Gould helped set a gold standard for football and other programs at St. Charles North
Starting a football program at a new high school can’t be easy.
Practicing on a dirt field, no water piped out there, working under a strict budget — Mark Gould had to make do in St. Charles North’s early days.
“It made it challenging, to say the least. But it was fun. You always tell kids to overcome what’s thrown at you, and that’s basically what we had to do,” Gould said.
Success. The North Stars reached the playoffs in their second year of varsity football to begin a streak of eight straight playoff appearances.
Pioneering what remains a strong program, Gould is among seven inductees into the inaugural class of the St. Charles North Athletics Hall of Fame. Opening on Sept. 5, 2000, the school will hold its first ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in its auditorium.
The inductees also will be welcomed before St. Charles North’s 6 p.m. boys basketball game Saturday against Streamwood.
“This is a great opportunity for us to recognize and celebrate our past and link it to who we are today,” said St. Charles North athletic director Joe Benoit. He said the hall of fame committee received 25 nominations for this inaugural class.
Along with Gould the 2025 class includes one of his offensive linemen, Pat Brown; all-state swimmer Laura Fehrman Hoye; baseball and basketball star Zach Hirsch; the school’s first state champion, swimmer Chris Peterson; softball all-stater Sabrina Rabin; and girls soccer coach Ruth Poulin Vostal, also in St. Charles East’s hall of fame.
The mention of Vostal brings to mind her brother, Tom Poulin, the North Stars’ softball and boys basketball coach and a prime candidate for induction once eligible. Coaches or athletic personnel with at least five years experience at the school must be gone from St. Charles North at least three years.
Gould appreciated the school’s first athletic director, Tom Schweer, and loved the camaraderie and teamwork between coaches regardless of which sport they coached.
“I think there was a closeness there that helped the program. You’re all rooting for each other, which helps,” said Gould, speaking from Kansas City, Kansas, while visiting his daughter, Kyleigh, and his two grandchildren.
Gould came over from St. Charles East, where he started in 1979. He coached North Stars football from 2001-12, going 63-56 over his 12 seasons before retiring in 2013.
His last playoff team went 8-4 and reached the 2009 Class 7A quarterfinals, losing to eventual state runner-up Glenbard West.
Gould and his wife, Lori, have lived the last three years in Safety Harbor, Florida, near Clearwater. They still have an apartment in St. Charles, and in the summer Mark Gould will spend time with longtime friends like North Stars veteran coach Jared McCall.
He’ll be back for Saturday’s ceremony.
“I’m very honored,” Gould said. “It was a great experience to be able to start a school and start a football program and be a little cog in starting an athletic program, too.
“It gives me a little chance to look back on it and the great experience it was.”
Milestones
Late in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s 50-44 loss to Glenbard East, West Chicago senior Jasmyn Trigueros made two free throws, her 31st and 32nd points of the game.
The All-Area point guard made six 3-pointers and finished the game with 2,001 points so far with the Wildcats.
According to West Chicago coach Mark Fitzgerald, Trigueros’ total is the girls basketball program’s all-time scoring record. “Jazzy” has started every varsity game all four seasons, averaging 22 points this season and 17.5 points overall.
“In my 34 years of coaching basketball, she is the best athlete I have had the privilege of coaching,” Fitzgerald said of Trigueros — a three-sport athlete who will be playing softball at Wisconsin-Green Bay.
St. Edward’s Savannah Lynch has similar numbers to Trigueros, averaging 17 points this season and 22.5 over the past two seasons.
The 5-foot-10 sophomore also is on a similar trajectory. In a 45-31 Green Wave win Saturday over Larkin, Lynch scored 22 points to give her 1,004 points.
St. Edward coach Michele Dawson is familiar with all 16 girls who scored at least 1,000 points at the school. She played with three of them and has coached nine others since she returned to the program in 1999. Dawson graduated from St. Edward in 1992 and played on its 1990-91 Class A fourth-place team.
Dawson believes Lynch to be the first girl to reach 1,000 points at St. Edward as a sophomore.
“Savannah is a skilled athlete, but it's been exciting to see how her hard work and dedication are paying off so early in her high school career,” Dawson said.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com