TOUCHDOWN, GOOD CITIZENS!

A year after Barrington High School (BHS) opened its doors for the first time in 1949, parents of the school’s football players huddled and formed the BHS Quarterback Club (BHS QB Club).

The club sought to capture and build on the enthusiasm and interest in high school football and to get the community behind the football program while building tradition.

Those objectives continue to drive the not-for-profit BHS Quarterback Club today, but lately—thanks to the leadership of its No. 1 signal caller, second-year club president Doreen Colletti-Muhs, and her squad of resolute parents—the organization’s philanthropic arm has flexed for others off the field.

The Broncos’ gridders are partaking in Barrington Giving Day’s winter event at Barrington Middle School-Station Campus on December 9 and in Wreaths Across America Day at Evergreen Cemetery in Barrington on December More than two years ago, before she began her first term as BHS QB Club president, then-volunteer-chair Colletti-Muhs arranged for Barrington’s football players to visit the village’s police and fire departments and recognize the first responders’ valor and indispensability on the 20th anniversary of 9-11.

“Our players gave them donuts, shook their hands, thanked them, and made eye contact with them,” recalls Colletti-Muhs, whose youngest son, senior Quentin, was a varsity cornerback on Barrington’s 2023 team, which went 9-0 in the regular season and earned the No. 3 seed in the Class 8A state playoff bracket. Barrington then eliminated three opponents and faced Lincoln-Way East in a state semifinal on November 18.

“We want the players to be good citizens,” she adds. “And that’s what they’re doing through their combined 1,000 hours of volunteering, of giving back. Volunteerism builds a kind heart and character, and it teaches leadership and social skills. Our dedicated boys are out there talking with adults other than their teachers and coaches.”

BHS football Coach Joe Sanchez has served as the varsity’s helmsman since 2002. In September he set a Mid-Suburban League (MSL) record for most league wins, 154, by a football coach at an MSL school or schools.

The Broncos’ undefeated regular season this past fall was the football program’s 11th. In 2023, 15 BHS football coaches guided more than 200 players at the varsity, junior varsity/sophomore, and freshman levels.

“The parents in our Quarterback Club are phenomenal,” Sanchez says. “The school and the Quarterback Club do so much for us. Anything extra that’s needed, such as equipment and uniforms, is taken care of by the club. The club also provides opportunities for the boys to help the community in a variety of ways. Around 2005, one of our players, Dan Brown, and his father, Scott, were active in Broncos Care (the service organization of the football program); that’s when football’s connection to philanthropy took off.”

“We then experienced a lull in giving back during the pandemic,” Sanchez continues. “Doreen and this group of parents have revitalized the Quarterback Club’s commitment to serving the community while giving our players moments to gain a better perspective on life.”

Colletti-Muhs, who’s also the BHS QB Club’s marketing director and varsity team representative, discovered her knack for thinking of others and planning charity events while attending Prospect High School in Mount Prospect. She was elected Barrington Junior Women’s Club president in 2007. For more than 85 years, the mission of that club has been to enhance the lives of women, children, and seniors in the Barrington area. The position of president requires a forward-thinking, energetic, highly organized leader who embraces the challenges of staging fundraisers among other events.

A position that suits Colletti-Muhs to a T.

“One of my passions is giving back, and planning events has been in my wheelhouse for quite some time,” says Colletti-Muhs, whose older son, 23-yearold Payton, swam and played water polo for BHS teams. “I consider the process of putting an event together to be fun and easy.”

BHS football players have also served as Christmas Tree Lot assistants for the Cary-Grove Jaycees; collected winter coats, hats, gloves, and scarves at home games for Barrington Giving Day; battled in a Turkey Bowl game to raise funds for holiday toy drives; spent hours on Sundays inspiring future Broncos at Barrington Youth Football games; and volunteered their time to help Barrington middle school student- athletes develop their football skills at spring camps.

“Our football players are good-hearted boys,” Colletti-Muhs, a Barrington resident since 1995, says. “They’re out there, often, representing the community and the school district in the best way possible. What I’ve tried to instill in my sons, and what I hope all of our football players are finding out, is that you can’t always be the best athlete or the best student. But what you can be is a top-notch volunteer.

“And,” she adds, “it doesn’t cost a thing.”

Visit bhsfootball.org for more information.