Area Sports Roundup: Former Lyons and Morton College coach Stamas now the boss at Brother Rice

By Jeff Vorva
Staff Writer

A guy who has seemingly done it all in the basketball world is coming to Brother Rice.

Conte Stamas, a former Lyons and Morton College head coach, was hired Aug. 25 to replace Bobby Frasor

Frasor left the program to work in the corporate field.

If the the expected returnees from the 2021-22 team come back, he inherits a strong team. The Crusaders finished 24-7 last year.

“I’m extremely excited,” Stamas said in a news release. “I can’t wait to get started, to get to know the players, and to learn more about Brother Rice. Bobby Frasor did a great job, and we should be able to get rolling immediately. I want to build upon the Crusader tradition and take Brother Rice to the next level.”

“We are really fortunate to have Conte Stamas on the staff,” Brother Rice Athletic Director Mike Fahey said in a news release. “Our players will love him and the knowledge and basketball IQ he brings with him.  We had a number of qualified candidates to choose from, but coach Conte’s varied experience was the difference.  We believe that this hiring is a slam dunk.”

Stamas’s coaching credits include his second stint at Hinsdale Central as assistant varsity coach (2016-2022; 2009-10), Morton College as head coach (2011-16), Lyons as head coach (1999-2008) and Evanston as head coach (1994-99).

Before that, Stamas held the position of assistant coach at Xavier for five years, working with a Musketeers team that reached the NCAA Tournament three times during his tenure. That included a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1990 after beating a Georgetown team that featured Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.

He also coached at Stetson, Thornton Community College, Elmhurst College and Morton East.

EP offers schollies

Evergreen Park is offering two $1,000 annual scholarships, one for football and the other for wrestling. The student-athlete scholarships are the result of donations from Nicholas (Nick) and Candace Mizaur. Nick Mizaur is a 1986 EPCHS alum who participated in football, wrestling and track for the Mustangs.

The Don Ferchau Mustang Defensive Player of the Year Award will be open to any varsity defensive player on the Mustang football team. Students must be academically eligible and have no behavioral infractions during the entire school year to be eligible for the award.

The Kladis-George Mustang Wrestler of the Year Award will be given to one varsity wrestler per year, Mizaur said, with the same academic and behavioral requirements for eligibility as the football award. Mike Kladis, Mizaur’s former Mustang wrestling coach and John George, a former Mustang athletic director and wrestling mentor to Mizaur, share the namesake honor.

3-point contest nixed

Sandburg’s Josie Canellis will not be able to defend her 3-point shooting Queen of the Hill championship in 2023.

The IHSA last week shut the boys and girls competition down, citing the logistics of hosting all four class state championships on the same weekend. The changes were made last year but the IHSA shoehorned the 3-point contest in.

“The 3-point showdown enjoyed a great run but the changes in the state series dates, and format last year created challenges conducting it at multiple levels of the state series,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson.

The IHSA will also allow experimental use of a shot clock for regular-season tournaments and shootouts, pending permission from the organization.

Super freshman debut

Sandburg freshman Lindsey Gerhardstein made a huge introduction to the  area  cross country world with a second-place finish in the SouthWest Suburban Conference Blue preseason meet on Aug. 23 at Lockport.

She finished with a time of 18:44.80 seconds, 14 seconds behind Homewood-Flossmoor star runner Caroline Schoen. Gerhardstein was well ahead of third-placed runner Kara Waishwell (20:00.70) of Lincoln-Way East.

Sandburg and Lincoln-Way East each had 45 points to lead the meet.

In the boys race, defending Class 3A state champion Sandburg won the meet with 46 points as Trent Anderson finished second with a 16:05.90, a fraction behind Bolingbrook’s Vincent De Farno’s 17:05.70.

Zavala commits

Morton College baseball player Paolo Zavala committed to Union College an NAIA school in Kentucky. The Nazareth grad was 5-1 with the Panthers in the spring and had a ratio of 6.78 strikeouts per nine innings.

Did you know?

Morton College’s women’s volleyball team has just one player from the Chicago are on the roster – outside hitter Trenyce Bonner from Olympia Fields.

The Panthers have seven players from Florida, one from Texas, one from downstate Illinois, one from Utah, one from Wisconsin and one from Georgia.