Maciaszek joins IBCA Hall of Fame
Some of the top high school basketball coaches in the state will gain entrance into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on April 28 in a induction ceremony at Illinois State University.
Fittingly, the reporter who has helped tell their stories for nearly 20 years will be there, too.
Daily Herald sports staffer Marty Maciaszek joins boys basketball coaches such as Bill Wandro (Hoffman Estates) and Joe Majkowski (St. Viator) in a star-studded 40th class of Hall of Famers.
“I am truly humbled and honored to be chosen for this honor by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association,” Maciaszek said. “I want to thank everyone at the IBCA, particularly (former Schaumburg and current Niles West coach) Bob Williams for his support, who helped make this honor possible.”
Maciaszek, a York High School and Bradley University product, started contributing stories for the Daily Herald in 1992 and joined the staff full-time in 1995. He has focused on coverage of boys sports, and in the winter on basketball, providing thorough and passionate reporting of primarily the Mid-Suburban League schools plus Maine West, St. Viator and Leyden.
He has covered a total of 12 boys basketball state tournaments, the first two with the Peoria Journal Star and the most recent 10 with the Daily Herald. A career highlight for Maciaszek was covering Schaumburg’s 2000-01 championship over Thornwood for the Class AA crown.
Maciaszek has also maintained a big-picture awareness of the high school sports scene. He’s been an AP poll voter since 1995, has coordinated the AP boys basketball all-state teams and regularly provides Friday night football and basketball reports to WBBM radio (780 AM and 105.9 FM) in addition to blogging at dailyherald.com on a wider array of material.
Maciaszek follows retired Daily Herald high school sports luminary Bob Frisk and current Fox Valley high school sports editor John Radtke into the IBCA Hall of Fame.
“It’s great to follow in the footsteps of two of my colleagues at the Daily Herald, the incomparable Bob Frisk and John Radtke, in receiving this honor,” Maciaszek said. “They have been two great ambassadors for high school sports and basketball coverage. I was also fortunate to learn so much about writing and covering high school sports from another IBCA media Hall of Famer in Bob Leavitt during my days at the Peoria Journal Star.”
Among the greats joining Maciaszek are Warren coach Chuck Ramsey (who has announced this will be his final season coaching), Mike Bailey of St. Patrick (a Mount Prospect resident), Todd Sutton of Neuqua Valley and retired Downers Grove South coach Paul Runyon.
Naperville Central’s Andy Nussbaum, who won back-to-back championships in 2002-03 and ’03-04, leads the girls basketball coaching inductees.
Downers Grove South’s Bryan Mullins gained entrance as a player and the teams inducted include the Glenbrook North 2005 Class 2A boys champs and the College of DuPage men’s team from 2002. Longtime assistant coach Bob Scarpino (Wheeling, Hersey, St. Edward) and officials Steve Scholten (Elk Grove) and Peter King (Palatine) will also be inducted.
“I consider myself fortunate to work with some great people at the Daily Herald, particularly two great leaders of our department in Aaron Gabriel and Marty Stengle, so we can provide the best coverage of high school sports around,” Maciaszek said. “This definitely would not have been possible without the cooperation and help of so many coaches, players, officials, administrators, fans and parents through the years.
“It’s also great to be part of an induction class with two coaches I was fortunate to work with closely through the years, St. Viator’s Joe Majkowski and Hoffman Estates’ Bill Wandro.”