Bill McLean

Making the Grade

When William Yates’ grades slipped his freshman year at Kenwood Academy in Chicago, his parents made him quit basketball. Yates’ grades rocketed after the subtraction of the extracurricular activity. And, his immediate reaction to the abrupt benching by Mom and Dad? “Relief,” says Yates, now the Northwestern University-educated Dr. William Yates, who transitioned seamlessly from

Proactive

The youngster who threw hay on her home ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains and ran tight spirals in a Powder Puff high school football game in California, now enjoys riding swiftly on the trails. Linda Imonti, managing principal of KPMG’s Chicago office, grips an ATV’s handlebars and attacks the tough terrain of trails in

Big Cat’s Wildcat

THE LAST THING former Chicago Bears offensive tackle James “Big Cat” Williams wanted to be along a high school football sideline last fall was a distraction. That’s akin to Paul Bunyan wanting to appear inconspicuous in a sandbox. You see, Williams stood 6-foot-7 and weighed more than 300 pounds when he created countless acres of

Selling Time

The svelte iteration of Norm from the television sitcom Cheers, a regular at Teddy O’Brian’s in Highwood is a huge fan of the game show Jeopardy! He watches it regularly in the afternoon at the inimitable watering hole on Sheridan Road, and, yes, everybody knows his name. He answers to “Bob” when he’s nowhere near

The Force is with Him

The wide eyes of the forever-fifth-grader in Dr. Ken Hyllberg never blink. Neither do the array of items depicting characters from his favorite movie franchise, Star Wars, that adorn his office— the Principal’s office—at Arnett C. Lines Elementary School in Barrington. “I will be 50 in December, although I feel and look much older,” says

Pivot 101

The puck was supposed to drop at the start of a men’s hockey playoff game at Lake Forest College in mid-March. It never left a referee’s hand. Foresters junior runner, Tianna Beilke, was having the time of her life around ovals, her track times steadily melting in chilly temps. She had to stop running, competitively,

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Bill McLean

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