Kasperek knew just who to call when she needed an assistant

Morgan Kasperek piled up points, pulled down rebounds and at center helped Hinsdale Central win the 2001-02 Class AA girls basketball title.

As to her demeanor, her self-review isn't glowing.

"I was a bit of a brat," she said.

Steve Gross, her coach with the Red Devils, introduced her to humility by working her to exhaustion defensively in practice. When the games arrived the task of fronting the post came easier.

When Kasperek was named coach of Glenbard South's girls basketball program four seasons ago there was one choice as her top assistant.

"He's the best coach I've ever had," the former Iowa Hawkeye said of Gross, "and I want that for my kids so I brought him back in."

It's been a winning proposition. With program assistants Tom Nussbaum, Tina Schwemin and Shawna Kral took the Raiders to third place in Class 3A last season.

Gross, 337-85 in 14 full seasons at Hinsdale Central, had Kasperek and Kelly Maley as assistants when after a 6-0 start to the 2008-09 season he resigned. The two women led the Red Devils to a 25-3 mark the rest of the way, the 31-victory total tying Gross' 2000-01 and 2007-08 Red Devils teams for second all-time in program victories behind the 34 wins of that championship season.

Since then Gross had been doing some lower-level coaching and watching his four children compete in their sports, including current Downers Grove North freshman Kate and junior Ellie.

"I came back because Morgan called," Steve Gross said.

He remembered laughing at the dial tone of the phone in his hand after Kasperek called to say she'd gotten the Glenbard South coaching job. She asked him to be her assistant, told him not to answer immediately and hung up.

"That was a no-brainer," he said. "When I ran (the girls program at) Hinsdale Central I would tell the players and their parents that basically the story was, I'm going to ask a lot of your kids. I'm going to work them hard on the basketball court and I'm going to check on them in the classroom.

"The trade-off is, they get me forever."

Kasperek's supposed brattiness - oh, she also called herself "a bit of a punk" back then - probably stemmed from the fact that athletics came easy to her. She first met Gross at one of his kids' basketball camps when she was in grade school. Her father, Dick Kasperek, a center for the Jim Hart-era St. Louis Cardinals football team, told Gross that among the Kasperek kids, Morgan was "my player."

"And he wasn't wrong," Gross said.

Then came Iowa. Going from Hinsdale Central's second all-time rebounder, third all-time scorer, an all-state pick and three-time Red Devils co-MVP with Maggie Acuna to coming off the bench in college, Kasperek grew to appreciate the role player's mindset, not just the star's.

"She relates to everyone on the team, and that's what makes her such a great coach," Gross said.

In practice she takes the post players and Gross handles the guards. They drill the Raiders in the flex offense and the grueling man-to-man defense Gross modeled from former college coach Dick Bennett. Kasperek, who survived it, admits the defensive philosophy is painstaking.

"We ask a lot from our players, and I know that," she said. "But with success comes a little more belief. The kids really bought into it last year and I really think that's why we finished third in state."

She and Gross have their differences, sometimes argue, "but all adults do," Kasperek said. She'll occasionally flash the evil eye at him on the bench, even tell him to be still. After 20 years together there's no blood, no foul.

"I think he's the best," Kasperek said.

Now, for a spell, the tables have turned again.

Married to Glenbard South baseball coach Marco Eufrasio, on Oct. 29 Kasperek gave birth to twin boys. Gross will handle the Raiders the next month while she's out.

"Her only request was don't get fired while I'm gone," he said.

A winning tradition

About midway through the school day on Nov. 20, Neuqua Valley will hold its annual "Red Carpet Rally."

A neat idea, it's a ceremony in which Neuqua state trophy-winning athletic teams and individual champions over the past year promenade into the gym for a student assembly.

National academic honorees and Illinois High School Association activities winners also are noted as well as teachers who achieve national awards such as Tony Tegtmeyer, named a Project Lead the Way engineering honoree in late October.

The timing of the rally, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, provides an opportunity for Neuqua graduates who competed for trophy teams - like Mackenzie Mitchell, Danny Winek, Kai Larson, Ryan Kennedy, Ife Oketona and others from the Wildcats' 2018 Class 3A track champs - to be acknowledged in front of the student body.

"We can seldom get our whole school in one place at the same time," said Lance Fuhrer, the assistant principal in charge of the Red Carpet Rally.

Along with boys track the rally will include members of Neuqua's rugby state champions, the boys cross country team that earned third place in Class 3A last weekend, the 2018 runner-up boys volleyball squad and last spring's fourth-place badminton team.

Members of the girls swim and dive team, who compete Saturday at the Metea Valley sectional and may also be in play after the state finals Nov. 16-17.

Individually, Riley Ammenhauser will get the red carpet treatment after winning Class 3A girls triple jump this past spring in Charleston. Just a freshman at the time, Ammenhauser has a chance to wear a rut in that carpet.

Big Chiefs

Perhaps you know a sports star who tore it up at Waubonsee Community College.

Like Reuel Erastus-Obilo, a Waubonsie Valley graduate who was the Illinois Skyway Conference 2017 men's soccer player of the year. Or his teammate, West Chicago product Luis Correa-Cabral, a fellow All-American who with Erastus-Obilo led Waubonsee to its first national tournament appearance.

Granted, neither of those athletes are eligible for the Chiefs' Athletic Hall of Fame, being less than five years removed from their playing days there.

But there are others - athletes, coaches, specific teams and more - who may be nominated through Dec. 1. For information on the process and criteria, call (630) 466-2524.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1