5 Individuals, 2 Teams Named To Evanston Hall Of Fame

Individuals who excelled in track and field, tennis and football at Evanston Township High School are the headliners for the newest athletic Hall of Fame class, plus teams that earned mythical state championships in football and boys soccer.

The Class of 2024, as in the past, was selected by a committee that includes community members, administration, faculty and coaches from ETHS.

The newest inductees --- head girls track coach Fenton Gunter, Anastasia Goncharova (girls tennis), Bob Majors (tennis, football, basketball), Damon Jones (football) and Curtis Wideman (track and field) --- will be honored at Evanston’s home football opener set for September 6th at Lazier Field against Saint Laurence.

Also recognized will be members of the 1969 boys soccer team and the 1966 football squad. A luncheon to honor the new inductees will also be held Sept. 7th at the high school.

FENTON GUNTER, GIRLS TRACK COACH

Working out in the Evanston fieldhouse while trying to keep his dream of playing professional football alive, Fenny Gunter noticed that there weren’t enough coaches available to help deal with the large turnout of athletes for girls track and field.

So he volunteered to help --- and the rest is ETHS history.

Four decades later, Gunter’s resume as a coach has earned his Hall of Fame selection, the first active coach selected for that recognition at the school. His teams have won 7 Illinois High School Association state championships --- most in school history in any sport, boys or girls --- and only one other coach in the state of Illinois has won more titles in girls track.

Beginning with his first season as head coach in 1991, when the Wildkits won their first team title, Gunter has kept the bar high for his athletes as far as expectations are concerned. With an intensity that few coaches could ever maintain over that period of time, Gunter guided Evanston to back-to-back state titles in 1997 and 1998, put together a four-peat from 2003 to 2006, and maintained a streak that started with a HOF coach he succeeded, Karen Huff.

Evanston has scored points at the IHSA state finals every single year, a feat no program can match.

Want more numbers? The Wildkits have brought home 18 individual state titles and 19 relay state crowns since Gunter took over in 1991. No program in the state of Illinois has won as many sectional championships. The resume also includes 16 Central Suburban League team titles.

The numbers only tell part of the story, however, for the winningest coach in school history. For Gunter, it’s about putting his athletes in a position to succeed each and every spring.

And he doesn’t measure that success by looking at the trophy case.

“It wasn’t easy to get to this point. I’ve been very blessed to work with young people who have come through here and understood that if you work hard, then anything is possible,” Gunter said. “Thankfully, I’ve worked with an administration that understood our philosophy, like the parents and the kids understood our philosophy. We did what works for us.

“It wasn’t my way or the highway. It was OUR way or the highway. In our program they learn about being competitive and finishing what they’ve started. It’s not about winning, it’s about being competitive. We tell our girls that you come from Evanston and you don’t have to say anything else. That’s a jersey that commands respect.

“We just try to keep things honest with the girls. We tell them what they NEED to hear, not just what they want to hear. That’s how the kids know that you’re sincere.”

It all started for Gunter that afternoon in 1981 when he noticed that Huff and a couple of assistant coaches had more hopefuls to work with than they could handle.

“My baby sister was on that team. They just had so many kids out, and finally I went over and asked Coach Huff if I could help out,” Gunter recalled. “I really just meant for one day --- but here I am.”

ETHS was already on the girls state track map when he took over the program, coming off of state runnerup finishes in 1989 and 1990 under Fred Spence. The Kits broke through to capture their first crown in Gunter’s first year at the helm.

“I always felt that the girls track and girls swimming programs were reflections of the (successful) boys programs at Evanston, and that the girls had to measure up to those programs by giving it their all,” Gunter said. “Winning that first state title was tough. We didn’t think we’d get it after the sectional because that same day East St. Louis just ran off the face of the earth.

“But Monday at practice Coach Sibert (assistant coach Jesse Sibert) and I got the girls so mad at us that it took the pressure off them. When we got to State, everything clicked. We didn’t make any mistakes. We gave them a good picture of everything that could happen down there and they were prepared. They ran even better on the second day than they did on the first day (preliminaries). It was a vindication for all the girls before them who had set the tone for us.”

At that point, Gunter established one of the traditions in the program that really made an impression on competitors like Amanda Caines.

Caines, who scored top 5 state finishes in the triple jump in 2008, 2009 and 2010, is now a member of the ETHS boys track coaching staff. She vividly recalls the days leading up to those trips to the IHSA finals in Charleston.

“Before we left for State, we’d go sit in the hallway where our trophy case is. Fenny would sit us down and talk about the history of the program,” Caines said. “It wasn’t ‘I expect excellence from you,’ but just to look at what other girls have done here and what they’ve had to overcome. He wanted you to step up and perform because of the history. It wasn’t about his glory, or our own glory, but for the glory of the program.

“He taught us how to be old school like him, not to mess around at meets, that we should be focused and that we were there to compete, not to make friends. The intensity of his coaching definitely prepared me for the next level (at Kansas University). I really appreciated that. You won’t find many other programs in the state, or the whole country, that takes it that seriously.”

“We only had one trophy at first, but then it (the trophy case) started to fill up,” Gunter noted. “Then we started asking them ‘who would be the next group to get one?’ Just do your job to the best of your ability and everything will take care of itself.”

ANASTASIA GONCHAROVA, TENNIS

Anastasia Goncharova’s path into the Evanston Hall of Fame started in Moscow where she was born.

But if the Russian native hadn’t taken a detour in Tim Silkaitis’ physical education class at ETHS, it probably never would have happened.

Instead, Goncharova is acknowledged as the best female tennis player in Wildkit history after scoring back-to-back runnerup finishes in singles at the Illinois High School Association state finals in 2016 and 2017.

The hard-hitting southpaw played only two years of high school tennis, but racked up school records for single season and career victories on her way to those two silver medal performances at State. Goncharova compiled a 45-6 won-loss record, including a record-setting 24-2 mark as a senior, and is the only female player in school history to win both Central Suburban League South division and IHSA sectional championships.

No one else in the history of the program has come close to those accomplishments. But Goncharova might have decided not to play any more high school tennis after her junior year. A return to the junior amateur circuit might have earned more recruiting notice from college coaches, and she was leaning in that direction after losing to Lahari Yelamanchili of Lyons Township 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (6) in a gut-wrenching three hour marathon that still ranks as one of the closest state final matches in IHSA history.

But she fell and injured her knee playing badminton in Silkaitis’ PE class that spring. The surgery that resulted from that mishap sent her to the sidelines for three months, interrupting her career and forcing her to undergo months of rehab to get back on track.

Instead of just being a “one year wonder” in the program, Goncharova returned to the Evanston lineup and made history. She proved her resilience by battling her way to the state finals for the second straight year, where she lost to top seeded Kolie Allen of Glenbard East 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in the title bout.

“If there was any positive from that injury, it was that it pivoted me toward making another run (against high school competition),” said Goncharova, who is currently pursuing a pro career as a doubles player based in Florida. “I guess everything happens for a reason. At least some good came out of it.

“I either slipped or I took a bad step in that class. I can’t really remember. I guess I got too competitive. I still give Coach Silkaitis crap about that and he really freaked out when it happened. But I also told him guess what, I made it to the Hall of Fame because of you.”

Goncharova’s original choice to join the Orange and Blue came after a persistent recruiting pitch from former head coach Joyce Anderson. The two first met as part of Anderson’s role at ETHS as an advisor who aids athletes attempting to earn college scholarships.

Anderson had never actually seen Goncharova play in person until she showed up for the first day of practice her junior year. But she was plugged into the tennis grapevine in the Chicago area and knew there was a once-in-a-lifetime player living in Evanston.

“I just told her the benefits of representing her school and her community, and I even told her she’d be a Hall of Famer some day if she came out for the team,” Anderson recalled. “I just tried to express to her how special it could be. I had heard scuttlebutt about her and I saw how her (junior) rankings kept going up.

“Anastasia is definitely the most competitive player I’ve ever coached. Sometimes she needed to check herself because she was trying TOO hard. So many of the other girls on our team looked up to her, and they got to see a level of play that wasn’t normal in our program. She was a great example of what excellence could look like, and she took us to another level.

“The knee injury did slow her down and I think she found out she was tougher than she thought. It also brought back the love of the sport for her. She was able to play looser and enjoy it more, I think. She really wanted to be a state champion.”

“I’ve always been a competitive person. Even just playing cards with my family, I’ve always wanted to be the best,” Goncharova said. “That competitiveness probably got stronger after the injury. It really impacted me a lot. I had to build back from ground zero and I became very grateful that I was still able to play.

“I have so many amazing memories. I’ve always had a lot of crazy comebacks (in matches), times when I’ve been down 0-5, or 3-6, and came back to win.”

One of those comebacks came against rival Michelle Bacalla of Niles North her senior year. She trailed 5-2 in the second set of the sectional championship match that had to be moved indoors due to bad weather, but rallied for a 6-3, 7-5 triumph. She won five straight games and led ETHS to a tie for the sectional team title with New Trier.

“It was a big win for me in a really tough match,” she was quoted at the time. “We both played out of our minds today. This is the first match I’ve had to grind out since I hurt my knee. Michelle was really playing out of her mind in that second set, and all you can do in that situation is try to grind it out.

“I’m very hard on myself and sometimes I get stuck in my own head when I’m making mistakes. But when Coach told me to stop thinking about it, and when I looked and saw that I had so many people supporting me there in the stands, I knew I should be happy about that. So I loosened up and started playing like I did in the first set. I just went after it.”

At State, Goncharova breezed to four straight wins in the early rounds, then survived a grueling semifinal match and defeated Deerfield’s Emily Casati 6-3, 7-6 (8) to reach the singles finals for the second straight year.

After initially landing a scholarship at the University of California-Santa Barbara, Goncharova played her final three years of collegiate tennis at Utah.

“That wasn’t the right fit for me, but my three years at Utah were great,” she said. “I had started losing my passion for tennis at Cal, but when COVID 19 hit I had time to reflect on just what I wanted to do. Going to Utah was probably the best decision I’ve ever mad. I focused more on doubles there (with teammate Madison Tattini) and I had a pretty good career.”

As seniors at Utah, the pair ranked second in the ITA Mountain Region doubles ranking. Goncharova compiled an 8-8 record (4-1 in the PAC-12), and compiled a 13-7 overall singles record playing mostly in the No. 4 position for the Utes.

DAMON JONES, FOOTBALL

Like thousands of athletes who came before him at Evanston, Damon Jones dreamed of one day seeing his picture up on the wall honoring the greats at the school.

One of those greats was his father, Farrell, a member of the 1968 state championship basketball team.

Now Damon has created a niche of his own.

One of just 25 ETHS products to ever play in the National Football League, Jones is a member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2024 after excelling at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of the sport.

Jones, also a standout basketball player for the Wildkits, played a memorable role in the evolution of the tight end position in football. He earned All-State honors as a senior in high school in 1991, even though he was primarily a blocker for a team that went 8-2 that year. He did catch 20 passes for 454 yards.

At Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, his pass-catching ability was second to none and he was eventually selected to the Salukis’ Hall of Fame in 2021. He is also recognized as a member of SIU’s “All Century” team.

Then, in five seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL, he shifted his focus back to being the best blocker he could be for others.

“I’m definitely proud, and happy, and excited to make it to the Hall of Fame,” Jones said. “Evanston is my hometown, the place where I laid the foundation. And SIU was my launching pad to the pros. To get my name up on that (Hall of Fame) wall is definitely something I’ve always dreamed about.

“That was a time when the position of tight end was transitioning. I got to play for Coach (John) Riehle at Evanston and he was a really great coach. He was such an inspirational leader and he did all he could to make sure guys went to college. He always prepared us so well, and he made the game fun, too.”

Jones, who also played defensive end for the Wildkits, was a member of the 1990 squad that Riehle led to the IHSA Class 6A state quarterfinal playoff round before they lost 14-6 to Loyola Academy. The next season, Jones was a dominant force on both sides of the line as the Kits won 8 of 9 regular season games and then were shut out by Lane Tech in the first round of the playoffs.

“I can still remember beating Glenbrook South (22-8) my senior year,” Jones said. “That was a hard game, a very solid win for us. I had a long TD in that game and I was also a part of history because Shannon Washington had a 106-yard interception return. I was the one who tipped him the ball.

“We beat New Trier that year. That was a tough rivalry. In that game some guy from their team punched me in the nose and broke it. At halftime my parents wanted me to come out of the game, but I wasn’t going anywhere. I just wanted to get even.”

Evanston won that game by a 14-6 margin to ease Jones’ pain.

From there, the 6-foot-5, 270-pounder landed a scholarship to the University of Michigan. After a red-shirt year, “some of the things I did wrong off the field told me that it was time to move on,” the tight end admitted.

Jones visited SIU --- and found the right fit. He had 5 catches for 79 yards and a touchdown his first game there, but the Salukis still lost. That was part of a dismal 1-10 season and Jones admitted he never got used to being on the wrong end of the scoreboard like that.

“It’s hard to accept when you’re losing like that,” he said. “I didn’t know it would be that bad when I got there. But we got better players over the next couple of years and I got the ball a lot more. Still, I would’ve traded some of those catches for some more wins.”

SIU won 11 games in his three seasons there. Jones finished with 99 receptions --- 16th in school history --- and 1,542 yards, eighth best all-time in the program. He was a three-time all-Gateway Conference pick, and was named to the first team in both 1995 and 1996.

Jones finally found the winning touch as a pro. Playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 1997 to 2001, until injuries derailed his career, he played 50 games. He is credited with 41 receptions for 440 yards and 11 touchdowns, and helped the Jags --- an expansion team added to the league in 1995 --- post won-loss records of 11-5 inn 1997, 11-5 in 1998, and 14-2 in 1999.

He was a fifth round draft choice coming out of SIU. Only three players produced by ETHS --- old-timers Paddy Driscoll with 31 TDs, Laurie Walquist with 15 and Emery Moorehead with 13 --- have scored more touchdowns in the pros.

“It took me awhile to get used to the heat (in Jacksonville) and the speed of those guys,” Jones said. “I played five years, beyond the league average, and I could have played longer except for the injuries (shoulder and knees). I missed the entire 2000 season because I tore my ACL, and then when I came back in 2001 I hurt my shoulder.

“I definitely embraced the physical part of the game. I was able to block guys like Michael Strahan by myself, and I was also able to get downfield and catch the ball, too. Playing in the NFL is like no other experience. Every week I learned something different.

“It’s the greatest job I could have had, and I enjoyed every minute of it.”

BOB MAJORS, TENNIS, FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL

The Hall of Fame nomination letter from classmate Bob Wham said it all about Bob Majors.

“Few high schools can claim a 3-sport athlete who was so widely accomplished,” Wham said. “He was truly the best among us.”

Wham, a lifelong friend who teamed up with Majors to win a state doubles championship in tennis, might be a bit biased. But Majors, who passed away in 2007, stood out in an era where 3-sport athletes were common in high school athletic programs.

A key contributor on two teams that have already been inducted into the Evanston Athletic Hall of Fame, the 1960 football team and the 1961 tennis team, Majors also started for the varsity basketball team as a junior.

Majors shared the quarterback duties with Doug Holcomb as a senior, scoring three touchdowns for a team that went unbeaten except for a 7-7 tie with Niles in the season finale. He broke his ankle in a 45-0 win over New Trier after racing 40 yards for a TD and missed the last four games of the season.

The basketball court, however, is where Majors first caught the eye of legendary ETHS tennis coach Keith Andersen.

“Bob was widely known among all the coaches as a terrific athlete who could do anything,” Wham remembered. “Coach Andersen convinced him to come out for tennis because he believed basketball players were the best athletes. We were doubles partners for three years and we played together a little in college (Indiana University), too.”

Andersen’s powerhouse program made it difficult for both players to crack the varsity tennis lineup, despite their ability.

“We jelled as a doubles team when we were sophomores and stuck with it. We were 27-2 as seniors and avenged both of those losses,” Wham pointed out. “But as juniors we weren’t even starters. We were in the 8-9 range (in the pecking order). We played our share of varsity matches, but we didn’t play in the district or State tournaments.

“Senior year it was our turn --- and we made the most of it. We both had good speed, and we both had good volleys and good overheads. When you play doubles you need power and you need speed, so that played right into our hands.”

In that era, the Illinois High School Association state tournament series was played BEFORE the season-ending Suburban League tournament. So the team of Majors/Wham was still flying under the radar after a runnerup finish at the district competition held at Maine West. They lost in straight sets against Mike Bear and Paul Bishop of Niles and weren’t seeded for the state finals held in Champaign.

The pair then pulled off what might have been the greatest Cinderella run in the history of the tournament, knocking off four seeded teams in three days to claim the doubles crown. They topped No. 4 seed John Gervais and Jim Lemmons of Oak Park in the quarterfinals, ousted Rock Island’s Jean Utke/Neal Peterson 13-15, 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals, and earned a rematch with their nemeses from Niles.

This time, Majors and Wham bounced back from a 6-3 loss in the first set to trip Bishop/Bear 9-7, 6-3 for the doubles title as Evanston also secured its second straight team crown.

When they got home, Majors and Wham kept up that momentum and earned the Suburban League championship with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 conquest of New Trier’s Bill Hunter and Steve Erenberg.

CURTIS WIDEMAN, TRACK AND FIELD

Curtis Wideman set school records for throwing both the discus and shot put as a senior at Evanston. Both of those records still stand.

But as it turned out, Wideman was only scratching the surface of his potential as a thrower.

The ETHS standout went on to become one of the most decorated weight men in the history of the track and field program at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

His best high school throws of 59 feet, 1 inch in the shot and 187-2 in the discus still rank at the top of the list in the Wildkit record book. He finished fifth at the Illinois High School Association state finals in 2011 in the shot, then won too many medals to count at SIU.

Not bad for someone who only threw in the 46-foot range in the shot and a best measured at about 167 feet in the discus his first two years at ETHS after transferring from Schaumburg as a sophomore.

“It’s really been an amazing ride,” said Wideman regarding his selection to the Evanston Hall of Fame. “When you start that athletic journey, it’s hard to tell just where you’ll end up. There’s so much history at ETHS that it’s amazing. I couldn’t ask for a better ending. To know that I put in the work, and improved by leaps and bounds like I did and to be recognized as a competitor like this --- it’s so surreal.

“When I came to Evanston I was a football player through and through. I just did track to try to get a little stronger, and after they tried me at every other event, the coaches just threw me into the shot. The competitor in me really liked it, but knowing I was years behind the 8-ball (in terms of experience), I had an adjustment period. I wondered, will I ever be any good at this?”

A switch in style, guided by ETHS assistant coach George Woolridge, answered that question. Realizing that the top throwers in the state of Illinois use a “spin” technique in the throwing circle, instead of the typical “glide” for beginners, Woolridge and Wideman both did a lot of homework to help him get better.

Wideman first tried the spin technique as a junior and kept polishing those fundamentals in every practice session and every meet.

“That was the first year I had anyone use the spin,” Woolridge recalled. “I started going to classes, going to clinics to find out more about it. It really depends on how athletic the kid is. It’s hit and miss --- one day you’re great, one day you’re terrible --- and there’s a lot more that can go wrong. But Curtis stuck with it and stuck with it. He worked hard and he didn’t complain. Anything I asked of him, he did.

“He had really strong legs and he had more heart than anyone. Before the meets he’d ask Mich (head coach Don Michelin) how many points do you need from me? Mich would always say 20 (10 for a win in each event) and he’d say OK and go out and do it.”

“Learning that spin was what gave me the opportunity to be the best,” Wideman said. “Coach G brought it to me and we learned it together. I was determined to learn it and it finally became second nature to me.”

As a senior, Wideman set records almost every time he walked into the stadium for a meet. He still owns the Central Suburban League mark in the discus, but even a record season like the one he put together in 2011 didn’t have the happiest ending.

At the sectional, Wideman’s best toss of 55 feet was good enough to claim first place and punch his ticket to the state finals. But disaster struck in the discus when he fouled on all three attempts and didn’t even make it to the finals there.

“That was one of the hardest times for me,” he confided. “I let it get into my head that I was chasing 200 feet. I was over-thinking at that point. The first throw was a foul to the left, the next was to the right, and I just couldn’t do it. It hurt so bad. The discus was my favorite event, and after that for awhile I didn’t even want to go to State. In my own head, I was going to compete (for the state title) in the discus, not the shot.”

It's fortunate that Wideman decided to make the trip. For decades to come, Woolridge will tell future ETHS throwers the tale of Wideman’s Cinderella finish in Charleston.

“It was one of the hardest coaching jobs I’ve ever had to get him ready, because he was so down on himself after the sectional,” said Woolridge. “I told him you can’t change the past and if you want a medal, here’s your chance.

“We were warming up in the fieldhouse (adjacent to the Eastern Illinois University track) and we didn’t know that the IHSA had moved the throws up in the schedule. So when we heard the announcement he had to rush out there and throw. I think he only got in one warmup throw --- maybe two --- and he came out and threw 59-1 on the first throw. I’ve never seen anybody have a 4-foot jump like that at the state finals, and that was one of the deepest fields in history.”

“When I got down there I was competing with some heavy hitters,” added Wideman, after the four throwers that finished ahead of him all topped 60 feet. “It was scary when I had to rush out there. But I knew it was now or never. The adrenaline, and the nerves I was feeling, helped me do something amazing.”

“Amazing” is a term that could also be used to describe Wideman’s college career. He won four events in the discus as a freshman at SIU, then took up the hammer --- an event not offered at Illinois high schools --- and rose to prominence in that specialty.

As a sophomore, he established personal bests in the hammer (61.72 meters), shot (17.00 meters) and discus (53.20 meters). Wideman earned all-Missouri Valley Conference honors with a fourth place finish in the shot and a fifth in the hammer outdoors, and qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regionals in both events.

As a junior, his efforts produced all-conference honors in all three throws and he earned honorable mention All-American designation with a 19th place national finish in the hammer. He repeated those accomplishments as a senior --- highlighted by a trip to the Olympic Trials --- and still ranks in the top 10 in every category all-time at SIU in the shot, discus and hammer.

“I was still so small (physically) when I got to SIU that a lot of people didn’t believe in me,” he added. “So I just kept that underdog mentality, worked hard and broke records there. The hammer turned out to be my best event because I could really use my speed, instead of just power. I busted my butt and got as many (practice) reps as I could, and by my sophomore and junior years I was ready to make some noise.”

1966 FOOTBALL TEAM

The memory is still fresh in your mind if you played for Evanston’s mythical state championship football team back in 1966.

That memory is of the way halfback Cris Rickards laughed while racing through a hole --- created by the state’s best offensive line --- large enough to drive a school bus through on his way to the end zone.

Evanston had the last laugh on everyone that year.

Dominant on both sides of the line of scrimmage, Evanston rolled to a perfect season at 8-0 and surrendered just 26 points overall. The Wildkits won the Suburban League championship and earned the No. 1 rating from the Champaign News-Gazette newspaper, one of six teams declared mythical state champions under legendary coach Murney Lazier.

The Kits whipped Rockford West 35-0 in the season opener, then took care of Niles East (43-0), Waukegan (24-7), New Trier East (19-13), Morton East (37-0), Oak Park (33-0), Highland Park (26-0) and Proviso East (27-6) to complete a perfect year.

ETHS also “won” mythical titles under Lazier, a Hall of Famer himself, in 1960, 1961, 1963, 1968 and 1971 in the era before the Illinois High School Association conducted a state playoff.

Evanston’s success was anchored up front by All-State center Bob Chandler, guards John Williams and Marvin Daniels, and tacklers John Turner and Art Malanchuk. It wasn’t the biggest line --- only Chandler at 206 pounds and Malanchuk at 215 topped 200 pounds --- but it might have been the best unit Lazier had fielded up to that point.

That group was so efficient that it almost didn’t matter who carried the ball. The guys in the trenches were the real game-changers in Orange and Blue.

“I think we were a little like that (1996) Northwestern University team that just worked together very well,” said Chandler. “Just like our high school team, they had no real stars. Everyone just did their part. Right from the start, we were set up mentally to be successful. We knew that the whole team was important and that’s the kind of spirit that carried us through for the rest of our lives.

“Our attitude was that we weren’t going to lose, that we’d find a way to win every game. We were small, but we were fast and we were strong. Everyone in the line could bench press 300 pounds because we headed to the weight room as soon as the season was over and lifted every day.”

“We were fast, we were physically strong and we knew how to play our positions,” added Williams. “We were so confident we’d get in the huddle and say whose turn is it to score? I felt like I could trap anybody, anytime, and on defense we forced a lot of turnovers. I played defensive end, and whenever I made a tackle, I just assumed the guy would fumble because I’d hit him so hard. I played with a vengeance.

“Our mindset was that we were going to win every game. We were beyond the pale when it came to toughness. We didn’t always win pretty --- but we won.”

“I remember Rickards going through that hole and laughing,” said Guy Ward, a defensive back/wide receiver who was named to the all-Suburban League team along with Chandler, Williams, Rickards, Malanchuk, Turner, Larry Nord, John Powers and quarterback Jay Monaghan. “We had a helluva line. It was really a team effort that entire season.”

Lazier allowed his players to take ownership of the outcomes that season. He switched from the single wing to a Pro-Set offense to unleash the ETHS passing game under Monaghan, who threw six touchdown passes and ran for four scores even though his playing time was limited in so many blowout wins.

And Chandler called signals at the start of every offensive play for the linemen --- a skill set still new to linemen in those days --- and had freedom on the defensive side of the ball, too.

“I played middle linebacker and mostly down lineman on defense,” Chandler remembered. “Three of us --- myself, Howard Meeks and Larry Nord --- could decide where we were going to play on each play. Usually Larry would be at linebacker in passing situations because he could cover guys down the field better. But the three of us could play any position.

“On defense, it was never just one person making the tackles. It was a real competition for all of us to try to get in on every tackle.”

Closest calls for the Wildkits came against Waukegan and New Trier East.

Against Waukegan, the Kits only led 10-7 after three quarters after a 9-yard touchdown pass from Monaghan to Ward. But Monaghan hooked up with Rickards for a 38-yard TD and halfback Jim Vaugh added a 2-yard TD run as the winners overcame five lost fumbles in their most physical challenge of the season.

Ward snatched his only two interceptions of the season the next week versus New Trier. The Wildkits intercepted 6 passes against Indians’ quarterback Tom Bieneman, including three in the final period after Nord scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard plunge.

Rickards and junior David Adams combined for five rushing touchdowns in a rout of Morton East, the Kits rolled up 368 rushing yards --- including a 93-yard scoring run by Rickards --- while blanking Oak Park, and Evanston finished off the perfect season with victories over Highland Park and Proviso.

“That New Trier game was the one that taxed us the most,” Chandler said. “Guy Ward had a super game in the secondary and that was a very well-coached, very athletic team.

“That last game against Proviso was for the (league) championship. They were substantially bigger than we were in the line. But on our first two offensive plays we went 60 or 70 yards for touchdowns, and we thought we had them then.”

1969 BOYS SOCCER TEAM

Back in the days before Illinois High School Association sponsored a state tournament series for boys soccer, the mythical state championship was decided by a vote of the sport’s coaches.

The 1969 Evanston squad left no doubt who was No. 1 by the end of the season.

The Wildkits ran the table with a perfect 15-0 won-loss record that included 8 victories via shutouts. As a team, Evanston surrendered just 8 goals on the season and captured the Suburban League championship under interim head coach Robert Krohn.

Under Krohn’s guidance, the Kits didn’t skip a beat because Hall of Fame head coach Ken McGonagle took a one-year sabbatical from teaching and coaching. The 1969 squad accounted for a major portion of a three-year ETHS winning string that stretched to 34 consecutive wins before it was over.

Evanston defeated rival New Trier East twice --- the second time by a 3-2 margin in two overtimes --- and placed 6 players on the All-State team, led by co-captains Chuck Weisberg and Bob Thompson. Also selected to the All-State squad were Bob Burkhead, Lionel Jean-Baptiste, Steve Hoffenberg and Mario Garretto.

“We were a very cohesive unit. We were all very close, we just lived and died for each other,” recalled Hoffenberg, who started on defense. “I’ve never been on a more cohesive team in my life and we’re still tight to this very day. We really didn’t care about winning a state championship in those days. We just wanted to have a good time --- and win.

“We had an amazing goalie in Chuck Weisberg. Lionel (Jean-Baptiste) was so good he should have been playing semi-pro soccer. Mario Garretto was also a phenomenal player, and Bob Thompson was a scoring machine. Nobody played soccer before they got to high school, except for Lionel, but those guys were all unbelievable.

“We just wanted one goal and we knew we’d win. I know it sounds corny, but on that team it was all for one and one for all. It was a team effort.”

Like most of his teammates, Thompson was a multi-sport athlete who also claimed a state championship in tennis with doubles partner Eric Friedler in the spring of 1970. Thompson’s speed on the pitch helped him lead the state of Illinois in scoring with 21 goals and 7 assists, and he broke the previous school record of 18 goals in a season established a couple of years earlier by Walt Perrin.

Three of Thompson’s goals came in an 8-1 trouncing of Oak Park.

“I was only about 5-9 and 140 pounds so I wasn’t a football player based on my size,” said Thompson, who played both tennis and soccer at Northern Illinois University. “But I liked soccer and I thought it would be a good fit for me. My height helped me on headers and I guess my speed was an advantage for me, too. We had a lot of very good athletes on that team and we did a lot of team building off the field. I remember how we used to meet at Dunkin Donuts on Dempster and then walk over to the field together. We got psyched up when we did that.

“We were pretty good at playing together as a team. That was drilled into us by Coach Krohn. There was no real selfishness out there, no one dribbled the ball too much. We had an espirit de corps together and the coaches got us to put out and all-out effort so we had nothing left. I remember being so gassed (exhausted) at the end of games I could barely move.”

Thompson’s ability to average a goal per game or better would make him a start today in the sport, too.

“I had the speed and the height, and the fearlessness to stick my head in where it didn’t belong,” he laughed. “If I had a chance for a breakaway, I’d sprint endlessly to get myself in the right position to score. We always did a lot of running (in practice) and we were really in good condition. We weren’t going to ever lose because we weren’t in condition.”

Weisberg, who later went on to earn All-American honors at Eastern Illinois University, provided the last line of defense at goalkeeper. He made sure the Wildkits got off on the right foot that season as he was credited with 11 saves --- and even a rare assist --- in a 2-0 triumph over New Trier East in the season opener.

The assist came on a long throw to forward Jay Engelin that netted the clinching goal following a tally by Thompson.

“I rarely took goal kicks. I was a lefty and I just heaved the ball to Jay and he took it in and scored. That was a pretty unusual play,” Weisberg said.

“I had no clue what soccer was before I got to high school. About two or three weeks into my freshman year, one of my friends went out for the team and I thought maybe I’d do it to get in shape (for baseball). I saw some guys who were throwing and catching the ball so it turned out playing goalie just came naturally for me.

“I played with the mentality that there was never any room for an error. And when I did make a mistake, the other guys usually cleared the ball out of there. We had a lot of talent, we all worked hard, and we were athletic enough to score a bunch and prevent a bunch of goals. We felt like we were invincible.”

That perfect season featured consecutive victories over (in order) New Trier East (2-0), Lyons (1-0), Waukegan (1-0), New Trier West (2-1), Oak Park (8-1), Niles West (6-1), Morton East (6-0), Maine East (6-1), New Trier East (3-2 in OT), University High (3-0), Waukegan (3-0), New Trier West (6-1), Oak Park (1-0), Maine East (2-0) and Morton East (5-1).

And while the football and tennis programs were juggernauts in that era at ETHS, Hoffenberg and his teammates felt special every time the public address announcements were made at the school the morning after another dominant victory.

“We always had large crowds for the soccer games, especially at the end of the year when people realized we were unbeaten,” Hoffenberg said. “You could hear the cheering in the hallways every day when the announcements were made.”

Sixty years later, the echoes still linger for that special squad.