Heidkamp Builds Basketball Powerhouse at Benet

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY

It’s always a pleasant feeling to return home as a state basketball champion.

Things have changed for former St. Patrick basketball player Gene Heidkamp, a 1988 graduate who grew up in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood and played for legendary coach Max Kurland.

He competed against Benet, Marist, St. Joseph and Notre Dame, then returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach under Mike Bailey. After 12 years, he became head coach at Nazareth in 2002. He didn’t have much success at the La Grange Park school. Known as a football power, Nazareth has won six state football championships while winning only three regionals in basketball since 1980. In three seasons, Heidkamp’s teams were only 24-57.

So Heidkamp moved on to Benet Academy in Lisle in 2008. A longtime basketball power, Benet won 367 games and qualified for the state finals on three occasions under coach Bill Geist, who also played at St. Patrick. Geist’s successor, Marty Gaughan, who played at Weber, won 259 games.

“I owe my career to Mike Bailey,” Heidkamp said. “I view him as a mentor. Mike Bailey taught me how to coach the high school game of basketball. Mike Bailey taught me how to run a program. There is a lot of Mike Bailey’s influence in our program at Benet.”

At Benet, Heidkamp is a history teacher who is doing well on and off the basketball court. He guided the Redwings to the Class 4A championship last season and his current squad is 20-1 and ranked No. 1 in the Chicago area. His annual return trip to St. Patrick was successful last Friday night as Benet prevailed 53-43 for its 17th consecutive victory. It was St. Patrick’s third loss in 17 games. Benet’s only setback was to St. Ignatius (19-2). Perhaps Heidkamp was recalling last year’s 53-49 loss to St. Patrick.

“It was surreal to coach against St. Patrick,” Heidkamp said after Friday’s game. “It was a great high school basketball atmosphere tonight. St. Patrick has a great team. It is always special to come back and play at St. Patrick. We knew we were in for a tough game.”

Benet used its two-headed basketball monster of 6’8” junior Ed Stasys and 7-foot senior Colin Stack to prevail against the Shamrocks and their twin towers of 6’8” RJ McPartlin and 6’7” Omar Ajanovic. It is rare at the high school level to see four players at 6’7” or taller battling against one another. This was a heavyweight fight until McPartlin picked up his third foul late in the third quarter. The Redwings took advantage with McPartlin on the bench, scoring six straight points to take a 36-29 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“You take a big kid like McPartlin out of the game against their players and it makes a big difference,” Bailey said afterward. “Benet has a really good basketball team.”

McPartlin finished with only nine points in the duel of basketball titans while Stasys scored 14 and Stack accounted for 12 while guard Jayden Wright added 12, including seven in the final period. Ajanovic led St. Patrick with 12.

If the Shamrocks hope to return to State Farm Center in Champaign, they will need more consistent scoring to support McPartlin, who is having a fine season. The road won’t be easy because St. Patrick likely have to beat Loyola (17-4) and last year’s Class 3A champion DePaul Prep (17-3) or Evanston (16-3) at sectional play in Wilmette.

Growing up in Rogers Park, Heidkamp was aware of Kurland’s success at St. Patrick. In his long career, he won 658 games, but he never managed a trip to the state finals.

“I grew up coming to St. Pat’s games,” Heidkamp recalled. “It was such a great environment for basketball and such a great place. I always wanted to come here. Max was a legendary coach but he was even a better person.”

Benet and St. Patrick are coming off banner seasons and could face each other in the Class 4A championship game. Heidkamp lost three state final games before winning in Class 4A in 2025. In 18 seasons, he has posted a 441-109 record. Heidkamp was inducted into IBCA Hall of Fame for basketball players and coaches after last season.

“It was a little bit of relief to finally win a state championship after getting so close in the past,” Heidkamp said. “I was happy for our program and happy for our past and present players who built this program. Winning state championships is great but there are more important things in life.”

Heidkamp has a low key approach on and off the court. You could say he has built Benet into one of the state’s premier programs.  He is quick to give credit for his success to Kurland and Bailey.

“I would never say we have the best basketball program in the state,” he said. “I hope we can compete with the other teams. I hope we run a quality program.”

Heidkamp’s chief assistant, John Bonk, has a good read on his boss. “He is very dedicated and committed to every kid on the roster from 1 to 20. He is a super communicator and cares about kids and their success on and off the court,” Bonk said.

“I am not surprised at his success,” Bailey said. “When he was in our program, Gene had that it factor and communicated well with the kids. The one thing he still does well today is communicate with his players.”

It will be March Madness in this year's Class 4A state basketball tournament. The road to repeat as champions won't be easy for Benet.

Benet Coach Gene Heidkamp

DePaul Prep Wins Pontiac with 59-56 Victory Over Benet

DePaul College Prep Rams beat both Curie and Benet on Saturday afternoon and evening to win the 93rd Pontiac Holiday Tournament in their first appearance. They weren’t the typical Rams’ victories. The Rams battled, struggled, endured and ultimately prevailed over two of their toughest opponents this season. They survived Curie 68-64 in afternoon semi-final and edged Benet 59-56 in the late evening championship game.

In a larger sense, the arrival of the DePaul Prep Rams (14-1, 1-0), probably new No. 1 ranked team and back-to-back state champion, at Pontiac this year might well signal a change in the tournament. It might be a little early for a '“private school takeover narrative,” but this is at least a little historic. Either Simeon or Curie has won Pontiac every year since 2008. For the first time ever, two private Catholic schools meet in the championship. After a contentious, back-and-forth, up-and-down semi-final between Benet and Simeon, Sun-Times reporter Michael O’Brien reported that Simeon coach Tim Flowers said that Simeon will not be back at Pontiac. Without Simeon next year, who knows what happens.

“Kind of like that fact that there is some teams other than Simeon and Curie,” said Red Folktstad from Braidwood. Mr. Folktstad attended his first Pontiac Tournament in 1980 and has missed only a few since.

Rams 68, Condors 64.

First things first, the semi-final. The Curie Condors were the Rams’ second toughest opponent to that that point in the season. Only No. 1 Kenwood, their only loss was a tough game. The game was exhausting. At a point in the third quarter, a Curie player stood near this reporter with a look of shear exhaustion on his face. After the game, Curie head coach Mike Oliver was overheard saying, “We just ran out of gas.”

Curie employed a full court trapping press all game long. Despite the pressure, DePaul Prep slowly built 35-28 lead by half time.

There was one play late in the second quarter that epitomized the extra effort that it took to win. At a 3:13 mark in the second, junior guard Rykan Woo put up a three-point shot that was short. He followed his shot, got the rebound and laid it in before Curie could react.

“That’s more of a hustle play. I could tell that the shot was a little off, a little short. My guy did not box me out. I just ran to the rim and the ball just happened come in my hand,” Woo said.

Ya! That’s the kind of hustle play by Woo and the rest of Rams that provided the edge necessary.

Curie is the second-best team that the Rams have faced to that point. The first being Kenwood. The Condors are big, athletic and very active. Active to a fault. Midway through the third quarter, the author studied one of the Condor guards. He was gassed. The Condors shooting in the third suffered. They managed only eight points with 2:15 left in the quarter.

Despite being gassed, the Condors played remarkable pressure defense. With under a minute left and down six points, Curie pressured the Rams inbound passes for at least one turnover and two time-outs.

The Rams survived a furious full court press in closing minutes with some key free throw shots by Rob Walls.

Rashaun Porter lead all scorers with 18 points. Rykan Woo had 17, Makai Kvamme 14 and AJ Chambers with 10.

Rams 59, Redwings 56

Having won the 1:00 p.m., semi-final, the Rams advanced to play the Benet Academy Redwings in 9:00 p.m., championship game. Benet (12-2) somehow survived a game with Simeon that defies description.

One thing was sure from the outset, for a first time forty years, a private school would win Pontiac. Only two private school teams had every won Pontiac; Weber, a now closed Resurrectionist high school formerly located near Riis Park on Chicago’s northwest side, in 1976 and Providence-St. Mel, another Chicago Catholic League school on Chicago’s westside, in 1984.

This DePaul Prep v. Benet game can be described as close. Really close. DePaul Prep never lead by more than seven and then only for a couple brief periods. In a mercifully quick game, it was tied at 48 points each going into final quarter of basketball in the tournament.

After trailing the Rams by a few points most of the fourth, Benet brief took a 56-54 lead with 3:48 to play on Blake Fagbemi midrange jumper. Those would be the last points the Redwings would score.

A Benet turnover at 2:47 led at Makai Kvamme layup to tie. Another Benet turnover on a shot clock violation lead Rams’ senior center Rashaun Porter back down the lane against Benet’s 7-footer Colin Stack only to miss a hook shot. He got the rebound and put it back. Still no. Finally, a tap in for two points and the lead, 58-56 with 1:58 to play.

Rashaun Porter added a free throw to make it 59-56. That’s where it ended when Blake Fagbemi missed a three-pointer to tie.

The significance of winning Pontiac was not lost on the Rams. Rams’ head coach Tom Kleinschmidt told his players “[Pontiac is] the top Christmas tournament in the Midwest. To win it is a priviledge and an honor. We’ve gotta be tough. Every game is like a state final or a super[-sectional.] We’ve got to be ready.”

“We would miss an opportunity if we didn’t use our experience that we have had the last couple years in the state tournament. We still have some guys back off that team. So I said, let’s take advantage of the experience we have and I think we did that,” Kleinschmidt said.

“We have too many weapons. If you take out one person, it leaves so many other people open. If a team tries to take me out, everyone else has chances,” Woo said after the game.

Rashaun Porter lead the Rams with 17 points, Rykan Woo had 14 and Rob Walls with 10.

Benet’s Blake Fagbemi has 20 points and won the A. C. Williamson award as the most valuable player in the tournament.