Chicago Bears recognize Marian Central’s Hunter Birkhoff as Bears High School Community All-Star

Senior football player, wrestler plans to major in animal behavioral science

Marian Central senior Hunter Birkhoff

WOODTOCK – If there is some kind of activity happening at Marian Central, there’s a strong chance senior Hunter Birkhoff has a hand in it.

Birkhoff plays football and wrestles, he also is a mentor, he’s on the campus ministry team, he’s in the Writers’ Society, played a part in a musical, was stage manager for a play and he sings with the madrigals. He was in ping pong club as a junior but is not in it this year.

Outside of high school, Birkhoff goes with youth groups to Feed My Starving Children and often helps do cleanup at local parks.

“Anytime I get the opportunity to do something like that, I usually jump on because I just love doing it,” said Birkhoff, who lives in McHenry.

Which is why Hurricanes football coach Liam Kirwan considered Birkhoff an easy choice to nominate for Chicago Bears Community High School All-Star.

When you think of somebody who’s a role model for what you want your players to be, it’s Hunter.”

—  Liam Kirwan, Marian Central football coach

The Bears hand out nine weekly honors throughout the spring to recognize high school football players who have made a positive impact in their community and school by exemplifying service, leadership and character.

Birkhoff is this week’s winner. He was honored Friday at Marian by Gus Silva, Bears manager of youth football and community programs. Birkhoff received a Bears backpack with apparel items in it, a football with his name painted on it, $500 to be donated to a charity of his choice and four tickets to the Bears’ draft party.

“When you think of somebody who’s a role model for what you want your players to be, it’s Hunter,” Kirwan said. “He works hard at everything he does. He also works. He’s awesome, a student-athlete, mentor and he does fine arts as well. I don’t know how he does all this stuff.”

Birkhoff spent time last summer with Philadelphia Project, a program in which volunteers help poverty-stricken areas of the city with improvement projects.

“The group I worked with were rebuilding a bathroom for disabled women,” Birkhoff said. “It was a lot of fun. You leave afterward and you feel so good about what you’ve done. I love that feeling.”

Birkhoff played defensive lineman for the Hurricanes and wrestled at 195 pounds for Marian’s Class 1A regional championship team. He plans on playing football at NCAA Division III Carroll or Carthage next year. He also was stage manager for “The Importance of Being Earnest” in the fall and played the part of Mr. Brunner in the musical this spring “The Lightning Thief.”

“It was a bit of shock [when I won],” Birkhoff said. “It hit me out of nowhere. Coach told me he nominated me, and I filled out some questions and wrote an essay.”

Kirwan didn’t want to miss any of Birkhoff’s credentials, so he had him fill things out.

Todd and Amy Birkhoff were surprised and proud of their son receiving the honor from the Bears.

“Coach said he saw that and thought of Hunter,” Amy Birkhoff said. “He’s done mission trips, he’s on the faith group here at the school, he’s a mentor. He’s won the Daughters of the American Revolution Award from the school.

“I was excited for him. Hunter mentioned it to me in passing. He’s a passive personality. When he won it, he went to the office and called me. He said, ‘Mom, you remember that thing coach put me up for? I’m one of nine winners.’ "

Silva said the committee felt Birkhoff represented everything it was looking for with the award.

“He’s a great student, he’s a valuable member of his sports team,” Silva said. “He does mentoring at the school. He did mission work with his church, volunteers at vacation Bible school, did work with Feed My Starving Children. Just overall, he hit everything across the spectrum. He’s a great young man.

“Academically, he does a great job. He did a mission trip in Philadelphia. The entirety of who he is as a person is really impressive. Factor in that he’s a 17-year-old young man with all these things, it’s pretty amazing.”

Birkhoff particularly likes being a mentor to two Marian freshmen. He wanted to become a mentor as a junior, but the freshman class was small enough that only seniors were selected as mentors.

“I have two mentees. They’re freshmen on the football team. They’re amazing,” Birkhoff said. “I give them my number, and they can get me anytime they want to. For the first two quarters of the year, I did weekly check-ins where I texted and saw how they were doing grade-wise and with activities, everything like that.”

Birkhoff is not a huge football fan like his parents, but he will enjoy the draft party. He wants to major in animal behavioral science in college and be a big cat handler at a zoo or animal sanctuary. A friend of Birkhoff said he has been learning animal facts from him since the second grade.

“I’ve always loved animals. There were a lot of shows I watched that taught me about animals,” Birkhoff said. “I’ve always had a passion for animals. A lot of them are misunderstood, and I want to educate the world. These are more than just furry beasts. You can learn about them. They’re majestic and beautiful.”