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Sports

Glory Days: Chuck Schramm's Hall of Fame Career

He started on the bench and ended up a coach.

Chuck Schramm feels his shyness kept him on the basketball bench at for three seasons.

All that sitting gave him time to think.

By the time he reached college at Northern Illinois University (NIU), he wasn't afraid to speak up.

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"I told the coach that I was only going to be here for a year because I wanted to play pro ball," Schramm recalled.

How many Schramm stories are out there? Of course, there is the tryout with the Boston Celtics. How about his meetings with Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson while a caddy at Bob-O-Link Golf Club? There are also tales of how his favorite school in Highland Park fired him on three separate occasions.

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It has been quite a ride for the 77-year-old.

"Highland Park was a football school when I was here,'' he said. "Basketball was nothing. When I left, it was even."

Schramm put his stamp on the Little League baseball program. He watched as future major league pitcher Jim Panther got his start.

The school's former baseball coach, Andy Knotek, will always be grateful for the help he got from Schramm.

"He is the one who hired me to coach boys basketball at Highland Park during his last year as the boys head coach,'' Knotek said. "To this day I still enjoy my conversations with him. He is a great guy."

No doubt Schramm's first love was basketball. He took his time growing and stood barely taller than 6 feet in 1951 when he was on the high school team.

"We hadn't won a game,'' Schramm said. "I was skinny, but they put me in the high post and we won."

This former benchwarmer even scored 32 points in one game. Then he got really serious about the sport.

"I was working in sheet metal,'' he said. "But I played basketball all winter."

Soon the 6-foot-6 athlete hooked up with some players from Chicago.

"I got a phone call from NIU,'' he said. "I had a tryout on a Sunday. By Monday night, I was playing in a game in Whitewater, WI. I don't think I even registered. They registered me."

Schramm wasn't shy about his goals. He wanted to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.

"I was a pretty good basketball player,'' he said.

Schramm later transferred to Western Illinois University (WIU), where he had a memorable game in 1957. WIU and St. Ambrose went to six overtimes. Schramm decided he had enough and calmly sunk a long shot to win the game.

"It was the only two-handed shot I ever took and it went swish,'' he said. "We just had guys on that team who loved basketball so much."

By the time he graduated from college, he was married and had two children. Then a letter arrived from the Boston Celtics asking Schramm to try out for the NBA team.

"Bill Russell met me at the plane,'' Schramm recalled. "We had double and triple practices. Us rookies took care of the other guys' kids while they went out with their wives."

The NBA at this time was a 10-team league with eight players on each team. Schramm knew his chances of making it were slim. Instead, he played and coach for a team called the Wichita Vickers.

By 1957, Schramm was ready to settle down in Highland Park. He soon found a job working for the Park District and was a permanent substitute teacher at .

Ten years later, he took over the post as head basketball coach at Highland Park High School. He would hold the job for 11 years.

"I think we had the best team ever,'' he said. "We never found out how really good we were.

"I had a really good team when I was fired," Schramm recalled. "The parents were outstanding. We had parties."

After losing his position in 1978, Schramm joined forces with Bruce Smith at the College of Lake County. He took his first job coaching a girls basketball team.

"I was a little scared,'' he said. "But those women listened and suddenly I was a great coach."

Then it was time to return to Highland Park. By this time, the girls basketball program was in shambles.

"They hadn't had a team in three years,'' Schramm said. "I think the girls hired me. I had a lot of fun coaching them."

Of course, Schramm lost that job as well.

"I just don't like boring,'' Schramm said. "I was born and raised in Highland Park. I started the Little League program. I did so many things in the Park District."

Schramm still helps out Paul Harris in the golf program.

"His love for Highland Park is unparalleled,'' Harris said. "That is what Coach Schramm is all about. Giving back to his community and his high school."

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