Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Cathching up with Rodolfo Fransual (Lane Tech Soccer; class of 2008)

Rodolfo Fransual holds up Lane's 2007 sectional championship plaque after scoring the winning goal.

Rodolfo Fransual (Lane Tech class of 2008) was a 3 sport star at Lane.3 sport stars are not rare, but what is unusual were the sports: football, soccer, and volleyball. He was the kicker on the football team, starting forward on the soccer team that advanced to the super sectionals (a rare feat for a CPS team), and started for the boys volleyball team.

Rodolfo sent me this email:

i am playing soccer at morton college and i am currently captain and top scorer of my team, i was also named one of the top players of the week in the njcaa division 1 soccer

Rodolfo has been added to the table of Lane Tech Alumni who have played beyond college.

Lane Basketball Star Cameron Hill Decides on Stillman College

Cameron Hill #32


"I am officially signed with Stillman College in Alabama should be in the Sun-Times Tomorrow or Friday," said Cameron Hill (sr) - Lane Tech class of 2009.

Stillman College Info

Hill has been added to the table of Lane Tech Alumni that have played beyond high school.

Maria Joyce gives verbal agreement to play basketball at Illinois Central College

Maria Joyce (left) has been a standout for Lane Tech in basketball and softball.

Lane Tech senior Maria Joyce gave a verbal agreement to play basketball for ILLINOIS CENTRAL COLLEGE located in Peoria, IL. on a full scholarship for the 2009-10 year.
ICC Cougars are coached by Steve Garber sgarber@icc.edu   (309)694-5418 
ICC has a very exciting team  which were ranked this year as high as #3 in the country at  the  JCAA  level.  Look for Maria to propel  this team to the next level, work on her studies and then transfer to a 4 year college....
With all the offers that were offered, Maria believes she would best fit the style of Illinois Central running, pressure  type of basketball..

Brad Pearson (class of 1998) added to Alumni Page

I added a Laneite wrestler to the Alumni Page.

Here is his email to me:

Neil,
 
I am a Lane Tech alumni.  I graduated in 1998.  I wrestled at Lane and went on to wrestle at North Central College.  I currently am a blue belt in jiu-jitsu and compete occasionally.  Eventually I look to compete in mixed martial arts.  Let me know if you need any more info.

Brad Pearson

Update of CPS cross country track runners in college

 

Alex Agafonov, Class of 2008 Lakeview Track and Cross Country star is now running at Oakton Community College and recently qualified for NJCAA Nationals

Lane Tech Fan readers keep producing incredible material. Here is an updated of CPS runners/track people who are in college. (from the message board). This list can be permanently found on the  cross country history page

The question of where some of the top CPS guys are running in college has been posted on here several times. This is the list to my best knowledge: Ethan Heppner (Whitney Young)- Grinnell College - Qualified for DIII Nationals Griffin Lawler (Whitney Young)- DePaul University - Not Running Alan Rosiquez (Taft) - Monmouth University - Team's #5 at Conference Alex Agafonov (Lake View)- Oakton College - Qualified for NJCAA Nationals Sirak Areki (Lake View)- Oberlin University - Not Running Jerry Gonzalez (Lane) - University of Illinois - Not Running Farrahadoon Durani (Mather) - UIC - Running Track + XC Jorge Flores (Foreman) - UIC - Top 3 XC runner Jorge Espinosa (Lane) - UIC - Ran track..taking time off Chris Gallardo (Lane) - DePaul - Running Track + XC Derek Schnake (Lincoln Park) - Valparaiso - Running Track + XC ...there may be more but that is the most complete list i can come up with at the moment. Rachel Kittaka (Northside College Prep) - Carleton - Track Santino Merino (Northside College Prep) - Oberlin - XC/Track Julia Shimada (Northside College Prep) - Hendrix - XC Jordan Stacey (Northside College Prep) - Cornell College - XC/Track Kelly Varney (Northside College Prep) - University of Chicago - Track Maruja Yoshimura (Northside College Prep) - ITT - XC /Track Catherine Rook (Whitney Young)- Pole Vaulting at Hilsdale Ivory Mills (Whitney Young)- Pole Vaulting for Spellman Myia Thompson (WY) - Illinois Wesleyan Stephanie Omueti (WY)- University of Chicago- All-American & Team MVP Victoria Forte (WY)- Butler Triple Jumping

Need help out there in adding to names of Professional Athlete Laneites

Johnny Weissmuller attended Lane in the 1920's, he was a Phelps like swimming star and particpated in the Olympics in swimming.

Got this email from someone who is asking your help in getting a more accurate list of Lane Alumni who played professional sports. He got the material from our Alumni page

He's thinking of writing a book and would love if there is anyone else that should be added to the list. If you do know of anyone that should be on this list email me at Publisher@LaneTechfan.com

You do indeed have the best list of alumni I’ve ever seen.  Thank you for sharing this.

 Working off your list, here’s what I pulled for alumni (didn’t need to graduate; just attended) who played professional sports:

 NFL

Fritz Polard (’10)

Bill Fisher (Class of ’44): Chicago Cardinals (49-53)

Chuck Logan (’59): Steelers (64) St. Louis Cardinals (67-68)

Mike Morgan (’73): Bears (5 kick-off returns)

Cyron Brown (’93): Broncos (including in Super Bowl)

MLB

Phil Caveretta (’34) Cubs; White Sox

Irv Medlinger (’45): Pittsburgh Pirates (56); K.C. Athletics (56)

Jim Woods (’57): Cubs (57); Phillies (60-61)

John Felske (’60): Cubs (68), Brewers (72-73); Manager Phillies (85-87)

Len Church (’60): Cubs (66)

Lee Buzz Capra (’65): Mets (71-73) Atlanta Braves (74-77)

NBA

Bato Govederica (’46): Syracuse Nationals

 

NHL

None 

Boxing, Tennis, Golf, Bowling, etc. (individual professional sports)

None

 

Is there anyone else we should add?

 I also have at least the following for alumni who participated in the Olympics.  I know there are more here (just don’t have the names)

 Olympics

Johnny Weissmuller (’22) 1924 and 1928 Olympics
Ron Gora (’52???)

Peder Dahlberg (’67): 1976 Olympics (not sure)

 Thanks for all your help and input on this.

Edgar Bergen (class of 1911) - famous ventriliquist

Edgar Bergen attended Lane Tech at the old location, back in the 1920's...

 

Per IMBD

 

 

The most famous ventriloquist of the radio age was Edgar Bergen. Edgar was born in Chicago in 1903, moved to Michigan, came back to Chicago, and was an alumnus of Lane Tech and Northwestern University.  He performed both magic and ventriloquism in small vaudeville theaters and for church groups in dozens of Illinois towns in the 1920s.

Along with his famous dummy Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen made millions of listeners laugh every Sunday night on NBC from 1937 to 1956. The show was not without controversy even though it was a comedy. Censors of that era were so annoyed with Mae West and her sexual double entendres with Charlie McCarthy that Mae was banned from NBC for fifteen years. Marylin Monroe once pretended to get engaged to marry Charlie but the stunt ended when the wooden dummy could not submit to a blood test.

Charlie's personality seemed very real at times. So much so that Edgar's daughter Candace Bergen, later a famous actress in her own right, said that for a while when she was very little she thought of Charlie as her elder brother. Yes she knew he was made out of wood and lived in a special suitcase, but when he talked in Edgar's special voice he seemed to come alive. Candace described her relationship with Charlie as "just a little strange."

Edgar Bergen was born on Feb. 16, 1903 in Chicago. When he was a small boy, Bergen's father became ill and his family moved to a dairy farm near Decatur, Michigan where Edgar attended grade school.

When he was only 11, Edgar had to work to help his family.  He got a job stoking the basement furnace of a local movie theater. That same year, he invested 25 cents in a book that promised to teach him how to throw his voice. He made his first dummy from a paper-mache Halloween mask and called the dummy Rastus.

Edgar succeeded in learning some of the ventrioloquist craft but he was never very good at hiding the fact that his lips were moving. But on radio, that did not matter. People enjoyed his characters anyway and Edgar even had Charlie McCarthy poke fun at the fact that Bergen's lips moved. This defect for a ventrioloquist became a running gag in the act.

Bergen's father died when Edgar turned 14 and the family moved back to Chicago where Edgar attended Lane Tech at 2501 West Addison Street for his first two years of high school. Lane Tech then bordered the famous Riverview Amusement Park at Western and Belmont. 

 

Bill Hoffman

Class 1970

The most famous ventriloquist of the radio age was Edgar Bergen. Edgar was born in Chicago in 1903, moved to Michigan, came back to Chicago, and was an alumnus of Lane Tech and Northwestern University.  He performed both magic and ventriloquism in small vaudeville theaters and for church groups in dozens of Illinois towns in the 1920s.

Along with his famous dummy Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen made millions of listeners laugh every Sunday night on NBC from 1937 to 1956. The show was not without controversy even though it was a comedy. Censors of that era were so annoyed with Mae West and her sexual double entendres with Charlie McCarthy that Mae was banned from NBC for fifteen years. Marylin Monroe once pretended to get engaged to marry Charlie but the stunt ended when the wooden dummy could not submit to a blood test.

Charlie's personality seemed very real at times. So much so that Edgar's daughter Candace Bergen, later a famous actress in her own right, said that for a while when she was very little she thought of Charlie as her elder brother. Yes she knew he was made out of wood and lived in a special suitcase, but when he talked in Edgar's special voice he seemed to come alive. Candace described her relationship with Charlie as "just a little strange."

Edgar Bergen was born on Feb. 16, 1903 in Chicago. When he was a small boy, Bergen's father became ill and his family moved to a dairy farm near Decatur, Michigan where Edgar attended grade school.

When he was only 11, Edgar had to work to help his family.  He got a job stoking the basement furnace of a local movie theater. That same year, he invested 25 cents in a book that promised to teach him how to throw his voice. He made his first dummy from a paper-mache Halloween mask and called the dummy Rastus.

Edgar succeeded in learning some of the ventrioloquist craft but he was never very good at hiding the fact that his lips were moving. But on radio, that did not matter. People enjoyed his characters anyway and Edgar even had Charlie McCarthy poke fun at the fact that Bergen's lips moved. This defect for a ventrioloquist became a running gag in the act.

Bergen's father died when Edgar turned 14 and the family moved back to Chicago where Edgar attended Lane Tech at 2501 West Addison Street for his first two years of high school. Lane Tech then bordered the famous Riverview Amusement Park at Western and Belmont. 

 

Bill Hoffman

Class 1970

Frankie Laine (class of 1930)

Frankie Laine attended Lane Tech in the 1930's. He is most famous as a Western Theme Singer, singing such songs as "High Noon", and many others.   He died last year (2007)   Here is a bio from IMBD:     Mini Biography Singer, composer and author Frankie Laine was born March 30, 1913 in Chicago . His real name was Francesco Paulo LoVecchio and he lived in Chicago 's Little Italy . Frankie was the oldest of eight children born to Sicilian immigrants John and Anna Lo Vecchio, who had come from Monreale, Sicily near Palermo . His father first worked as a waterboy for the Chicago Railroad and he was eventually promoted to laying rails. His father subsequently went to a Trade School and became a barber. One of his most famous clients was gangster Al Capone. Frankie made his first appearance in a choir at the Immaculate Conception Church where he was an altar boy. At 15 he performed at the Merry garden Ballroom in Chicago while attending Lane Technical School he supported himself by working as a car salesman, bouncer in a beer parlor and as a machinist. He also sang at a weekly radio station (wins) for $5.00 per week. The program director for wins convinced him to change his name to Frankie Laine after he auditioned for the radio. His name was stretched out to Frankie because opera singer Frances Lane (Dorothy Kirsten) and Fanny Rose ( Dinah Shore ) were singing at nearby radio station WNEW. At 18 he went to Baltimore and participated in a marathon dance contest after coming off the heels of winning ones in Stamford , CT. and Chicago . Laine set an all time marathon dance record of 3501 hours in 145 consecutive days in 1932 at Wilson's Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey and his competition was an Olympic miler named Joey Ray and included 101 other contestants. Altogether he participated in 14 marathons, winning three, second once and fifth twice. His last contest was back in Chicago at the Arcadia where a 14 year old girl was disqualified because the judges found out her age. She later became successful singer, Anita O'Day. Laine moved to Los Angeles, California and worked at a defense plant. One day he noticed a boy struggling in a neighborhood swimming pool and saved him from drowning. His name was Ronnie Como, son of singer Perry Como. Coincidentally Laine replaced Como on the Frankie Carlone band. Laine was working at Hollywood and Vine in the Billy Berg Club when he was discovered by Hoagy Carmichael after Carmichael heard him sing his song "Old Rocking Chair. The house trio was led by none other than Nat King Cole. Laine introduced the song "That's My Desire" at the Vine Street Club in Hollywood , California . He was also a first class jazz singer and by 1952 he was among the top recording stars and had his own show at the London Palladium. He also made a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II. In 1950 he married Nan Grey, an actress and raised her two children from a previous marriage. He joined ASCAP in 1952, and his chief musical collaborator was Carl Fischer. He toured Britain in 1988 singing as vigorously as ever. He has experienced open heart surgery (quad bi-pass) and still performs. In the 1980s he observed children in a park without shoes in the wintertime and petitioned radio stations across the United States to raise money to buy shoes at Christmas time for poor families with children. thousands and thousands of dollars have been raised to benefit this effort. Some of Laine's finest hits include That's My Desire (1947), Mule Train (1949), Jezebel, Cry of the Wild Goose (1950), On Sunny Side Of The Street (1951), I Believe (1953) and Moonlight Gambler in 1957. He sang the title song for the hit TV series Rawhide that starred Clint Eastwood in the early 1960s. He co-wrote We'll Be Together Again. His wife passed away in recent years and he makes his home in San Diego , California . Bill Hoffman Class of 1970

 

Jim Fleming (class of 1957), Lane Tech basketball star played at DePaul; added to list of Laneites that played beyond high school

Download jim_flemming.doc click for image of Jim Flemming (2nd from right)

Jim Flemming (1957) - basketball; cager of the year in 1956 for Lane in 1956; played basketball at DePaul 1958-1961; inducted to the DePaul Hall of fame 1993; recently attended his 50th class reunion.

7 more named added to Laneites that played beyond Lane from Steve Rhee (class of 1987)

I saw your website last night and it was great to see.

 

I did want to give you some more information on some of the players I know that went on to play college ball, maybe not all 4 years but they did go on to the next level.

 

I was the backup QB on the 85-86 (City champs) and the starter on the 86- 87 teams, I played with Les Ohara and Kevin Krebs. I was the starter in between those two. We lost to Naperville Central in the state playoffs (should have won, ref blew a call) and lost to morgan park in the city playoffs (they had some illegal players, but nothing was done about it).

 

I played against Russell Maryland (whitney young) and Chris Zorich (CVS) my junior year. It was some great times.

 

Anyways, I went on to play at Drake University and had a career ending injury my freshman year. Some of my other LT teammates who went on and played college ball were

 

Derek Faulkner- RB played CB at SIU, made all conference I think his junior or senior year.

Mirko Sradonivich RT- Played at Eastern Illinois with Tod Schwager. I believe Mirko got hurt.

John Trumbolivic-LT Played at Illinois State University

Tony Campanella-DB played at North Park College

Norman Kerr-FB went on to play at an NAIA school, and I cant remember the name.

 

Hope this helps. I know there were some others from other years that were left off the list.

 

Patt Boss-85

Ray Ellingsen-85

 

Call me if you have any questions.

 

Thanks,

 

Steve Rhee class of 87