Coaches

Eugene de Lacey

Year Inducted: 1973

Category: Coaches

Schools / Organizations: Dundee High School

Biography: Eugene de Lacey’s Dundee High School team won the 1938 Illinois State Basketball Championship, his 1946 team placed third. Overall, his teams won 12 regional titles, 5 sectional championships, and in 31 years won 17 conference championships—11 of them undefeated—he had one winning streak of 70 successive victories and another of 55.  de Lacey crammed the scorebooks with a tremendous record of achievements perhaps unparalleled in high school sports.  He was head football coach 16 years and track coach 16 years.  When he began his coaching career at Winner, SD, one of his first players was Frank Leahy, who years later became the celebrated head football coach at the University of Notre Dame.