Naperville Central inducted six new members to its Athletic Hall of Fame on Feb. 7. The inductees participated in a panel discussion, tour of the school and award ceremony planned by Central athletic ambassadors and Central’s Athletic Hall of Fame committee.
There have been eleven classes of inductees since the Athletic Hall of Fame’s debut in 2013.
The six inductees included athletes Tim Szatko, Tiffany Chen, Herb Matter, Derek Rose, Corey Blitzer and former Central principal Tom Paulsen.
“For every great thing that they said about somebody else there are plenty of other people who competed with or against them that would tell you the exact same thing about them,” Athletic Director Jeff Plackett said.
Tim Szatko graduated from Central in 1999, and started on the basketball team as a varsity athlete during his sophomore year.
“That decision alone changed my life as it gave me the confidence to grow and develop throughout my high school and collegiate career,” Szatko said.
In his senior year, he was named the Daily Herald Player of the Year, DuPage Valley Conference Player of the Year and selected as one of the top 10 players in Illinois to compete in the Wendy’s Classic. After his high school career he continued to play basketball at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. At Holy Cross, Szatko was a four-year starter and co-captain for the Crusaders.
Tiffany Chen graduated in 2016. She was a second-place IHSA state finalist in tennis in 2015 and was also a three-time DVC champion as well as a three-time IHSA sectional champion.
“I’m most proud of winning the state championship when I was a sophomore,” Chen said. “What I really remember is my team swarming me and everything just being lost in the excitement from our team just doing really well overall in the state championship.”
Derek Rose graduated in 1994, and played varsity football for three years. He also captained the 1993 team and was named to the 1993 DuPage Valley All-Conference Team. He earned spots on three All-Area Football teams (Daily Herald, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune) and three All-State Football Teams (Chicago Tribune, Champaign News-Gazette, SuperPrep Midwest).
Rose went on to play football at the University of Iowa, where he started for three years, earned the title of Coaches and Media All-Big Ten Second Team Offensive Lineman in 1997 and earned an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention in 1998. In 1998, he was a team captain and received the Roy G. Carver MVP Award.
Corey Bitzer graduated in 2000 and made history as the first basketball player to start for all four years at Central. She led the team in assists, steals and free throw attempts during three of her four seasons.
Bitzer was also starting shortstop in softball for four years, with a career batting average of .357. She led the team to an IHSA Regional Championship her senior year and was named a unanimous All-Conference player.
Tom Paulsen, Central’s former principal from 1990 to 2003, was inducted as a Friend of Athletics. In 1992, Paulsen oversaw the completion of the Central’s natatorium. This ended the need for students and athletes to travel to Naperville North for swim practice.
That same year, Paulsen faced the task of guiding the school community through the transition from the former mascot, the Redskin, to the current Redhawk.
“I think it was the right decision [to change mascot],” Paulsen said. “And we had never won a team state championship until we became the Redhawks. Really, it was a year later. It was like an omen that came to be that we needed to change. And once we changed, then the state championships followed.”
Herb Matter, class of 1940, was also inducted for his contributions to track and field during his time at Central. While attending the University of Illinois, he competed in track events and achieved first place in the 1940 U.S. National Decathlon.
For more on each inductee who was present at the ceremony, click their name below.