Evanston St. George High School “Dragons”

St. George Athletic Logo

ATHLETICS

St. George offered football, track, cross-country, basketball, and swimming along with possibly baseball to its students. At one point, it also offered boxing and softball. The Dragons were a part of the Chicago Catholic League from 1927 until 1961, at which time the school decided to join the IHSA and become charter members of the Chicagoland Prep League with DeLaSalle, St. Mel, and St. Patrick. If you have any information or photos of some of the great teams, players, or coaches, please let us know at dr.veeman@gmail.com.

Coach Max Burnell

FOOTBALL

Without question, this is the sport that put St. George on the map. Under Coach Max Burnell, the Dragons were 136-50-12 in the 20 years he was the head coach. Our good friend Tom Sikorski tells us that the school won two Prep Bowl titles, eight Catholic League division titles, had nine appearances in the Catholic League championship game, plus won two conference titles in the Chicagoland Prep Conference. 

The Catholic League was not part of the IHSA in 1961 and its teams could not participate in state tournaments in any sports. Because they wanted to participate on the state level, St. George and three other schools left to form the Chicagoland Prep Conference.

As a head coach, Burnell’s teams won 303, lost 92, and tied 21 in 36 years of action at four different schools, including St. George. He was inducted into several different Halls of Fame: the Chicago Catholic League in 1972, the Illinois High School Football Coaches’ Association in 1990, and Loyola Academy in 1994.

Tom informs us that the earliest information about football at the school goes back to 1940, although it is believed to have gone back further. Here are the better marks of Dragon teams from 1940 thru 1968.

1940   6-1-1  2nd place in Catholic League North           Coach unknown

1941   6-2     3rd place in Catholic League South           Coach unknown

1943   9-1-1  PREP BOWL CHAMPIONS!!!                   Coach Max Burnell

                    Beat Phillips (Public League champion) 19-12

                    Tied with Mt. Carmel 0-0 in Catholic League Championship

                    Won coin flip to decide who would face Phillips in Prep Bowl

(Also beat Mount St. Michael’s of Bronx, NY 25-20 in special interdivisional game at the Polo Grounds in New York following the Prep Bowl)

1944  6-3-1   5th place in North Division                         Coach Max Burnell

1945  8-1-1   Tied for 1st in South Division                 Coach Max Burnell

Lost to Oak Park Fenwick 18-6 in playoff game

1946  7-2-1   2nd place North Division                            Coach Max Burnell

1948  7-1      2nd place North Division                            Coach Max Burnell

1949  7-2-1   North Division Champs                           Coach Max Burnell

Lost to Fenwick in Catholic League Championship game

1950  4-4-2   3rd place South Division                            Coach Max Burnell

1951  8-2      2nd place North Division                            Coach Max Burnell

1952  6-2-1   North Division Champs                           Coach Max Burnell

Lost to Mt. Carmel in Catholic League Championship game

1953 10-1     Prep Bowl Champions!!                           Coach Max Burnell          

                    Beat Austin 38-12 in Prep Bowl

                     North Division Champs

                      Beat Leo 19-7 for Catholic League Championship

                       Rated 1st in final Chicago Sun-Times Chicago-area poll 

1954 10-2     North Division Champs                            Coach Max Burnell

Lost to Mt. Carmel in Catholic League Championship game

1955   9-2     North Division Champs                           Coach Max Burnell

                    Won Catholic League playoff games vs. Mendel & St. Rita

Losing in Catholic League Championship game to Weber

1956   9-1-1  North Division Champs                          Coach Max Burnell

                  .  Won Catholic League playoff games vs. St. Rita & Mt. Carmel

Lost Catholic League Championship to Leo.

1957   7-4     2nd place North Division                        Coach Max Burnell

                    Won Catholic League playoff games vs. Fenwick & Gordon Tech

Lost Catholic League Championship to Mendel

1958   3-3-2   4th place North Division                           Coach Max Burnell

1959   5-3      2nd place North Division                          Coach Max Burnell

Lost to Mendel in Catholic League playoff preliminary game.

1960   8-4     4th place in North Division                     Coach Max Burnell

                     Won Catholic League playoff games vs. Mendel & Leo

Lost Catholic League Championship to Mt Carmel

1961   7-0-1  Chicagoland Prep Champs                    Coach Max Burnell

1962   3-5-1  Chicagoland Prep Champs                    Coach Max Burnell

(NOTE: all wins were over the other three schools in the league)

1963                                                                                Coach Len Sparacino

1964-65                                                                           Coach Hank Knight

1966-67                                                                           Coach Paul Schmitt

1968   2-5-2  Final season                                              Coach Frank Bauer

Last game a 21-20 loss to De La Salle

TREMENDOUS WORK BY THE DRAGON GRIDDERS!!!

CROSS-COUNTRY

St. George’s teams were up to the challenge to run the terrains of Chicagoland, even as the public school (Evanston Township) was contending for the state titles during the 1950’s and ’60’s. The Dragons won a district title during the fall of 1962. We are in need of the coaches’ name and any key performers. It is known the program was still in place at the school thru the final school year in 1968-69 as Pat Savage (later cross-country coach at DePaul) was at the helm.

From well-known Illinois high school sports historian Robert Pruter:

“St. George’s fabulous cross country program, under Coach Don Amidei, won seven Catholic League titles and two Chicagoland Prep titles. Their greatest star was Tom Sullivan.”

1953  Catholic League Champions                       Coach Don Amidei

1954  Catholic League Co-Champions                 Coach Don Amidei 

1955  Catholic League Champions                       Coach Don Amidei

1956  Catholic League Champions                       Coach Don Amidei

1958  Catholic League Champions                       Coach Don Amidei

Catholic League Champs of 1958

Courtesy of Robert Pruter

1959  Catholic League champion                        Coach Don Amidei

1960  Catholic League champion                        Coach Don Amidei

1961  Chicagoland Prep champion                     Coach Don Amidei

1962  Chicagoland Prep champion                     Coach Don Amidei

              District Champions                          

1968   last season                                                   Coach Pat Savage

From Jay Shaw (St. George alum of 1968):

“I graduated from St. George in 1968 and ran cross country 4 seasons, ’64, ’65, ’66 & ’67, track for 3 seasons (’66, ’67 & ’68). The cross country coach for ’64 and ’65 was Robert Cinkus (sp?). He was the reading teacher, and one mean dude. He would follow us to and from Dawes Park with the top down on his brown Ford Galaxy convertible telling us to run faster.

“Workouts varied from 10 to 15 miles per day, six days per week. We were wrecks by the end of the season. I believe that Coach Cinkus was the Coach in ’62 and ’63 also. Sorry if I don’t have the spelling correct, but my yearbooks got tossed out while I was in the Navy.

“Brother Edward was the coach for the 1966 cross country season. He was a pretty good coach, but he was transferred the next year.

“We didn’t have a full-time coach my senior year (fall of ’67). Coach Don Amidei, who was coaching De Paul University at the time, but still teaching at St. George, would give me the work-outs for the team. We’d then jog out to Dawes Park and do the workouts pretty much on our own. We did have a faculty moderator, Mr. Huntoon (sp?), who would meet us there, but he wasn’t actually a coach. Coach Amidei was at our meets. On Saturday mornings we would meet with Coach Amidei in Lincoln Park and workout with the De Paul University team. Those were killer workouts.”

“Coach Amidei was the beach master at Foster (Avenue) Beach in the summer. During August of ’67, he had us come down to Foster Beach and work out there.” 

TRACK & FIELD

The Dragons, even though their school did not belong to the IHSA at the time, had one of the best runners in the nation in 1961. Tom Sullivan ran the 1600 in 4:02.4 (a converted time from the mile of 4:03.5 to 1600 meters), which was the nation’s best until future Olympian Jim Ryun broke the record three years later at 3:59.0. Tom also had a time of 1:49.9 in the 800 meters that season, plus posted the best indoor time in the 1000 yards at 2:10.5 (also set in 1961), which lasted 11 years. For his efforts, Sullivan shared the Track & Field News’ Athlete of the Year award that year with Ulis Williams (a 440-yard runner) from Compton, CA.

BASKETBALL

Even though we haven’t been able to find anything close to a win-loss record and names of coaches, there was basketball at St. George. In fact, its’ lightweight team won the Catholic League title in 1938-39, while two varsity teams either shared or won a title outright as the best in the league.

1938-39   Catholic League Lightweight Champions

1943-44   Co-Catholic League Varsity Champs w/Mt. Carmel

1952-53   Catholic League Varsity Champions

St. George Basketball Team of 1953

Submitted by Dave

Evanston St. George Action Photo of 1953

Submitted by Dave

St. George Basketball Action Photo of 1953

Courtesy of Dave

One of its alumni is Tony Barone, who graduated in 1964 and attended Duke University, where he was named Academic All-American.

Barone would stay involved with the game as an assistant coach at three Chicago Catholic League high schools (including St. George), before going to the collegiate level as an assistant at Duke and Bradley, plus was head coach at Creighton and Texas A & M. Barone also served as interim head coach of the Nashville Grizzlies after serving as their director of player development. If you know more about the Dragons’ basketball program, please contact us.

BOXING

This may sound peculiar, but it was a common practice for schools to have a boxing team years ago. St. George had one that ran from the time the school opened until sometime into the 1930’s. Athletic Director Jake Drees was head coach, and unfortunately passed away while he was instructing his team, according to this link from a family website: http://heckenbach.org/Drees.html,

SOFTBALL

During the spring of 1943, St. George was one of seven Catholic League schools that played softball instead of baseball as an experiment on account of the success that Catholic Youth Organizations were having with the sport. The Dragons were crowned champions with a win-loss mark of 6-1, in spite of the fact that half of the Catholic League games were cancelled due to the rain and inclement weather that spring.

SWIMMING

The Dragons took to the pool along with other Catholic League teams to compete, and came away with one conference title. Names of coaches and other swimmers are unknown.

1931-32   Chicago Catholic League Champions

GOLF

Robert Pruter lists the following successes for the Dragons on the golf course:

St. George won the following senior golf titles.

1949  Catholic League champion

1950  Catholic League champion

1952  Catholic League champion

1953  Catholic League champion

1959  Catholic League champion

St George won the following junior golf titles

1948  Catholic League champion

1949  Catholic League champion

1950  Catholic League champion

1951  Catholic League champion

1952  Catholic League champion

1957  Catholic League champion

1958  Catholic League champion

— John Leims (class of 1940) — Was involved in the US Victory at Iwo Jima in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Wikipedia has an indepth biography on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_H._Leims.

— Henry Hyde (class of 1942) –Served in US Congress from the sixth District of Illinois (near Chicago).

— Max Burnell, Jr. (class of 1958) –Quarterback of the Dragon football program under the guidance of his father/coach (Max, Sr.), later went on to play collegiately at Notre Dame, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. Today, Max Jr. is the president and CEO of Southern Sales Systems, a leader in food service brokerage located near New Orleans, LA.

— Chuck Erlenbaugh (class of 1963) –All-State football player in 1962 at guard. Went on to play at Purdue University as a teammate of pro football Hall of Famer Bob Griese, leading the Boilermakers to victory of the 1967 Rose Bowl over the University of Southern California (USC). Erlenbaugh returned to the prep game after college as a teacher and coach at Loyola Academy in Willmette in 1969, staying there long enough to teach physical education, plus coach football, tennis, and volleyball, in addition to being the assistant athletic director over a 30-year period. He was named to Loyola’s Athletic Hall of Fame as well the Chicago Catholic League’s Hall of Fame.

MEMORIES

From E.L. Foertsch (class of 1958):

“Two things. Noted Alumni, you mentioned Max Burnell Jr. He graduated in 1958. You also pictured the winning Cross-Country team, 1958. Thanks, I’m the one in the last row, far right.”

From Tom Heineman (class of 1966):

“I was on the swim team from 1962 thru 1966. Coach McCormick was the coach in 1962. Coach Jerry Richards was the coach from 1963 to 1966 and beyond. We had some decent swimmers on the team and actually made the IHSA district finals in 1966 in the 400 yd free relay (John Wimer, Mark Mikucki, Al Biedowicz, Tom Heineman). John Wimer was a Freshman and was extremely fast; he went on to state finals in the 100 free when he was a sophomore and beyond. Coach Richards did a really good job bringing the team along and having us compete with some strong suburban teams. I remember beating Lane Tech when I was a Freshman.”

from Bob Johnson (class of 1957):

“1953-54 Swimming: School took 5th place in Catholic League City (Senior) Finals at Loyola Academy (Loyola U) pool at Devon or North Campus, Spring 1954.

“1954-55 Swimming: School took 2nd Place 50 free final (team Capt Robert Johnson ’57) in 1955 year and 5th place in 1956 same event.

“Robert Johnson and Paul Fee were only students to be awarded “major letter” as freshmen in 1953-56 swim seasons…qualified for City Finals.

“1953-57 Tennis: failed to qualify from ’53 to ’57 under Brother Jerome; Tennis Capt Robert Johnson.

“Chuck Lewandowski (“Lewan”) as he was called, was the swimming coach. Also coached football with (Max) Burnell.”

From Bob Schmidt (class of 1962, his photograph of the school is at the top of the page, dated May 14, 2019):

“Hi-I am class of 1962 and was on the swim team – not a very good swimmer then, but still doing laps 3-4 times a week. However, the team had two brothers, Fred and Jim Spreitzer, who were very good. One of them (qualified) for the PanAm Games.

“Another famous alumni? Walter Kerr, theater critic for the NY Times and other publications, playwright, and producer.

“My cousin (Allen J Korenjak) also went to St. George, probably class of ’59. He went to Notre Dame, then Princeton, before going to the RCA labs. (He) got credit as co-inventor of digital video! The labs got bought by Intel and he retired, fairly well off (https://www.cedmagic.com/mem/whos-who/korenjak-al.html).”

ALWAYS LOOKING FOR MORE INFORMATION…

if you have any information that you feel would help tell the story of St. George High School, including the words and music of the school song, pictures of the school, athletes, and coaches, or incomplete information that we currently are lacking, please send them to us at dr.veeman@gmail.com or by going thru the USPS at:

IHSGD Website

6439 North Neva

Chicago, IL  60631

Reunion of some 1935 St. George Alumni in 1943

courtney of Kathleen Brodt

Members of the class of 1935 who gathered on March 7th, 1943:

Couples from left to right: Mr. and Mrs. James C. Brodt, Mr. and Mrs. James Delaney, Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Gillarde, Midshipman 2nd Class George McGurn and Miss Eileen Ryan, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Meyer, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Seneker, Mr. and Mrs. Francis Wernhewer, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wetsel, and Brother Luke.