Former DGS coach Novotny
recalls golden days
By Dave Owen
Chuck Novotny is a walking encyclopedia of sorts for Illinois high school soccer.
Four years after Granite City defeated New Trier West for the first IHSA-sanctioned Illinois state championship game in 1972, Novotny started the varsity program at Downers Grove South.
An impressive 10-year run followed. Novotny retired from the coaching post after the 1985 season with 118 career wins and three state quarterfinal appearances (including fourth place in 1983).
“There's a lot of good stories and a lot of good kids,” Novotny said.
Some of those “kids” were back at Downers Grove South last week. The Mustangs’ home opener Aug. 31 was also a night to honor Novotny and about 15 players on hand for the 40th anniversary of the program’s 1982 state quarterfinalist.
“This was a surprise,” Novotny said of seeing so many of his former charges. “My son Joe arranged some of this. In fact, Joe was on the team in '82 as a goalkeeper.”
At 90 years old, the elder Novotny has recollections of soccer plays and anecdotes that few books or VHS tapes could as vividly reproduce.
The 2-0 quarterfinal loss to eventual state champion Granite City was no exception.
“The games (in 1982) were at New Trier,” he said. “I look up in the stands before the game and there's no one there from Downers Grove South. Then all of a sudden, 16 buses (of students) pulled in.”
Current Downers Grove South head coach Jon Stapleton was a ball boy for Novotny’s teams growing up. Years later he nicely built on the tradition that Novotny began and guided the Mustangs to the 2004 state title.
“He (Novotny) had stopped by during our Meet the Team Day this year, but the scrimmage got stormed out,” Stapleton said. “He was telling me about goals that were scored in the 1982 Elite Eight game.
“I said, 'Coach it's amazing you remember all that.' He said ‘Yeah, but I can’t remember where I parked my car.’”
Jokes aside, Novotny’s Mustangs were in overdrive from their first year of varsity play.
“The kids were competitors,” Novotny said. “We were JV for one year and then we were able to get off to a good start (in 1976). Our first year we beat Willowbrook, which had gone downstate the last year (1975).”
Downers Grove South went 8-6-1 in its second season, and bigger success quickly followed.
Things culminated in 1983 with a 4-3, triple-overtime state quarterfinal win over St. Charles.
While a pair of one-goal losses followed, the eventual fourth-place trophy was the best finish in school history in any sport until the 1984 football team took second.
The 18 wins his teams notched in both 1983 and 1985 remained program records in a season until Stapleton's 2004 squad went 26-2-1.
Novotny’s soccer days began long before his coaching stint. He was a player at Morton, where he graduated in 1950.
“The early soccer strength was in Chicago,” he said. “There were 20 teams then and only two suburban teams, Morton and Oak Park.”
As population moved to the suburbs, soccer popularity moved with it. And as a teacher in Downers Grove, Novotny was an early proponent of the game and its growth.
“The first soccer game ever in Downers Grove was played here (at Downers Grove South),” Novotny said. “In 1970, I had the park district start a soccer program. I figured we’d have 20 kids. We got 80 or 90.
“At the end of the summer I called a friend whose son (Charlie Fajkus) played for Wheaton, Indiana University and eventually Kansas City. I said, ‘We have a (youth) team now. Can you bring your team out (for a game)?’ He didn't tell me they were 66-0-0. We ended up (losing) 5-1 only because he called the dogs off.”
Novotny’s teams were seldom if ever overmatched after that.
“It was great here (at Downers Grove South),” Novotny said. “I really enjoyed it.”
recalls golden days
By Dave Owen
Chuck Novotny is a walking encyclopedia of sorts for Illinois high school soccer.
Four years after Granite City defeated New Trier West for the first IHSA-sanctioned Illinois state championship game in 1972, Novotny started the varsity program at Downers Grove South.
An impressive 10-year run followed. Novotny retired from the coaching post after the 1985 season with 118 career wins and three state quarterfinal appearances (including fourth place in 1983).
“There's a lot of good stories and a lot of good kids,” Novotny said.
Some of those “kids” were back at Downers Grove South last week. The Mustangs’ home opener Aug. 31 was also a night to honor Novotny and about 15 players on hand for the 40th anniversary of the program’s 1982 state quarterfinalist.
“This was a surprise,” Novotny said of seeing so many of his former charges. “My son Joe arranged some of this. In fact, Joe was on the team in '82 as a goalkeeper.”
At 90 years old, the elder Novotny has recollections of soccer plays and anecdotes that few books or VHS tapes could as vividly reproduce.
The 2-0 quarterfinal loss to eventual state champion Granite City was no exception.
“The games (in 1982) were at New Trier,” he said. “I look up in the stands before the game and there's no one there from Downers Grove South. Then all of a sudden, 16 buses (of students) pulled in.”
Current Downers Grove South head coach Jon Stapleton was a ball boy for Novotny’s teams growing up. Years later he nicely built on the tradition that Novotny began and guided the Mustangs to the 2004 state title.
“He (Novotny) had stopped by during our Meet the Team Day this year, but the scrimmage got stormed out,” Stapleton said. “He was telling me about goals that were scored in the 1982 Elite Eight game.
“I said, 'Coach it's amazing you remember all that.' He said ‘Yeah, but I can’t remember where I parked my car.’”
Jokes aside, Novotny’s Mustangs were in overdrive from their first year of varsity play.
“The kids were competitors,” Novotny said. “We were JV for one year and then we were able to get off to a good start (in 1976). Our first year we beat Willowbrook, which had gone downstate the last year (1975).”
Downers Grove South went 8-6-1 in its second season, and bigger success quickly followed.
Things culminated in 1983 with a 4-3, triple-overtime state quarterfinal win over St. Charles.
While a pair of one-goal losses followed, the eventual fourth-place trophy was the best finish in school history in any sport until the 1984 football team took second.
The 18 wins his teams notched in both 1983 and 1985 remained program records in a season until Stapleton's 2004 squad went 26-2-1.
Novotny’s soccer days began long before his coaching stint. He was a player at Morton, where he graduated in 1950.
“The early soccer strength was in Chicago,” he said. “There were 20 teams then and only two suburban teams, Morton and Oak Park.”
As population moved to the suburbs, soccer popularity moved with it. And as a teacher in Downers Grove, Novotny was an early proponent of the game and its growth.
“The first soccer game ever in Downers Grove was played here (at Downers Grove South),” Novotny said. “In 1970, I had the park district start a soccer program. I figured we’d have 20 kids. We got 80 or 90.
“At the end of the summer I called a friend whose son (Charlie Fajkus) played for Wheaton, Indiana University and eventually Kansas City. I said, ‘We have a (youth) team now. Can you bring your team out (for a game)?’ He didn't tell me they were 66-0-0. We ended up (losing) 5-1 only because he called the dogs off.”
Novotny’s teams were seldom if ever overmatched after that.
“It was great here (at Downers Grove South),” Novotny said. “I really enjoyed it.”