Naperville North's Foerch ending career he was born for

As a coach and teacher Dick Foerch helped Illinois high school gymnastics gain traction. He had other plans for his sons.

Doctor, lawyer, businessman - those were his preferred professions for Brad, Doug and Steve Foerch. Fortunately for prep gymnastics they didn't listen.

"We said, 'No, we're teachers and we're coaches.' We just kind of said, 'No, Dad, this is what we want to do,'" said Brad Foerch, in his final weeks at Naperville North after 34 years as a social studies teacher and Huskies gymnastics coach.

If Illinois high school gymnastics were to have a royal family its crest might have Foerch (pronounced "ferrick") emblazoned on top.

"He's pretty much known as one of the patriarchs of the sport," Brad said.

Dick Foerch started the program at Thornton in the 1950s and did the same at Thornwood after it opened while the boys all competed at Homewood-Flossmoor. Brad Foerch believes they are the only three brothers to compete together on a state team; born within a four-year span, they led H-F to a sixth-place finish in 1977 when Brad was a senior.

Each of them college gymnasts - Brad at Illinois State and Northern Illinois, his brothers at Kansas - they returned to their new careers. Doug is the boys coach at Deerfield and Steve, also retiring this year, is an assistant at Niles West after serving as coach.

"Somebody once compared us to the Ruettiger brothers in wrestling," said Brad, now 57, who lives in Aurora and has a 13-year-old son, Braden.

Along with Dick Foerch, who passed away February 2015 at age 90, each brother is a member of the Illinois High School Gymnastics Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Brad (2005) joined his father (1978) to become the first father-son combo. In 2006 Doug helped create the first brother duo. In 2014 Steve joined the club.

Soon Brad Foerch will leave after leading Naperville North gymnastics to state 18 times spanning boys and girls teams - he coached Huskies girls 22 years as well - with state champions such as Jon Joyce and Michelle Huston, and the boys 2001 state title. Doug Foerch's Mundelein team finished second that year, a reversal from 1993 results.

Brad Foerch has no concrete retirement plans other than, short-term, several fishing trips scheduled from remote Canada to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. An avid fisherman, Foerch once lost two days worth of food to a bear prowling the Boundary Waters in Canada.

Foerch never did catch that bear. On April 15, though, while spotting the high bar at a gymnastics meet at Conant, he made a catch that turned 34 years into yesterday.

Naperville North senior Aryc Trotz flew off the bar, Foerch there for a softer landing. Picking themselves up and finding all parts intact, the coach and athlete shared a laugh.

"I said, 'Thank you, what a great way to finish my career,'" Foerch said. "I came in catching kids and I'm going out catching kids."

Familiar 'Face'

Waubonsie Valley graduate Morolake Akinosun made Sports Illustrated magazine's April 18 "Faces in the Crowd" section.

A senior at the University of Texas, she was cited for running the 100-meter dash in 11.07 seconds at the Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on March 30. It was then the fastest time in the world for women in 2016, since surpassed by Oregon's Hannah Cunliffe at 10.99 at the Mt. Sac Relays according to the Track & Field Results Reporting System.

Akinosun's best time remains 11.04 in a preliminary heat at the 2014 NCAA Division I women's outdoor championships.

Sports Illustrated noted Akinosun's 100-meter victory at the Texas Relays made her the first woman in the meet's 89 years to win the race three consecutive years. Akinosun also ran the third leg of a 1,600 relay that at 3 minutes, 26.54 seconds ranks second among college women.

For Charlie

Rarely do we see sportsmanship taken to this level, even in high school. The way he played and respected the game of baseball as well as his adversaries, Charlie Donovan would have appreciated it.

For Donovan's Westmont Sentinels there's no greater or more familiar rival than the Lisle Lions. As described in Kevin Schmit's wonderful article of Westmont's 8-3 victory Tuesday at Lisle Community Park, under the leadership of Lisle coach Pete Meyer the programs came together to honor the 2015 Daily Herald DuPage County All-Area Baseball captain and Gatorade Player of the Year, who passed away in November.

That news hit hard.

"Like a bullet hit my chest," said Lisle senior co-captain Alec Van Volkenburg.

It also forged a commitment by Meyer to salute the fallen athlete, whose father, Jim, had entered Lisle's dugout in 2014 to congratulate the Lions on winning the prior Class 2A title.

That started their relationship. Repeatedly watching Charlie Donovan work wonders at shortstop and at bat, all the while shaking Meyer's hand and striking up basepath conversations with Lisle players, clinched it.

"When Charlie passed away, right away I started thinking we needed to do something. Like I said in the ceremony (Tuesday), he was like one of our own," said Meyer, who personally delivered Donovan's Class 2A Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association player of the year award to the Donovan home. Charlie's younger brother, Sentinels catcher Joe Donovan, accepted that honor at the IHSBCA awards banquet in January.

Joe was the first announced in Tuesday's pregame ceremony. He took to the plate to applause before sprinting to the shortstop position as his older brother always did. Wearing special jerseys created by Lisle assistant coach Jason Wiertel's sports apparel company - Westmont in its burgundy, Lisle in Charlie Donovan's favorite color, green, all bearing his No. 0, his name and his silhouette on the back - all players from both teams followed suit after greeting Jim and Karen Donovan at the plate.

"Once they put the Donovan jersey on I think everyone had a higher level of energy and went out there and tried to play the game the way Charlie would have," Meyer said. In fact that was the heart of Jim Donovan's pregame message.

After this emotional preface, which Van Volkenburg described as "heavy on the heart," did the game even matter?

It sure did. Charlie Donovan's memory demanded it.

"You know that he would go all-out. You kind of want to do what he would do on the ballfield, and that's win at any cost," said Van Volkenburg, who felt his friendly rival's presence.

"It was uplifting," he said, "knowing that Charlie was there to give you that extra push."

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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