While the list of Tim Lavery’s achievements on the football and baseball fields is impressive, Lavery is quick to direct attention to the instrumental influence of his coaches. As Lavery sees it, without those players, his athletic and life story would be incomplete.A four-year starting quarterback for Naperville Central, Lavery compiled a 38-4 record, losing those games by a combined total of only 13 points. The unanimous Football Player of the Year in 1995, Lavery’s skill, intuitiveness and unflappable leadership were honored by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Naperville Sun, and the Champaign News Gazette. He was named Daily Herald All-Area Football captain and the Gatorade State Player of the Year. Though he remembers the thrill of competition and the joy of playing with teammates all striving for the same goal, he turns most to the memory of coach Joe Bunge’s voice: “Each time I left the sideline, he’d tell me, regardless of the situation or score, ‘Be a leader.’ He was the first coach that I had a 50/50 give and take player/coach relationship with. We had a perfect marriage.” That marriage of minds and focus led to great success both on and off the field. Bunge’s words with stayed with Lavery as he moved from season to season, taking on renewed significance when he took the field as a volunteer quarterbacks coach for the 2013 state champion Redhawks.Lavery’s golden arm found a special home on the NCHS baseball team, where he was also a three-year varsity starter. He went 10-1 as a starting pitcher during his senior year, being named Naperville Sun Player of the Year and an All-State right fielder along the way. The Chicago Cubs took immediate and special interest in the young pitcher. Lavery smiles at the memory of answering the phone and hearing from Andy McPhail, Cubs President and CEO, and Jim Hendry, Cubs General Manager, that he had been selected in the 14th round of the June Amateur Draft. While Lavery did not go on to play for the organization in 1996, he did when he was drafted again in the 11th round in 1999. Though driven by a fierce love of baseball inherited from his grandfathers, Lavery found special inspiration in his coaches.Hall of Fame pitching coach Phil Lawler was Lavery’s pitching coach from the time he was in seventh grade until May 22, 2003, when he was released from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Lavery explained, “He was responsible for turning me from a thrower into a pitcher.” Head coach Bill Seiple also has a special place in Lavery’s experiences. “I had the honor of playing under him for three years,” shared Lavery. “He helped me understand all facets of the game and understand what hitters were trying to do, which in turn made me a better pitcher. He did this by allowing me to play first base and right field. He was the first coach who coached me as if I were the last player on the bench and not the first and, as the years passed, I respected him more and more for not giving me superstar treatment.” That approach, and the lessons learned from it, resonated with Lavery who channeled those life lessons into future play and professional practice.Lavery traded his Naperville Central helmets for a pair from the University of Illinois. He was one of only two starting left-handed quarterbacks in Illinois history and was named the ESPN Football Player of the Game in a game against Penn State. He threw his first touchdown pass against the University of Iowa at Kinnick Stadium in front of 88,000 people on ESPN and completed the last pass of his college career on his 18th birthday in front of a crowd of 104,000 at Ohio State. As a pitcher for the Fighting Illini, Lavery won the 1998 Big Ten Championship and came within one out of advancing to the College World Series, losing to the #1 seed University of Florida Gators in extra innings. Lavery pursued his passion for baseball, playing in the minors from 1999-2003.After baseball, Lavery returned to the University of Illinois to finish his degree in Sports Management, blending his love of sport with his natural leadership skills to pursue a career focused on supporting the athletic goals of others. Following graduation, he was hired by DePuy Spine, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson and has travelled the world to advise some of the top pediatric deformity surgeons on how to treat and manage scoliosis. In his work, he has helped identify key opinion leaders who have designed new technology to treat both adolescent and adult patients. Lavery finds his work especially gratifying, as it allows him to find ways to ensure that all people, no matter what physical limitations or challenges they may have, have access to the paths necessary to chase their dreams.One of Lavery’s dreams came true this fall when he married his wife, Kirsten, in Ireland. As they build a life together, Lavery looks back at the story of his earlier years with fondness and new insight. He asks today’s Redhawks to “dream, to have goals and, most importantly, to write them down,” noting that if they don’t “then those dreams are just floating ideas.” As a man and competitor who chased down each dream he had, he is especially aware of the people in his life that made them possible. Perhaps Lavery’s most important advice is this: “Within one month of being away at college, sit down and write your parents a letter saying that you love them and that you appreciate all that they have sacrificed for you. I’ll promise you this: they will read it 10 different times and they will keep it forever.”