advertisement

Football helps Bazsali battle back from his toughest loss

This should be the happiest time of Bruce Bazsali's life.

Bazsali is leading a Rockford Lutheran team its way to a second straight undefeated regular season. A few weeks ago he earned the 100th victory of a head coaching career that includes stops at Elk Grove and Carmel.

The Elgin graduate is also coaching a state record-setting running back in James Robinson. And Lutheran has a chance to make a run at playing for a Class 4A state title in DeKalb on Thanksgiving weekend.

All of it seems perfect.

But something, or more accurately someone, is missing for Bazsali.

"It's hard because she was such a big part of it," Bazsali said of Cathy Bazsali, his wife of 20 years who passed away unexpectedly May 21 at 58. "When I got 100 wins, she's the one who put me on to that possibility, and I used to call her if she wasn't at the game because she wasn't feeling good (from a battle with cancer).

"I was riding home and had nobody to call or talk to. I get home and it's just the dogs and me asking them, 'Do you want a treat?' "

Those who have spent any significant time with Bazsali, who has also been an assistant at Prospect, Rolling Meadows, Hampshire and St. Edward, know he is one of the eternal optimists. He would turn a perceived negative of low roster numbers into a positive. A season-ending game years ago between Elk Grove and Meadows, whose playoff hopes were long gone, became "The East Division championship for the Mid-Suburban South."

That optimism and energy helped him come out of retirement to turn around a downtrodden Lutheran program that is 39-5 the last four seasons. The support he has received from the football program and school community has meant the world to Bazsali but it still has not eased the pain of his toughest loss.

"Sharing things with her this season, she would be just really loving this," said Bazsali, who retired at Elk Grove after the 2004 season and assisted Prospect's third state title team the following year. "To come home and she isn't there makes it tough.

"The kids have honored her well and that's pretty neat but it still is a chunk that has been taken out of me. It's still pretty raw. I think I'm doing alright but I thought I would be doing better."

Cathy Bazsali was doing fine in her battle with cancer when she made a trip to Florida to visit family last May. Shortly after arriving she became ill and was hospitalized. Not long after that she died.

What has made it even tougher for Bruce Bazsali is no cause has been determined. He said doctors believe she suffered a series of strokes "but they don't know where they came from or why she had them."

Bazsali called their marriage "20 really, really unbelievable years" with 12 grandchildren. There were the regular trips from their Belvidere home to Lake Geneva, where there is now a brick in Cathy's honor at the lakeside Riviera. And she loved his involvement in the football program.

"The support with the parents and being a good ambassador, I can't believe how much she did," Bazsali said. "James (Robinson) mentioned it in an interview that she would be at the (equipment) shed and giving everybody a hug and after games she would be congratulating everybody. He said he really missed her."

The time demands of a football season have helped fill some of the void for Bazsali. There is game-planning and practice-planning for a team he believes is better than the 2013 4A semifinalist and last year's group that lost a 1-point quarterfinal heartbreaker to 4A runnerup Phililps.

The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Robinson broke the state record for career rushing yards two weeks ago and now has 8,827 going into the regular-season finale. He has rushed for 2,228 yards and 41 touchdowns this year despite being limited to 108 carries with Lutheran winning its games by an average of 54 points.

Bazsali said Iowa and other Big Ten schools, Illinois State, North Dakota State, Ball State and Northern Illinois are interested in Robinson but "I don't know why people aren't beating down doors for him." You can bet Bazsali will be doing everything he can on that front even though Robinson said he won't make a decision until the season is over.

It has also been a big help for Bazsali to have long-time friend and former Hersey head coach Mike Mullaney running a staunch defense.

"If we stay healthy we can be really good," Bazsali said.

How much longer Bazsali wants to keep leading Lutheran's success is a question where the answer frequently changes.

"I vacillate," Bazsali said. "At times I don't know if I'm going to do this anymore without her. At other times I think I need to do this and she would want me to do this. At this point I honestly take it one day at a time.

"She was just such an inspiration. Sometimes I feel I did it for her because she enjoyed it so much, too. We were such a team with all of this."

Cathy Bazsali still is a big part of Bruce's Rockford Lutheran team in spirit.

marty.maciaszek@gmail.com

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.