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Sharing Some Hilltopper History

penlight

penlight

Well-Known Member
May 29, 2001
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Joliet
Being State Championship Week and our boys battling for a championship on Saturday morning, this piece is floating around the Hilltopper community. Sharing it with Edgy Nation seemed appropriate.

Titled Joliet Catholic Academy 100 Years of Football, this video was produced by alumnus Derek Matichak a few years ago. Former players, coaches, media and a Team Chaplin contribute. I tried to capture each of the contributors name and hope I included all: Francis Ruettiger, Max Ziesmer, Lee Sicinski, Billy McKeon, Kenny Aguire, Josh Ferguson, Mike Van Tassel, Tom Carbery, John Manner, Dale O’Connell, Rick Thayer, Larry McKeon, John Lausch, Gordie Gillespie, Mike Liederman - NBC Channel 5, Larry Ryan – WJOL game audio, Mike Kolodziej, Mark Kruger & Tom Bonen - AT&T Game of The Week, Dan Sharp, Lou Canellis – CLTV, Bob Sakamoto – CLTV, Joe Benson, Fr. Ray Foster, The Hilltopper Football Team, Current Head Coach Jake Jaworski narrates the closing address

 
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penlight said:
Being a man the law and impeccable integrity, the 35 mile distance from home to school falls out of the IHSA rules. ;)
Seriously, I will defer to some of his teammates or John himself on that.
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I believe if a parent is an alum, the 30 mile rule does not exist.

That said, it doesn't make much sense to spend 5 plus hours of your week commuting when there are very similar educational institutions available in much more manageable driving distance and where you know some of the incoming freshmen.

Even if you wanted to commute from Chicago to Joliet, as a freshman, the family member who drives the student then has to stay in Joliet for 7-10 hours until pickup or commute all the way back to Chicago or somewhere to work and then back to Joliet. That is a lot of driving...Perhaps four hours per day in the car for the driving adult. Just not reasonable by any stretch.

Really the question is more why did he choose Rice over Rita, MC, or Marist or any other school within reasonable driving distance. As a Carmelite school, I would have assumed MC would have the inside lane for the child of a Joliet Catholic alum. Lots of connections between the schools with individuals over the years. That said, each 8th grader obviously has to make the best decision for themselves. And sometimes the cafeteria food, driving distance, girlfriends, or school colors are enough to sway a 13 year old.
 
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epicbret said:
This is how you win titles, have a program with this level of commitment and pride.

Nobody can accuse JCA of not putting in the work once the kids potentially drive 29.8 miles. You cannot just show up. It's all earned with the Hilltoppers.
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It's the 29.8 mile drive for me.
 
The 30 mile rule applies to everybody. There is no exception for children of alums. Nor should there be.

John Lausch and his son had many excellent options available to them when choosing a high school. They chose one of those excellent options. I am not going to question their thought processes.
 
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SUNDOWN said:
The 30 mile rule applies to everybody. There is no exception for children of alums. Nor should there be.

John Lausch and his son had many excellent options available to them when choosing a high school. They chose one of those excellent options. I am not going to question their thought processes.
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3.032.3 They reside full time with their parents, custodial parent or guardian appointed by a judge of a court havingproper jurisdiction, and attend the private member school attended by one or both of their parents; or3.032.4 They reside full time with their parents, custodial parent or guardian appointed by a judge of a court havingproper jurisdiction, in a residence located within a thirty (30) mile radius of the private member school theyattend.

These are just a few of the ways you can be eligible to participate. This is taken from IHSA bylaws. So the 30 mile limit does not apply to children of alums. However, as I was stating, this doesn't really matter much as anyone who lives over 30 miles away is almost certainly entertaining a closer educational choice.

If you are over 30 miles away, you are almost certainly attending by yourself without any neighborhood friends. So your family is on the hook to drive a car to and from the school twice (4 total 30+ mile trips each day) daily during at least the student's frosh and part of soph year. It would make for a miserable lifestyle and just doesn't happen often. Especially if there are closer options available. I suppose it is a little more manageable in a place with public transit where the family only needs to commit to a round trip each day and not TWO round trips each day in a car dependent suburb.
 
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JCHillmen said:
3.032.3 They reside full time with their parents, custodial parent or guardian appointed by a judge of a court havingproper jurisdiction, and attend the private member school attended by one or both of their parents; or3.032.4 They reside full time with their parents, custodial parent or guardian appointed by a judge of a court havingproper jurisdiction, in a residence located within a thirty (30) mile radius of the private member school theyattend.

These are just a few of the ways you can be eligible to participate. This is taken from IHSA bylaws. So the 30 mile limit does not apply to children of alums. However, as I was stating, this doesn't really matter much as anyone who lives over 30 miles away is almost certainly entertaining a closer educational choice.

If you are over 30 miles away, you are almost certainly attending by yourself without any neighborhood friends. So your family is on the hook to drive a car to and from the school twice (4 total 30+ mile trips each day) daily during at least the student's frosh and part of soph year. It would make for a miserable lifestyle and just doesn't happen often. Especially if there are closer options available. I suppose it is a little more manageable in a place with public transit where the family only needs to commit to a round trip each day and not TWO round trips each day in a car dependent suburb.
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That would be tough.
Several kids my sons age started like that a few years ago and a couple ended up finishing at the local public school.
In their instances I think the commute combined with the realization that they probably weren’t going to go “Pro” finally killed it.
 
JCHillmen said:
I believe if a parent is an alum, the 30 mile rule does not exist.

That said, it doesn't make much sense to spend 5 plus hours of your week commuting when there are very similar educational institutions available in much more manageable driving distance and where you know some of the incoming freshmen.

Even if you wanted to commute from Chicago to Joliet, as a freshman, the family member who drives the student then has to stay in Joliet for 7-10 hours until pickup or commute all the way back to Chicago or somewhere to work and then back to Joliet. That is a lot of driving...Perhaps four hours per day in the car for the driving adult. Just not reasonable by any stretch.

Really the question is more why did he choose Rice over Rita, MC, or Marist or any other school within reasonable driving distance. As a Carmelite school, I would have assumed MC would have the inside lane for the child of a Joliet Catholic alum. Lots of connections between the schools with individuals over the years. That said, each 8th grader obviously has to make the best decision for themselves. And sometimes the cafeteria food, driving distance, girlfriends, or school colors are enough to sway a 13 year old.
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Metra Rock Island District
 
John Lausch Sr. raised his family in Beverly. He wasn't the kind of guy who would have forced Jack to attend Joliet when all of Jack's buddies were going to Rice, Rita, or Marist.
 
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If MC wins and JCA loses, these two teams will be tied in total number of championships at 15. If Naz wins, I'll drop a c-note in the collection box.
 
JCHillmen said:
I believe if a parent is an alum, the 30 mile rule does not exist.

That said, it doesn't make much sense to spend 5 plus hours of your week commuting when there are very similar educational institutions available in much more manageable driving distance and where you know some of the incoming freshmen.

Even if you wanted to commute from Chicago to Joliet, as a freshman, the family member who drives the student then has to stay in Joliet for 7-10 hours until pickup or commute all the way back to Chicago or somewhere to work and then back to Joliet. That is a lot of driving...Perhaps four hours per day in the car for the driving adult. Just not reasonable by any stretch.

Really the question is more why did he choose Rice over Rita, MC, or Marist or any other school within reasonable driving distance. As a Carmelite school, I would have assumed MC would have the inside lane for the child of a Joliet Catholic alum. Lots of connections between the schools with individuals over the years. That said, each 8th grader obviously has to make the best decision for themselves. And sometimes the cafeteria food, driving distance, girlfriends, or school colors are enough to sway a 13 year old.
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BR was the best fit for him. When he tested at BR, Lenti was at MC and they were running the veer and he wasn’t interested in being a QB in that offense. Even after Lynch replaced him and opened up the offense more, Justin Lynch was only a year ahead of him he knew he would have the keys to car, at BR he had a chance to play QB for 3 years on Varsity, which he pretty much did. Baseball also played a part. He’s a great young man and his family and have always been respectful to MC, BR was just the right fit for his situation. JCA also had their friend Voss at QB and he was perfect for that offense.
 
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LTHSALUM76 said:
Don't care much about JCA football. However, you have to admit, this is very impressive and the video is extremely well done. Very professional. A ton of good things in there. Not just the game video. But especially the dialog. This is what it's all about. Again, very well done. 👍👍
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Great video
 
McCaravan said:
BR was the best fit for him. When he tested at BR, Lenti was at MC and they were running the veer and he wasn’t interested in being a QB in that offense. Even after Lynch replaced him and opened up the offense more, Justin Lynch was only a year ahead of him he knew he would have the keys to car, at BR he had a chance to play QB for 3 years on Varsity, which he pretty much did. Baseball also played a part. He’s a great young man and his family and have always been respectful to MC, BR was just the right fit for his situation. JCA also had their friend Voss at QB and he was perfect for that offense.
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Badke/Lausch relationship had a lot to do with Jack going to BR
Badke played for Gordie at USF so there was that connection.
 
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