One luminary leaves Stevenson, while another comes in

At Stevenson High School a transition is underway.

After 16 years as athletic director, Trish Betthauser’s last day will be June 30. She’ll help ease the way for her successor, current Glenbard East athletic director D’Wayne Bates.

The process will occur in Lincolnshire in the coming months with whatever scant free time they have.

“It’s a lot when you’re transitioning. Obviously, the first goal is to finish strong at Glenbard East,” said Bates, the former Northwestern University and NFL receiver in his 10th year at Glenbard East after three at LaSalle-Peru.

It’s a little bittersweet for Bates, who at Northwestern played with Stevenson graduates Faraji Leary and Matt O’Dwyer while setting Wildcats records for career receptions, reception yardage and receiving touchdowns.

“It is tough, because I’ve grown with Glenbard East and Glenbard East has grown on me and in me, too, to some extent,” said the 49-year-old Villa Park resident.

“At the same time, I have much respect for Stevenson, the opportunity there. It’s one of the few schools I would even consider I would leave Glenbard East for. Opportunity knocked and I answered,” Bates said.

Bates had dabbled in engineering and business at Northwestern but returned to his “life’s work,” education, instilled in him as a boy in Jackson, S.C.

A board member for both the Illinois High School Association and the National Federation of State High School Associations, Bates vows to “continue to make Stevenson a pillar” in athletics, he said.

Betthauser has been doing that as athletic director since 2009. In that time Patriots athletes have won 29 state championships and earned 86 state trophies. She will leave as the Illinois Athletic Directors Association Class 3A/4A Athletic Director of the Year.

A four-sport athlete who was the first inductee into her high school hall of fame in Tomah, Wis., Betthauser’s first job out of Wisconsin-Oshkosh came in 1994 at Stevenson.

Joining the staff of girls basketball coach Frank Mattucci, she tasted immediate success as Katie Coleman and the Catchings sisters, Tamika and Tauja, led the Patriots to the 1995 and 1996 Class AA titles.

“I've been so fortunate to have a front-row seat to observe the best coaches in the business. I hope that I have been able to provide them with helpful feedback and guidance, like I have seen them do with our athletes countless times,” Betthauser said.

“To create quality experiences for young people, it takes a combination of willing and hungry student-athletes, a supportive community, and knowledgeable and experienced coaches who feel empowered to set high standards within a caring and welcoming environment. During my time at Stevenson, we've been fortunate to have all of those things,” she said.

Betthauser said she simply needed a break from this all-encompassing job. She’d still like to use her leadership abilities in her next step, perhaps returning to coaching.

“I know I have so much more to give,” she said.

Starting with advice to Bates about running Patriots athletics.

“I think that he has amazing energy. I think that he’s an individual that when people leave a conversation with him they feel better than they did before — they feel like they were given attention and they feel important in that moment. And I think that means a lot when it comes to building relationships,” Betthauser said.

An original

For 41 years, from the fall of 1972 to the spring of 2013, when the phone rang in Wheaton North’s athletic department, Laura Howell answered.

The school’s first athletic secretary, a position now known as athletic director’s assistant, she was a joy to talk to — about Falcons athletics, about anything.

Born March 1, 1933, in Cooleemee, N.C., Howell died Feb. 25 at 91 years old.

“She was a staple,” said Wheaton North athletic director Matt Fisher, one of several ADs Howell worked for after she joined the late Jim Rexilius’ staff in fall 1972.

“She impacted more people than you can imagine. When all those grads came back the first person they’d come see would be Laura. It was amazing,” Fisher said.

“She was always interested in them and how they were doing at school or athletically, or beyond high school, what they did,” he said.

Services were held Wednesday in Mooresville, N.C., where Howell attended high school. Among those contributing tributes on her obituary page were Wheaton North coaches Tim McEvilly and Mike Oleszek.

Fisher recalled that when he arrived at Wheaton North on an interim basis in 2000, before taking over for the late Falcons athletic director Bill Neibch, Fisher asked Neibch what to expect from Howell.

“Bill’s advice was, just keep piling the work on her, she’ll get it done,” Fisher said.

No doubt she did it with a smile and a funny comment. R.I.P., Mrs. Howell.

Hoopsters unite

The third Fox Valley Basketball Reunion will be held Friday, starting at 1 p.m. at Pal Joey’s, 31 N. River St., Batavia.

Organized by retired hall of fame Batavia boys basketball coach Jim Roberts, the cost to attend is $10 to cover pizza and pop. There is a cash bar.

Last year’s reunion drew scores of former coaches and players. St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin, who at last year’s reunion caught up with his eighth-grade coach, Bill Olsen, called it “a highlight of the year.”

Along with a multitude of people hobnobbing in the bar area and restaurant, a side room had Batavia graduate Brian LaBoy recording messages from the likes of West Aurora’s Neal Ormond.

Upstairs podcasters interviewed a series of guests, including retired Elgin coaches Jim Harrington and Nick Bumbales.

“It goes beyond ‘Who won this or who won that,’ it’s a celebration of each other,” Roberts said at the 2024 reunion.

It’s last-minute, but if interested in attending email Roberts at jimroberts226@gmail.com.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com