BASEBALL
Weber’s
baseball program had its share of successes, and won one State AA Regional. The win-loss record and name of the coach are
unknown.
1978
Chicago Catholic League Champs
Team members included the following:
Chuck
Shearer (drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 78’)
Dave Dyrek (signed with the Houston Astros out of college)
Tim Peraino (played professionally in
Melbourne Australia from 1986 to 1988 with the
Sunshine
Eagles, won the Australian Grand Final for Baseball in 1988).
1980
AA Regional Champions Coach
Paul Camastro
FAMOUS ALUMNI OF WEBER
William
Walter Bednarz (class of 1960) - William Bednarz is the post-mortem recipient of the military's second highest award,
the Silver Star. Upon graduating from Weber High in 1960, William entered the military during the Viet Nam
War. He was killed in the line of duty performing a brave and courageous act for his country. William's
place on the Virtual Wall website can be viewed at http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BednarzWW01a.htm .
William
Bednarz' Silver Star Medal document reads as follows:
| "For gallantry in action involving close combat against
an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam: PFC. Bednarz distinguished himself by heroic actions on
16 May 1967 near Ap Rach Gau (2), RVN, while serving as a machine gunner when his company was engaged in a night assault against
a numerically superior Viet Cong force. Immediately upon debarking the aircraft, Private Bednarz's platoon
became separated from the rest of the company and came under heavy enemy machine gun and automatic weapons fire from the front
and left flank. Private Bednarz demonstrated great personal courage as he assaulted the enemy positions and
delivered a continuous and effective volume of fire. At one point, Private Bednarz engaged a sniper who had
stopped the movement of the company and had the company commander and his radio operator pinned down in a open field. After
killing the enemy sniper, Private Bednarz shifted his fire to an automatic weapon position threatening the
company's left flank. He took up a position on a berm and fired his weapon from the shoulder to place more effective fire
on the enemy. While performing this hazardous mission, Private Bednarz was mortally wounded. Private
Bednarz acted with great courage and determination in the face of intense enemy fire. His heroism and devotion to
duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, the 25th
Infantry Division, and the United States Army." |
|
Thank you William Bednarz, a true American Hero!
|
|
Bill
(Moose) Skowron (class of 1948) –
Helped lead Weber to a Prep Bowl appearance as a punter and halfback, and went onto Purdue via football scholarship.
Even though the Red Horde did not offer baseball when he attended, Skowron did play at Purdue, hitting .500 as a sophomore
and it led to a 14-year major league career with the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Senators, Chicago White
Sox, and Los Angeles Angels. Moose hit .293 in his career, played in nine World
Series and was in six All-Star games. He has been inducted into five Hall of Fames, including the National Polish-American
Hall of Fame in 1980.
Mike
Krzyzewski (class of 1965) – After
graduating from Weber, “Coach K” went onto play at the U.S. Military Academy, where he was a three-year letter
winner for then-coach Bobby Knight. Mike wound up serving out his military obligation, earning the rank of captain before
resigning in 1974. Krzyzewski wound up as an assistant at Indiana, then became head coach at Army for five seasons
before taking the job at Duke in 1981. Thru March 2018, his teams have won 1100 games with a winning percentage of .765,
and have brought home five National titles (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, and 2015). Like Skowron, Mike is a member of the
National Polish-American Hall of Fame along with the Basketball Hall of Fame. One statistic that Krzyzewski certainly takes
pride in is that more than 90% of his scholarship players have graduated, which is one of the highest in the country, in light
of the tough academic standards set at Duke.
Joe
Krupa (class of 1952) -- Once his Red Horde days were over, Krupa continued playing football at Purdue
and continued at the professional level with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1956-64. Joe was named all-NFL in 1963
as a defensive lineman.
Chico
Kurzawski (class of 1965) -- football great and later a star halfback at Northwestern University (see question
125 here, http://hailtopurple.com/features/trivia03.html) who was drafted in the last round of 1969 by the New Orleans Saints.
Clarence
McGee (Class of 1983) - basketball - received a scholarship
to Ohio State University.
Art
Michalik (class of 1949) -- In his rookie season as a member of the San Francisco 49ers in 1953, this Weber
grad was all-NFL as a linebacker. Art's pro career was short after leaving St. Ambrose College in Davenport, where
he was a two-way player (guard on offense, linebacker on defense). Michalik played two seasons in San Francicsco,
before playing another two in Pittsburgh (including one season with Joe Krupa) and finishing with Calgary in the Canadian
Football League in 1958.
Bob
Niziolek (class of 1976) -- Bob suited up for one season with the Detroit Lions (1981) as a backup tight end, but
spent the majority of his professional career with the Denver Gold and Orlando Breakers of the United States Football
League between 1983-85.
Chet
Ostrowski (class of 1950) -- Ostrowski played at Notre Dame once his Weber days were over, and then had a five-year
pro career with the Washington Redskins from 1954-59. Ostrowski was a mainstay in the Redskins' defensive line during
those years, playing both the tackle and end spots.
Tim Radtke (class of
1984) - football - Tim Radtke played football at Weber and as captain of the team led the Red Horde to their first
ever state playoff berth. The Red Horde lost to eventual State Champion Glenbard West in a battle that
was much closer than the final score of 16-0 would lead you to believe. Tim was named a first team All-State selection, was
captain of the All Catholic League Team that defeated the Public League All Stars 44-0. After his final season at Weber, Tim received a full scholarship to Indiana University. He started at offensive guard for 4 straight years, totaling 45 games. While
at Indiana, his teams went from perennial loser to competing in three
bowl games and winning the last one, the Liberty Bowl against the South Carolina Gamecocks 34-10. His Indiana teams also accomplished feats
never done before. In 1987, they beat Michigan 14-10 and Ohio State 34-10, and in 1988 beat Ohio State for the second straight
year 41-0. Tim received all-conference honors starting after his sophomore season including being named second team All-Big
Ten as a Senior. He also blocked for Anthony Thompson, who was second in the 1989 Heisman Trophy voting, broke Red Grange’s
record for career rushing touchdowns and was named to the NCAA Hall of Fame.
Darrin Trieb (Class of 1986) - football - from a Purdue University website:
"Darrin Trieb had it. Trieb transferred to Purdue from Iowa State, coming to West Lafayette from Ames with
defensive coordinator Phil Bennett. Trieb's transfer was controversial in the eyes of Cyclones fans, especially since Trieb
was the Big Eight's Newcomer of the Year in 1986. Not surprisingly, Trieb made an instant impact at Purdue, making second
team All-Big Ten as a sophomore in 1988. The talented middle linebacker from Chicago
still ranks seventh in solo tackles in school history with 247." (Thank you to Chris Thomas for this addition)
Kenny Redfield (class
of 1986) - basketball - received a scholarship to Michigan State University.
OJ
Simmons (class of 1989) - football - Simmons was an All-State Defensive Back
on the 1988 playoff qualifying team. He went on to play at Jackson State University.
Tim
Sanders (class of 1992) - football - Tim Sanders played football at Weber and then
went on to play linebacker for the Iowa State University Cyclones where he was named captain for two of his years there.
While he was at Iowa State, former Weber coach Bob Carskie joined the Cyclone football coaching staff!
After graduating from Iowa State in 1996, Tim played in the European Football League for the
Bologna Phoenix.
Robert
Wiater (class of 1963) - basketball - upon graduating from Weber in 1963, Robert Wiater continued
his basketball career at Purdue University.
Jim
Phillips (Class of 1989?) - was named the athletic director of Northwestern University in 2008 after previously serving
as A.D. of Northern Illinois University for four years. (http://nusports.cstv.com/school-bio/nw-athdir.html)
Steve
Borowski (Class of 1965) - from Jim Eme (Class of 1963:
"I am a 59’ to 63’ graduate and grew up with Steve Borowski,
who was two years behind me. As far as outstanding athletes, Steve should definitely be included. He has
a lifetime swimming/coaching career that includes world masters records at age 55."
For more on Steve Borowski's incredible career check out the following web addresses:
http://www.hawaiiswim.org/HSHOF/2005Inductees/steve_borowski/steve_borowski.html
http://waynejoseph.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/legendary-coach-steve-borowski/
MEMORIES
**From Tim Peraino (Class of 1978):
"Weber
was an terrific school with great teachers who helped create and mold some outstanding students."
**From
Ted Stanko, Jr. (Class of 1962):
Regarding
the request for more information on sports, I thought I would add two not on your list. I was a member of the Weber Crew team
from 1959 to 1962 (Spring sport) Our coach was a '58 graduate who had also been on the team for four years, so the activity
had started no later than 1955. It ended some time in the '60's, most likely when the the Central States Amateur Rowing Association
disbanded. There is a complete history of high school rowing in Chicago on the following site:
http://www.ihsa.org/initiatives/hstoric/rowing.htm
Another sport active for the years I attended was Golf. Sorry I can't say how long there had been a golf
team. I have attached a copy of the front page to the sports section from the 1962 yearbook (The Dolphin)." (See below
for photo)
From
Tom Stemm (Class of 1957):
"I
went to WEBER from 1953 to 1957. I was at the 1955 Catholic League championship.
We beat ST. GEORGE in a blizzard 3 to 0. By the end of the game you could barely see the players.
"My
sister was with us that day. She asked who was winning. I said we are. She then said, 'then let's go home.' We made a dragon,
put an arrow in it. Then we tied it to the top of my dad's car. It had a big long red tongue. By the time we got home the
tongue was frozen and sticking straight up.
"The
time at WEBER were the best years of my life. In fact they were the best years to be an American. They are years no one will
ever see again."
From Shay Boyle (Class of 1995):
"Hello,
I noticed there are a few omissions from Weber Basketball History. Weber won the Catholic League South in 1991 and 1992. We
had a tiebreaker over DLS (DeLaSalle) and we beat Gordon Tech (the North Champs), And in '92, we beat Loyola, the North Champs,
as well. Red Pride!"
 leads Weber to victory)
)
