Dan Wieczorek, longtime Fieldcrest AD, ready for induction into IADA Hall of Fame

On the evening of June 22 at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria, the Illinois Athletic Directors Association will induct four of Illinois High School sports most accomplished ADs to join the prestigious IADA Hall of Fame.

Dan Wieczorek – Fieldcrest High School’s athletic director from the 1997-98 school year through his retirement at the end of 2013-14 and before that the athletic director for three years at Wenona High School, a piece of the Fieldcrest’s school district’s formation in 1992-93 – feels honored to be among them.

“It was a big surprise,” said Wieczorek, the Knights’ affable and ever-present athletic director said of hearing in November he had been nominated. “That was a sit back in the chair and go ‘Wow’ moment.

“It is very humbling knowing some of the athletic directors who haven’t been nominated or inducted. And knowing the ones who have been, that’s also very humbling to be put in that group.”

While “surprised” and “honored” may be apt words to describe Wieczorek’s inclusion, another would most definitely be “deserving.”

“Dan’s a Hall of Famer in a lot of ways,” said Steve Haines, the current athletic director at Seneca and member of the Illinois Athletic Directors Association Executive Board. “First of all, he’s a Hall of Fame person. Anyone who’s dealt with Dan as an athletic director or an umpire or just played a round of golf with him knows he’s a top-notch person.

“He took over at Fieldcrest early on after it formed and really molded Fieldcrest and their athletic department into something really special with great coaches, great programs and great teams, all of that. There are a lot of people who go into that, but the leadership of that athletic department was Dan.

“That Dan is joining the Illinois Athletic Directors Association Hall of Fame is not a shock. He did a great job during his tenure at Fieldcrest, and when the committee met, [he] was very much well-respected by everyone who was in that room.

“He is very well thought of and very deserving.”

During Wieczorek’s tenure as athletic director at the Minonk high school, Fieldcrest teams claimed 11 regional and two sectional titles in boys basketball, three regional championships in baseball, two regional titles in softball, an individual state track and field championship, six football playoff appearances, one volleyball regional and sectional title, which led all the way to qualifying for state, and two state competitive dance qualifying teams.

The last of those is one of the things Wieczorek says he is most proud of, serving on the IHSA committee that made competitive dance – which Fieldcrest has always been strong in under the guidance of Tina Fortner, continuing to today – a sanctioned sport.

“Opportunity and seeing kids succeed? I like that.”

—  IADA Hall of Fame Class of 2021 inductee Dan Wieczorek

Other perhaps surprising highlights Wieczorek cited from his career at a school known mostly for its powerhouse basketball and now football programs include getting in-house track and field programs up and running with the help of coaches Carol Bauer and Jim DeMay after the co-op with neighboring Flanagan failed to interest many Fieldcrest student-athletes; and forming and maintaining a dedicated girls golf team – a rarity in this area, even at schools much larger than Fieldcrest’s enrollment in the 300s — with the aid of Judy Kalkwarf.

“I’m proud of the opportunities, of allowing the kids to participate in different things,” Wieczorek said. “What happens then is, they feel good and do good.

“We read a lot about this during the [COVID-19] pandemic with states of mind and the kids not getting to participate. When you get kids to participate, they feel better about themselves, and they do better in the classroom. That’s important, and seeing kids win something, that’s always neat.

“Opportunity and seeing kids succeed? I like that.”

The seeds planted in Fieldcrest’s early years – Wieczorek was the school’s third AD, taking over in the new district’s sixth school year – continue to bear fruit with successful seasons, postseason hardware and a bevy of awards and honors for its coaches and student-athletes.

“It does make you feel good,” he said of the schools’ continued success in sports. “Even though you didn’t directly get the playoff win in football or the 500th win in basketball or whatever Matt [Winkler, Fieldcrest’s storied boys basketball coach and a Hall of Famer] is at now, to sit back now that I’ve retired, when Winkler wins a big game or Carol’s cross country team goes to sectionals or [head football] coach [Mike] Freeman gets his first win, I text and congratulate them.

“Their success and the success of the school is a great source of pride for me.”