Gaspari reflects on Hall of Fame honor

From humble beginnings came a hall of fame career. Batavia’s retiring football coach and athletic director, Mike Gaspari, needs no reminder.

Still, he was thrilled to have such a conversation after being inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in April 2 in Champaign.

One of the first people on hand to congratulate Gaspari was former Geneva football coach Jerry Auchstetter, a 1988 IHSFCA Hall of Fame inductee.

The two reminisced about Gaspari’s 1985 head coaching debut against Geneva. The Vikings won 48-0 to hand Batavia its final loss in an 0-9 season.

“I never envisioned I’d be down in Champaign at the Hall of Fame banquet,” said Gaspari, who in 26 seasons compiled a record of 135-122 with 14 playoff appearances and a 2006 Class 6A state runner-up finish.

“I’m still the same guy who coached an 0-9 team,” he said. “It’s very humbling. I’ve been very blessed to have had an opportunity to coach so many good kids, and to coach with so many good coaches here.

“That’s the only way that you can accomplish that kind of recognition. It takes a lot of people, and it has very little to do with me, that’s for sure. I’d view it more as a program recognition rather than something personal.”

Gaspari’s attended these banquets before, either to support an inductee or as a sidelight to the coaches clinic held the same weekend, where he’s served as a speaker.

This time he was accompanied by his wife, Marcia, along with children Noel, a Batavia junior, and daughter Andrea, doing well on her own after graduating from University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse.

Mike Gaspari said he had a bunch of fun simply hobnobbing with other coaches. He sat at the same table as fellow Hall of Fame inductee Buck Drach, the great former St. Charles and West Aurora coach; and Cary-Grove’s Bruce Kay. Batavia beat Kay’s Trojans 15-14 in a 2006 Class 6A state quarterfinal game Gaspari described as “monumental.”

“It was really neat to share a little bit of time with those gentlemen,” Gaspari said.

He said that while sitting through past hall of fame luncheons he never considered one day he’d be enshrined; that “it’s still kind of surreal, still hard to believe that happened to me.”

After all, Batavia won five games his first four seasons. Like Vince Lombardi said, however, it’s not that you get knocked down, it’s that you get back up.

“It’s been a greater learning experience because of that, it hasn’t been all success,” Gaspari said. “We all learn more about ourselves when faced with adversity. It’s not great all the time, and a little of that is OK.”

Goodbye mudders

Gaspari’s contemporary at Geneva, Vikings coach Rob Wicinski, recently mused over the anticipated reconstruction of Burgess Field, a stronger possibility since an anonymous donor has pledged $450,000 to the cause.

“I’m going to have to say, I’ll miss the mud,” said the always-humorous Wicinski.

“I’ve won more games because of the slop. Now the equalizer’s in play. Pretty good teams have come in and we have been able to beat them because of our equalizer, the field.”

Seriously, folks, Wicinski said it was “awesome” that the Rebuild Burgess Field campaign will receive the $450,000 donation. If an artificial surface comes to be, he said, “I’m glad to have it.”

“Where it’s going to help,” he said, “is practice in inclement weather.”

Wicinski said he’s stressed to his players that Burgess Field is a special place, and doesn’t expect to practice on it any more than before. Mainly he’d like the typical Thursday walk-through and then “just show up on Friday.”

Wicinski joked that with turf on Burgess Field, Geneva’s offense would no longer thrive on the three-yards-and-a-spray-of-mud approach.

“Forget about that,” he kidded. “We’re spreading it out. Our guys are going to be faster. Just by looking at the turf they’re going to be faster.”

Congrats

Congratulations are due to Geneva graduate Brandon D’Amico, who just concluded his basketball career at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) named the 6-foot-5 forward as an honorable-mention selection to its Division II All-American team.

One of three players to start every game this season for the 21-13 Wolves, in a team-high 30.2 minutes a game D’Amico averaged 15.6 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. He made 81 percent of his free throws, and hit 66 3-pointers to lead the club.

Ending his career with Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference titles both during the season and in the conference tournament, then bowing out in the first round of the NAIA national tournament, Brandon leaves the reigns to, among others, younger brother Jeremy. The 6-6 sophomore forward averaged 4.4 points playing in all 34 games.

A big splash

St. Charles North is enjoying its high-water mark in boys water polo.

Earlier this week the North Stars earned the No. 25 slot in the weekly rankings by Illpolo.com, the online guide for prep water polo in Illinois. It’s the first time St. Charles North has made the cut in its six-year history.

St. Charles North recently drew its highest sectional playoff seed, a No. 6, and the North Stars dive into Thursday’s home match against St. Charles East with a 15-8 record, their best in history. Seven of their eight losses have come against top-25 teams.

“Probably our biggest accomplishment this year was we took second at the Carl Sandburg Tournament, and that was our highest finish in school history,” said St. Charles North coach and math teacher Chris Cloy, who is, interestingly enough, a 2004 Sandburg graduate and water polo player.

“I particularly don’t like losing to Sandburg because that’s where I went, but I think it was a great experience for the kids because they’d never reached a championship game before.”

Certainly not two years ago. Cloy’s first season, the North Stars went 4-23. A major turnaround occurred in 2010, 18-13 overall.

“I have a really experienced group of guys,” Cloy said. “We have a lot of seniors who’ve been playing together for three years. They’ve really just put in a ton of work the last couple seasons, then also played together in the summer and in the fall the kids spent a lot of time playing together.

“Every game, every practice, the kids are trying to get a little better.”

Taking the pool Thursday against 11-8 St. Charles East, the North Stars are led by senior captain Justin Jacobson, a second-team all-sectional pick in 2010 who plays hole defense and hole offense. (“Essentially like a center in basketball,” Cloy said.)

Jacobson has scored 64 goals while junior Joey Chokran is right behind with 63 and senior Kyle Passini has 54 goals. Senior Josh Kerr has 24 goals with 25 assists in support of junior goalie Eli Broxham.

“We really have a balanced offense where there’s a variety of options for us to score. We really try and make sure the defense can’t key on one specific person, but everyone that’s out there is an offensive threat,” said Cloy, whose position as assistant swim coach has been a boon to both programs in landing athletes.

Sophomores Justin Simmonds, Nick Kowaleski and Ryan Hamilton have gained varsity minutes, proving some insurance for the future.

First, five regular-season matches remain, and Cloy hopes to enter the postseason ahead of last year’s 18-win level.

“We’re having a really good year and it’s been exciting for the kids to be able to compete and challenge some teams that they might have thought they might not have played against. But it’s a testament to the kids,” Cloy said.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com