#Throwback Thursday: Friars play smart

Editor’s note: In our second installment of Throwback Thursday, we take a look back at last year’s outstanding class of senior football players for Fenwick. Not only did they lead the Friars to a quarterfinals appearance in the Class 7A state playoffs, these players truly exemplified what it means to be a stellar student-athlete.

Fenwick football coach Gene Nudo is regarded as one of the brightest high school football minds in the Chicago area, but he may not be the smartest guy on his team’s sideline.

A whopping 17 of the 33 seniors on Fenwick’s current roster are members of the National Honor Society, which requires a 3.5 grade-point average and service projects for admittance.

“They’re all smarter than I am, so they keep me on my toes,” Nudo said. “It’s great. It just proves that in this day and age you can still be a student-athlete.

“Everybody seems so focused on one or the other. Our kids really strive for balance.”

Indeed, while many schools pay lip service to the concept of the scholar-athlete, the Friars make it a reality. While the team has been successful on the field in recent years and became playoff eligible last Friday by beating St. Ignatius 17-9 to improve to 5-2, sports are secondary to academics.

“Nudo makes it clear that we are scholar-athletes,” senior linebacker Michael Krecek said. “Our parents aren’t paying X amount of dollars for us to come to school to play football.

“This is a place of learning. It’s a place that’s meant to get us somewhere in life and Nudo makes that eminently clear. He has no hesitation about holding a player back from practice or a game because they’re not getting it done in the classroom, because he realizes that is the most important thing in our lives.”

The focus on academics started early in life for the Friars, with parental involvement and rigorous instruction in elementary school setting the stage for good study habits and a strong work ethic.

“I would say it definitely starts there,” Krecek said. “A lot of the kids come from private schools where they get excellent teaching in the Catholic tradition and that’s a big plus in promoting work. It definitely gets discipline in there.”

Many of the Friars have succeeded in multiple honors programs. Defensive back Ryan Pierson is a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist, scoring in the top 1.5 percent of the 1.4 million students who took last year’s qualifying exam.

Krecek, offensive linemen Jack Mackie, Peter Salvino and Tommy Penicook and receiver John Showel were National Merit Commended students who placed in the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students to took the PSAT last year. Salvino also scored a perfect 36 on the ACT.

All except Mackie are in the National Honor Society, as are linebackers John Doherty, Matt Bindon, Scott Stibich, Will Halleran and Austin Gharib, running backs Pat Donahue and John Mullen, offensive lineman Tim Havenaar, defensive lineman Brian O’Neill, defensive back Robert Klinke, kicker Michael Cahill, receiver Franklin Taylor and team manager Lucas Kotnik.

Several other seniors also excel in the classroom, including defensive lineman Harry Bell, whose 3.47 GPA was .03 short of the NHS cut.

“Everyone contributes,” Bell said. “It’s not like those [smart] kids are on the sidelines. They’re all playing. Bringing that smart level to football, it helps out a lot.”

Contrary to what some might believe, academic discipline does translate to football.

“Sure it does,” Nudo said. “It makes it a lot easier to coach a kid when you only have to tell him something once.”

Nudo never has to remind the Friars twice about hitting the books.

“Sometimes I feel like I really fight for the football balance of it, because they’re very diverse,” Nudo said. “Our kids are involved in religious retreats, different academic clubs, they’re traveling all over the country looking at schools, so I’m pleased with the football end of what they do.”

“I think we have a lot of very bright kids to begin with and then we prioritize very well at Fenwick, so like he said, school work is always the most important thing,” Pierson said. “People get their work done because if you don’t get your work done, you can’t play. Football is a privilege.”

Nudo and his staff check the players’ grades every week, but the players also police themselves, with the older boys holding their younger teammates accountable.

“Absolutely, whenever someone’s on the brink of ineligibility, the coaches are on them, everybody else is on them, teachers are on them,” Pierson said. “We usually don’t let it get to that point where they’re near ineligibility. We push kids to stay away from that and people do a good job of listening.”

Balancing school work with time-intensive sports like football means learning good time management skills. Krecek and Pierson are two players who know how tough that is as they also star for the baseball team.

“You’ve got to take advantage of every single moment that you have,” Krecek said. “A lot of us are in study hall together, we work together as best we can and figure out everything.”

Krecek and Pierson are in many of the same classes, something that is common among Fenwick football players.

“A lot of our teammates are in the same classes,” Krecek said. “You’re hardly in a class, even a high-level class, where you don’t have at least two or three other football players. It just shows the team’s dedication to get it done in the classroom and on the field.”

Most of the Friars will not be playing big-time college sports, but that was never their purpose for coming to Fenwick. Krecek and Pierson both want to attend Notre Dame and will find out by December whether they are accepted. It is unlikely they will continue their athletic careers.

“I like math and physics the best and I hope to [major in] engineering,” Pierson said. “[This] most likely [is his final season] but I will cherish every moment that I have and give my all.”

So will Krecek.

“Notre Dame [has been] my No. 1 choice since I was a really small kid,” Krecek said. “I might try to play baseball there. But like Pierson said, I’m loving it out here. If this is going to be my last time [playing sports], then so be it.”