Four Tomcats welcomed into East Aurora Sports Hall of Fame Four Tomcats welcomed into East Aurora Sports Hall of Fame

Story updated with photos from event.

Four Tomcats will be inducted into the East Aurora High School Sports Hall of Fame in honor of their contributions to the Tomcat athletic tradition.

A reception to honor the inductees will take place in the East Aurora High School student cafeteria at 4 to 6 pm on Friday, December 8. The reception is open to the public.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Friday between the girls and boys East Aurora vs. West Aurora basketball games. The induction ceremony will take place shortly after the completion of the girls game. The girls tip off at 5:30 p.m.

Inductees for this year are:

• Nestor Garcia (class of 1978) wrestling, track & field, cross country coach
• Adrian Magaña (class of 2008) soccer
• Chris Quigley (class of 1968) football, wrestling
• Jeff Sansale (class of 1972) basketball

About the inductees:

Nestor Garcia: from 1984-1995, Nestor served as a coach for boys track & field, girls sophomore volleyball, boys freshman and varsity wrestling, girls varsity cross country, and girls varsity track & field.

Nestor’s prominence came with his girls varsity track & field teams which he served as head coach from 1985-1994. Nestor’s teams were crowned four times as the Upstate-8 Conference Champions (1986, 1988, 1992, and 1993), and five times as Kane County Champions (1986, 1989, 1991, 1992, and 1993). From 1986-1994, his teams set school records for appearing in the state series for eight consecutive years which is a record that currently stands. In 1989, the track & field team placed 14th place in the state finals which is East High’s highest team placement ever and is a record that also currently stands.

In 2004, Nestor returned to his roots at East Aurora School District 131, and has served as director of buildings & grounds as well as the director of athletics and student activities. Nestor will retire in June 2018 after 34 years of educational service.

Nestor has been married to Georgina for 17 years. They live in Aurora and have three children, Mandy, Yasmine, and Elija, and two grandchildren, Gabriel and James.

Adrian Magaña: at East High, Adrian was a four-time letter winner as a member of the Tomcat varsity soccer team.

As a senior, Adrian earned All-Conference honors and Academic All-Conference honors for the 3rd time. For the 2nd time, he was named to the Beacon-News All-Area 1st Team, the Sun-Times All-Area Team, and the All-Sectional team. In addition he was also named to the Chicago Tribune All-Area Team, earned Beacon-News Player of the Year honors, and was named to the All-State team. Adrian was named to the All-Tournament Teams at both the Rock Island Invitational and Lemont Cup Tournament as the Tomcats won championships at both of these events. Adrian was a team captain and was voted Most Valuable Player as he set an all-time team record for assists.

At the end of the 2007-08 school year, Adrian was named East High Male Athlete of the Year, earned a US Marine Corps Distinguished Athlete Award, and graduated in the top 10% of the senior class.

After graduation from East High, earned a full athletic scholarship at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. He graduated Cum Laude (3.6 GPA) with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and sociology.

Adrian works as a detention officer at the Kane County Juvenile Justice Center. He is the assistant varsity soccer coach at Marmion Academy. Adrian and his domestic partner Jackie Gramillo, live in Montgomery, IL.

Chris Quigley: At East High, Chris was a two-sport athlete, excelling in both football and wrestling. In football, Chris was a starter on the varsity team his senior year. He played offensive guard and an outside linebacker.

As an East High wrestler, Chris earned three varsity letters and served as captain for the wrestling team during his 1967-1968 senior season. Chris also captured the champion’s medal at the IHSA District Wrestling Tournament both junior and senior seasons. Chris earned the Upstate-8 Conference Wrestling championship his senior year. Chris’ overall high school individual record was 100 wins and only 6 loses.

After high school, Chris received a scholarship to wrestle at Illinois State University (ISU), Chris wrestled all four years for the Redbirds at ISU. Chris has previously been honored as a Hall of Fame member at Illinois State University and by the Illinois Coaches and Officials Association (ICOA).

Chris received his bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University in physical education and health in 1972. Chris has a long career in education and has coached high school wrestling for 45 years at various Illinois high schools including East High.

Chris is a firefighter in Putnam County, Illinois and continues to coach wrestling at Hall High School in Spring Valley, Illinois.

Jeff Sansale: Jeff played basketball with the 1970, 71 and 72 winning Tomcat teams. A sharp-shooting guard, Jeff was a leader of the exciting Tomcat pressing defense and fast break offense. Jeff was a tri-captain in his senior year.

The 1970 East Aurora team, on which Jeff was promoted to the varsity as a sophomore, was Upstate-8 Conference champions, won their Regional, Sectional, and Super-Sectional and advanced to the State Elite-8. The 1972 Tomcats followed the same championship route and went beyond, finishing 3rd in the state tournament in Champaign.

As the Tomcats’ fast-breaking and high-scoring offense achieved great team success (1970, 27-4; 1971, 20-6; and 1972, 28-4), Jeff racked up numerous individual achievements and honors: Jeff scored 35 points versus St. Charles in a 113-80 Tomcat victory, chosen the team Hustle Award (1972), UPSTATE-8 All-Conference team (Honorable Mention 1971, First Team 1972), 3rd leading scorer in the UPSTATE-8 (17.4 points per game, 1972). Other 1972 honors include: Selected to the state tournament first team by the Daily Illini newspaper, WMRO Radio All-City team, Coca-Cola Golden Basketball All-Area team, Chicago Daily News All-Area team, Chicago Tribune League All-Star Basketball Squad, and the Sun-Times Prep All Stars basketball team.

Jeff attended Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove and played on the 1973-74 Skyway Conference championship team. Jeff graduated with honors from Waubonsee Community in 1975. After college he worked at the Amoco Research Center/BP in Naperville for 28 years and later for VWR International in Batavia for another 14 years.

Jeff and his wife Cindy have two grown children, Emily and Dustin. Jeff and Cindy live in Montgomery where they have been active in assisting with their children’s club swimming team and the swimming program at Oswego High School.

East-West game Friday

The final opportunity to pre-purchase tickets for the East – West girls’ and boys’ basketball game at East Aurora on Friday December 8, will be Thursday, December 7, 2017 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Field House lobby at East Aurora High School. Enter through door 15. Adults are $5.00 and children are $3.00.

Any remaining tickets will go on sale at 4 p.m. on Friday in the Field House ticket booth. Doors for the game will open at 4:45 p.m. with tip off at 5:30 p.m.