On the night its boys’ basketball team attempts to sweep Naperville Central for the first time since 2011-12, Naperville North will induct seven more individuals into its Athletic Hall of Fame.
For the son of longtime Naperville North football coach Larry McKeon, Corey, going into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame means a lot considering he played for his father, himself a Naperville North Athletic Hall of Fame inductee after going in last year.
Earning All-DVC honors twice, Corey McKeon was a three-year starting linebacker under his father and Sean Drendel, the Huskies’ current head coach who was Larry McKeon’s longtime defensive coordinator, from 2000 through 2002 as the Huskies won 25 games during those three years.
“It was an experience (playing for my father). Just not because of the father-son dynamic but because my dad was and is probably one of the better coaches of his generation in the state of Illinois,” Corey McKeon said. “He’s proved that with his record and how well he did at North and Joliet Catholic and Plainfield Central. He’s in the Illinois Football Hall of Fame, as well. So just that part of it (was rewarding).
“The funny thing is that I had to leave Plainfield where I would have played for one of my dad’s best friends and another guy that helped raise me. So difficult decision, but I mean, it was great playing for him, obviously, and really developed me into a great player for college, as well.”
Corey McKeon eventually went on to play at Nebraska from 2003 through 2007 but not before making his mark on the program his father led to 231 victories over a 27-year tenure, which was highlighted by claiming state titles in 1992 and 2007.
A sophomore on the 2000 team that upset defending Class 6A state champion Naperville Central in the state quarterfinals en route to a 11-win season, Corey McKeon recorded 60 tackles and six interceptions as a senior in 2002 to earn first-team All-State honors as the Huskies won nine games.
Of the five athletes being honored, three were state champions, either as a team or individually—Jon Joyce, Jocelyn Petrella and Brian Dyer.
Joyce, a 2000 graduate, was part of state title-winning teams in two different sports as he was a member of the boys’ soccer team that went 21-4-3 on its way to winning the 1999 Class AA state title in addition to winning the state title in the vault as a gymnast in 2000.
Given the ability to participate and be competitive in two different sports, Joyce’s memories as a Huskie within the sporting arena are all based upon one concept.
“Just being a team was just the coolest thing. It was just (cool). That’s what I just remember about high school sports,” he said. “And that was just the best part of it.”
Meanwhile, Petrella was a four-time state qualifier in swimming culminating in anchoring the 200-meter medley relay that established a new state record in 1997 in the midst of finishing third as a team at state.
In addition, Petrella, a 1998 graduate, had two runner-up finishes in the 100-meter butterfly in 1996 and 1997.
“It was so much fun. That’s what I think about when I think back to my time at Naperville North. I was swimming with girls that I had grown up with. … It’s pretty neat just to be able to share that experience of swimming together as a Huskie with those that you’ve known since you were little,” said Petrella, who went on to swim at Princeton after graduation and went on to be a Senior National and Olympic Time Trial qualifier in the 100-meter butterfly. “So we had a blast together. We worked hard and, in the end, it was great to be able to come home with a third-place trophy my senior year. So it was definitely a highlight.“
Wrestling on the mat is where Dyer made his mark in his time as a Huskie in rather dominating fashion.
On the varsity wrestling team all four years and three teams that won DuPage Valley Conference titles, Dyer compiled a 167-9 career record, including posting a perfect 44-0 mark as a senior as he was part of a team that went 23-2 in 2003.
Dyer, a 2003 graduate, won individual Class AA state titles as a sophomore in 2001 at 112 pounds and as a senior in 2003 when he competed at 135 pounds.
“It means a lot, really. Just a lot of work, lot of effort put into it and I couldn’t have done it without my family and my friends and obviously my coaches,” he said. “So it’s not just me going into the Hall of Fame; it’s everyone’s collective work that enabled me to get in. Some of the memories I have, I’ll probably just cherish them forever. It was an exciting time.”
Lynda Kukla Pinnow, the other former Huskie athlete to be enshrined on Friday night, graduated from Naperville North in 1988 after spending three years playing for Dale Shymkewich on the girls’ basketball team.
Kukla Pinnow, who played volleyball as a freshman and softball was three years, was part of the team that went 27-5 on its way to finishing fourth in state in 1987-88 before going on to play at Valparaiso and averaging the most three-pointers a game in the country as a senior in 1992.
The Naperville North athletic program can tout 18 teams that have won a state championship, including the 2012 girls’ badminton team that won the state title in 2012 under Bob Funston.
Funston goes into the Naperville North Athletic Hall of Fame after coaching the girls’ badminton team for 27 years, a tenure highlighted by winning 10 sectional titles and the 2012 state title, while also preceding Larry McKeon as the program’s first football coach from 1977 to 1982.
Eight of the team state titles the school has won came while Bruce Cameron was principal from 1977 to 1998.
Cameron, considered an Athletic Supporter by the selection committee, credits former AD Neil McCauley and all the coaches for their collective work in helping to build and establish the culture and type of athletic department Naperville North has run behind the likes of Doug Smith, Jim Konrad and now Bob Quinn.
“One of the things that was kind of unique and maybe I was just blessed to be coming along when I did, but when I came to Naperville North, they were just getting started,” Cameron said. “They only had had one graduating class. They were under 2,000 students. I think it was 1,960 and so it was a school that really didn’t have much of a presence, other than inside of Naperville. But as far as the county or the state, nobody ever heard of them. And, so, that was kind of an unique time and I was just lucky to come along when (McCauley and I) did.”
It’s pretty evident Cameron and McCauley’s work has paid off in spades.
