Twenty six years ago Mark Antonietti, a 1984 graduate, returned to Mount Carmel to start his teaching and coaching career. His return probably wouldn’t have materialized if Antonietti didn’t buy into a sales pitch from a former mentor, and take the advice of his mother.

MC varsity football coach Frank Lenti recalls the story: “Mark came in here to sell us an advertising service. We took one look at him and said, ‘we know you don’t want to be doing this.'”  Later, Lenti appealed to Antonietti’s mother to lend her influence to the effort to bring Mark back to MC. According to Lenti, Antonietti “listened to his mother’s advice” and returned to Mount Carmel as a teacher and coach in 1990.

Antonietti, a Catholic League Lawless Award winner in both football and wrestling, will once again be recognized by the 100 year-old league when he is inducted into the Chicago Catholic League Hall of Fame at the 55th annual Banquet on Thursday, May 5.  Antonietti will join 42 other Mount Carmel faculty, players, and administrators in that prestigious group.

Although Antonietti has sealed his spot in the Hall of Fame, he is not even close to retiring from coaching or teaching. “Teaching with my kids is the greatest thing ever; absolutely nothing like it. I want to coach and teach until my youngest son Benny comes through Mount Carmel.” Antoinetti currently has two sons at Mount Carmel:  Gino ’19, a freshman, and Dominic, a current junior who recently was elected Student Council president.

As he waits for his youngest son Benny to experience Mount Carmel, Antonietti will keep himself busy by pursuing two goals.  The first is to “make myself obsolete to students.”  He explains:  “You probably remember riding a bike for the first time, but you don’t remember who was holding the bike.”

Antonietti’s second goal is to continue to promote football as a game that teaches essential lessons about teamwork, personal sacrifice, and family.

Antonietti will join three current Mount Carmel faculty members in the CCL Hall of Fame: Head Varsity Football Coach Frank Lenti, and Assistant Varsity Coaches Dave Lenti and Pete Kammholz, each of whom “inspired me as they dedicated their lives to making other people successful.”

Frank Lenti raved about the skills that Antonietti brings to the table every single day. “He is one of the smartest people on the faculty, and he is a great teacher of both football and English.”

Long before Athletic Director Dan Lacount came to Mount Carmel, he worked at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School in Springfield, Illinois. He remembers watching the Caravan compete in state championship games, when he “would always wonder who the weird guy was that wore a red and blue STP hat.”

Now that he knows the man beneath the hat, Lacount has come to appreciate that Antonietti brings more than a light-hearted spirit to the program.  “Few current coaches in the league are like Coach Anto.  His performance is unparalleled.”

Because of that, Lacount anticipates a big crowd at the May 5 event.  “Football coaches and family and friends – we’ll have a big crowd in typical Coach Anto style.”

While neither Lenti not Lacount would say who they thought should be next for the Hall after Antonietti, Lacount suggested that there are many worthy candidates. “We have several great coaches here who have not been recognized.”