Any coach would like to end his career like retiring Willowbrook High School baseball coach Vic Wisner.

Entering Friday’s game at Lincoln-Way West, Willowbrook had won 27 straight games.

The team’s 28 victories, against only four losses, are the program record. A 10-4 win May 16 over Lyons. eclipsed the prior mark of 26, accomplished three times, all under Wisner, head coach since 2011. He’s been with the program since he was hired in 1999, same with the football team as an assistant.

“This is fantastic, of course. And it’s really neat to hear the boys interviewed and talk about how they’re trying to do this for me, it’s kind of cool,” said Wisner, a 1985 Willowbrook graduate and a social studies teacher whose family lineage at the school dates to its 1959 opening. He captained Warriors baseball and football teams as a senior.

“It’s fun. Winning’s always fun, but better than that is watching these kids grow and just compete every day,” he said.

A great gesture by Willowbrook athletic director Ed Sullivan, Saturday will be Vic Wisner Day at the Villa Park diamond, a 10 a.m. game against Oak Park. Willowbrook already clinched the West Suburban Gold title at 18-0. The Warriors are the No. 1 seed in the Class 4A Bartlett sectional and host their own regional.

Former assistant Matt Scott, and current pitching coach Curtis Hudson, who will succeed Wisner as head coach, wore out phones and social media to reach past players to join the salute.

They’ll undoubtedly include Wisner’s son, Troy, an incoming sophomore at the University of Oregon. Troy Wisner was Willowbrook’s catcher for his father’s 300th victory a year ago April 28, 15-6 over Proviso East.

If it were a modest gathering, the witty Wisner had planned to have the men join him on the field Saturday as he said his thanks. It sounds like so many have responded they could hold their own tournament.

“Honestly, I didn’t know it was going to be this big. I’m kind of touched by it,” said Wisner, 59, a 2023 Willowbrook Athletic Hall of Fame inductee whose 338 wins, and counting, are the most by a Warriors baseball coach.

Whenever this season ends, Wisner figures he and his wife, Lisa, will do a little traveling, visit Troy out in Eugene, before he probably settles back into Willowbrook as a substitute or aide.

They call high school athletics an extension of the classroom. Wisner teaches his players a valuable lesson: Do the best you can every single day.

“We never talk about 26 wins, we don’t talk about 30 wins, we talk about one win,” he said. “They’ve really bought into it, which makes it really exciting as a teacher and as a coach to see kids doing these types of things.”

The Diab Dynasty

The Illinois High School Gymnastics Coaches Association boys state meet was held May 16 at Hoffman Estates High School.

The IHSGCA has done yeoman work maintaining the sport for Illinois prep boys since the IHSA eliminated the state series following the 2023 season due to low participation.

But where there’s a Diab, there will be gymnastics.

Glenbard West junior Louie Diab won floor exercise, still rings, vault, parallel bars and the all-around competition to lead the Hilltoppers to a repeat team title. Senior teammate John Mammoser placed in the top four of each event.

Naperville North junior Stas Kalabayda won pommel horse and finished second on floor, rings and the all-around for the runner-up Huskies.

Willowbrook senior Jae Newman, of the Addison Trail-Willowbrook co-op, won horizontal bars, placed second on vault and fourth in all-around.

The Diab family gymnastics dynasty has one more year on the high school level.

Louie’s mother, Jennifer, competed at the University of Wisconsin. With her husband, Mark, she runs a gymnastics academy.

Mark Diab won two NCAA rings titles at Iowa State — just like their oldest child, Alex, at Illinois. Younger brother Max Diab won a junior national title on rings before competing at Illinois.

Maddie Diab won eight gymnastics titles at Glenbard West, according to IHSA records, then was a two-time Big 12 Conference floor champion for Iowa State. Her younger sister, Anna, produced three all-state finishes at Glenbard West in 2020.