Law school’s loss was Naperville’s gain

Like the girls he coached in cross country, Naperville Central athletic director Marty Bee sees the finish line.

In the last of 33 years in District 203, 17 at Naperville North and the last 16 at Naperville Central, Bee’s last day as athletic director will be June 12.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” said Bee, who directed Naperville North’s girls cross country program to a third-place finish in 1994 and the Class AA state title in 1993. He was named the girls cross country coach of the year in 1993 by the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association.

“That seems like a long time ago,” he said.

“It’s been great,” said Bee, who turned 60 in September. “It’s been a great community to work in. There’s been a lot of growth, a lot of change, and I think most of it’s positive. And I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with so many great people over the 33 years.”

He’s definitely a people person. Quick to smile, Bee is easily identifiable at Redhawks sporting events sharing a laugh with a coach or volunteer. On those rare occasions he is not immediately available at his office phone on the first try, no message goes unreturned.

Originally from Joliet, Bee graduated from Providence Catholic, Class of ’69. He ran competitively at the College of St. Francis in Joliet, a distance runner, and majored in law and government. Bee intended to attend law school in Chicago until Saints coach Tom Brunick suggested coaching.

“It just seemed like it was something worth giving a try,” Bee said. “I just fell in love with working with young kids. So I stayed. I never did go to law school.”

He eventually taught a couple years at a Catholic grade school in Joliet, then served three years as a teacher, coach and counselor at Joliet Catholic before starting as a counselor at Naperville North.

As he moved away from coaching under the demands of being Naperville Central’s athletic director, he indeed missed the direct interaction with student-athletes. Instead, Bee said he found “different ways through leadership.”

“Being at contests and seeing the kids, talking to kids in the hall, the opportunity to congratulate somebody on something they did in a game,” he said. “Those are the kind of opportunities you’ve just got to grab.”

Bee and his wife of 37 years, Barb, sent three sons through Naperville schools, and now they have a granddaughter. He has no firm plans for his retirement, other than to remain on the Board of the J. Kyle Braid Foundation; he hopes to spread its affirming message of positive choices to other Illinois schools.

The changes he’s seen during his time include the influence of club sports programs, the growth and addition of schools themselves and the increased interest in girls sports.

“I was fortunate enough to go through the Candace Parker years,” he said.

“But basically, we’re still dealing with young people, trying to make them better people,” Bee said. “In that sense that’s never going to change in education.”

Honor most worthy

At halftime of West Chicago’s boys basketball senior day last Friday, senior Brian Baids was awarded the Randall Jacob Football Medal and Trophy.

A reserve guard for the Wildcats basketball team, Baids also played safety and running back for the football team, which is what the prestigious Jacob award pertains to. Each year since its 1976 debut the football coaching staff has selected one player who exemplifies the athleticism, leadership and service of the late Randall “Randy” Jacob.

Jacob was a football and track athlete at West Chicago, but also a National Honor Society student and class president who was honored by the American Legion and Rotary Club, according to a 1999 Press Newspapers article. Following his 1964 graduation he entered military service. At age 20 he died in action in Vietnam in 1967.

The Randall Jacob Football Medal and Trophy is sponsored by the West Chicago Veterans of Foreign Wars. Baids, an all-DuPage Valley Conference football player last season, was presented the Randall Jacob Football Medal and Trophy by West Chicago VFW Post 6791 Commander Steve Bennier.

Cardinals grad does good

Steve Christiansen, a graduate of North Central College in Naperville, is in his eighth year as men’s basketball coach at Triton College in River Grove.

On Feb. 8 the Trojans hosted College of DuPage and won 64-57 for Triton’s 30th straight home victory.

Triton went for victory No. 31 against Joliet on Wednesday. The Trojans haven’t lost at home in nearly two years and surpassed the consecutive home victories mark set during the seasons of 1971-73.

A runner’s philosophy

Saddled with injuries that limited his effectiveness on the track both at Wheaton Warrenville South and at Notre Dame, Mike Popejoy continues to seek his personal best.

“Although I improved, I felt like I didn’t quite realize my potential and got everything out of my body as I could have,” he said.

The 26-year-old, now teaching introductory philosophy at Purdue University while also midstream in graduate study on the same subject, said he’s got the “curiosity to explore” that potential. Saturday he competed at the 2012 USA Cross Country Championships in St. Louis.

A 2006 WW South graduate, Popejoy ran with multiple Division III All-America Kyle Brady, a 2006 Tigers alum who is now a volunteer coach at his collegiate alma mater, North Central. Running together through the midway point of the 12-kilometer course, Brady kept the pace for a 20th-place finish while Popejoy finished in 24th.

“Not shabby,” Popejoy said, “but it’s not what I was looking for.”

What Popejoy is looking for in the long run, so to speak, is a berth at the 2016 Olympic Trials in the marathon. Extending his distance after college, he’s run the Boston and Chicago marathons with neither finish to his liking.

So he backed off on his distance in order to build up both his speed and, eventually, his mileage again. He’s looking at half-marathons and events such as the 10K USA Trail Championships in Laurel Springs, N.C., this August.

“Getting back to the roots of running, in a sense,” he said.

If he remains serious about the Olympic Trials in marathon, Popejoy will need to get back up to that 100- to 120-mile weekly regimen, he said. Despite teaching and entering the final two years of his graduate studies, namely teaching and dissertation, he figures now is the time to do it before the arrival of career, wife, kids.

“It’s a bit tight,” he said of juggling scholastic and athletic time demands, “but on the other hand it’s nice because I’m not the kind of person who can sit in a chair and read for nine hours a day.”

doberhelman@dailyherald.com