It's a small world, and Glenbrook South boys cross country is stronger for it

Kurt Hasenstein said it himself: He has found a pot of gold.

The Glenbrook South High School boys cross country and track and field head coach feels lucky to acquire the services of John Nalley, who retired in May from Palatine High School after 34 years as a mathematics teacher and boys track coach, 31 years as the Pirates' head coach.

Nalley, who coached 29 state track medalists and six champions from 1992-2022, joined the Titans cross country staff this summer as a volunteer. He'll be a paid assistant with the track team, working with jumpers and sprinters.

"Just the fact that he can volunteer with us, it's a Godsend for us," Hasenstein said.

He loves the fact he and assistant Nick Morley gained a compassionate, genuine, high-character veteran who can roll out of bed and show athletes the right way to do things when they need to be done.

"I don't have to tell a guy like John Nalley, 'Hey, can you do this?'" Hasenstein said.

Nalley, thrilled to be able to help a friend who is nearing retirement himself, also is working as an instructional assistant in Glenbrook South sophomore and junior math classes - coincidentally, replacing the person who took his teaching position at Palatine.

Serendipity and connections spanning more than 40 years helped bring the Palatine resident and Lisle native to Glenbrook South.

Seemingly far-fetched connections - which happen all the time in high school sports - like Andrew Johns, son of Glenbrook High School District 225 Superintendent Charles Johns, serving as Nalley's 2021 track captain at Palatine.

As a student-athlete at Peoria Heights High School, Hasenstein admired Nalley from afar. Nalley, who played quarterback for the Lisle High School football team and thus did not run high school cross country, was a three-time all-state 1600- and 800-meter track runner in the early 1980s. His father, Carlin, coached Lisle's varsity track and football teams.

"I knew who he was because I was a track fan," Hasenstein said. "He was one of the best distance runners in Class A."

That is the tip of this iceberg.

Carlin Nalley, who died May 20 at age 85, was huge in Lisle. He has a street there named after him for, among other things, helping form the village's park district and serving as its first director.

Beloved and respected statewide and even nationally - the 1984 National Athletic Director of the Year - Carlin Nalley earned induction into Illinois coaches association halls of fame for football, track and cross country, and for track officials.

Given Carlin's stature and kindness, and the unique relationships enjoyed by track and cross country coaches who, as John Nalley noted, are able to engage with each other during competition, even lending occasional tips to other teams' athletes, he cast a wide net.

"The coaching world becomes very tight," John Nalley said. "You're just helping each other out as much as possible."

By the time John started his college running career at Northwestern University, his father already had formed friendships with the late Glenbrook South coaches John Davis and Dave Pasquini - who came out of Peoria Heights and had led a summer track program Hasenstein attended as a kid.

As well, John had run in summer meets Davis and Pasquini offered at Glenbrook South.

In 1986, John Nalley took a student-teaching position at Glenbrook South under then-Titans distance coach Ken Kerr - who in 2022 is back in the building covering for a teacher on maternity leave, rubbing elbows with Nalley in the math department 36 years later.

In the spring of 1987, Nalley was an assistant track coach for Northwestern. (The next school year he was its final head cross country and track coach before the programs were discontinued). The Wildcats attended a meet at North Central College, where everyone knew Cardinals coach Al Carius, one of the most popular and successful coaches in the nation. Carius' new assistant, Frank Gramarosso, had initially recruited Nalley to Northwestern.

Nalley was in charge of Northwestern's decathletes. The North Central coaches introduced him to one of their best - Hasenstein.

"It's a small world," Nalley said. "We have a lot of connections to the same people."

Over the years the two remained in touch, over the phone and on the track circuit in and out of season.

Conversations between Hasenstein and Nalley increased when openings at Glenbrook South became apparent. After Nalley's father passed, John attended his last state track meet with Palatine over Memorial Day weekend - but not ready to step away from coaching or teaching.

Hasenstein called and offered a position. Nalley, knowing it was a good fit, accepted.

Nalley got onboard immediately, attending every day of Titans summer camp. No longer handling a head coach's duties and concerns, he works with underclass runners, leads small-group interval training, monitors weight room sessions, does the little things that help teams grow.

"He doesn't even realize how valuable he is," Hasenstein said.

"He just understands the sport. His best asset is his relationships with the kids."

Coaches will tell you it's not the wins and losses they remember, it's the relationships they create.

And the journey.

"I'm a big believer in, sometimes, you're just in the right place at the right time," Nalley said.