Beebe, Dolney enjoying first year as athletic directors
Dan Beebe can handle a crowd.
Each summer, 40-odd Beebe family members spanning four generations descend upon Remer, Minn., in the central part of the state, temporarily boosting the town's population past 400.
“If they're living, they've been to Minnesota at that time. (The number) keeps increasing every year,” Beebe said.
“We have a very, very close-knit family, a very blessed family.”
He thinks the same way of Aurora Christian High School. This year, starting part-time in March while learning under outgoing Eagles athletic director Don Davidson, then going full-time in May, Beebe became one of two new athletic directors in the Tri-Cities area.
Dan Dolney, who came to St. Charles North from Maine East, is the other. Both men have navigated the challenges of their new positions while keeping sane and enjoying their new jobs.
“I think this is a great building and community to work in. Our coaches are phenomenal, they're extremely supportive of one another and other people's programs,” said Dolney, 35, who lives in Wheeling.
“As for the community and the parents they're very supportive, and I think everybody has a common goal of wanting to make St. Charles North a successful place for kids, and wanting kids to graduate and leave with high goals in mind. It's a refreshing place to be, to know that everybody wants the same thing for the kids of St. Charles.”
The North Stars athletic directors job was so big that before Dolney got there it took two men to handle it. Seriously, longtime St. Charles educator Wayne DeMaar and former New Trier athletic director Jim Bloch were retired administrators who shared the position on an interim basis.
Dolney, who arrived officially on July 1, was an assistant baseball coach at New Trier from 1996-2001 before moving to Maine East; his Trevians lost the 1999 AA title to pitcher Jim Caine and St. Charles High School in 1999, then beat Joliet Catholic in 2000.
Dolney credits Bloch and DeMaar among an array of folks who've helped him settle in. It's a community that ranges from Maine East physical education department chair Scott Chovanec to St. Charles North principal Kim Zupec and her assistants to athletic secretary Bernadette Kaduk who, like most in her position, is the glue that binds the department together.
“Add all the coaches in there, too,” said Dolney, the son of two gymnasts. “The coaches here have been great, so definitely I have a wide variety of people (for guidance). I learn just as much from the coaches as I learn from the other people.”
Having to balance requirements and wishes of those 32 coaches is demanding, as is juggling facilities among North Stars programs and scheduling with other schools in and out of the Upstate Eight Conference.
About now, Dolney normally would be getting his baseball players thinking about getting in shape before he joined them on the field in the spring. This year he'll have to be content watching Todd Genke do that. He'll miss it, but has found much else to like.
“I think what's fun about this job is at the end of the day I get to watch high school athletics, watch kids compete and watch coaches teach,” Dolney said. “I think that's the most fun I could have, watching coaches teach the sport, and teach life.”
Teaching both but a spiritual life in particular is what the Beebes are all about.
Dan Beebe, the Kaneland graduate who was head men's basketball coach from 1997-2006 at his college alma mater, Chadron State he set the game record for steals there as a player brings to the Aurora Christian athletic director's position the spirituality shared by all the Beebes as well as by former AD Don Davidson.
“I love it. I've done a few things in life. I've coached at the college level, which I had a passion for,” he said. “But I just really believe the Lord has put me in this position for a reason. I think maybe it fits the skill set I have and I just really enjoy it.”
Dan Beebe situated between kid brother Dave Beebe, defensive coordinator of the Eagles football team; and Don, its head coach (Rosary's David Beebe is not related) is a computer programmer with his own consulting firm since 1995. He's also president of House of Speed Aurora, and with Don is co-owner and chief financial officer of 24 House of Speed franchises nationwide. The latest recently opened in Phoenix and Aurora, Co.
Thus, Dan Beebe is familiar with budgets and schedules, which helps coordinate gym space for fifth- through 12th-grade classes. He can't pinpoint any exact challenges to his new job aside from “just doing things for the first time.”
Beebe's wife of 20 years, Stacy, a native of Chadron, Neb., and their young children Trey and Ty live in Elburn, which makes this career move much closer than the 40 nights he spent in hotel rooms annually as a college coach.
“There's something to that to get to come home at night,” Dan said. “It might not be early, but I still get to come home.”
He called his co-workers at Aurora Christian “phenomenal,” the student body one with a good head on its collective shoulders. Aside from the football field he doesn't spend a great amount of time with students, but when they need him, he's there. After all, this is an environment that encourages discussions of faith.
“I see their challenges day in and day out,” Beebe said. “You've lived some of those challenges in your lifetime. You just hope you can help.”
That took guts
Kaneland senior Trevor Holm knew he wasn't going to be among the top 25 runners earning all-state honors at last Saturday's very fast Class 2A boys cross country championships in Peoria. He finished in 37th place, far off his 23rd-place finish in 2009.
Yet when it mattered he did what runners do, that oft-heard phrase in cross country and track. Holm dug deep.
Knowing Jim Probst held Kaneland's school record of 15 minutes, 26 seconds at Detweiller Park from the Knights' 1987 championship squad and spying the clock, Holm gutted out the last 10 seconds to set a new personal, and school record of 15:25.
A post-race fax to the Daily Herald found Knights cross country coach Chad Clarey effusive in praise of Holm: “He's the best we've ever had, and we're very proud of him. Days like this motivate boys to do great things in the future.”
doberhelman@dailyherald.com