The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com • Wednesday, April 22, 2015
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PREP SPORTS
Prunty approved as new Lockport AD By CURT HERRON cherron@shawmedia.com After retiring last summer as athletic director at Chicago’s Saint Ignatius College Prep, Jim Prunty looked forward to beginning a new chapter in his life. So his 39th year in coaching saw him take on full-time assistant duties with the University of Chicago men’s basketball program, where he had served part time for eight years. But his absence from high school athletics proved to be brief, as the longtime coach and administrator in the Chicago Catholic League decided that he wasn’t ready to retire yet. He applied for the open position at Lockport, and on Monday the District 205 Board of Education approved Prunty
to succeed Brian Goff as the school’s new athletic director. “It was very rewarding, and I enjoyed it a lot; but about halfway through the year, I decided that I wasn’t ready to retire yet,” Prunty said. “So I looked to see if something good came up, and the Lockport job was exactly that. A school like Lockport has such a good reputation in so many areas. I’m excited for the opportunity and Jim Prunty really looking forward to it.” Prunty served in a variety of roles early on during his 15 years at St. Rita. He was head basketball coach for 13 years and was head baseball coach and a golf coach, serving in each position for 10 or more years. He also spent three
years on the football staff and 10 years as the assistant athletic director. During his last 11 years at the south side Chicago school, which concluded in 1996, he was a member of the athletic program along with head football coach Todd Wernet, who is now the superintendent at Lockport. After coaching boys basketball at Minooka in 1996-97, he held the same position at York for three seasons. Then in 2000, he began a 14-year stint as athletic director at Saint Ignatius, overseeing a transformation of the school’s athletic facilities and programs. “Saint Ignatius is a great school, and I loved my 14 years there, and I’m proud of the achievements that we made in athletics,” Prunty said. “We put in a turf field, reinstated football, and added boys and
“A school like Lockport has such a good reputation in so many areas. I’m excited for the opportunity and really looking forward to it.” Jim Prunty New athletic director at Lockport girls lacrosse and girls field hockey and freshman baseball. We brought in some really good coaches, and our teams did very well.” Besides serving as the longtime president of the Chicago Catholic League, Prunty was the representative for Chicago for the Illinois Athletic Directors Association. He served for nine years on the IHSA
Legislative Commission and has been on the board of directors for the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association. Prunty also was inducted into the Chicago Catholic League Coaches Association, Girls Catholic Athletic Conference and the IBCA halls of fame. The new athletic director officially begins his duties July 1 but plans to begin meeting with coaches, athletes and parents before that to create a smooth transition. “I’m aware of the great support that the community has shown and how it wants to have a successful athletic program, so it’s great to come into an environment like that,” Prunty said. “I’m happy to be coming to a school with a foundation like Lockport has, and I just hope to keep moving the program forward.”
USF’s Quigley to coach U16 national team
St. Louis promotes Lincoln-Way East grad Dean Anna to the big leagues Of this and that: Congratulations go out to University of St. Francis women’s basketball coach Samantha Quigley, who has been selected as an assistant coach for the USA Basketball Women’s U16 National Team. “It certainly means a lot,” Quigley said in a news release from the school. “Representing our country through a great game is something special, and I am certainly looking forward to it. USA Basketball has been something I have watched all of my life, and to be a part of it truly is a dream come true.” Quigley, who served as a coach at a USA Basketball regional skills development camp in October, recently completed her third season at St. Francis. She led the Saints to a 17-15 record, including a 12-5 mark in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play. Quigley and Thomas Edison (Virginia) High School girls basketball coach Dianne
VIEWS Dick Goss Lewis will serve as assistants to Dori Oldaker, who coaches at Mt. Lebanon (Pennsylvania) High School. The trio will lead the USA at the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship on June 24-28 in Puebla, Mexico. Can’t speak for all three, but USA Basketball made an excellent choice in Quigley.
ANNA A CARDINAL
In Tuesday’s column, I discussed how local baseball players are doing early this season in the minor leagues. One important item I had missed was that the St. Louis Cardinals called up utility infielder Dean Anna (Lincoln-Way East) over the weekend. Anna was playing shortstop regularly and hitting .414 at Triple-A Memphis when the
call came. He made his major league debut last April with the Yankees, where he went 3 for 22. Entering Tuesday night, he had not gotten an at-bat with the Cardinals as yet. His role with St. Louis probably will be as a super utility player capable of providing late-inning defense at virtually any position, pinch-running or pinch-hitting.
HOLLENBECK AT WEST
FOLTYNEWICZ’S 3-HITTER
The popular opinion has been that Bolingbrook linebacker Tuf Borland, who will be a senior in the fall, would commit to Wisconsin, where his father, Kyle, played his college football. However, that’s not the way it happened. Borland has committed instead to coach Urban Meyer and national champion Ohio State. He pencils in as an outside linebacker for the Buckeyes, although inside linebacker is a possibility. Borland will continue the parade of Raiders who are playing at a high level in
Mike Foltynewicz (Minooka) pitched a game Monday night for Triple-A Gwinnett that indicates he will be ready whenever the Atlanta Braves give him the call. Even though Gwinnett dropped a 1-0 decision to Norfolk, Foltynewicz threw a complete game with 105 pitches. He allowed three hits and one walk in eight innings while striking out nine. Foltynewicz is 0-2 but with a 1.62 ERA. In 162⁄3 innings, he has allowed 11 hits and seven walks while striking out 21.
Former Joliet Township catcher Mike Hollenbeck, who played at Illinois State and had been toiling in the White Sox organization, has retired from playing because of injuries. He joined coach John Karczewski’s coaching staff at Joliet West last week. “He will be a big help,” Karczewski said.
BORLAND TO OHIO STATE
college after starring in coach John Ivlow’s program. For example, Robbie Bain is a defensive lineman at Illinois, Antonio Morrison is a linebacker at Florida, and Aaron Bailey is a quarterback at Northern Iowa after transferring from Illinois.
TORRES DECOMMITS
Bolingbrook 6-foot-9 senior center Julian Torres, a key factor in the Raiders’ march to a third-place finish in the Class 4A boys state basketball tournament, had committed earlier to Wisconsin-Green Bay. However, after coach Brian Wardle was hired in late March as the new coach at Bradley, Torres received his release from Green Bay. Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said Torres is considering Bradley and UIC, among others, and added, “It is changing by the day.”
• Dick Goss can be reached at dgoss@shawmedia.com.