Jim Teckenbrock
Coach/Friend of Waubonsee (1977-1984)
WSPY Radio Sports Director and Sportscaster since 1996
Waubonsee’s First Women’s Basketball Coach in 1979
Plano High School Hall of Fame inductee 2011
A “Fab 40” alumnus and long-time supporter of Chiefs’ Athletics
Many people spend a good portion of their adult life trying to find an avocation that they truly enjoy. Most never actually reach their goal, while some lucky ones may get to occasionally dabble in their preferred hobby. A select few however, like long-time local sportscaster Jim Teckenbrock, get to turn their part-time job into a successful career.
Teck, which he is often called by his friends and associates, graduated from Plano High School where he is a member of the Reapers’ Hall of Fame. He then went into the Navy from 1967 to 1971, and did a tour in Vietnam before eventually enrolling at Waubonsee at the age of 23. Teckenbrock transferred to Northern Illinois University where he earned a Sociology degree with a double minor in English and Physical Education. He returned to Waubonsee to teach and coach, serving as the intramurals director and as an Assistant Baseball Coach for two seasons. In 1979 Teckenbrock helped start the Women’s Basketball program as the first head coach, guiding the team for five years. From 1981 through 1984 he was the Head Coach for the softball team as well, helping direct the team to the 1982 Skyway Conference title.
At the same time, his coaching stints led to his first broadcasting experience at WMRO in Aurora. Teckenbrock lent his coaching eye and expertise to the coverage of a few games in the 1970’s and 80’s, and a seed for the future was planted. Teckenbrock eventually joined WSPY Radio in 1996 on a part-time basis, and then full-time four years later. He has called the action of an innumerable amount of local sporting events over the years, in all kinds of weather and from a wide variety of vantage points. “I consider it a privilege and a pleasure to cover the outstanding young women and men in our communities,” declares Teck. Around the Christmas holiday each year, he calls nearly every basketball game of the Plano Christmas Classic. Last December alone, he described the action of 32 games over only five days. “Basketball is so fast-paced, its’ hard to let a color-commentator get a word in, so lately I’ve been doing most of them by myself,” says Teckenbrock. In addition, over the last 12 years he has hosted his own Saturday Morning Sports Show and given daily sports reports six days a week, often detailing the latest exploits of Waubonsee’s teams.
When he is not doing play-by-play of local sporting events, Teckenbrock’s “day job” since 2006 has been as Executive Director of the Sandwich Economic Development Corporation. That same year he was named as one of Waubonsee’s “Fab 40” Alumni. Teckenbrock is also a member of the Sandwich Chamber of Commerce, the Plano American Legion and the Sandwich VFW. He and wife Leann have five children, Jim, Jill, Jay, T.J. and Taylor, along with one granddaughter.