All in the family: A look at 10 Rockford area sports dynasties
Thanksgiving is about food, family and football — with many giving family top billing.
Rockford is home to several sports dynasties, families who have had their share of high school athletes from football and basketball players to runners, wrestlers, swimmers and more.
Here's a look at some of the Rockford area's most well-known sports families.
The Considine clan
Sean Considine led Byron to an undefeated state title in 1999, when the Tigers broke the state scoring record. He also started for a co-Big Ten championship team at Iowa and won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens. His little brother, Ryan, played baseball for Iowa and was a terror at Byron as a Barry Sanders-like undersized running back. Their sister, Megan, scored over 2,000 points for Byron’s girls basketball team. And now Sean’s kids are growing up in the Byron School District. His oldest, Caden, started for Byron’s regional championship baseball team as a freshman and leads the Big Northern in rushing as a sophomore for Byron’s No. 1-ranked football team in Class 3A.
More: Rockford’s greatest football players No. 1: Sean Considine Byron’s humble Super Bowl champ
Combined family greatness
Do you call him NBA All-Star? Or do you call him NBA champion? By either name, Auburn grad Fred VanVleet stands alone in Rockford history. He is far and away the greatest basketball player in Rockford history. But the rest of his family is notable, also.
Step-dad Joe Danforth is a long-time assistant coach at NIC-10 power Auburn. His older brothers, Darnell VanVleet and J.D. Danforth, were both all-conference players for Auburn. His nephew, Amir Danforth, should be one of the league’s best players as a junior for Auburn this year. And his biological dad, who was killed when Fred was 5, was a star at Guilford. Fred Manning had 18 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots when Guilford beat Boylan 60-57 in the regional finals in 1990 — the only year in a 26-year stretch where Boylan didn’t win a regional title. The 6-foot-6 Manning turned down several Division I schools that tried to recruit both Manning and Guilford teammate Ed Jones as a tandem. “Fred was better than me,” said Jones, who played NCAA Division I college ball for Maine. “I've told everyone that from Day 1.”
5 Dakota state champs
Brothers Greg, Pete and Tony Alber each won a state wrestling title. Pete’s son Vinny also won state. Pete coached Dakota to six Class 1A state team titles. And his nephew, Josh Alber, is the only wrestler in Illinois history with a perfect record, going 182-0 from 2010-14. One of those wins came against fellow four-time state champ Jered Cortez of Aurora Marmion when both were seniors. There are only 14 four-time state champs in state history.
Growing up Marcial
Five Marcial sisters won NIC-10 titles for Belvidere and earned NCAA Division I tennis scholarships: Sheila (Eastern Illinois), Cindy (Western Illinois), Abby (Ball State), Fil (Ball State) and Eva (Texas A&M). Fil’s daughter Ana Hatfield won the NIC-10 No. 1 singles title all three years she played at Boylan. Cindy’s daughter, Belen Nevenhoven, won all four years at Auburn. Her son, Quinten Nevenhoven, was a three-time NIC-10 champion for Auburn. Belen (Arizona) and Quinten (Tennessee-Chattanooga) are also NCAA Division I players. Belen and Eva were both second in the state as juniors, the only NIC-10 girls to ever reach the state finals.
All the sisters, who grew up playing with their dad, Rodolfo Marcial, stayed in the area. Their kids are all into sports. But the three oldest cousins are the only ones who have made tennis their sport.
“Except for Ana, all the nieces and nephews have gone different routes,” said Cindy (Marcial) Nevenhoven, who is a teaching pro at a club in Chicago. “I think it’s a tribute to my dad. He would always take them out to the park and play tennis. And shoot a few baskets. But not too much. Mostly tennis. He got to play with the older ones. He was a passionate man. Whatever he did, he was always all in.”
First family of football
Brandon McShane has the third-best receiving game in NIC-10 history, with a then-record 234 yards against Hononegah in 2010. Steve McShane became the first sophomore in NIC-10 history to rush for 1,000 yards in 2012. Vance McShane ran for 1,000 yards in 2015 and Deion McShane for 911 in 2016. In all, seven McShane brothers have played football for the Freeport Pretzels.
Jahvon, now in eighth grade, plans to be the eighth of 10 McShane siblings to play football for Freeport. Vance and Deion also played in college for Northern Iowa and Steve starred in both football and baseball at Western Illinois. Deion is also a three-time state hurdles champion who led Freeport to the 2017 Class 2A state track title.
“It’s a legacy that’s unparalleled with nine bothers and that much talent up and down,” former Boylan and Auburn football coach Dan Appino said in 2012.
The older McShanes have been huge cheerleaders all along the way for their younger brothers.
“All my brothers ahead of me were successful playing,” said Steve McShane, who had a tryout with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers after college. “We played in the backyard all my life growing up. I wanted to be just like them, maybe a little better. And the ones younger than me, I wanted to push them. I thought it would be cool as a big brother to see them be even better than me.”
First family of basketball
Ron Norman coached Freeport to 12 consecutive regional titles in basketball. His three sons played for the Pretzels. Tom and Ron Jr. were two of the greatest Freeport basketball players in history, both going on to play for Iowa in the Big Ten. Pete, the third son, stayed in town and coached Highland Community college to more than 300 victories before becoming Highland’s athletic director. Pete’s three kids (Eric, Katie and Luke) all starred for the Pretzels. Katie led Freeport to back-to-back state runner-up finishes in Class 3A, the only two times any NIC-10 girls basketball team has reached the state title game.
Ron Jr. also was a start quarterback, leading the NIC-10 in passing, but the Normans have always been known for basketball. Ron Jr. and Tom both started for Iowa teams that tied for the Big Ten title. Their sisters grew up before Title IX, but still got involved in sports. Kris’ son played minor league baseball and became a Chicago Cubs scout. Pat was Rochelle’s first-ever girls basketball coach.
A dozen Titans
Ben Hilby finished eighth in state in the 800 meters for Boylan in 1999. He is one of only eight Titans in history to medal at state in boys track. He is also the oldest of 13 kids, 12 of whom played a variety of sports at Boylan: Ben, Joe, Dan, Abby, Sarah, Nathan, Deborah, Becky, Lizzy, Isaac, Maria and Rachel.
Adam, who has Down syndrome, is the only Hilby who didn’t play a varsity sport at Boylan, but he qualified for state multiple times playing on a local Special Olympics basketball team.
Most of the Hilbys played two or three sports. They were never big stars — Ben’s track exploits may be the family’s singular highlight — but they often started for teams that contended for NIC-10 titles. Maria was a starter and top defensive player for Boylan’s 2018 girls basketball team that finished a school-record 32-1.
“She’s not a flashy player,” former Boylan girls basketball coach Paul Perrone said at the time. “She doesn’t draw a lot of attention to herself. She just goes out and works. They are all like that; they just do what you ask them to do and don’t want a lot of limelight.”
Forreston’s perfect 10
Last year freshman Darin Greenfield became the 10th Greenfield cousin to play either baseball or softball for Forreston in the last four years. Most of them have been all-conference players for Forreston teams that have dominated the NUIC South. Darin also plays basketball and golf, but the family is known best for playing on the diamond.
“A lot of the Greenfields have been three-sport athletes,” Forreston baseball coach Mike McClellan said, “but baseball and softball have been the top sports for most of them.”
Three of the four Greenfield families live on the same block in Forreston. The fourth lives in nearby German Valley. They grew up playing ball with each other in the backyard.
“It’s so cool,” said Jenna, a senior outfielder on the softball team. “We are all family and every game you go to someone is there playing. And we can practice whenever we are together.”
Making their pitch
Dan Scarpetta was the most unhittable pitcher in NIC-10 history. He set NIC-10 records with 451 career strikeouts and 199 in a season. As a senior, he allowed one hit in 20 playoff innings. In the first five games of his high school career as a sophomore at Auburn, he was 5-0 with a 0.00 ERA and three home runs. He is the second-highest drafted player in conference history, No. 78 overall by the Brewers. His brother Dennis also pitched in the minor leagues.
Dan’s son, Cody, starred for Guilford and rose as high as Class AA in the minors, and was briefly called up to the Majors by the Brewers but never appeared in a game. Dennis’ sons both starred for Hononegah. Ryan was NIC-10 MVP in 2010 and Brett was 31-18 in five seasons of independent league pro ball. Even Dan’s daughter was a star pitcher, with Kelsey making all-conference in softball at Guilford.
“"You could make your entire bullpen out of Scarpettas,” former Harlem star catcher Nick Shields said.
Huskies by two names
Harlem catcher Nick Shields was named one of Rockford’s 10 greatest baseball players. His older brother Chris was a star on the only NIC-10 baseball team to qualify for state in back-to-back seasons in 1990 and ’91. Nick played three sports at Harlem. Chris played four. Another brother, Brad, was an all-conference swimmer at Harlem. Their sister, Sarah, was all-conference in volleyball.
There is an equally full second generation. Sarah’s oldest two kids, Reece (golf) and Paige Stovall (soccer) made all-conference when they played for Harlem. Her two youngest (Finn, a sophomore, and Eve, a freshman) each play two sports for Harlem. Nick’s daughter Zoe is a four-time all-conference swimmer. She finished 15th in the state in the 50-yard freestyle earlier this month, the first Harlem swimmer to ever reach the final 16 at state. Brad’s oldest son, Boden, qualified for the state swim meet as a freshman. And Chris’ three kids (Lauren Shields in swimming, Kate and Lily Shields in volleyball) have all made all-conference at Boylan.
“Grrowing up, sports were extremely important for all of us,” Nick Shields said. “We all played multiple sports all year ‘round forever.”
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Considine, Scarpetta, McShane, Alber: Rockford's best sports families
