Geneva’s Talyn Taylor gives a thumbs-up to teammates after catching a touchdown pass July 16 during the Kaneland 7-on-7 in Maple Park.
Mark Busch/Shaw Local News Network
Geneva High School receiver Talyn Taylor’s holiday break just got more exciting.
On July 18 he announced on social media he’d been invited to play in the Adidas All-American Bowl.
The 25th anniversary of the game, featuring 100 of the nation’s top senior football players in an East vs. West format, will be held Jan. 11, 2025, at its usual site at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
The No. 2 Illinois senior by Rivals.com, Taylor is ranked 29th nationally and sixth at the wide receiver position.
On June 11 Taylor committed to Georgia, among the 24 colleges to offer him a scholarship according to Rivals. Others included Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame.
“This game is invite-only for players,” Geneva coach Boone Thorgesen said of the All-American Bowl, which is broadcast nationally by NBC Sports.
“They take only select high school seniors to play in it. Like an all-star game but for the entire nation. It’s a pretty big deal,” Thorgesen said.
Limited by injury to six games last season, Taylor caught 32 passes for 515 yards and 7 touchdowns. As a sophomore he caught 52 passes for 745 yards, 8 touchdowns.
“Talyn is a special player and is going to have a special senior year. He has the innate ability to take over and impact games at any moment,” Thorgesen said.
“We’re lucky as coaches here that we get a front-row view watching him play because he can do things on the football field that leave you in awe.”
The boys of summer ice hockey
USA Hockey selected a boy from Rolling Meadows and another from Geneva for the Under-17 Five Nations Tournament from Aug. 14-18 in Slovakia.
Jack Hextall from Rolling Meadows and Kalder Varga from Geneva are among the 12 forwards on the Under-17 Men’s Select Team that will play squads from Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
Signed in January by the United States Hockey League’s Youngstown (Ohio) Phantoms, last season with the Chicago Mission Hextall scored 29 goals with 59 assists for 88 points in 64 games.
Also with the Mission in 2023-24, Varga scored 40 goals with 50 assists for 90 points in 50 games. Part of a hockey family, his older brother, Kaden, is a defenseman who played in Budapest last season; their father, John, played 11 minor league seasons from 1991-2001.
Kalder Varga’s grandfather, Lou Varga, is a hall of fame equipment manager who, according to eliteprospects.com, served in that capacity 31 seasons for the Chicago Blackhawks, from 1969-2000.
Since the U17 Five Nations Tournament began in 2007, Team USA is 51-10 plus 2 overtime wins and 1 overtime loss, winning it eight times and finishing second six times.
Glenbard East athletic director D’Wayne Bates has been appointed as an at-large member of the National Federation of State High School Associations board of directors.
Courtesy of D’Wayne Bates
Bates receives national title
Glenbard East now has a national presence. On July 17 in Boston, Rams athletic director D’Wayne Bates gained approval as an at-large member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) board of directors.
A four-year term, he’ll represent sections 1 and 4 of the NFHS’ eight national jurisdictions. Section 1 is Midwest states Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin. Section 4 is the Northeast including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, according to the 2023-24 NFHS Handbook.
“The main thing is to uphold the vision and mission of the NFHS,” said Bates, 48, who lives in Villa Park.
“That’s obviously first and foremost, and at the end of the day it’s about providing an enriched experience for our students who participate in athletics, activities and performing arts,” he said Wednesday, beating Tuesday’s storm back home after orientation meetings at NFHS headquarters in Indianapolis.
Still Northwestern University’s leader in receptions, receiving yardage and touchdown receptions, the former Chicago Bear third-round draft pick was inducted into Northwestern’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.
Out of Aiken, S.C., where he was also a baseball star drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays and was inducted into his high school’s hall of fame, Bates started in education at Evanston and continued at Marshall and LaSalle-Peru. He’s entering his 10th year at Glenbard East in Lombard.
Also an at-large member of the IHSA board of directors, Bates believes his journey makes him well suited to a national leadership role.
Illinois High School Association Executive Director Craig Anderson agrees. He nominated Bates for the NFHS position, coming to know him over the years.
“In his role at his school and now having been at a couple of different schools as athletic director, and his background, in my opinion it lends him to being absolutely qualified,” Anderson said.
Bates’ focus remains on Glenbard East, but he felt he had the perspective and experience to take on this opportunity.
“I’ve just got a diverse lens that I hope I can contribute to the NFHS,” Bates said.