Here is coach O'malley's welcome to all:
2013 Schedule of Events: Turtlehead Lake
8:15—Boys High School Race
8:30—Girls High School Race
9:00—Alumni report to starting line (even if you aren’t running). Find your respective decade of graduation (or son/daughter’s graduation). Announcements of Graduation Eras.
9:15—Start of Alumni Race—Joe Geiger (class of ’90 and former boys CC and boys and girls track coach and current IHSA official) will be the official starter
10:00—noon -- grill out/social
10:45/11:00 (approx.)--team meeting with alumni speakers.
4:00--? Please join us at Mama Vesuvio’s in Palos Heights for drinks, food, music and stories.
6361 W College Dr Palos Heights, IL 60463 (708) 371-2500
I can remember my final Sandburg cross country race clearly. While I was preparing to compete and attempting to focus on the task at hand, I couldn’t help but recognize the significance of the moment. Minutes prior to the race I remember clearly Coach Frye running over to a big pack of girls who were also preparing for their final race and saying their motto: “Hurry Back.” It gave me the goose bumps. I’m not sure if he got that phrase from a famous college basketball coach lamenting on the simplistic art of coaching track (“turn left and hurry back”), but I got that it was much more complex than that coach’s definition. It meant that I should get my rear end back to the finish line as fast as I could. More importantly, it also meant that Sandburg Cross Country is a home and even though I was about to leave, the light would always be left on for my return. Of course, every high school runner eventually leaves. But Coach Frye and Carlson made it clear that we all should hurry back.
I’m glad you’ve all listened and made it back.
Since the time I’ve hurried back to Sandburg cross country, I’ve taken pride in attempting to uphold that caring environment where you feel a sense of family and the light is always on for you. I also have taken pride in challenging the boys to discover their greatness: to be tough, to be competitive, to work hard, to be a real teammate, and to be a decent person. While we’ve won 8 Conference titles in 10 years, qualified for state every year and placed in the top 12 six times since 2005… the thing I’ve tried to impart the most is that while trophies gather dust, decency and caring for others grows richer with time. I’m sure you’d agree. You likely don’t remember times and places as easily as you remember how you felt, and the most significantly, the people you spent all that time with.
At the same time, we expect to reach a level of excellence in our competitive pursuit with this particular group of runners. Our program has reached a level of cultural excellence and we anticipate reaching the highest level of Sandburg running in this season and the next two or three. We are ready to represent the uniform that you all made to be such a sense of pride. We hope you join us in our pursuit. A championship is a community effort. It’s not the effort of only seven people on a starting line. You are a part of that.
We hope you stay involved. Having alumni at meets and talk to our runners as they compete has been a powerful tool and motivator for our guys. They get great advice and they feel a part of something much bigger than themselves. Come to the starting line with us! Join us in our team huddle! Join our team grill outs! During the track season, especially, we’ll ask you to join the coaches after the meets to ‘hydrate’ appropriately and catch up. We’ve had alumni join us at the starting line at the state meet and were a part of our team huddles as Lukas Verzbicas ran his two state titles. Please join us as we make a run for the team state championship and be a huge part of that effort. Thanks to Tom Graves and Lukas and Bob Hicks, we’ve had an individual state championship a part of the tradition. We’d like to pluralize that soon.
Thank you for being a part of the Sandburg Cross Country family. We hope you enjoy catching up with old friends, teammates and coaches.
Coach John O’Malley (’97)
You have lots of ways to stay in touch and to keep up with our progress. Consider following any or all of the following. Our twitter account will give live updates. Our website/blog will feature meet results, recaps, stories, pictures etc. Our facebook account updates results and makes announcements as well. And we also have an e-mail list as well.
Twitter: @SandburgCC
Facebook: Sandburg Cross Country and Track
Website: http://sandburgrunners.weebly.com/
e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] We’ll add you to our e-mail newsletter
THANK YOU: I have to thank the following people for their commitment to the alumni event and for their continual support. Without them, there is no way this event would have been put together. If you get a chance, please thank any and all of these people for their Herculean efforts. Their care and dedication is overwhelming. They’ve spent many, many hours planning and coordinating. They’ve all made significant individual contributions that makes today possible and special.
Alumni Reunion Committee Members:
Tom Novak, Bob Hahn, Jeanne and Tom McMahon, Kevin and Jen Letz, Darlene Guzinski, Leslie Becker, Mike Keane, Dale Michalak, Dave Gavin and Matt Mangold.
I’d also like to thank:
Tom Crotty (grill master) for a very generous donation of food today and for manning the grilling efforts.
Rene Round, who organized the girls’ team efforts and contribution today. There is no way we could have put this together without Rene’s ability to organize and motivate. Thank you!!
I’d like to especially thank:
Bob Hahn (’81), who designed, organized and paid for the awesome race bib numbers today. He’s been a huge part of planning and organizing the reunion. He also contributes regularly to our website and has written some great stories. If you haven’t seen them, make sure you visit the website and check them out. Bob is a great writer and his dedication has been such a great contribution to the program. Once again, it’s people like Bob who make our team feel like a family and a tradition.
Tom Novak (’77). I can list hundreds of ways he has contributed to the team. Time, passion, money, caring, thoughtful coaching insights…he runs the website, he did the vast majority of the organizing for this reunion, he manages our alumni communication, he organizes meetings, he coaches the boys to a high level of expectation, he provides endless hours of commitment and gives me some great advice. Our program has taken a huge step forward because of him. //If// When we win state, he will be the first person I thank.
Matt Mangold (son Chris will graduate 2014) made a very large, generous donation to this event. Much of our food provided for everyone was made possible by Matt. Additionally, he is unbelievable in organizing, planning and devoting huge amounts of time and energy to the team. He is a master organizer. I can’t thank him enough for all that he does for our team, and especially today’s event.