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Who were the 10 best high school football players produced in the Chicago area you ever saw who never made it to the NFL?
Let's not consider the 1930s and 1940s because the NFL was in its infancy and the salaries were so minimal that many college players opted to pump gas or flip hamburgers rather than get their brains beat out for what amounted to meal money in professional football.
My choices (in alphabetical order)?
Jack Bastable, Jon Beutjer, Quinn Buckner, Jim DiLullo, Howard Jones, Billy Marek, Tim Marshall, Jon Schweighardt, LaMarr Thomas, Homer Thurman.
Jack Bastable, Wheeling, DB, 1968: One of the most versatile athletes ever produced in Illinois. He played three sports in high school and two at Missouri, then played professional baseball. At 58, he plays tennis at the Masters level against players 10 to 15 years younger than he is.
Tim Beutjer, Wheaton Warrenville South, QB, 1998: He set a then national record with 60 touchdown passes while leading WWS to a 14-0 record and a state championship in 1998. But he never found his niche in college.
Quinn Buckner, Thornridge, 1972: As a junior and senior, he was an All-Stater in football and basketball. He also was Player of the Year in football and basketball. He played football at Indiana, then was forced to drop the sport to concentrate on basketball. He captained Indiana's 1976 NCAA championship team and played for nine years in the NBA.
Jim DiLullo, Fenwick, RB, 1962: In the 1962 Prep Bowl, before a crowd of 91,328 in Soldier Field, he rushed 12 times for 224 yards and scored five touchdowns as Fenwick trounced Schurz 40-0. He scored on runs of 4, 14, 6, 97 and 70 yards to cap the greatest single performance in the history of the all-city event. He went to Notre Dame but never played because of injuries.
Howard Jones, Evanston, RB, 1972: Evanston coach Murney Lazier said Jones was the greatest football player he ever coached. He was an All-Stater as a sophomore and senior but missed the 1971 season because of an injury. Ironically, the 1971 team was the best Lazier ever produced. Jones also was a three-time state champion in the 100 and 220-yard dash events. He never played in college because of poor grades.
Billy Marek, St. Rita, RB, 1971: Marek and tackle Dennis Lick, who later played for the Chicago Bears, were the leaders of coach Pat Cronin's 1970 and 1971 powerhouses. The 1971 team is rated among the top five in state history. Marek and Lick went to Wisconsin. Marek finished as one of the school's all-time leading rushers but he was labeled too small and too slow for the NFL.
Tim Marshall, Weber, DL, 1979: He was Player of the Year in the Chicago area in 1979 and regarded as one of the leading defensive linemen in the nation. Legend has it that O.J. Simpson called him during halftime of the Rose Bowl game to personally recruit him. Marshall chose Notre Dame but injuries slowed his career.
Jon Schweighardt, Wheaton Warrenville South, WR, 1998: Schweighardt and quarterback Tim Beutjer teammed up to form the most devastating passing combination in state history. Schweighardt also was a state champion in the 330 intermediate hurdles. He had a successful career at Northwestern but was said to be too small and not fast enough for the NFL.
LaMarr Thomas, Thornton, RB, 1965: One of the most outstanding all-around athletes in state history. Quinn Buckner idolized him. Thomas was an All-State running back for a 9-0 team in 1965 and led Thornton to the 1966 state basketball championship. He was recruited to play football for Duffy Daugherty at Michigan State but injuries and personal problems prevented him from reaching his potential.
Homer Thurman, Bloom, E, 1959: Few people outside the south suburbs remember Thurman, who was an All-Stater in football and basketball and a state champion in track and field during Bloom's golden years of the 1950s. He was ineligible to play in college because of poor grades. He went to California and disappeared.
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How can you include athletes who had professional careers in other sports and say that they did not make it. Quinn Buckner won a Gold Medal, played on an undefeated college team, and won a professional title.
You must have never seen Alvin Ross of West Aurora(running back) in the 80's
I think you mean Dennis Lick.
Where did Howard Jones go to college? Amazing that a school would actually sit a guy for academics ... time have changed!
You missed out on Norman Jackson a running back from the 1985 Blue Island Eisenhower SICA East Champs. Norman Jackson, rushed for approximately 2,000 yards that year and received accolades for that season by being named Player of the year in the SICA East, Champaign News Gazette Player of the Year and should have been the Chicago Sun Times Player of the Year for 1985 over John Foley of St. Rita.
MARTY MURRAY FROM PHILLIPS HIGH SCHOOL WAS A THREE SPORT STANDOUT FOR CARL BONNER, HERB BROWN AND THE BASEBALL COACH, A GREAT ATHLETE BACK IN THE DAY, HE LED PHILLIPS TO THE CITY CHAMPIONSHIP IN FOOTBALL, THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP IN BASKETBALL AND PLAYED CATCHER ON THE BASEBALL TEAM, A NATURAL BORN LEADER, THE YOUNGER BROTHER OF LARRY MURRAY!
Paul Glonek from St Laurence. By far the most talented Defensive lineman the sate has produced. Jeff Pearson on o-line at STL would be second.
Marshall was a monster @ Weber. He got screwed over by The Jerry Faust experiment.
Illinois prep football-is good.
BUT IT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PREP FOOTBALL-BY A WIDE MARGIN-THEN INCLUDE NOR CALIF-EXPEDENTIALLY-LIGHT YEARS-IN COMAPARISON!
DE LA SALLE-WON 152 STRAIGHT GAMES BEFORE LOSING A GAME!!!!
Hubert Thompson was the most advanced highschool football player that I have ever seen.
As a senior nose guard at Ridgewood High School, I considered myself to be very good at my position. I played against Tim Marshall as he was a sophmore center on the varsity. He manhandled me the whole game.
Anthony Lalowski was an exceptional stand out all catholic de in 78 Actually he and Marshal played together at Weber. Him a senior Marshal a junior.
Actually, I saw Weber h.s. Tim Marshall at DT, and Tony Lalowski at DE, own Gordon Techs QB Jim LaPalermo, at Hansen Stadium on a cold rainy Saturday night in 1978.Taylor Bells interview with Weber coach Jim Hoffman after the game quoted "Lalowski was all over their kid until he tired, he's sick with the flu" I would love to see the archival article on that. Those two as a team were awsome.
Andre --- Gordon Tech won the "Polish Rose Bowl" Weber game my senior year 1982 easily ..24 - 10. We kicked Weber HS ASS all over Hanson Staduim the entire game ... I ran for a touchdown and threw two scores. Your memory is off the mark here. The Red Horde fell apart second half.
Andre -- We kicked Weber's Red Horde's ASS up and down Hanson Staduim Field that night 24 - 10. They gave up in 3rd quarter after our defense scored, I ran a 40 yard TD and threw another to our tight end... it's still vivid how we crushed them in the "Polish Rose Bowl" game.
how in the world could you forget johnny blood nicholson in the 1971 prep bowl ?,, i bet dennis lick will never forget him
I consider Homer Thurman to be a friend. I have had the chance to talk with him some over the years. He did not disappear.
If you know how to locate him, please let me know. We have been trying to find him for years. He is a great story. But nobody has been able to find him.
Friends of a man going by the name "Jah," and who we now believe was the Homer Price Thurman from Bloom, died here in Honolulu on 28 June 2012. We are gathering more info on his past via internet. Please contact me. We have all guessed that this beloved guy, possessed of many eccentricities but who showed genuine warmth, humaneness, intelligence, and mystery, was more than the simple newspaper deliverer he appeared. We are all deeply saddened by his death which has thus far gone unannounced due to circumstances based on the lifestyle he chose to live for so many years. It was only a reluctant (he was no braggart) admission to me that he'd once briefly played for the Harlem Globetrotters that spurred an online search resulting in finding your article. Please respond.
I actually had the wonderful experience of being in attendance in Soldier Field in Chicago in 1962 to see
the-prep bowl which featured FENWICK VS SCHURZ.
FENWICK had a star running back,JIM DILULLO that scored
either 5 or 6 TOUCHDOWNS! ATTENDANCE something like
almost 94,000 I had heard that he was possibly going
to play for NOTRE DAME but had a serious injury & that
was that.