Baseball titles leave lasting legacy
Schurz Bulldogs
Schurz is the Sun-Times' Spotlight School of the Week. Schurz, which is located on the North Side of Chicago, has won two state titles in baseball. Notable alumni include former Olympic boxer David Diaz, beauty authority Marilyn Miglin and Abram Nicholas Pritzker, the founder of the Pritzker family business empire.
TOP SPORTS MOMENTS
(Al Podgorski/Sun-Times)
Location: 3601 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Conference: Chicago Public League
Colors: Gold and purple
Nickname: Bulldogs
Enrollment: 2,500
State titles: Baseball (1955, 1969)
Behind the name: Civil War general, political reformer Carl Schurz
State champs!
1 Schurz won its first state title as coach Gene Nowak's 1955 baseball team (22-4), led by SS Casey Barszcz, swept Anna-Jonesboro 11-1, Joliet 4-2 and North Chicago 2-1. Barszcz was joined on the all-tourney team by 2B Wally Mortenson, C Roger Jenne and P Jim Hansen (15-0), who won the quarterfinal and final. Others included 1B Bob Werner and P-OF Alan Otto. State champs again!
2 Coach Cliff Pierce's 1969 baseball team (28-8), led by P/OF Bob Dekas, the tournament MVP, SS/P Jeff Conrad, P/1B Tom Warden, P/OF Bob Nelson and 2B Kenny Gilard, beat Pekin 6-3 for the state title. Earlier, the Bulldogs ousted Newton 4-3 in 12 innings and Gilard pulled off an unassisted triple play to close a 4-3 victory over Highland Park in the semis.
Public League kingpin
3 In 1984, Pierce's Bulldogs (23-12-1) outslugged a Simeon team that included four major league draft choices to win the Public League title 12-11 at Wrigley Field. Center fielder Brian Smock hit a triple and two-run homer. Other standouts were P/C Bobby Maize, P/C Joe Ramirez, SS Tito Rivera and 2B Marty Rodriguez. They lost to Taylorville in the state quarterfinals.
Prep Bowl winner
4 In 1949, before a crowd of 57,726 at Soldier Field, coach Fred O'Keefe guided Schurz (11-1) to a 20-7 victory over a previously unbeaten Fenwick team that featured Johnny Lattner. Ken Swienton ran for two touchdowns while Bob Fudala broke a 60-yarder for another. Fumble recoveries by Ron Francis and Dick Yirkosky set up Schurz' last two scores.
State runnerup
5 Coach Gus Pappas' 1977 boys soccer team (18-6-2) won the Public League crown and went on to finish second in the state tournament, losing to perennial state power Granite City South 6-1. The team, with a mixture of Hispanic, Greek and Polish players, was led by Billy Drozd, one of the best players in the state. He later was drafted by the Chicago Sting.
WHAT SCHURZ MEANS TO ME
By David Diaz: Former Olympian and three-time Golden Gloves champ, he is the WBC lightweight boxing champion and fights Manny Pacquaio June 28 in Las Vegas.
Graduating from Schurz was a great accomplishment, something I was proud of. And my family was very proud of me, too. I have three brothers and four sisters and I was the first member of our family to graduate high school.
I'm not sure but, at 31, I think I'm the youngest person to be inducted into Schurz' Sports Hall of Fame. I was so flattered and humbled. I never expected anything like that. It shows that hard work pays off. I put in a lot of work and I'm grateful for the year I spent there. I regret not going there for all four years.
At Schurz, the teachers cared about you and pushed you to learn and encouraged you to succeed ... teachers like Mr. K and Cliff Pierce and Mrs. Beck and Mr. Slattery. And my principal, Dr. Bender, and the current principal, Mary Ann Folino. I owe so much to all of them.
Mr. K ran the mechanic shop. He used to work on Ferraris. He taught me the basics. It was one of my favorite subjects. Cliff Pierce, the baseball coach, said I was one of the best athletes he ever had in physical education testing. He pushed us. He had us do situps and pushups. He knew I was a boxer so he pushed me. He knew to do well in the classroom that we had to have strong body.
Mrs. Beck, my English teacher, didn't take no for an answer when you tried to make excuses. She said: "Pay attention. It will only benefit you later in life." And Mr. Slattery, my social studies teacher, made history interesting and fun. You wanted to learn more from him. Dr. Bender understood that sometimes I had to get out of school early to participate in my boxing program. "If that is something you want to do, go ahead and achieve it," she told me.
I have a sense of pride everywhere I go. In Las Vegas, when someone asks where I'm from, I say "Chicago." Then they ask where I went to high school. "I'm a Schurz Bulldog," I tell them. Everyone knows where I came from.
NOTABLE ALUMNI
* Sybil Bauer: Olympic gold-medal winning backstroke swimmer.
* Bob Dekas: Coordinating producer, CBS Sports, NCAA Basketball.
* David Diaz: WBC lightweight boxing champion.
* Bruce Dumont: Founder, Museum of Broadcast Communications.
* Vincent duVigneaud: 1955 Nobel Prize, chemistry.
* Herman Kogan: Journalist, historian, author.
* Harry M. Markowitz: 1990 Nobel Prize, economics.
* Terry McCann: Olympic gold-medal winning freestyle wrestler, founder of the U.S. Wrestling Federation.
* William Harrison McFetridge: President, U.S. Foundation for International Scouting.
* Marilyn Miglin: Beauty authority.
* William S. Paley: Founder and chairman, CBS.
* Abram Nicholas Pritzker: Founder of family business empire.
* Gloria "Tippy" Schweigerdt: Member, Baseball Hall of Fame; Played in the All-American Girls League.
* Don Stonesifer: All-America football player at Northwestern and professional football player.
* Gene Sullivan: DePaul athletic director and Loyola basketball coach.
* Zena Karras Sutherland: Children's book reviewer, author and editor.
