, said Mayes from his Louisville, Ky., home in explaining his reaction to hearing of Chesbrough's passing. “Chesbrough was a great man. He helped a lot of people fulfill their dreams.
“He was always there for you in life situations. He'd never turn his back on you. He was not only a great coach but he taught us to respect ourselves and apply what we learned on the basketball court to our everyday lives."
Mayes, who will be in Elgin this weekend for his grandmother's 96th birthday, also joked that Chesbrough was a tough taskmaster who always told his players to, “stay away from the girlies and keep your focus, on game day.
“He touched a lot of people's lives," Mayes said.
Lee Turek, who played for Chesbrough in the late 1960s and then went on to win 359 games as Elgin's girls basketball coach, including a state runner-up finish in 1996, fondly recalled his former teacher, coach and friend.
“He was my mentor and mentor in many ways to so many others, Turek said. “When kids grew up in Elgin they wanted to play for Ches. He was bigger than life as a coach."
Chuck Brandt, who played for Chesbrough in the late 1950s, remembered his former coach as being, “a fiery competitor.
“He was a good coach but more than anything I remember his personality, said Brandt, who now lives in Fort Wayne, Ind. “He was the main man for a lot of us."
Or, as Harrington said, “He was a true Maroon, no ifs, ands or buts about it."
Visitation will be from 3-8 p.m. on Friday at Laird Funeral Home, 310 S. State St., in Elgin and from 9:30 a.m. Saturday until the time of the Funeral service at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the First United Methodist Church, 216 E. Highland Ave. in Elgin.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be sent to the Elgin Sports Hall of Fame Foundation Scholarship Fund.