In 29 years Hunckler went from mentored to mentor
Naperville North baseball coach and teacher Carl Hunckler, retiring this June after 29 years with the Huskies, chose his mentors well. In doing so he became one himself.
As a junior at Joliet Catholic Academy he learned social studies from first-year instructor Larry McKeon, who moved to Naperville North to forge a hall of fame football coaching career.
Graduating in 1976, Hunckler played baseball at the University of St. Francis for Gordie Gillespie, also his prep football coach.
McKeon displayed the value of organization and how to communicate with students. Gillespie and assistant coach John Morrey brought baseball knowledge and "unbelievable enthusiasm," Hunckler said.
This background produced a beloved social studies teacher and a 2008 inductee into the Illinois Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
"I just have fun with kids. It's always been a good time. That's one thing I've never regretted, is the profession I chose. I've been around a lot of great peers, and the young people - that's really what's made my career, is the kids," said Hunckler, a defensive back on Joliet Catholic's first state football champion in 1975.
Right out of St. Francis he taught nine years in his hometown and was an assistant coach on two Joliet Catholic football champions. Like McKeon he gravitated to Naperville North, whereas defensive backs and special teams coach Hunckler aided Huskies titles in 1992 and 2007.
Entering Wednesday's baseball action, in 30 seasons overall Hunckler is 581-379, including a 25-9 campaign at Joliet Catholic in 1989. Naperville North won the 1996 summer league crown, but Hunckler has a soft spot for teams like the 2005 DuPage Valley Conference winner or the 30-win team of 2010, which exceeded expectations.
"I don't win anything, the kids win. I just happen to be the guy in charge," said Hunckler, 60, who lives in Plainfield. But a big reason he was inducted into the IBCA Hall is the respect he's gained for leading fundamentally sound teams that are prepared to compete.
At Naperville North Mark Lindo has been his pitching coach nearly the entire time. The two will go out together.
"Mark's one of my best friends," Hunckler said. "You can't coach with a guy for 27 years and not have a special relationship. Our kids basically grew up together, our wives have been together. To me, Mark has been my right-hand man. He gives me advice not only about baseball but about life. We have great conversations every day, we talk every day throughout the baseball season.
"That's one of the voids that we're going to have to fill because we're both going to retire this year. We'll play golf and do a couple other things, but that daily contact - whether working out in the (school) cardio room or whatever it may be - there's going to be a void there. And that void may be as important as when I'm not around young people."
One day he hopes to again coach young people, namely any grandkids provided by adult children Carl IV, Ellen and Alyssa.
But first, a coast-to-coast summer vacation with Debbie, his wife of 37 years, visiting baseball towns with good eats. They'll start at Boston's Fenway Park and head west.
"We're going to go to baseball games and we're going to go to the best restaurants in those places," Hunckler said. "And as long as we don't gain weight we'll be OK."
A person with his demeanor will always be OK.
"I think if you were to take a poll," Hunckler said, "you would find out that most people realize that I enjoy being here every day and I'm here to have fun."
Kings of the Hill
On Saturday Glenbard West sophomore Katelynne Hart capped an extraordinary string of national competitions by running 3,200 meters in 10 minutes, 2.56 seconds at the Arcadia Invitational in California. It established the No. 1 girls time in the country early this outdoor track season, No. 2 in Illinois history.
It confirmed something else: the Hilltoppers are on a roll.
Known as a "football school" with recent state titles in 2012 and 2015 and always in the conversation, Glenbard West could also be called a boys volleyball school (championships from 2015-17), a gymnastics school (2017 boys title, 2018 girls title), a track and cross country school, a field hockey school.
Sixth-year assistant principal for athletics Joe Kain compiled a roster of 10 Hilltoppers championship teams since 2012, three runners-up and seven third-place finishes, including "combined" efforts in track and swimming for athletes with disabilities.
The reasons are multifold, Kain said. A "foundation" created by past athletic directors Linda Oberg and Mike Skowronski, and support from principal Peter Monaghan and the District 87 Board; motivated coaches, athletes, even grade-schoolers who "look forward to being part of that success," Kain said.
"It's everybody," said Kain, 11 years at Glenbard West since coming over from Larkin.
"It's our coaches who work together, and I think that they embrace the challenge of competing in a great conference and in an area where there's so many good teams. They build a program from top to bottom, it's not just about the varsity team. They want to make it a great experience at any level," he said.
"The district has been very supportive about allowing our kids to participate. Last I checked 51 percent of our student body was involved in a sport. I think last year it was 78 percent that either was involved in a sport, club or activities at Glenbard West, so many are involved in three or four or five."
Athletes in so-called individual sports like Hart or girls gymnastics all-around champion Maddie Diab don't operate in a bubble. They get competition and camaraderie from such athletes as Lindsey Payne, one of the state's top distance runners, a Stanford-bound senior who on Monday in Bloomington will be honored among 26 IHSA All-State Academic Team members.
"That's a perfect example of someone who's very talented," Kain said, "and they push each other to make each other better and create a culture. She's completely about the team and she's a great student."
Daryl Thomas remembered
Last Friday Montini hosted a Mass honoring Broncos boys basketball coach Daryl Thomas, who died of a heart attack March 28 at age 52.
The Thomas family also desired a service to be held at his old high school. That will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday in the St. Joseph High School gymnasium in Westchester. Since February 2007 St. Joseph has operated in its former sister school, Immaculate Heart of Mary, but the Chargers gym remains in its wood-ceilinged glory.
There will be a 10 a.m. visitation. While Thomas was cremated, "we wanted to give people time to pay their respects in case they can't stay for the Mass," said Gene Pingatore, Thomas' legendary coach at St. Joseph.
"He was an outstanding young man, he was always a hard worker. But beyond basketball, as hard as he worked and was such a great player on the court, off the court he was just a kind person. He was a person that everyone liked and loved, a great personality," Pingatore said.
"A big, strong man who's as tough as nails but off the court he's like a panda bear. That's the way he was. He was a people person, a great teammate for the rest of the team, a great ambassador for us."
After Thomas went to play at Indiana University, Pingatore said Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight called numerous times citing how Thomas wasn't meeting Knight's exacting standards. Knight even briefly kicked Thomas off the team.
"He was the star of the book, 'A Season on the Brink,'" said Pingatore, "thrilled" to have had Thomas as an assistant for nine seasons before he joined Montini in 2015.
By the time Thomas persevered to help Indiana win the 1987 NCAA men's basketball title, screening for and passing to Keith Smart for the game-winning shot, Thomas "became (Knight's) favorite player from that team," Pingatore said.
The coach expects a "huge, huge crowd" on Saturday, including Indiana teammates Smart and Steve Alford, possibly Dean Garrett and Tony Freeman.
"It's a big loss," Pingatore said. "A loss to the community, a loss to his family, obviously, and to all of us."
doberhelman@dailyherald.com
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