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46 | March 30, 2017 | The orland park prairie sports opprairie.com McMillan’s sports efforts key to volunteer work Jon DePaolis Freelance Reporter By day, Dan McMillan is tasked with keeping a close eye on an Orland Park dealership’s finances. By night, his biggest budgeting concerns are where to best spend his time in service to Orland Park. McMillan, chief financial officer of Joe Rizza Enterprises, has been named the 2016 Orland Park Adult Volunteer of the Year. He recently was presented with an award at the State of the Village event. McMillan’s volunteer resume is extensive. He participates yearly in the Polar Plunge, supports the Orland Park Special Recreation Association, hosts two local television shows to bring awareness to local businesses and athletes, performs in local plays for the Orland Park Theatre Troupe, dresses as Santa Claus for the Village’s tree lighting and the Polar Express, and raises funds for Misericordia and St. Baldrick’s. Perhaps the area McMillan has most impacted has been youth sports in the area. He has been a commissioner and coach for the Orland Youth Association, coaching basketball and baseball. He coached for the Orland Magic basketball team, and won three championships with the Orland Park Pioneers football program as a coach. He still volunteers as a board member and announcer for the Pioneers. Mayor Dan McLaughlin pointed to the work McMillan does with the Pioneers as a reason he was named Volunteer of the Year. “He started a golf outing to benefit not only Sandburg’s football but also the local youth football teams,” McLaughlin said. “It’s been a huge success. They raise a ton of money for those two sports programs. “He’s up there in the booth calling football games. He is in our theater troupe. Just about any time you ask him to volunteer for something, he’s jumping in. It’s amazing. He puts so much time in.” If you ask McMillan what motivates him, it goes back to when he was younger. “When you’re young, you don’t always realize it,” Mc- Millan said. “You don’t realize what certain people do for you.” McMillan grew up in a small town called Monroe in Michigan. He played football at Ida High School. “There are only a few things in life that you can still hold onto and say that it still is how it was back when I was in high school,” he said. “One is Friday night lights — high school football.” McMillan, who grew up in a single-parent household, said his football coach at Ida was the first one to really show him the way. “I never knew my father,” he said. “My high school football coach — who we called Coach O — he was the kind of guy who was always there when I needed it.” McMillan said a team rule stated he had to keep his hair cut short. But his family was so poor he could not afford to get it done. “Coach O would take me to the barbershop in Ida to get me a haircut,” McMillan recalled. “He was the driver’s ed teacher, and he was the one who taught me how to drive.” Later, when McMillan went off to Adrian College to play football, he wound up meeting another influential figure in his life — a law professor. “He was just a really good guy who took an interest as a kind of counselor,” Mc- Millan said. “I didn’t realize until I got into the workplace that this guy could have been a million-dollar lawyer. But he chose to make a difference in the academic world for students as a professor.” The professor steered Mc- Millan — at the time a prelaw student — toward accounting. McMillan also pointed to his employer as an influence. “Joe Rizza is a really good guy,” McMillan said. “He doesn’t take credit for it, but he does a phenomenal amount of [work in the community]. You have no idea of just how many people he really helps with his charitable giving. I see that and the good it does.” Dan McMillan watches as he is announced the 2016 Adult Volunteer of the Year at Orland Park’s recent State of the Village address. Photo submitted Giving back to youth sports McMillan has been married to his wife, Debbie, for 28 years. He has two children, Ashley and Nick. They moved to Orland Park in the early 2000s. When Nick started playing youth sports, McMillan started to get involved with his son’s basketball teams. “It was more fun and interesting than just sitting on the sidelines,” he said. “I started to coach, and so I coached the travel team and other teams. And I wound up getting involved with the inner city basketball leagues.” Some of the children he got to coach while working with those leagues included future stars like Jabari Parker and Jahlil Okafor. “It’s all a lot of fun, but it all goes back to my upbringing in Ida,” he said. “It was such a close-knit community. No matter wherever you are, I always look at it like you have to help people out.” After years of volunteering with the Pioneers, he was contacted by another Pioneers member asking him to put together a fundraiser for the program. “We started out as the Pioneers Golf Outing, to raise funds to buy some extra equipment,” McMillan said. “Then, we got to know the people over at Sandburg. They asked me about giving them some tips about doing a golf outing. But, the more we talked, we decided that because the Pioneers are a feeder program for Sandburg, why we didn’t just combine it and make it a Pioneers and Sandburg outing, while also bringing in a few charities.” Through that, he met Orland Park legend Pat Fitzgerald — the football coach of Northwestern University, who played for the Pioneers and Sandburg. Fitzgerald helped McMillan brainstorm some of the charities, like Misericordia and the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists. Initially, the Gridiron Golf Classic drew roughly 100 golfers. But it steadily grew to the point that the past two years have seen more than 300 golfers. “In the nine years we’ve done it, we’ve netted over and been able to distribute over $350,000 to the youth football and charities,” he said. The next outing is to take place June 22 at Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park. Volunteer of the Year McMillan said upon learning he had been named the Adult Volunteer of the Year, he had a mixture of feelings — mainly being both humbled and embarrassed. “I do these things not for an award,” he said. “But it is always nice to be recognized. If it never happened, I’d have been fine. I am going to keep doing everything I’m doing.” And that is quite a lot in the community — one that he thinks of as “Mayberry with amenities.” “With Orland Park, I treat it like I treat Ida,” he said. “It’s got that small-town feel, but you’ve got all the conveniences you’ve come to expect in the 21st century.” And McMillan does not plan on stopping his charitable efforts any time soon. He simply is having too much fun with them. “It’s like that saying: You should always feel grateful for what you have and not worry about what you don’t have,” he said. “Because if you worry about what you don’t have, you’re never going to be grateful.”
opprairie.com sports the orland park prairie | March 30, 2017 | 47 fastbreak 22nd Century Media File Photo 1st and 3 Digging deeper into the results 1. Badminton The Sandburg badminton team March 18 took fifth place at the Palatine Invite. Marissa Arrigoni placed third at No. 4 singles, while Gwyneth Hu and Iman Elagha took third at second doubles. 2. Boys Water Polo Sandburg started its season on a winning streak. The Eagles March 15 beat Bremen 17-4; March 21 beat Homewood- Flossmoor 13-6; and March 22 beat Lincoln-Way Central 11-8. 3. Girls Water Polo On March 21, the Eagles defeated Homewood-Flossmoor 11-1. Goalkeeper Emma Crnich had nine saves. Bella Wrobel led all scorers with four goals. Prairie, Liberty schools’ staffs meet again to raise money for students Frank Gogola Freelance Reporter There was admittedly little practice for the second annual Crosstown Classic volleyball game, which pitted staff members from Liberty and Prairie schools against each other. “We did one practice this year,” Liberty Principal Dan Prorok said following the March 22 event at Jerling Jr. High School. “One of my teachers tried to get me to cancel a staff meeting for a practice. It was a good try, but it didn’t work.” Liberty still beat Prairie in three sets, for the second consecutive year, but the real winners were the two schools’ students. The money raised during the spring fundraiser — organized by Parents for Education, the parent organization for Orland School District 135 — goes to bettering the children’s school experience. With more donations, a larger crowd and continued excitement, the fundraiser is poised to become a tradition. The game had been the talk of the school among the students since it was announced to them this past Monday. Students painted their faces, waved posters and cheered on their schools. For them, it was exciting to see their teachers and principals outside of the classroom. “It was cool to see all the teachers play,” Liberty thirdgrader Zoe Trunk said. “Some were funny to see, like when the one kicked the ball. It was like they were real people.” The money raised goes toward bettering the students’ school experiences. Included in that are field trips, as well as upgrades to recess equipment and classroom supplies. For the second year in a row, Liberty raised the most money, which meant Prorok was subjected to a pie in the face. Prairie Principal Jeff Nightingale was glad to smear the whipped cream all over his counterpart’s face. The fundraiser consisted of ticket sales, a concession stand, gift baskets raffled and a split-the-pot. Donations came in from local business like Buona Beef, Mariano’s, Odyssey Fun World, Mathnasium and more. The gift baskets had a wide range of treats: school supplies, food, bath and beauty products, Windy City Thunderbolts tickets, and even the chance to be principal for a day. “We’re trying to promote more event-based fundraisers, in general, because I feel the parents have fundraising fatigue,” said Margaret Stoklosa, an organizer and former Prairie PFE president. “We’re trying to engage the parents and families a little bit more. This is a big night to engage. We sold over 315 tickets during the presale alone.” The gym quickly became standing room only, with students sitting on the ground all around the court. The balcony was open for seating — which was not necessary this past year — as the crowd continued to grow. “It’s so nice to see former students and really engage the Prairie School physical education teacher Lauren Billo bumps the ball back over the net, as a member of Liberty’s team tries to defend March 22, during the Crosstown Classic between Prairie and Liberty schools, at Jerling Jr. High School. Photos by Adam Jomant/22nd Century Media whole community,” said Lauren Billo, Prairie physical education teacher. “It’s competitive and fun. It’s a great event. It’s a nice fundraiser. It’s good to get families together and have sibling rivalries.” Moises Lopez, a Liberty student-teacher and senior volleyball player at St. Xavier University, said he enjoyed his first opportunity to compete in the game. It started out fun and carefree but became more serious late in the third set, with a trophy and bragging rights on the line. “I thought it was very fun,” he said. “The kids enjoyed it. The teachers enjoyed it, as well. It gave everyone a chance to come together. A little bit of competition makes it fun.” Liberty student-teacher Moises Lopez sends the ball back to the Prairie side of the net March 22. Volleyball is the only fundraiser sport in which the staff has competed. Stoklosa said a 5K fun run has been discussed as a potential fundraiser but may be done on a district-wide basis. Liberty fifth-grader Holden Weidemiller has his own idea of the next sport the staff should play: badminton. “It seems like it would be very competitive and fun to watch,” he said. That one may take a little more practice. LISTEN UP “Emma is a stud. I have nothing bad to say about her.” Greg Svevo — Sandburg girls water polo coach, on goalkeeper Emma Crnich’s skills, despite a recent loss What 2 Watch Girls Soccer — 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 4 • The Eagles will take it on the road to meet the Lincoln-Way East Griffins in Frankfort. INDEX 43 - This Week In 43 - Athlete of the Week Compiled by Editor Bill Jones, bill@opprairie.com.
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