The loss of high school mentors hit hard over the holidays in Schaumburg, Wheaton

A new year offers a chance for reflection. What we’ve gained, what we hope to, and whom we’ve lost.

In Wheeling, Schaumburg, in his home village of Buffalo Grove and other Mid-Suburban League locales thoughts turned to Paul Groot, who died Christmas Eve after a long illness.

Groot, 68, a three-sport athlete at Wheeling High School and an all-Big Ten catcher at Purdue, went 611-303 as Schaumburg’s baseball coach from 1985-2012.

An Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee along with his top assistant, Tom Mueller, Groot led the Saxons to the 1997 Class AA title, 3-2 over Lockport in 9 innings.

Schaumburg placed second in 1989, and in 1998 the club was a game away from a repeat trip downstate but lost to Barrington in a sectional final.

“As a junior who was coming off the bench and then as a senior starter and captain it was incredible we could repeat that success, but I think that was a testament to the culture that Groot and Mueller cultivated, and it’s something I keep searching for myself,” said Schaumburg graduate Wally Brownley, now head coach at Hersey.

Groot had a knack for putting players in position to succeed, said Brownley, who thinks of Groot and Mueller “in tandem” because they were such a team.

“They taught us a lot about baseball, but more about trust and friendship, those life lessons that we carry on. We all loved winning, but it was beyond that,” Brownley said.

He played at Augustana, one of many of Saxons Groot inspired to play at the next level — and to coach.

“He was a great mentor, a great friend,” said Adam Smith, Benedictine University’s 10-year head coach after five seasons at Concordia.

Smith played second base for Groot, Class of 1994.

“His big thing was to treat people how you’d want to be treated,” Smith said.

Groot had high expectations for his players and low tolerance for bad fundamentals. He coached tough but with heart.

“If you were having a bad day he would be there for you,” said Smith, one of many former players and MSL coaches past and present who gathered for Groot’s visitation Jan. 3 at Kolssak Funeral Home in Wheeling.

Mueller was Groot’s right-hand man for all but two seasons as Schaumburg head coach.

At first Mueller wondered if this former Division I star had the patience to deal with high schoolers. But with his MSL background Groot knew the terrain.

“He was just fantastic … Right off the bat he was a very good teacher of the game,” Mueller said.

“To a player, every member of all his teams, they would tell you he was a lot of fun to play for, he had a great sense of humor.”

Groot also chaired Schaumburg’s health education department and taught the school faculty CPR.

One of nine siblings (“all great athletes,” Mueller said), Groot was a family man buoyed by his daughter, Katelin, and in his later years, his grandchildren.

“His daughter and two grandkids were everything to Paul,” Mueller said. “That’s kind of what I’ll take away from Paul. That, and he was a top coach.”

Man of the year

The column format allows for personal reflection. I’ll take advantage of that here.

On Dec. 29, Don McGee died at 87 years old. A basketball star himself at downstate Chester, as the coach at Wheaton Central (now Wheaton Warrenville South) in 1981 he led the Tigers to their highest state finish, fourth place.

Even without his tallest player, injured George Turner, McGee figured out how to limit Effingham’s 7-foot-2, Indiana-bound Uwe Blab. There was no answer, of course, for Quincy’s Douglas brothers and Michael Payne in the semifinals.

This writer, Wheaton Central Class of 1980, went to Champaign to watch those games.

Serving 44 years as a basketball coach and 35 years as a math teacher, Mr. McGee — his bearing demanded that respectful title — earned induction into halls of fame at Chester, Thornton, Wheaton Warrenville South and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association.

His obituary noted he was the first Black coach to coach in the IBCA’s annual all-star game. It also listed a bunch of worldly interests before and after McGee’s career, from playing in Southern Illinois University’s ROTC marching band even while on the basketball team, to being named “Man of the Year” at his church in Paris, Illinois.

He married Dorothy, his wife of 65 years, in Paris, and in retirement that’s where they lived. Son Mike, a lanky ballplayer like his father, also was in the Class of 1980. Daughter Donna, a year older, was a school leader and overall firecracker. Their kindness and humor reflected their parents.

Reactions on social media to Don McGee’s passing were poignant and many. Sports writers and fellow coaches recalled him. Former students, even math haters, praised his teaching ability and patience. Basketball players called him a mentor. A girls track athlete — he also coached that at Wheaton Central — appreciated that “he was willing to sacrifice time with his family so we could run.”

He once had me come to his classroom after school, to ask me to try out for his varsity basketball team. Due to wanting rest between football and baseball, a first girlfriend, general laziness and having no skills beyond sharp elbows, I declined.

Decades later that remains one of few great regrets — not to honor the wishes of a wise and compassionate man who saw something in me I did not. Rest in peace, Coach.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com