FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
May 7, 2013 - North Central College head men's cross country coach and associate head track and field coach
Al Carius has been selected for induction into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame's 17th annual induction class also includes such distinguished sports figures as men's basketball All-Americans and NBA veterans Mark Aguirre and Antoine Walker, National Football League standouts Donovan McNabb, Don Beebe, Renaldo Wynn and Pete Bercich, Major League Baseball managers Tony LaRussa and Frank Quilici and veteran pitcher Tommy John, former Chicago Blackhawk Eddie Olczyk, Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler Kevin Bracken, and the late Jim Johnson, a longtime Philadelphia Eagles assistant coach.
Also among those being honored at the event are the 1963 Loyola University men's basketball team, in recongition of the 50th anniversary of the Ramblers' appearance in the NCAA Final Four, as well as University of Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino, who will receive the Hall of Fame's Ray Meyer College Coach of the Year Award.
Carius was selected on the strength of his many accomplishments as an athlete, which include five individual Big Ten Conference championships at the University of Illinois, as well as the numerous accolades achieved in a 48-year coaching career at North Central.
His cross country teams have won 15 national titles and finished runner-up 14 times in 39 years of NCAA Division III competition. They have finished out of the top four just four times. Cardinal teams have won 39 consecutive College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Cross Country Championships and 46 of 53 overall.
Carius' teams have established two still-standing records at the national cross country championships, posting the meet's lowest point total (32) in 1993 and winning by the largest margin ever (131) in 2009. The Cardinals became the first team in Division III history to have all seven competing runners finish in the top 35 and earn All-America honors at the 2009 championships.
North Central has six NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field titles and four NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field titles. The Cardinals have won 34 CCIW Outdoor Track & Field Championships (out of 66 that have been contested) and all 12 CCIW Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Carius and his coaching staff have produced 105 All-Americans and seven individual national champions in cross country and more than 300 All-Americans and 43 national champions in track and field. In addition, Cardinal athletes still hold six national records.
Carius was honored as cross country “Coach of the Century,” as well as being named NCAA Division III Cross Country Coach of the Year in 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2009, 2011, 2012. He is also a member of the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Drake Relays Hall of Fame. The USTFCCCA honored Carius with the creation of the Al Carius Program of the Year Award during the 2008-2009 academic year, which is to be given annually to the NCAA Division III men's cross country/track and field program with the highest average finish at the three national championships.
This year's induction ceremony will be held on Sept. 18 at Hawthorne Race Course in Cicero, and will be emceed by Fox News sportscaster Corey McPherrin. The event benefits the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame Charities, which include the Standing Tall Charitable Foundation and scholarships for the underprivileged.
More information on the Hall of Fame and the induction ceremony can be found at www.chicagolandsportshalloffame.com.
