Like father, like son (and daughter): Suburban kids who’ve sought to follow their dads’ legacies
Editor’s note: This story was updated Monday, June 22, to note the death of Carl Cepuran over the weekend.
Among the many magical moments along the New York Knicks' run to their first NBA title in 53 years, one may be the most enduring.
Seconds after the final buzzer sounded on the team's championship-clinching victory June 13, Knicks star and Finals MVP Jalen Brunson clutched assistant coach — and father — Rick Brunson in a deep embrace that culminated their long journey together to the pinnacle of professional basketball.
That journey got its start in earnest in the suburbs, where the family moved in 2010 when Rick was hired as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls. Jalen, then in his early teens, became one of the nation's top prep players while leading Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire to an Illinois state championship in 2015.
This year, Rick and Jalen became the first father and son to play in an NBA Finals for the same franchise — Rick did it as a Knick in 1999 — and the first father and son to win an NBA title together as player and coach.
While the Brunsons basked in the national spotlight this month, they're just one of the many suburban father-child duos to make lasting marks on their communities.
In honor of Father’s Day, here are nine others worthy of celebration.
Salvatore and Sebastian Maniscalco
Actor-comedian and suburban native Sebastian Maniscalco’s father, Salvatore, has for years inspired the younger Maniscalco's stand-up comedy.
Maniscalco frequently references his father, an immigrant from Sicily and a longtime Arlington Heights hairdresser, and riffs upon Salvatore's old-world ways from his parenting style to his work ethic.
The comedian, who described his father as his biggest fan and harshest critic, drew upon their relationship for his semi-autobiographical 2023 film “About My Father,” which revolves around a son (Maniscalco) taking his sometimes cringeworthy hairdresser dad, Salvo (played by Oscar-winner Robert DeNiro), to meet his wealthy future in-laws.
Donald and Bradley Stephens
No family may be as synonymous with a suburban town as the Stephenses of Rosemont.
In 1956, Donald E. Stephens, then a 27-year-old fire insurance underwriter, was elected village president of the newly incorporated municipality of 84 acres and 84 residents. Drawing names from a hat, Stephensville was actually among their choices for the new village’s name, but Rosemont stuck. For the next 51 years, Stephens presided over the growth of the town into a major economic engine.
When Stephens died in 2007, his son, Bradley, took over as mayor. There were big shoes to fill, but the elder Stephens had taken the younger Stephens — a village trustee for 18 years — under his wing.
Walter and Jarrett Payton
Following in the footsteps of the legendary running back Walter Payton can’t have been easy. When Payton, known as “Sweetness,” retired from the Chicago Bears in 1987 after 13 years and one Super Bowl win, he did so as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.
After starring at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights and then the University of Miami, Jarrett played a year in the NFL. He’s since transitioned to a career in media and is now a sports anchor and reporter for WGN-TV.
Walter Payton was named the NFL's man of the year in 1977 in recognition of his charitable and humanitarian work. The award was renamed for him after his death in 1999. Carrying on his father's philanthropic legacy, his son established the Jarrett Payton Foundation in 2011 to inspire Chicago area youngsters.
David and Hayley Rice
First Folio Theatre co-founders David Rice and Alison C. Vesely raised their daughter, actor/director Hayley Rice, in the theater, specifically the Oak Brook theater they founded in 1996.
As an artistic associate with her parents’ company, Hayley performed in several productions directed by her late mother. Hayley Rice, now the artistic director of Chicago’s Babes With Blades, twice played the daughter to her father in a First Folio production.
The first time was in the 2013 revival of “The Rain Maker.” Ten years later, the duo reunited for First Folio’s final production, 2023’s “And Neither Have I Wings to Fly.”
Carl and Ethan Cepuran
Growing up on the South Side of Chicago and the son of a Chicago Blackhawks fan, Carl Cepuran responded to an ad for a speed skating class he thought was for hockey. Nonetheless, he stuck with the fast-paced sport to the benefit of his sons, Eric, Gordon, and — chiefly, in terms of international success — Ethan.
Settling years later in Glen Ellyn, where the Glen Ellyn Speed Skating club had been established at Lake Ellyn in 1938, Carl Cepuran took head coach duties there from 2004-16 and got his sons involved.
Starting at 2 years old, Ethan Cepuran rose to national and international acclaim. He helped Team USA earn the bronze medal in team pursuit at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics while also placing 17th in the 5000-meter race. In February, at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics, Cepuran, 26, and teammates Casey Dawson and Oak Park’s Emery Lehman earned the silver medal in team pursuit.
Carl Cepuran died on Sunday, June 22, 2026.
Tony DeSantis, Diane Van Lente and Kyle DeSantis
Producer and theater impresario Tony DeSantis founded five Chicago-area theaters — all named in honor of London’s famed Drury Lane — over the course of his storied career. Two of the venues remain: Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, and the theater now known as Marriott in Lincolnshire.
By his side was his daughter, Diane Van Lente, who began working backstage at the age of nine and rose to the position of executive producer, which she held for more than 20 years. Following the 2007 deaths of DeSantis and Van Lente, Tony’s grandson, Kyle DeSantis — who was like a father to him — took over. His tenure ushered in an artistic renaissance at the family’s sole remaining venue in Oakbrook Terrace
In 2010, Drury Lane’s bravura “Ragtime,” the largest production in the theater’s history, earned eight Joseph Jefferson Awards, sweeping most of the major categories. Accepting the best musical award, Kyle DeSantis paid tribute to his grandfather and aunt. “What drew our family together was the theater,” he said.
Richard L. and Craig Duchossois
Business and horse racing tycoon, decorated World War II hero and philanthropist Richard L. Duchossois owned Arlington Park for nearly 40 years. After a fire destroyed the grandstand in 1985, Duchossois rebuilt the venue, which emerged as one of the nation’s finest racecourses and a crown jewel in the suburbs.
His son, Craig Duchossois, now serves as chairman emeritus of Duchossois Capital Management, the private investment group his father founded. He also helped oversee Arlington Park operations as chairman and executive director.
Adlai E. Stevenson and Adlai E. Stevenson II
Adlai E. Stevenson II was born into a political dynasty that spanned four generations.
His grandfather and namesake, Adlai E. Stevenson, served as vice president to Grover Cleveland during his second term in office. Stevenson II served as Illinois’ 31st governor from 1949 to 1953 and ran as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee twice, losing both times to Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In 1960, President John F. Kennedy named him ambassador to the United Nations. Upon his death, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. reportedly described him as “the voice of a reasonable, civilized, and elevated America” who “brought a new generation into politics.”
George S. Halas and Virginia Halas McCaskey
Born a year after her father, NFL co-founder George S. “Papa Bear” Halas purchased the Decatur Staleys and renamed the team the Chicago Bears, Virginia Halas McCaskey had a lifelong connection to the team. But she never expected to run it.
Her brother’s unexpected death in 1979 made the Des Plaines mother of 11 the heir apparent. After Papa Bear died in 1983, team ownership transferred to Virginia Halas McCaskey, who named her oldest son, Michael McCaskey, team president.
Virginia, who died in 2025 at age 102, oversaw the Bears’ only Super Bowl win in 1985.
• Daily Herald staff writers Chuck Keeshan, Lisa Miner and Dave Oberhelman contributed to this report.