Lachel’s players all winners

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Bud Lachel has been coaching Cary-Grove tennis since players showed up to matches with one racket and drank water out of empty tennis ball cans.

This year’s team was better equipped and had more sanitary drink holders. The Trojans were 19-7 and placed fourth at the FVC Meet and third at the C-G Sectional.

But the record that Lachel is most proud of is that every one of his 21 girls on the varsity team had winning records. Sixteen of those players had at least 20 wins.

“Everybody contributed to the winning and the success we’ve had this year,” Lachel said. “I’ve never had a year without someone with a losing record.”

It was Lachel’s last season at the helm after starting the girls team in 1974 and coaching every year since. His overall record is 511-230 for a wining percentage of .690. In his 38 years of coaching the girls team, he only had four seasons with a losing record.

Lachel coached the boys team from 1969 to 2010, compling a 397-319 record. His 908 wins are the most by any Illinois tennis coach.

For his accomplishments, Lachel is the Northwest Herald Girls Tennis Coach of the Year, selected by the sports staff with input from area coaches.

The input from coaches was overwhelming, with almost every area coach nominating Lachel for the award. But the honor shouldn’t be considered a lifetime achievement award for Lachel.

Crystal Lake South’s Don Nead said he thought Lachel did some of his best coaching this season. Nead said Lachel arranged his lineup to get the best matchups and challenged the Gators, who were undefeated this season in the FVC Valley Division.

“It might have been his last year, but [Lachel] did everything he could to get his team to beat us,” Nead said. “He had a chance to beat us the way he lined up his team.”

Nead, who has been South’s coach for 16 seasons and coached at Crystal Lake Community, said Lachel also deserved the recognition for hosting both the conference and sectional tournaments.

“He did a great job with the conference and the sectionals,” Nead said. “Those are tough tournaments to run.

What Nead will remember most is that no matter how close or intense the competition was, he knew there would be no hard feelings.

“We both tried very hard to beat each other,” Nead said. “When it was over we shook hands and congratulated each other.”

Lachel is quick to remember all of his players through the years. Players such as Debbie Prochaska, who went to state four times, Jean Schroeder, Amanda Paul, Dina Peterson, Tiffany Dawson and Kris Devine.

Paul, whose last name is now Schuetzle, took over the boys program in 2011 and will be the girls coach next year.

Schroeder, who Lachel said probably was his best player, played on the boys team before there was a girls team. She played on C-G’s first girls team in 1974.

Devine was on the team that won the Trojans’ first conference championship. She is the mother of current player Beth Hughes.

Without the time constraints of coaching, Lachel said he plans to travel more, play some golf and just relax. He also will continue to work behind the scorer’s table at high school basketball games.

“I might even catch a couple of tennis matches,” Lachel said.