ATHLETICS
A number of sports were offered for students at Morton East while it was known by that name. Baseball, basketball, cross-country, soccer, swimming, track, and wrestling were offered, according to the Illinois High School’s Association’s website (www.ihsa.org), but football is not listed. In researching another school’s history, there was a gridiron team at Morton East, and hope that an alum can provide more information about it. On the girls’ side, they competed in basketball, soccer, gymnastics, track, and volleyball. Being that the school had one of the bigger enrollments in the state of Illinois, it is possible that other sports such as swimming, tennis, soccer, or badminton may have also been offered.
GIRLS’ GYMNASTICS
The Lady Mustangs were known state-wide as one of the better schools in gymnastics as they placed in the top five of the state’s elite at the state finals on four occasions in as many years.
1978-79 5th in State!!! Coach unknown
Team Standings
1 Addison Trail 112.575
2 Palatine HS 111.275
3 Glenview Glenbrook South 109.7875
4 Park Ridge Maine East 109.70
5 Cicero Morton East 108.625
6 Arlington Heights Hersey 107.6125
7 Skokie Niles West 106.5125
8 Arlington Heights Arlington 106.5125
Individual Medalists
Sue Tonietto All-Around Events—2nd place
Balance beam—2nd place
Toni Niemiec Balance beam—5th place
1979-80 3rd in State!!! Coach unknown
Team Standings
1 Addison Trai) 115.46
2 Park Ridge Maine East 113.29
3 Cicero Morton East 113.04
4 Skokie Niles West 109.30
5 Arlington Hts. Forest View 109.23
6 Evanston Township 107.51
7 Northbrook Glenbrook N. 105.84
8 Tinley Park Andrew 101.15
Individual Medalists
Sue Tonietto All-Around Events—3rd place
Balance Beam—3rd place
Floor Exercises—2nd place
Vault—4th place
Toni Niemiec Balance Beam—5th place
1980-81 3rd in State!!! Coach unknown
Team Standings
1 Addison Trail 116.37
2 Elmhurst York 112.31
3 Cicero Morton East 112.05
4 Park Ridge Maine East 111.92
5 Arlington Hts. Hersey 111.51
6 Glenview Glenbrook S. 111.05
7 Skokie Niles West 110.57
8 Carol Stream Glenb’d N. 109.48
Individual Medalists
Laura Hicks Balance Beam—2nd place
Sandi Thompson Floor Exercises—5th place
1981-82 4th in State!!! Coach unknown
District Champions
Sectional Champions
Team Standings
1 Carol Stream Glenb’d N. 118.17
2 Arlington Heights Hersey 114.30
3 Deerfield 113.50
4 Cicero Morton East 112.53
5 Addison Trail 112.00
6 Elmhurst York 111.76
7 Downers Grove North 111.17
8 Mundelein HS 109.48
Individual Medalists
Debbie Leon Vault—5th place
Laura Hicks Balance Beam—6th place
1982-83 Regional Champions Coach unknown
State Final Medalist
Debbie Leon Vault—3rd place
1983-84 Individual Medalists Coach unknown
Debbie Leon All-Around Events—3rd place
Vault—2nd place
Laura Hicks Balance Beam—6th place
FINE JOB BY THE MUSTANGS GYMNASTS!!!
BASEBALL
The Mustang diamond cutters made their school proud, winning two state championships in a ten-year period and showing that there was some baseball played in the Western suburbs of Chicago.
1961 23- 2 STATE CHAMPIONS!!!! Coach Dick Kucera
Regional Champions
Sectional Champions
Beat Skokie Niles in quarterfinals, 10-3
Downed Peoria Central 12-2 in semifinals
Shutout East Alton-Wood River in championship game, 20-0
1965 Suburban League Champs Coach Herb Salberg
1966 Regional Champions Coach Herb Salberg
1970 23- 4 STATE CHAMPIONS!!! Coach Doug Peterson
Regional Champions
Sectional Champions
Edged Pekin 2-1 in quarterfinals
Defeated Chicago Lane Tech 5-1 in semifinals
Beat Bradley-Bourbonnais in 11 innings to win title, 7-3
1971 Regional Champions Coach unknown
1974 Regional Champions Coach unknown
SOCCER
When the IHSA began offering soccer as part of the state tournament experience, Morton East was in on the ground floor, advancing to the state finals twice in the 1970’s, including a second-place finish,
1973 17- 4 2nd in State!! Coach Klaus Kummer
District Champions
Sectional Champions
State Semifinalist
Beat Granite City South 2-1 by penalty kicks in semifinals
Lost to Chicago Harrison in championship match, 1-0
1977 11- 7-1 Elite Eight Finalist Coach Wayne Justman
District Champions
Sectional Champions
Lost to Chicago Schurz in quarterfinals, 3-0
BOYS’ CROSS-COUNTRY
Morton East had three all-staters in boys’ cross country and its’ 1971 hill & dale squad wound ninth in the state meet while the school offered the sport.
1968 Individual Medalist Coach Hutson
Pat Mandera—-9th in state
1969 Individual Medalist Coach Hutson
Pat Mandera—7th in state
1971 9th in STATE Coach Hutson
Team Standings
1 Elmhurst York 67
2 Centralia 136
3 Park Ridge Maine East 137
4 Riverside-Brookfield 138
5 New Lenox Lincoln-Way 171
6 Hillside Proviso West 194
7 Arlington Hts. Forest View 265
8 Palatine Fremd 266 (app.)
9 Cicero Morton East 291
10 Chicago Lane 305
Individual Medalist
Jim Lobianco—-25th in state
BOYS’ BASKETBALL
Could the Mustangs hoop it up? The answer was yes, and they were one of the top teams in the state during the winter of 1960-61 when they made it the Sweet 16 of the single-class tournament under coach Jim Vopicka.
1960-61 19- 5 Sweet 16 Finalist!!! Coach Jim Vopicka
Regional Champions
Sectional Champions
Lost to Harvey Thornton 48-36 at Hinsdale Super-Sectional
1962-63 Regional Champions Coach William J. Hapac
1971-72 AA Regional Champions Coach unknown
BOYS’ TRACK
Morton East had a competitive track program in the western suburbs, and had two of its athletes come home with medals at the state finals in back-to-back seasons.
1970 Individual Medalist Coach Don Ritchie
Pat Mandera 2-mile run—2nd place
1971 Individual Medalist Coach Don Ritchie
Allen Stanczak 880-yard run—3rd place
SOFTBALL
The Lady Mustangs were able to get into the state tournament the first year it was played, and continued their competitive spirit thru the time that Morton East & West came back together. When they did combine forces in 1985-86, Morton won the state softball title.
1976 11- 3 ELITE 8 FINALISTS Coach Fran Balla
Regional Champions
Sectional Champions
Lost to Machesney Park Harlem in quarterfinals, 9-7
(1st state softball tournament)
1977 13- 2 Regional Champions Coach Fran Balla
1978 8- 7 Coach Fran Balla
1979 6- 5 Coach Fran Balla
1980-83 Coach Fran Balla
1984-85 Coach Karen Hodel
GIRLS’ TRACK
Morton East was represented at the state AA meet on the medals’ podium in the early 1980’s when Janet Bertkowics was in the shotput finals. Here’s a look at how she did at the state finals in Charleston in those years.
1982AA Individual Medalist coach unknown
Janet Bertkowics shotput—2nd place
1983AA Individual Medalist coach unknown
Janet Bertkowics shotput—5th place
BOYS’ SWIMMING
In the entire time that Morton East was open, they were represented in the state swimming finals on one occasion in an area that is considered one of the better prep swimming hotbeds in the nation with schools such as New Trier, Hinsdale, and others not too far away from Cicero.
1967 Individual Medalist
Dan Jamros 50 free—6th place
WRESTLING
Not to be left behind, the Mustang wrestling program left an impression in the schools’ final year with its own individual medalist at the state meet.
1985AA Individual Medalist coach unknown
Rudy Banuelos 145 pounds—5th place
GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
Morton East offered basketball to its’ female students before there was a state tournament, and they were competitive during the time that the school had its’ program.
1974-75 First season Coach S.J. Peterkin
1975-76 Coach C. Eukovich
1976-77 9- 5 Coach S.J. Schleim
1977-78 8- 5 Coach S.J. Schleim
1978-79 Coach H.C. Kalcsits
1979-80 10-10 Coach H.C. Kalcsits
1980-81 Coach H.C. Kalcsits
1981-83 Coach W.H. Johnson
1983-85 Coach D. Poprowski
BOYS FOOTBALL
Football was also offered at Morton East HS. Several records were found on the IHSA website (www.ihsa.org) and forwarded to us by Douglas Greger.
1962-63 Coach William Vohaska
1963-64 Coach William Vohaska
1964-65 Coach William Vohaska
1965-66 Coach William Vohaska
1970-71 0 – 9 Coach Ken Geiger
1971-72 3 – 6 Coach Ken Geiger
1972-73 0 – 9 Coach Salerno
1973-74 0 – 9 Coach Ken Geiger
1974-75 2 – 7 Coach Bob Vashinko
1975-76 2 – 7 Coach Bob Vashinko
1976-77 3 – 6 Coach Bob Vashinko
1977-78 2 – 6 Coach Bob Vashinko
1978-79 1 – 8 Coach Bob Vashinko
1979-80 1 – 8
1980-81 0 – 9 Coach John Underfrantz
1981-82 0 – 9 Coach John Underfrantz
1982-83 0 – 9 Coach John Underfrantz
1983-84 2 – 7 Coach John Underfrantz
1984-85 2 – 7 Coach John Underfrantz |