After much thought, Zinke returns to D-C for 31st year

Hailed as one of the greats in the wrestling community during a presentation at the Fox Valley Conference tournament late last January, Hall of Fame coach Al Zinke appeared ready to shift into a lower gear this season and into different colored sweater in advance of his move over to Hersey as an assistant to 1987 state medalist and former Dundee-Crown star heavyweight Jim Wormsley.

Zinke came within a whisker of his desired change - until school officials were unable to find a full-time spot for his longtime assistant Gus Silva, thus sending the respected Silva over to conference rival Crystal Lake South to assist head coach Ross Ryan.

As the 2009-2010 season would near, and Dundee-Crown was still without a head coach, Zinke would be asked to bring his trademark red sweater back out of retirement for yet another year, to the edge of the mats, for his 31st year.

"The actual business of getting back to coaching, and getting (in) there where the kids (are) to teach and train, is/was terrific," begins Zinke.

"But the other side of (it) is the taking care of equipment, pictures, schedules, grades, and everything else that I thought that I was putting behind (me) with my going over to coach with Jim."

Zinke admits to thinking long and hard on a return to D-C, but in the end, it is the student-athlete that helped make the decision for him.

"When you look back over your career and you see how many terrific coaches that have helped make a program so successful, and all of the hundreds of kids that put so much into (this) sport day-after-day, and how many of them you hope you've influenced in a positive way... then your decision is a little bit easier."

As an inventive and versatile coach over the years, Zinke used all of his powers and passion for the sport to send countless wrestlers through memorable postseason rides, including 11 state medalists, and 2 state champions.

However, while Zinke is pleased to be back, and to have former state medalist Ryan Horcher, as well as Andy Lambert and Vince Stigler alongside, the decorated veteran head coach is not so thrilled with administrative choices made of late, which he feels drastically change all of the sports programs at Dundee-Crown.

Zinke speaks mostly to a $150 participatory fee imposed on Chargers' families, many of whom in the Carpentersville community are economically stressed, and unable to pay when push comes to shove.

"For most of our upper class student-athletes (in all of our sports programs) the kids and families have made a 2-3 year commitment and the extra fee is just what it is, and no big deal.

"However, when incoming freshmen or even sophomores show mild interest and are not sure if they want to continue, it's too easy for those families to say no. So in essence, if we cannot have a natural 'feeder system' to our varsity teams through younger players, the overall numbers in each program will suffer and we're beginning to see that all throughout."

Currently, the wrestling program totals just 36 athletes.

Zinke would begin his coaching career in East Troy, Wis., as a football coach, before moving over to New Lisbon, where he was named the head track coach, no less, for a school which did not have a track in place when he took control.

Much to the athletic directors surprise building a track wasn't just about putting a big circle around the football field, and as Zinke would recount, the AD was shocked to find out that pole vault pits, starting blocks, hurdles and sand were just as vital to the eventual oval Zinke would help construct.

At the urging of his wife, who wanted no part of living in the great north for the rest of her life, Zinke would take an assistant coaching position at Irving Crown High School, and would take control of the program until the final season before the consolidation into what is now Dundee-Crown.

"Someone told me (when I became head coach) there was no talent at the school and that the program would never amount to anything, and that I would eventually run everything right into the ground," said Zinke with a smile.

Zinke can point to 16 conference championship trophies, the last coming in 2007 before Crystal Lake Central's rise to power, and an astounding 522 career dual victories, including 20 last season, when he was unable to field a complete lineup most of the year.

"The discipline, hard work, sacrifice, perseverance, dedication; the very nature of this sport is what has helped many a young man who has come through (here) and might have been exactly what they needed to stay on the straight and narrow," says Zinke.

During his long tenure, he has seen it all, including far too many memorable years to list. However, when pressed, his 2001 club, which would help begin a 7-year stranglehold on regional hardware is one of his favorites, as was the 2004 team that would take home a fourth-place team trophy from state.

His first state champion, Larry Kaifesh, came in 1985, one year after finishing sixth overall at 167 pounds.

Zinke says Kaifesh's run to his title mirrored that of Mike Lukowski, who in 2007 earned a fourth-place medal at 189 and led to his brilliant run to a state title one year later after narrowly advancing at the Naperville North sectional to sit high above all others on the podium of the Assembly Hall floor.

"That kid (Lukowski) kept telling everyone who would listen (or not) that he would win a state championship, and that son of a gun did!, Zinke said."

This season, the Chargers return just a handful from the 2009 FVC runners-up, including third-place state medalist Miko Villanueva.

"We'll work these kids as hard as we can, and try to teach them all of the technical and tactical stuff as possible, and hope that we can make a difference for all of them," Zinke said.

"We tried like the devil to get (Zinke) over to our place, but in the end, he has so much invested in the program, kids and community, that it would have been impossible for him to leave it all behind," said Wormsley. "The guy is a terrific role model, and the tireless effort that he puts forth is nothing short of amazing.

"If I can become half (of) what he has been as a head coach, then I'll really be somebody for him to be proud of."

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