Hall of Fame inductees have fond memories

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Nazareth President Dennis Moran (left) introduced this year's Athletic Hall of Fame inductees (front row, from left) David Geary, the family of Tom Richardson - Nancy Richardson, Katie Richardson and Mary Beth Dedman, (back row, from left) Patricia Ducey

Updated: February 20, 2012 8:37AM

He hadn’t visited Nazareth Academy much over the past 20 years but 1992 graduate Bob Krahulik stopped by on Saturday night.

“I haven’t been back here in a while,” Krahulik said. “I have three kids, I went back to school for a master’s degree, and I live in Plainfield. This place is a lot different than it was when I was here — nicer floors, nicer walls, and they have an auditorium now.”

They also have an athletic Hall of Fame now, which on Saturday welcomed Krahulik and seven other former Roadrunners into the fold. Their friends and families gathered for a reception at the school before being inducted at halftime of Nazareth’s home boys basketball game against Notre Dame.

Entering Nazareth’s Hall of Fame this year are Krahulik (class of 1992), Patricia Ducey Miller (’86), John Gardner (’86), Baxter Swilley (’93), Nora Strauch (’97), Mandy Lindwall (2000), former basketball coach Tom Richardson (1981-93), and former assistant athletic director David Geary.

Geary was inducted as a Friend of Athletics, and cited in the night’s program for the “integrity, support, dedication, generosity, and kindness” he exhibited to thousands of Nazareth students through the years.

“This is the best part of my job,” Nazareth President Dennis Moran said. “We get to bring back some of our people that have blazed a path and today we brought in kids from 1983 to 2000. It’s great to honor them like this.”

Gardner was a four-sport athlete at Nazareth and went on to play baseball at Xavier. Strauch played volleyball and ran track, and still holds the school’s record for running the 200-meter dash in 25.8 seconds.

Miller was an all-conference player in basketball and volleyball, before going on to play college field hockey at St. Bonaventure in New York. Now married with children and living in Downers Grove, Miller was fairly stunned by the news of her induction.

“I was very surprised and excited, and I had trouble believing it at first,” Miller said. “The gym was new when I started here and I loved the small-school feel here. I think there were 140 in my class and being part of the athletic program here was a big part of my life.

“It was the presence of the sisters that were here and the spiritual values that came first here, and then academics and athletics and the rest of it.”

Lindwall played basketball and softball for the Roadrunners, was the school’s female athlete of the year in 2000, and played softball at Robert Morris College.

Swilley, a candidate for Illinois lieutenant governor in 2010, played basketball and football at Nazareth. He earned a football scholarship to Northeast Missouri State after high school and served on the Metropolitan Board of the Chicago Urban League.

Krahulik was a member of a 28-1 regional championship boys basketball team at Nazareth in 1991. He went on to play on a Division II national championship team at Joliet Jr. College in 1994 and was the MVP of the NJCAA national tournament that year before moving on to play for the University of Toledo. He is currently an assistant coach at Plainfield North.

“I made a lot of good friends here and learned a lot academically, but I’ll always remember 1991 as the year we beat St. Joe’s,” Krahulik said. “Tom Richardson was a great coach. He got the best out of the talent we had that year. The coaches here instilled a work ethic in you and taught you how to play together.”

It has been almost 20 years since Tom Richardson coached boys basketball at Nazareth Academy, but when he told his wife Nancy that he was being inducted into this year’s Hall of Fame class at the school, a flood of memories came back.

Currently an assistant coach at Vanderbilt, Tom Richardson couldn’t attend Saturday’s ceremony, but Nancy Richardson was proud to be in attendance.

“We were thrilled when we found out; totally thrilled,” she said. “It kind of chokes me up to talk about it. This school is like a family and we still see some of his old players that come down to visit us. We had 14 wonderful years here.”