‘Edgy Tim’ is a fitting recipient of the Ray Eliot Award
There is arguably no individual who has done more to promote Illinois high school football than “Edgy” Tim O’Halloran.
Kudos to the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association for honoring him with the 2025 Ray Eliot Award, which recognizes those who have made valuable contributions to Illinois prep football.
The IHSFCA on Tuesday announced recipients of the Eliot Award and its 2025 hall of fame class, which includes Glen Ellyn resident Lee Maciejewski. We’ll get to him.
Established in 1978, one year after the IHSFCA Hall of Fame, the Eliot Award generally goes to coaches other than the rare choice of, say, President Ronald Reagan as an honorary selection in 1981.
This makes it more special for O’Halloran, 60, of Channahon. For 30 years he has been publishing football stories, the majority of his career for Rivals.com, as well as hosting a radio show on WJOL in Joliet, making numerous television appearances, and writing for publications such as this one.
“I don’t do what I do to win awards, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t flattered and humbled to be honored,” said O’Halloran, who has more than 62,000 followers on X.
“The fact that it comes from the Coaches Association says something, they generally honor their own and not too many people outside of that coaching fraternity.
“I’ve spent a lot of time talking with coaches and working with coaches. I couldn’t do what I do without them, so it’s a really nice feeling,” O’Halloran said.
A Thornton Fractional North graduate who studied radio and television broadcasting at Southern Illinois University, O’Halloran hosts two annual football camps that draw prospects from throughout the Midwest, and compiles the Red Grange All-County Team for DuPage players.
He won a 2003 Midwest Emmy with two other nominations for “Preps Xtra” on WBBM-TV.
Married 30 years to his wife, Denise, O’Halloran overcame a health scare that required a 2012 kidney transplant. His brother-in-law, Michael Militello, stepped in as donor.
“It definitely rocked my world, but it kind of was a warning shot and kind of eye-opening, that I better take care of myself,” he said.
“Knock on wood, I’m doing really well.”
O’Halloran has no off-season. He was up at 6 a.m. Wednesday to seize the day.
“My goal from Day 1 was to bring more coverage, more exposure to high school football. That and the fact that for me it’s always been a statewide deal, not just an area deal,” he said.
“As a state I think we have a lot more in common than people realize and hopefully I’ve been able to bring that spotlight to all of the state and not just one area. I’m proud of the amount of miles and time I put into it,” he said.
The trifecta
Among the 2025 IHSFCA Hall of Fame class, the March 29 ceremony will be Lee Maciejewski’s third hall of fame induction following a 2008 Illinois Coaches Association honor for softball, and his 2021 Illinois Basketball Coaches Association induction.
Maciejewski, 76, a Milwaukee native, has coached at least two sports every school year since 1976. He coached football, boys basketball and softball annually from 1978-2022.
Included on the coaches honor roll for the 100th anniversary of the West Suburban Conference, Maciejewski said there were football weekends when he would assist at both Glenbard West and Wisconsin Dells high schools. He and Nora, his wife of 54 years, had a home in the Dells.
“Forty-nine years coaching football is a long time, and I’m sure it’s a longevity award,” Lee Maciejewski said of the IHSFCA honor, ignoring his hand in Glenbard West’s 1983 Class 5A football title.
“It’s an award I share with my family. You can’t coach 49 years without the support of a good wife and kids that grew up well and understand the dynamics of being in a coaching family,” he said.
Two of his children, Annie and David, coached alongside him, while daughter Laura is married to Mike Hofland, a varsity assistant for Glenbard West football and boys basketball.
Maciejewski currently is a varsity assistant with the Downers Grove North boys basketball team. In football he was a lifelong assistant for such hall of famers as Glenbard West’s Jim Covert and, at Lisle, Paul Parpet Sr.
That is, until Maciejewski became Westmont’s head football coach in 2023. Entrusted to resurrect a program that had fallen to 14 players the previous year, he’s stocked his staff with people who, like himself, do things the right way.
“You coach with people you care about, who care about you, and who have a joy of coaching. I still do,” he said.
It happens every fall
Well, maybe not every fall, but for the past two years at least one Vernon Hills boy has bowled a 300 game.
On Dec. 7 at the Cougar Classic at Bowlero in Vernon Hills, sophomore Scott Wolfe started with a 300 in his first game. He rolled a 278 in his third game on the way to a six-game series of 1381, a strong head start toward the Cougars’ Classic title.
Wolfe’s first three games toppled 786 pins, fourth in program history. He became the sixth Vernon Hills boy to bowl a 300 game under coach Bill Spigner. Wolfe bowled two other perfect games at Lakeside Recreation Center in Mundelein before the season started, Spigner said.
Last year two Vernon Hills seniors bowled a 300. C.J. Mendoza rolled a perfecto Nov. 16, 2023, in a varsity contest against Evanston. Last Dec. 14, Grant Osharow bowled a 300 game in junior varsity competition against Niles North.
Mendoza currently is bowling at the College of Lake County, and Osharow at Illinois State University.
Update
Downers Grove North junior Philip Cupial finished 10th at the boys Foot Locker Cross Country National Finals Dec. 14 in San Diego.
With that finish, Cupial earned All-America status.
In the first Foot Locker Nationals appearance by a Downers North boy, Cupial’s time of 15 minutes, 46.8 seconds was about 23 seconds behind meet winner Tam Gavenas of Andover, Mass.
New Trier’s Ben Crane, the boys Class 3A state cross country winner, finished sixth at 15:42.4. The only Illinoisan in the girls’ Foot Locker Finals was Tuscola junior Kate Foltz, in 16th place at 18:20.1.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com