Column: Len Scaduto, a basketball lifer, will always be remembered for Oak Lawn's 1970-71 team. ‘Made his mark.'

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

The Southland basketball community lost a legend when Len Scaduto died on May 13 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was 93.
Scaduto coached Oak Lawn's boys basketball team from 1962 to 1991, going 411-340 and leading his 1970-71 team to a state runner-up finish.
But that wasn't all. After retiring at Oak Lawn, Scaduto moved to Hawaii and kept coaching.
Colleges. High schools. A semipro team. He remained on the sidelines until he was nearly 90.
Scaduto's son, Bruce — who followed in his dad's footsteps, coaching boys and girls basketball at Evergreen Park for 27 seasons — said Len never lost his passion for basketball.
'He's been my coach since I was a little kid,' Bruce said. 'He's been my basketball mentor my whole life. He pretty much taught me all I knew. Pretty much what I saw him do, I did.
'It was a good run. I'm proud of what he accomplished. He was a great father and he definitely made his mark on basketball in Illinois.'
Of course, that 1970-71 Oak Lawn team will always hold a special place in Scaduto's legacy.
The Spartans went 30-3 but were unranked and far from being considered a top contender for the state title when they went into the playoffs in the final season of one-class basketball in Illinois.
It was a magical postseason run. Along the way, Oak Lawn knocked off the past two state champions in Lyons and Proviso East.
The Spartans nearly took their Cinderella journey all the way to the top, losing a classic state championship game 52-50 to Thornridge, which was led by future NBA standout Quinn Buckner.
Jim Bocinsky, who went on to play at DePaul and professionally in Europe, was the second-leading scorer on that Spartans team behind their own future NBA player in C.J. Kupec.
'We didn't really know what we had until we almost had it,' Bocinsky said. 'Our goal was to win the conference. We didn't even realize we had the potential to do anything beyond that.
'We just went out to try to win the regional and then it was one game at a time.'
Bocinsky said the members of that team have kept a tight bond over the years.
'We get together to golf but we're old men now, so you get to the 19th tee and you say, 'I heard that story last week,'' Bocinsky said, with a laugh. 'We tell the same stories over and over again about that year, but we can't get away from it.
'That team, and coach Scaduto, have been a huge part of my life.'
Several members of that team play in an alumni basketball game every year at Oak Lawn.
Bocinsky and Don Wesselhoff, who graduated in 1970 just before the state run, would often get together for breakfast with Scaduto each summer when he returned to the area. Len also came back for a 50-year reunion held for the team in 2021.
Wesselhoff remembers a hard-nosed coach who was tough but earned everyone's trust.
'You loved the guy, but he'd push you so hard that it was like a love-hate relationship,' Wesselhoff said. 'He respected us and we respected him. After he graduated, we continued to keep in touch.
'It's just a relationship that's hard to come by these days. I was really honored and blessed to have him as a coach.'
After retiring at Oak Lawn, Scaduto spent three seasons as an assistant at Chaminade and 12 years on the staff at Hawaii. He also returned briefly to the high school level before wrapping up his career with the semipro Hawaii Swish, whom he was coaching at age 89.
Scaduto's stepson, Jack Danilewicz, said he was also a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, a college football fanatic and an avid gardener.
Scaduto's legacy will undoubtedly continue to live on at Oak Lawn the way it has over the last three decades since his departure — with endless stories and lessons passed down.
The Spartans and Evergreen Park have dubbed their rivalry 'The Scaduto Series' in honor of both Len and Bruce. The winner of the game each season receives a trophy.
Current Oak Lawn coach Jason Rhodes also informed me the school is starting a new tournament this fall — the Len Scaduto Thanksgiving Classic.
That name had been chosen before Scaduto's death, but the inaugural event will have some added meaning behind it now.
'He's made a huge mark in our community, and his former players always speak fondly of him and tell me great stories about him,' Rhodes said. 'He obviously had an incredible run.
'Almost 30 years coaching basketball at Oak Lawn. That's almost unfathomable to me.'
There's at least one artifact from Scaduto's days that still lingers around the gym at Oak Lawn. In his office, Rhodes has a coaching manual Scaduto left behind.
'It's a thick book with all kinds of diagrams and notes on his system, offensively and defensively,' Rhodes said. 'You could tell just from that thing alone how much time he invested.'
That was Len Scaduto — the Southland's ultimate basketball lifer.