Lederhouse leaving Wheaton, but his name will remain
In an optimal case of what goes around comes around, the name of retiring Wheaton College men's and women's swimming coach Jon Lederhouse will adorn a facility he helped create.
On Saturday at the Thunder's last home meet before the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin championships Feb. 9-11, it was announced that the Chrouser Natatorium will be renamed the Jonathan Lederhouse Natatorium effective the 2017-18 school year.
(The late Harvey Chrouser, former Wheaton College athletic director and football coach, will be honored with the campus' Chrouser Sports Complex, also 2017-18.)
In the summer of 1981, entering his fifth year as men's swimming coach and his first as women's coach, Lederhouse was on the committee that designed the natatorium.
"That's really a big honor. I'm really glad, and I never thought that was going to take place," he said of the dedication.
After 41 years, 48 CCIW championships and 22 national top-10 finishes spanning both men and women the choice seems obvious.
Lederhouse - a native of Niagara Falls, New York, the backstroke specialist was an All-America swimmer and multiple Wheaton College record holder from 1971-74 - announced his retirement after this season.
"It's the right time. I'll be 65 this summer and I've had a great time, it's a great job, but it's time," he said.
"In terms of coaching, sometimes you can stick around too long and you can lose your effectiveness. So I wanted to retire before I got too far into that state. Age 65 is an appropriate time and 41 years is a good run," he said.
Just by family members involved, it's been a great run.
Lederhouse coached his own brothers Bill (Class of 1981) and Brian (1993) as well as three of his children - Jamelyn (2004), Jeremy (2007) and Julia (2009). (If the Lederhouse name rings a bell with track and cross country fans, Jon is the uncle of graduated Glenbard West and Georgetown distance star Michael Lederhouse, now living and working in Ann Arbor, Michigan.)
As far as career highlights, Jon Lederhouse points to Wheaton College hosting the 1990 NCAA Division III men's championship, then finishing third.
The veteran coach said he mainly appreciated simply helping develop swimmers whether they entered the program as superstars or as novices.
"The vicarious thrill," as he said, "of sharing in the athletes' success."
The Huskie Hall
Naperville North will celebrate its 12th athletics hall of fame induction at 5 p.m. Friday in the school Learning Commons. The party of seven will then be recognized between the sophomore and varsity boys basketball games against Lake Park.
Overall, it's a youthful group.
Russ Bayer (Class of 1998) joins Waubonsie Valley's Mike Bowden as the only two-time captains of the Daily Herald DuPage County All-Area Baseball Team, 1997-98. Also a pitcher, Bayer played four years at Miami (Ohio) and threw in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization after college. He is a high school coach in Georgia.
A paragraph on former Huskies volleyball player Keith Barnett (1996) is difficult; for more visit his biography on the Air Force women's volleyball website. He led a 35-4 Naperville North squad to the 1996 state title, was a second-team All-America at Pepperdine, a two-time U.S. national team member and played professionally in Belgium, Spain and Romania. Like Bayer, he's now a coach.
Her maiden name Bruzdzinski, Katie Gawlik (2004) was the first Huskies freshman to make the girls varsity volleyball team. She earned four Daily Herald DuPage County All-Area honors, "captain" as a senior. At Michigan a Big Ten All-Freshman team award set the stage for all-Big Ten and All-America seasons. She played in Switzerland.
In 1987 all-DuPage Valley Conference quarterback Tom Pasko (1988) led the 10-3 Huskies to their first state semifinal football game. He also was all-DVC as a pitcher, going on to play at Iowa.
Distance runner Shannon Phelan's (2006) five all-state track honors tie hurdlers Amy Boothe and Bart Smith for the most by any Huskie. Phelan added three more in cross country as part of Class AA championship teams in 2004-05. Then she ran off to an All-Academic career at Illinois.
On the ground floor of Naperville North's baseball program, Paul Ryan was the Huskies' coach from 1975-1989. Always fast and fundamentally sound, Ryan's clubs won eight DVC titles, two regionals and reached the 1985 Elite Eight. In 2006 he was inducted into the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Finally, Bill Skroch served as Naperville North athletic trainer from 1984-2010, decorated with a Distinguished Service Award by the Illinois Athletic Trainers Association. He also served as a trainer for the Prairie State Games and volunteers for the PGA at area events.
Biding her time
On pins and needles. That's Casey Short.
The 2008 Naperville Central graduate and Chicago Red Stars defender was among 29 women called to the U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Carson, California, Jan. 13-23. The camp was a key evaluation period for the SheBelieves Cup in early March against sides from Germany, England and France. As of Wednesday the women's national team roster had not been announced.
"Overall I think it went OK," said Short, home in time to attend Naperville Central's Athletic Hall of Fame induction last Friday, a year after her own induction.
"The whole point of the January camp was evaluation, so basically all we did was play," she said.
Fourteen of the 18 women on the 2016 Olympics squad were rostered for the camp, which also held over six under-23 players for consideration.
"The competition was very high," Short said.
Short, a star at Florida State who's been on the national scene since she was 14, was rostered twice for national camps in 2016. According to Eclipse Select's Charlie Corr, last season Short earned National Women's Soccer League Second XI honors. Playing in Norway in 2015, Short earned Best XI.
The women were not told when the final team would be announced when they left the training camp. Short is not waiting by the phone.
"Obviously, there's a lot of nerves because it obviously means a lot to me and I want to continue moving forward with the team," she said. "But at the same time I've got to continue preparing for the Red Stars' season as well. That's right around the corner.
"It's stressful but it's exciting at the same time. But I'm going to keep working hard and getting better and hopefully things will keep going well."
doberhelman@dailyherald.com