Editorial: Celebrating Maciaszek, Radtke, Frisk and prep sports

Think about high school and what comes to mind?

Classmates, certainly. Teachers. Certain classes. Dances, probably. A few pranks, most likely. Exams. The scent of the cafeteria. The sound of lockers slamming. The shine of the linoleum, and the tapping and squeaking of shoes moving across it.

There’s one other image that comes to mind: sports, high school sports. Maybe you participated, in which case your memories are intensely nostalgic, your sport and life lessons deep and abiding. Maybe you didn’t participate. Even so, your thoughts of high school wind through the sporting events just the same, the way that they created a bond that connected you to every fellow student, the way that they created a school pride that still draws your attention years later.

Allow us a little self-indulgence today. About a week ago, our own Marty Maciaszek was inducted into the media wing of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. We must say, it’s a fitting tribute to a worthy sports writer.

What two players scored more than 40 points in the same boys basketball game at St. Viator High School? Marty knows. How many times has Schaumburg won a sectional title? Marty knows. Which Mid-Suburban League coaches have more than 300 career wins? Marty knows. But although he knows all this, Marty has shown in his reporting over the years that he cares more about the people than about the statistics, that he recognizes what sport means to the athletes and coaches and communities involved.

We’re very proud of Marty and this great recognition he’s received. We’re prouder still that Marty is one of three Daily Herald inductees in that Hall of Fame. Bob Frisk, our retired assistant managing editor for sports, and John Radtke, our assistant high school sports editor for the Fox Valley, were inducted into the Hall in previous years.

Make no mistake, this editorial is partly a celebration of all three of them. But more so, it is a celebration of high school sports and the impact it has on all of our lives.

While the professionals and colleges clearly have more talent and enjoy much wider media coverage, nothing provides the connection to our past, to both who we were and who we still are, than high school sports.

While the professionals play for huge dollars and large fame, they cannot duplicate the pure and innocent and genuine joy of sports that is found on the prep hardwood and the high school diamond.

Think about high school and what it would have been like if sports had not been a part of it. Think of the rich texture that it added to the high school experience. And the enduring truths that it added too.