Jim O'Donnell: Robbie Gould to meet some of the best of St. Viator's football past
For the millions of prep athletes who've ever played on a winner, memories of those championship seasons never really fade away.
Back in the autumn of '69, football matters at young St. Viator High School — then eight years old — finally came together and the Lions emerged atop the sprawling Chicagoland Prep League.
The lone blemish in an 8-1 season was a 28-0 loss at far South suburban Marian Catholic.
That was then. The Robbie Gould era is now at the Arlington Heights school.
The first-year St. Viator Coach — and former Bears kicker — is about to get a grand opportunity to meet some of the best of his new allegiance's past.
With people like Steve Ostermann, Greg Diem, Jim Hora and Tom Smith promoting the Valhalla, some Lions from that 1969 team are combining fundraising for Gould's program along with a long-overdue reunion.
The date is Friday, Sept. 12, when Gould's first edition hosts Marmion Academy at Forest View.
“Robbie's presence is certainly part of the reason why but equally so is the fact that Joe Gliwa died this summer,” said Ostermann, the son of an Arlington Heights cop who went on to a remarkable three seasons as an All-Pac 8 defensive lineman at Washington State.
“We won that season because we had some great, determined guys. But our guide was Coach Gliwa. He and his assistants Sal Nuccio and Pat Mahoney brought out the very best in us.”
The then and now was so different. St. Viator was all boys. Tuition was $375 per-year. (In the 2025-26 academic year, it's $17,350.)
Faculty and staff were an evolving mix of some tremendous educators, good spirits and distracting, slap-happy powder kegs.
Gliwa built a program that embraced many of the spartan aspects of his Chicago Catholic League roots. He'd later go on to a long and more refined career at Hersey, Forest View and Prospect.
“When we started practice in August, we didn't have two-a-days, we had three-a-days,” said Smith, a longtime Palatine police officer and later a director of the suburb's Emergency Management Agency.
“They gave us salt pills to keep us going. Today, that's not going to happen.”
THE QB WAS MIKE ABINANTI, a fleet-footed lad from Rolling Meadows whose small hands limited the passing game. A platinum receiving option was the late Mike Pettenuzzo, still one of the greatest all-around athletes in the history of the Daily Herald coverage area.
Diem anchored the offensive line. His son — Ryan Diem — would later star at Northern Illinois and go on to a notable 11-season career as a Super Bowl champion OT with the Indianapolis Colts.
The defense got its attitude from Ostermann and Pat McGrath, later a rock at the University of Minnesota. Middle linebacker Ed Klingberg started from his freshman year in 1967 forward.
John Vandenberg was a co-captain and two-way standout. Bill Madden was the workhorse running back.
“For one magical autumn, it all worked,” said Ostermann, whose hopes of an NFL career were blown up by a knee injury sustained during a weightlifting drill at Washington State.
“Now, in our own way, we're trying to give back and rekindle. And remember Coach Gliwa.
“He set such a standard. It's one we all hope Coach Gould can move onward and upward.”
STREET-BEATIN':
As expected, Michael Jordan has indicated that he will be in attendance Monday when Bill Belichick makes his debut as North Carolina head coach vs. visiting TCU (7 p.m., ESPN). But until His Royal and Random Airness is in Chapel Hill's Kenan Stadium, no one is going to take it as a fait accompli. …
The abrupt trade of Micah Parsons to Green Bay leaves Jack Sanborn sitting on a choice Pro Bowl window with the Cowboys. The ex-Bear — and Deer Park native — is scheduled to start at middle linebacker in the NFL opener at Philadelphia Thursday night. Fresh DC Matt Eberflus — remember him? — is trying to upgrade the Cowboys run defense, which should leave a ton of stat boosters flowing toward Sanborn.
Mention of mythic Montini High football coach Chris Andriano by Dave Oberhelman this week reminded that his father — the late Joe Andriano — was a supremely personable greengrocer at the old Hi-Lo in the Arlington (Heights) Market. Mr. Andriano was also a crossroads of local info and chatter; he handed an Arlington Day daily columnist the scoop du jour that then-Bears head coach Jim Dooley often bought more than 20 pounds of bananas at a time for his lively AH brood. (“He must have monkeys in the backyard,” Andriano Sr. speculated.) …
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.