Bullish on their dream jobs
As Dirty Harry told Hal Holbrook's corrupt police commissioner, "A man's got to know his limitations."
A man's got to know his strengths, too. Local graduates Scott Sonnenberg and Matt Lloyd haven't played interscholastic basketball for years, but their love for the sport along with hard work and good breaks have them both working in the Chicago Bulls' front office.
Sonnenberg, out of Wheaton Warrenville South's Class of '96, and Lloyd (Fenton '91) are, respectively, the Bulls' director of corporate partnerships and director of college scouting.
"It's my dream job; I totally lucked into it," said Lloyd, 34, who spent Tuesday night watching Gonzaga pound Idaho on the second of an 18-day Western mission.
"People always ask me how to get on that path, and I tell them I just was willing to do whatever and I was in the right place at the right time."
He couldn't have believed that the day he tried out for the College of DuPage basketball team after not playing his senior year at Fenton.
By coincidence Sonnenberg was there hooping it up with the coach's son, and after trying in vain to keep up with the younger player, Lloyd could see the writing on the wall. Career over.
"I loved basketball so much I wanted to be involved in it in some fashion," Lloyd said.
The route to his current post as a fourth-year scout in his eighth year overall with the Bulls began at the sports information department at the University of Chicago-Illinois. It included an internship with ESPN and jobs with the Arena Football League and Conference USA.
Eventually a job in the Bulls media relations department opened up. Lloyd got it. He sent statistical breakdowns to then-general manager Jerry Krause, built a relationship with radio announcer John Paxson, and when Paxson succeeded Krause, Lloyd moved to the operations side.
Last year he traveled 85,000 miles assessing talent. With director of player personnel Gar Forman, Lloyd provided Paxson the info he used to draft JamesOn Curry and Aaron Gray.
Lloyd rubs elbows with Johnny Kerr and former Wisconsin coach and current Knicks scout Steve Yoder, and he calls Paxson a personal and professional mentor.
Sonnenberg, 30, the middle of five brothers who played point guard for WW South in 13 of 14 straight seasons, had his first date with Bulls destiny as a high school senior in 1996.
He met Steve Schanwald, now the Bulls' executive vice president of business operations.
Although Sonnenberg was quickly off on a full-ride to Brigham Young, and after his two-year mission work he transferred first to Utah Valley State and then San Jose State, his impression stuck with Schanwald.
Sonnenberg worked with an insurance and investment firm out of college, but the two kept in touch and when in May 2004 a position with the Bulls opened up, Sonnenberg got the call.
"It was really a matter of waiting for the right opportunity," he said.
As director of corporate sponsorships, Sonnenberg leads a unit of eight, which includes Naperville Central graduate Michelle Somers, a client services coordinator.
He oversees sponsorships, sales, promotions, radio advertising and use of the Bulls' logo.
"On a day-to-day basis we're looking for corporate partners for the Bulls, to help generate revenue to pay all these players," he said.
Sonnenberg dabbles in the men's league at the Bulls/Sox Academy in Lisle. He also plays a little at the United Center during lunch hour.
Primarily, though, his basketball is conducted off court.
"But I love it," he said. "It combines the two things I love most, basketball and sales.
"I'm no longer out there on the court hitting the game-winning shot and hearing the crowd, but the next best thing is being out there closing the big deal. That's where I get that same rush.
"It's still a win."
The gifted keeps on giving
Shortly after the Nov. 7 death of Driscoll assistant football coach Mike Loconsole, the Highlanders staff was cleaning up the desk Loconsole used for game-planning at the school.
Lo and behold, three two-year-old tapes of Chicago Christian surfaced along with a folder of scouting information the Highlanders put to good use in the 48-7 win over last week's opponent.
"He was still giving us surprises," said Driscoll coach Mike Burzawa.
Tune in
In the Nov. 2 edition we wrote about the Hoops for Healing boys basketball tournament, hosted by Naperville North and Oswego, that helps the Edward Cancer Center.
For a second consecutive year the tournament will be broadcast live on the Web site for the Illinois Center for Broadcasting, icbsportschicago.com.
These will be Internet radio broadcasts starting at Naperville North for games of Nov. 19-20, then at Oswego on Nov. 23-24 with the championship at 6 p.m. Nov. 24.