2016 Marian Catholic High School
Ron Centanni
Dr. Blasé Pignotti ’71
Spirit of Marian
Athlete of the Year
In his 29 years at Marian Catholic High School, many things stood out for Ron Centanni, but none so much as the Kairos program. As one of the adult leaders in the program, Centanni, an MCHS guidance counselor who retired in 2010, says he was impressed by the way it affected the students and made them more attuned to their religion. “The Kairos program really instilled a huge amount of faith in some kids,” he says. “I saw them go from having very little faith to a tremendous amount in just three days. It was extremely inspiring.” A 2016 Spirit of Marian award winner, Centanni says the program also enabled him to strengthen and grow in his own faith. “It was really eye opening, and the No. 1 thing that kept me at Marian Catholic for all those years,” he says. In addition to the Kairos program, Centanni also has fond memories of coaching baseball. “I was the first freshman baseball coach at Marian Catholic, then I moved up to sophomore, then varsity,” he says. “I love baseball, and I enjoyed being out there and coaching the games and seeing the kids do well.” Centanni holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in counseling and educational psychology from Southern Illinois University. He also was an Air Force officer who served four years of active duty and 17 years in the reserves before retiring as a major in 1988. His experience in the military made him an invaluable resource for John “Pete” Ladowicz ’95 when he was preparing to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. “It’s a rather lengthy process to get into the academy and Ron walked me through it for the better part of a year and a half,” says Ladowicz, now a commander in the Naval reserves who as a civilian works in legislative affairs for Homeland Security. “He understood what it took to get in and, more importantly, what it took to succeed.” Centanni, Ladowicz says, has a “special gift in that he is able to recognize real potential in students and help them realize that potential. ...Not many folks are blessed with that gift, and there are even fewer who want to showcase it by working with students.” In retirement, Centanni still keeps a full schedule: He is an avid traveler who has been to all seven continents, toured 65 countries and visited every state with the exception of South Carolina and North Dakota. A long-time resident of Tinley Park, Centanni is very active in his community – he even has a park named for him – and has hosted and produced a local cable show in the suburb for more than 25 years. An adept photographer, Centanni shoots with the Foresters Camera club, and his photos frequently appear in a community newspaper, The Tinley Junction. He also is an amateur magician and belongs to the Magic Masters club, where he learns the art of illusion from other club members, a good number of whom are professional magicians, he says.
Although Dr. Blase Pignotti ’71 came away from Marian Catholic High School with a firm understanding of the expression “you can’t win them all,” the St. Louis-based obstetrician-gynecologist is delighted with one he did win: The 2016 MCHS Athlete of the Year award. Pignotti, who was Marian Catholic’s first four-year varsity basketball player, credits his high school athletic career and his coaches with instilling in him valuable life lessons: “I probably learned more from some losses than I did from the victories. We don’t win everything but we persevere through it all. You still have to get up and try your best the next day.” And persevere he did: Pignotti’s MCHS stats include No. 5 career scoring with 1,083 points and No. 1 career rebounding with 917 rebounds. Additionally, he was No. 1 and No. 5 in season rebounding. “I don’t know too many Marian Catholic athletes who played varsity as freshmen – and for four years,” says former long-time Marian Catholic dean and teacher Mike Goldrick, who was the assistant basketball coach during Pignotti’s high school career. “In addition to being a great competitor and leader, Blase had a number of qualities you would want in an athlete,” Goldrick says. “He had great character. He was unselfish in terms of his teammates and he was academically excellent. There never was a question of him being ineligible or missing a game for not studying or anything like that.” Pignotti, a Chicago Heights native, did not continue with athletics in college, although he easily could have. He chose instead to concentrate on academics in his quest to become a physician, a career choice facilitated by his Marian Catholic education. “Marian Catholic prepared me academically to go forward in learning how to learn,” he says. “In medical school the amount of information is just tremendous, so either you study or you don’t make it. Marian Catholic definitely helped me with that, and gave me a good basis for the sciences and math that I needed in college” at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Marian Catholic’s commitment to service also had a big impact on Pignotti, who graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1982 and is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. An independent physician, Pignotti has the freedom to treat patients regardless of their means or ability to pay for his services. “Most physicians now work for a hospital or for somebody else,” he says. “I don’t. I work for myself and for my patients. I take care of who I want to take care of and who I think needs my help. Serving my patients is what my whole life is about.” He is free to recommend to his patients what is best for them and not what is best for some corporation. Goldrick is completely unsurprised by this: “Blase was not just a player, he was a true leader. He is the embodiment of Marian Catholic’s motto, Scholars with a Soul.” Pignotti and his wife Judy Fagan Pignotti ’71 have five children and four grandchildren. His family is most important to him. Three years ago he was joined in his practice by his physician daughter Laura. 3