At least 500 reasons Zinke is a winner

The fans standing at Dundee-Crown Saturday morning had plenty of reasons to applaud Al Zinke …

For all the advice he has given wrestlers for 29 seasons, much of it off the mat.

For all those extra hours he spent in the wrestling room helping young athletes perfect their technique.

For all the life lessons he has taught.

For all the lives he has had a hand in shaping.

For the example of inner strength, integrity and perseverance he set for other coaches, not just within the Dundee-Crown athletic program, but anywhere.

For all these reasons the Dundee-Crown family stood and applauded their veteran wrestling coach Saturday morning.

The fact that Zinke's Chargers had just out-wrestled Harlem 51-17 to earn their coach his 500th career victory simply gave the community the perfect opportunity to say thank you.

Many of Zinke's former wrestlers populated the stands.

"He was like a surrogate father," said Cliff McCue, who took fourth at state at 189 pounds in 1997. "There is no other place I'd rather be than here to see this."

Former wrestlers applauded alongside fans of the program, parents of current wrestlers, school administrators, several of Zinke's fellow coaches from the D-C athletic department, his current team and his entire family.

They all recognized the significance of Al Zinke becoming just the fourth wrestling coach in IHSA history to record 500 wins. More importantly, they recognized the significance of the manner in which he won them.

"Aside from everything, it's about him as a person," said 47-year old former Dundee-Crown wrestler, Peter Margiotta, a 1978 D-C graduate.

In his junior and senior years Margiotta would practice daily against a then-23-year-old Zinke, who at the time was an assistant coach.

"He'd do anything for you," Margiotta added. "Even today if I called him at one in the morning and said, 'Zink, I need some help,' he'd say, 'Where are you?'

"That's what he teaches these kids. And the reason these kids are as good as they are is because they believe in him. It's not because they're all talented. He makes a lot of untalented kids very good because they believe in him and they trust him."

Zinke's grandchildren, Bob, A.J. and Charlotte, were introduced and brought out balloons that together read "500."

Then Zinke's friend and colleague, D-C baseball coach Fred Bencriscutto, saluted him by telling the crowd via the public address system: "What he's been able to accomplish in terms of wins in losses is secondary to the impact he's had on so many young men he's dealt with. He's been a credit to this school, he's been a credit to the community."

After receiving a commemorative plaque from D-C athletic director Dick Storm, the man of the hour got on the microphone to thank everyone.

"I've said before and I'll say again: it's our kids, it's our parents, it's our community," Zinke said, typically modest. "I've had the privilege of coaching some outstanding young men who have also given up their time and their energy.

"A lot of people have wondered why I was successful. I think it's because we put in a heck of a lot more hours than anybody else.

"But I'd really like to thank…"

Zinke stopped momentarily, his eyes scanning the crowd behind him for his wife, Maryanne.

"… I'd really like to thank my wife, who is the one who has really given up all her time.

"I didn't raise my kids. She did. I missed a lot of their events because I was here. The reason we were successful was because all the sacrifices she made over the years."

Said Maryanne Zinke after the ceremony, flanked by her sons, David and Barry, their wives Janet and Aileen and her daughter Carin: "I think it's amazing. We never doubted it for a minute. It was a question of when, not if. He put in the time. He deserves it… We're all very proud."

Winning 500 matches almost never happened. Zinke did not coach the 1988-89 wrestling season in order to pursue a full-time administrative position at D-C, but his successor left after one season so Zinke returned to the mat out of necessity.

He never left again.

An entire generation of young men benefited from that turn of events because it gave them the opportunity to be coached by a man who understands what athletics should be about at their very core.

"We're not your typical high school program," Zinke said after the ceremony. "We're more about building relationships and character than anything.

"We don't ever talk about wins and losses. We talk about working hard, staying the course and doing what you have to do to be successful, which means putting a lot of time in to learn your craft and do it well.

"If you win, great. If you don't, if you've done your best, what else can you do?"

You can't do any better than your best, which is what Al Zinke has given his wrestlers at Dundee-Crown for 29 years.

Congratulations, coach.

An entire community applauds you.