EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Joe Mallon, Class Of 1976

EVERGREEN PARK, IL - Evergreen Park Community High School has one of the greatest runners in school history helping out with its cross country and track teams.

But neither Joe Mallon nor the school could see this looming partnership coming a little more than a year ago.

Mallon, EPCHS Class of 1976, was at a cross country meet late in the 2023 season to cheer on a few runners he previously coached at St. Ignatius and De La Salle high schools when he noticed a kid from Evergreen Park “just killing it.”

“After the race I walked up to their coach (Pat Doran at the time), and told him that my name is Joe Mallon, and I would love to meet your runner,” Mallon said.

That runner, 2024 EPCHS alum and current Roosevelt University cross country star Rocco Cipolla, is another one of EP’s all-time greats. And someone who had been eyeing the one-mile (1600 meter) school record that Mallon has held for nearly a half-century.

“You’re Joe Mallon?!?” Doran replied. “Rocco really wants to meet you!”

The coach then yelled across the field, “Hey Rocco, it’s Joe Mallon, get over here!”

Mallon and Cipolla met for a quick picture, but it was Doran who initially noticed the value Mallon could bring to the Mustang cross country program.

“He asked me if I wanted to help coach,” Mallon said. “He could get the kids involved in the program, and I would come up with the workout plans. As a team, we could help develop the program from an overall philosophy standpoint.”

Mallon recently completed his first full season as an assistant cross country coach, helping new head coach Katie Allgaier in moving the program forward.

“Katie and I have developed a great relationship,” Mallon said. “She is tremendous to coach with. I write up the workouts, check with her on the plan and revise it accordingly. We play to each other’s strengths.”

Mallon’s greatest strength as an EPCHS student-athlete in the 1970s was running. So much so that in 1976 he was named the school’s Athlete of the Year, an award that rarely would go to a student-athlete participating in cross country and track alone.

“Running was a big part of school here for me,” Mallon said. “I had a lot of friends running both cross country and track.”

“I was really a shy, quiet kid in high school, but running really helped bring me out of my shell and gave me confidence in life.”

Mallon’s cross country coach at EPCHS was the legendary John Megson, known as “Meggie” by students of the era.

“He was a real character,” Mallon remembers. “A true throwback, with a cigar always out the corner of his mouth.”

Meggie made quite the first impression on Mallon during his first cross country practice as a freshman.

“He told me to run to Cicero and back,” Mallon said. “That’s 4 miles. I did it in cotton sweats. It was pretty brutal.”

From there, Mallon’s cross country career at EPCHS would only get better. By graduation, he had set two school records, the 4:27.5 best in the 1600 meter run that still stands today and the school course record that was later broken by his younger brother, Gerry Mallon.

More important than the individual accolades for Mallon is team success, however. That was evidenced in the dichotomy between the Mustangs’ team finishes in his junior and senior years.

The Mustangs had a “really good team” his junior year and in the preseason were considered the favorites to win the conference.

“But we thought we were so good that none of us needed to go out and run that summer at all,” he said. “And we got toasted at conference.”

Mallon finished 21st individually at conference that year, vowing immediately at the end of that race to win it the next year.

After a summer of full focus, he did just that.

“It taught me that if you don’t run during the summer, your season is over. It’s done,” he said.

Those lessons learned at EP paid off for Mallon as a collegiate cross country runner at North Central College in Naperville.

At North Central, Mallon was an All-American in the 800 meters (half-mile) his junior year and placed 5th at the NCAA championships in the event, among other accomplishments. At one point, he held the school record in the half-mile, and his freshman year record stood for 11 years.

“What made us really great at North Central was our emphasis on team,” Mallon said. “We always put the team goals before the individual.”

That showed when North Central notched three NCAA Division III championships during Mallon’s 4-year run there.

That team mentality is the same approach Mallon uses as a coach.

“I stress it every single day with these kids,” he said. “We help each other out. It’s on everyone to help everyone else out with their times. We’re pulling each other along.”

An example of that showed just a few weeks back at the 2024 regional, when Mallon said “one of our top guys pulled along one of our freshmen, who ended up having the race of his life.”

It resulted in Evergreen Park finishing fourth, rather than fifth, in the team standings.

Although Mallon’s Evergreen Park Mustang record in the 1600 meter run remains posted on the athletic wall to this day, he’d love nothing more than for it to be taken down. And that day could come sooner rather than later.

“I want someone to break my record,” he said. “That record is too old. And there’s a couple of guys on the team right now who can do it.”

“That’s one of the reasons I’m coaching. I want that record broken.”

Today, Mallon remains active with his collegiate alma mater, currently serving on the North Central board of trustees. His professional background is as an attorney and certified public accountant. He worked for the Deloitte & Touche firm for 25 years as a corporate tax consultant, with 15 of those years spent as a partner in the firm.