‘Forever Champions’: Book celebrates 40th anniversary of Barrington High’s state baseball championship

Forty years after Barrington High School's baseball team claimed the program’s first — and only — Illinois High School Association AA state championship, journalist and BHS alum Scott Stahmer is bringing the team's story to life in a new book.

“Forever Champions: The Remarkable Story of Barrington Baseball and the Historic 1986 High School Team,” published by Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Middle River Press, is on track for a March publication.

The team's legacy is still being felt in the majors through current Seattle Mariners Manager Dan Wilson, a former Mariners catcher who guided his team to the 2025 American League championship series.

Stahmer, who now lives in Central Florida and had a 40-year career as a newspaper reporter and editor, interviewed all 12 surviving players from the core roster, including Wilson. Though Wilson wound up as a catcher professionally, he was no slouch on the mound in his youth. Between his junior and senior year, he went 27-1 as a hurler.

“He said he got such a thorough grounding in baseball at Barrington that when he got into college ball at Minnesota, and then into pro ball, he really didn't have that much to learn,” Stahmer recalled Wilson telling him. “Everything was kind of a refresher course.”

In the book, Wilson says, “I'm just super-grateful for the whole experience of Barrington baseball,” adding that playing together in other sports helped create a close-knit group.

Until 1986, a Barrington High School athletic team hadn't captured a state crown.

“There had been some individual champions, but never a team champion,” said Stahmer, a 1977 BHS graduate. “The best Barrington had ever done was a couple second places.”

The group grew up together in baseball. Several players on that championship roster had competed on Barrington's 1981 Little League team that finished third at the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

“We were the smallest Little League team ever to be at Williamsport. Because, we had 140 kids in our Little League program,” said Mark Levin, who played shortstop on the 1986 championship team. “We wound up losing to Tampa, Florida, which had Derek Bell and Gary Sheffield.”

“They grew up together and all knew each other,” Stahmer said. “They had played together since 7- and 8-year-old baseball at the Barrington Park District. That really showed up on the field because there was a real chemistry among those guys.”

Behind the team's success was coach Kirby Smith, who built “the Barrington way” of baseball.

“Kirby's philosophy was very simple. We're going to do things right, or we don't do them at all,” Stahmer said. “He was always thinking not only one step ahead, but three and four steps ahead.”

Smith created a comprehensive baseball program spanning from Little League through varsity, scouting talent years before players reached high school. He also transformed Barrington's facilities so significantly that USA Today recognized the field as one of the nation's best — all at no expense to taxpayers.

“Coach knew about us early on,” Levin said. “He came to watch us in seventh and eighth grade when we were coming up.”

Second baseman Kurt Lageschulte credited continuity.

“It was the exact same starting infield that we had when I was 12 years old, playing on the Cardinals in Little League,” he said.

By the time they were in high school, they were a powerhouse.

The team set a state record with 65 home runs. USA Today ranked them second in the nation.

Levin pointed out Barrington played in a strong Mid-Suburban League conference that boasted such talents as William Fremd High School’s Todd Hundley, who made the 1996 All-Star Game along with Wilson.

“Good teams would come in to play us, and we would own them in that game,” said pitching coach Dave Engle.

After dominating regional and sectional play, the Broncos headed to Springfield as the second-ranked team.

The team’s toughest test came against defending champion Oak Forest, which Barrington won 5-4. After defeating Belleville East 6-2, they claimed the championship with a mercy-rule victory over Chicago's Fenger High School.

Rain delays caused senior players to miss their graduation ceremony, but thousands lined the streets for a parade when the team returned to Barrington.

For several players, it proved the pinnacle of their baseball success. Other than Wilson, only Keith Noreen and James Wambach would approach major league action. Noreen, who died in 2020 at age 52, played briefly in the Atlanta Braves organization before a shoulder injury ended his career. Wambach was in the low minors for a short time with the White Sox.

BHS reached the championship game in 1987 and 1988 but fell short of recapturing the crown.

“For a while, we were the team that everybody was looking at like, ‘Oh, we're going to have to face them,’” Engle remembered.