Coaching and dentistry a family affair for father-son duo
Father-and-son duo Darryl and Ryan Skale have created a Northbrook legacy in and out of the office as dentists and coaches.
Darryl Skale purchased and expanded an existing dental practice in 1984, Skale Dental Professionals in Northbrook, where Ryan Skale now is a second-generation practitioner.
They, aided by Ryan's sister, Mollie Skale, a hygienist at the family practice, fix smiles while simultaneously having helped thousands of young athletes as coaches.
"I've coached virtually every sport in Northbrook, and both genders. At one point I felt like I had coached almost everyone in the town of Northbrook," said Darryl Skale, a 2004 inductee into the Northbrook Park District Volunteer Hall of Fame.
Filling a void in the local soccer scene, Darryl Skale helped start a girls travel program in 1989 when sisters Mollie and Nikki, now a teacher in Buffalo Grove, sought more competitive outlets.
The program evolved into Spartan FC, an affiliate program of the Northbrook Park District, in 2008. Darryl Skale's last year as president was 2013.
"People knew him more as Coach Skale than Dr. Skale," Ryan said.
Walking in his father's footsteps, Ryan purchased Skale Dental from his father on Jan. 1, 2021, and in 2022 became president of Spartan FC.
"The beauty of me taking over (Skale Dental) is it really enabled him to come into the office and work with patients and not have to worry about anything else," Ryan Skale said.
In 2021, the Incisal Edge dental trade publication named Ryan Skale among its top 40 dentists under 40. Outside the office, in 2019, Ryan Skale was voted the Northbrook Park District's volunteer coach of the year for his work in soccer, lacrosse and basketball.
Ryan, Mollie and Nikki all graduated from Glenbrook North between 2000-2005 and live in Northbrook with their combined seven children. Mollie now coaches her own daughter in park district soccer.
Their mother, Debi, is the retired supervisor of the hematology laboratory at Evanston Hospital. Even more than his father, his mother influenced Ryan Skale to go into science and health care, he said.
But like his father, he graduated from the Ohio State University dental school. He joined Skale Dental in 2009 following a year in residency at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Florida.
The Skales now are serving the grandchildren of Darryl's original patients.
"These people are like family," said Darryl Skale, who at 71 continues to see patients four days a week, other than a couple winter months with Debi in Naples, Florida. "I'm seeing fourth- and fifth-generation patients. It's nice, I look forward to going to work each day."
After parts of four decades in Northbrook soccer, Darryl Skale slid right into lacrosse, which he played at Ohio State. He helped start a park district program around 2003, when Ryan's son, Eli, was 3.
Darryl Skale also has been Justin Georgacakis' boys varsity lacrosse assistant the past 16 years.
Ryan Skale and Georgacakis played youth soccer and lacrosse at Glenbrook North - coached by Darryl Skale. When Georgacakis was named head coach in 2007 he asked the elder Skale to join him. It was an easy fit.
Ryan Skale said father-child acts in dentistry are not unique.
"There are a lot of legacy practices," he said. "And to have my sister alongside as we continue to grow and build and affect more people's lives in a positive way, it's the best part of being a dentist - and of volunteering as a coach or the founder of a program."
This apple did not fall far from the tree.
"Ryan would always say, 'Dad, I'm not going to get involved with coaching like you,'" Darryl Skale said. "And here he is, president of the soccer board, coaching youth lacrosse, coaching youth baseball. He's just as involved as I ever was."