Three-Sport Athlete Alumnus Sam Sproule and His Athletic Career at O’Dea

Sam Sproule was a three-sport athlete at O’Dea with an unusual career when it comes to sports. Sproule used his athleticism to earn a spot on DIII Illinois Tech's baseball team.

Sproule had an odd ending year to his high school sports. He decided to join the football team his senior year. He wanted to become the kicker and punter, but halfway through the summer, a transfer kicker came in, Dillon Crowell, who became the starting kicker by the first game. Sproule was left with punting, and he enjoyed it. Sproule still did the kickoff at the start of the season. He may not have broken any record in his football career, but he had a great year in his mind. Sproule had some punts that he still remembers to this day.

“My favorite punt wasn’t even a punt; it was when I ran the fake punt against Blanchet and got the first down,” Sproule stated, acknowledging his athleticism.

After his football season was over, he jumped right into the pool and started swimming. Swimming was a sport that he started when he was 9 years old, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to compete in high school. Tom Schutte, head coach of the O’Dea swim team, and his mom talked him into swimming. Ever since he joined the team, it has made him more competitive and hard-working.

In his O’Dea Swimming career, he built good relationships with people. One person was Ollie Depina, who was a senior when Sproule was a freshman. Sproule felt like Depina took him under his wing, gave him some tips, and helped him out.

Sproule also broke 1 O’Dea swimming record, the 400-meter free relay. That relay team consisted of Nathan Hayes, Sam Sproule, Jack McGrath, and Zachariah Leary-Bignayan. The team was very close to breaking the record the whole year. The 400 meter was in state with a time of 3:09.84. Sproule made it to state in the 200-meter free relay as well. They finished 4th in the 200-meter with a time of 1:35.16 and 3rd in the 400 meters with a time of 3:09.84.

“It felt great to finally break the record that we have been working so hard to get all year… the energy in state helped us.”

While Sproule was competing to get on the varsity baseball team his senior year, Covid-19 had other ideas. That year's team was going to be great after finishing 2nd in state the year before. His senior season, though, was canceled along with the rest of the spring sports in the state. Sproule showed how committed he was to baseball and even committed to a DIII college.

After joining Illinois Tech he got a bit of playing time his freshman year as both a pitcher and outfielder. Sproule is expected to play a bit more this year because of how many seniors graduated. He is enjoying college and baseball.