Wendell will be missed at BG
Those who know John Wendell best know it doesn't take much to get him going.
Ask him about his baseball field and it usually has the Buffalo Grove coach ranting about its condition.
Ask him about a great play or player and Wendell will go on with rave reviews.
He'll do it in his own inimitable way -- although former assistant and Prospect head coach Ross Giusti does a pretty solid impersonation.
But everyone who comes to Buffalo Grove for today's 4:30 p.m. game with Rolling Meadows will likely be treated to the real thing.
And if anyone deserves some nice weather, it's Wendell since he'll be honored in a pre-and postgame celebration of a 23-year head coaching career at BG that is coming to an end with his retirement.
A 35-year career that included stops at Wheeling and St. Viator, where he participated in football, wrestling and baseball before graduating in 1968.
A career where those who know Wendell always knew what they were getting.
"The biggest thing I liked about Johnny was he never sugar-coated anything," said Brian Mucha, who played for Wendell in football and baseball and is in his first year as a freshman coach at Evanston. "He was pretty much a straight-shooter about what your role was on the team.
"He never gave you a false impression of what he expected of you and what he expected of the team. I love the way he told you everything straight."
That didn't mean it always turned out right.
"He told us this was one of the least talented groups he had," Mucha said of his senior year in 2002 when he was an all-area third baseman.
All the Bison did was win an amazing 24 games in a row, come within a game of becoming just the third team to go through a Mid-Suburban League regular season without a loss and reach the sectional final.
It was also one of Wendell's favorite teams since it reflected his fiery personality by bunting, stealing and doing the little things to win.
"If you play as a team, play together and do things the right way," Wendell said, "a lot of good things do happen."
A lot of them have happened to Wendell on the way to 395 career wins. There have been seven 20-win seasons and the chance to coach players such as future major-league catcher Josh Paul.
He also coached his sons Brad and Scott. And he experienced one of his greatest thrills last year when BG made its magical late-season run to the program's first state tournament berth.
But Wendell said every team evokes memories that have been flooding back as today's celebration got closer.
"To me it's all about the kids," Wendell said. "Hopefully they learned something from us and we learned something from them."
Wendell learned his lessons well from mentors such as former Wheeling coach Ron DeBolt and former BG coaches Fred Van Iten and Bill Wurl. He also took a lot from some of the MSL's premier coaches in Barrington's Kirby Smith, Rolling Meadows' Al Otto and Prospect's Larry Pohlman.
And Wendell has been blessed with excellent help that includes Van Iten, Giusti, Greg Grana, Tim Roe and his current staff of Jeff Grybash, who will be his successor, Norm Hillner, Joe Ryback, Kurt Kutska and Brian Bernacki.
He'll also miss the camaraderie and friendships with colleagues such as Giusti and Schaumburg's Paul Groot.
"The last 35 years I've met a lot of people and coached against a lot of guys and been friends with them," Wendell said. "Hopefully those friendships will continue down the road."
Wendell won't miss springs like this one where some of the worst weather in years results in pre-dawn practices and struggles to even get on his field for a practice.
It's why he plans to take at least a year away to spend more time with his wife Laura and his five grandkids. He'll play some golf, do some traveling and then consider if he wants to get back into the game as an assistant.
And if Wendell does come back he'll do it the only way he knows how to coach.
"The biggest thing I took from him is the more honest you are with your players," Mucha said, "they'll respect you more even if it's something you don't want to hear."