A couple more honors for the amazing Lawler
Retired Naperville educator and Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Phil Lawler recently spent seven days in intensive care. He had five medical procedures done in four days, plus a blood transfusion, to remove a blood clot that extended down an entire leg.
For the fourth time he's undertaking months of chemotherapy treatments in his battle against cancer.
And on the phone he sounds as chipper as if he were the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
Nothing like family and friends to put the pep in your step. Over the next several days he'll entertain plenty of them, arriving to see Lawler receive a pair of recognition awards.
On Saturday he'll be honored with the IHSBCA's President's Award for contributions to baseball at the Hall of Fame Dinner in Woodridge. On Monday Lawler will be honored in Naperville as part of Madison Junior High's 30th anniversary celebration.
"My whole job now is to recuperate so I can get ready for a very busy, busy weekend," said Lawler, a member of USA Today's 2002 All-American Teaching Team.
Among the original Madison faculty as well as District 203's physical education coordinator during a 35-year career, Lawler has been a key not only to Naperville Central's baseball success as pitching coach and right-hand man to fellow Hall of Famer Bill Seiple, but over the last 17 years as a driving force behind a new model of physical education.
He's the director of education and training for PE4life, a nonprofit organization based in Kansas City, Mo., geared to developing quality daily physical education programs for kids.
Lawler can spout off keen statistics about PE4life programs and studies, many he started in Naperville and which have since been introduced to 40 states and eight foreign countries.
Such as when a PE4life program was introduced to an elementary school in Kansas City, which reported a subsequent 67 percent decrease in disciplinary suspensions.
Or the 1,500 Naperville freshmen who'd attended a PE4life Academy, 3 percent were found to be overweight or obese compared to 32 percent of California ninth-graders.
Lawler's dedication to improving physical education has him fielding up to 100 e-mails a day from doctors, educators, politicians and parents worldwide. He's testified before Congress on the role of physical education. He and the Madison program were seen in the film, "Super Size Me."
On Monday he'll be honored by, among others, PE4life president and CEO Anne Flannery, Harvard University's Dr. John Ratey, U.S. Congresswomen Judy Biggert and Naperville Mayor George Pradel.
That's got to make a person feel good.
"It's quite humbling, but at the same time it's beyond my wildest dream when I started out as a middle school physical education teacher did I think I'd be working with a brain researcher at Harvard (Ratey), who wrote a book and dedicated it to me," Lawler said.
"To take this celebration and see the co-workers and friends who've helped me build this dynasty, so to speak, and to have them there with me will be a thrill."
Great Opportunity
A reminder that the Opportunity Through Baseball dinner and benefit auction, presented by Neuqua Valley baseball coach Robin Renner, will be held Sunday, Feb. 8, 4-8:30 p.m. at Walter Payton's Roundhouse in Aurora.
Featuring Baseball Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins as its keynote speaker, the 12th annual event benefits a variety of causes including the Aurora Neighborhood Boys Baseball League and Dave Dravecky's Outreach of Hope.
Plus, the auction delivers nifty sports memorabilia, tickets to sports events, dining and entertainment packages and more.
"We've got a lot of cool stuff," Renner said. For details he can be reached at (630) 428-6850 or robin_renner@ipsd.org.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com