West Aurora’s Drach officially Hall-bound; catching up with Jimmy Boyle
West Aurora’s athletic department must have known something. When announcing the retirement of former head football coach Roger “Buck” Drach on Dec. 2, it listed him as an Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Famer.
Drach had won the IHSFCA’s Ray Eliot Award for meritorious service to football in 1993, but he hadn’t been inducted.
The association has rectified the oversight. In a letter sent by IHSFCA secretary/treasurer Phil Salzer, Drach is among a group of 17 — along with Batavia’s retiring Mike Gaspari — to be inducted among the Class of 2011.
And this year, Sugar Grove’s Hal Chiodo will get the Eliot Award. All the coaches will be honored at a luncheon in Champaign on April 2.
Triple threat
Geneva graduate Josh Brennan, a senior at Carthage, is a triple threat — track and field, football, books.
On Wednesday, Carthage announced that Brennan was awarded College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Jack Swartz/All-Academic honors for fall 2010.
A linebacker who led Carthage with 69 tackles last fall, Brennan is an exercise and sports science major with a 3.56 grade-point average. He’s also a three-year letterman on the Carthage track team, having set a program record with his first-place hammer throw at the 2010 CCIW Outdoor meet. He’s earned Division III All-American honors both indoors and out.
Overall, Brennan has won two of these academic awards, has been named to the Carthage dean’s list three times, and is a five-semester member of its athletic director’s honor roll.
Geneva graduate student-athletes unite
Brennan wasn’t alone among former Viking honorees Wednesday. The much-decorated Matt Bowman, a senior at Augustana, was named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division III All-Academic Team.
Augustana didn’t specify, but Bowman had to have at least a 3.30 GPA, plus finish in the top 35 of an NCAA regional last fall.
The art history major finished 14th at the Midwest Regional, then became Augie’s first men’s cross country All-American since 1996 with his 32nd-place finish at the DIII meet at Wartburg College.
Catching up with... Jimmy Boyle
Since he competes in no IHSA spring sport, this weekend’s Class 2A State Individual Wrestling Tournament culminates the outstanding high school athletic career of Kaneland senior Jimmy Boyle.He enters his opening match against Riverside-Brookfield’s John Schraidt with a season record of 36-6, and ranked No. 8 statewide in the 285-pound division by Illinois Matmen.
The 260-pound Boyle, who moved to Sugar Grove from Chicago’s South Side when just a toddler, has earned all-conference honors in both wrestling and football three straight years. He was a two-year, two-way lineman on the football team before focusing on defensive tackle last fall’s Knights who reached the Class 5A semifinals.
Boyle began wrestling in fourth grade. He first played football as a second-grader, with the Aurora Superstars. Earlier this week he was contemplating playing football at St. Joseph’s (Ind.) College, with Kaneland teammate Tyler Callaghan.
Q: So, Jimmy, which is tougher: training for football or training for wrestling?
A: I love football, but during wrestling practice, it really kicks my butt. It’s rough. Wrestling practice is a lot harder, to me.
Q: Describe your start in wrestling.
A: My older brother (Adam Wronski, Kaneland Class of 2004) started wrestling for Kaneland. Funny, he pushed me into it. I didn’t really want to do it. I wasn’t winning, and the first couple years were rough. He’s the reason why I got into the sport. He just inspired me because he always worked so hard. If he was going to work hard and put the effort in, then so was I.
Q: What do you mean by “rough”?
A: It was rough because I was always a little heavier, I always wrestled in the heavier weight classes. I never had a match in my division... I always had to wrestle up to senior (division) and it was a little older, a little bigger. I didn’t like it because I was always losing, but I stuck with it and it paid off.
Q: A stupid question: Are you ever afraid on the mat?
A: No, I’m not afraid. We all work really hard, and by the time the meet comes I feel confident in the work I’ve done in the week to get me where I need to be.
Q: Do you have a preference, football or wrestling?
A: I love both of those sports, they’re both awesome, I’ve done them for so long. I guess wrestling is more individual, more what you can do by yourself. I like that part about it. But football is more about what you can do as a team. Eleven guys have to come together to make something happen.
Q: The football team had its best season in more than a decade. Can you describe how it felt?
A: I felt tremendous about the football season. It was great. Everybody put in the time in the offseason. It was awesome.
I think everybody came together and nobody was real concerned about themselves as individuals, how they looked. ... That was one of the big things, everybody doing their part, not just one guy trying to make everything happen.
Q: As a defensive tackle, which do you prefer, stopping the run or rushing the quarterback?
A: For me, I like stopping the run. I loved teams that just line up and say, “I’m going to come at you because I’m tougher than you.” I loved that, I was ready for that every day. Rushing the passer, getting a move off, but stopping the run — that was fun.
Q: You say you’d like to study criminal justice in college and maybe be a police officer. What appeals to you about that?
A: I guess I’ve always thought it’s interesting. It’s never the same thing. It depends where you go, but you have an opportunity for something new every day at work.
Q: What do you do besides sports?
A: I work at the Randall 15 IMAX (movie theater). I try to do that on weekends as many hours as I can.
Q: I’ve often wondered, do theater employees see lots of movies?
A: It depends on the week. If I’m working there all week that’s the last place I want to spend the time I have off. But it is nice during the season because I’m still an employee, so I get a pass once a week, and it’s a free small popcorn and drink and a free ticket. If it’s slow you get to bring a friend.
Q: What was your favorite movie you saw last year at Randall?
A: Probably “Tron.” I thought “Tron” was awesome.
Q: What have you learned about yourself through sports?
A: Through athletics I’ve learned that with anything you do, if you put time into it and work hard, whatever goal in life you want, whatever it is, as long as you work as hard as you can it’ll pay off.
Another thing in sports, you have to be on time for stuff. Because if you’re not on time, you’re running. Those are the two biggest things I’ve learned. Discipline.
Q: Where do you draw your motivation?
A: I’m really close to my brother (Adam). He came to, I think, all but one football game in the three years. So do my parents (Jim and Ellen), my parents come to everything. My other sister (Beyona), too. It’s not like I’m wrestling for myself. It means a lot when you have people there to support you.
They come to all my football games, all my wrestling meets. It means a lot. It helps. They’re going to be there at state with me this weekend. I appreciate them taking the time out and everything.