ROCHELLE — Rochelle Township High School inducted seven new members into its Athletic Hall of Fame prior to the start of the Hubs varsity football team’s game against the Yorkville Foxes on Friday.

Bobby Chadwick, Kevin Crandall, Stacey Hultgren, Joseph Kaisher, Mike Pence, Angie Pullin Smardo and Todd Smith received a loud ovation from Rochelle fans as they strode across the west side of the track with plaques in hand. Below is more information about the Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2017.

Bobby Chadwick

Bobby Chadwick is a member of the RTHS graduating Class of 2000.  He was a three-sport athlete during his freshman and sophomore years as members of the Hubs baseball, basketball and football teams. As a sophomore, he was moved to the varsity football team, starting at defensive end.

Chadwick broke his left wrist during his junior year, but he continued playing the remainder of the season, helping bring the undefeated Hubs to the state semifinals. He was a unanimous All-Conference selection as offensive end and defensive end. The Hubs had another undefeated football season the following year, and Bobby served as a team captain and was again a unanimous All-Conference selection. He received All-State honors and was the recipient of the Ellis Award for Sportsmanship.

Chadwick continues to use what he learned in football by coaching with Rochelle Junior Tackle. He and his wife Kristine reside in Rochelle, and Holcomb State Bank has employed him for the past 10 years.

Kevin Crandall

Kevin Crandall has been a head football coach in Illinois for 31 years, and he has served as the Rochelle head coach and athletic director for the past 24 years.
Under Crandall’s leadership, Rochelle Football has become a respected program throughout the state. Coach Crandall’s teams have won 154 games, qualified for the playoffs 17 times including an appearance in the playoffs for 12 straight years from 1998 to 2009. His teams have competed in three semifinal games and one quarterfinal game.
Coach Crandall was elected to the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2012 and currently serves as the organization’s president. Additionally, he was inducted into Millikin University’s Hall of Fame in 2016, where in his senior year he earned First-Team All-Conference honors, was the named team’s Most Valuable Player, and was recognized as an All-American.
Kevin and his wife, Rhonda together have four children, Mitch, Mackenzie, Mallory and Noah.

Stacey Hultgren

Stacey was a three-sport athlete in each of her four years at RTHS.  She participated in volleyball, basketball and softball earning a total of eight varsity letters. As a member of the Lady Hubs basketball team, Stacey led the team in rebounds.

She was named to the NCIC All-Conference teams for each of the three sports she played during her senior year, the First-Team All-Area Team as first baseman for softball and was an NCIC Honorable Mention her junior basketball season. While attending RTHS, Hultgren was on the High Honor Roll during her four years and a member of the National Honor Society. 

After graduating with the RTHS Class of 2003, Stacey Hultgren attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and graduated with a degree in media studies in 2007. While studying abroad in Vienna, Austria, she met her future husband, Sagar Upadhyaya and was married in June of 2015. Stacey is employed as a client service manager with Pandora. She lives in Chicago and continues to participate in fitness activities including running events and intramural sports with her co-workers.

Joseph Kaisher

Joseph Kaisher was a three-sport athlete during his years at RTHS. He was a four-year member of the golf, basketball and baseball teams. Kaisher was named to the NCIC All-Conference Honorable Mention team for his junior basketball season and the second team for his senior basketball season. He was selected as the recipient of the Hall Free Throw Award (junior season) and the Hackett MVP Award (senior season). Both years he was named to the Dixon Telegraph All-Area Team and was a sectional qualifier in the IHSA Three Point Shootout his senior year.  

As a Hubs baseball player, he was selected to the NCIC All-Conference Team his senior year. While a student at RTHS, Joe was a member of the National Honor Society, a High Honors student for four years involved in several Clubs and student activities, and he received the SAR Good Citizenship Award. He had been named to the All-Academic Teams during each of his three sport seasons and earned the honor of being the 1992 Rochelle News-Leader Scholar-Athlete.

Following graduation in 1992, Joe attended Kishwaukee College and played for the baseball team receiving All-Conference and All-Academic honors. He then decided to forego offers of playing Division I baseball to attend NIU to obtain a degree in meteorology. As an adult, Kaisher coached and refereed RYBA basketball, park district basketball and volleyball, adult softball and coached Little League. He now mostly plays golf, having two hole-in-ones to his name. Having worked in the seed corn business since graduating college, he is currently the plant manager for a small seed company, SEEDirect.

Mike Pence

Mike Pence spent 33 years as a math teacher at RTHS, retiring in 2011.  After his retirement from the classroom, he continued to coach both boys and girls tennis until 2014.  His RTHS coaching career in boys tennis began as an assistant to Don Romes in 1979 before becoming the head coach.  He coached the girls tennis team beginning in 1980. When first coming to Rochelle, he also coached boys basketball.

As a tennis coach, he had 300 + wins, and 64 of his players advanced to the state tennis tournament. He had girls teams represented at state for 13 years in a row, including his daughters Kristy and Kelly who were both two-time state qualifiers. Numerous players who he has coached have had successful college careers playing tennis.

As a student at Charleston High School, Pence lettered in basketball baseball and cross country. He attended Eastern Illinois University and lettered two years in tennis. He and his wife Trisha have daughters Kristy and Kelly along with four grandkids. His daughter Kristy is currently the RTHS boys tennis coach.

Angie Pullin Smardo

Angie Pullin Smardo graduated from Rochelle in 1995. She was a three-year player on the Lady Hubs basketball team starting at guard. Her four years on the Rochelle softball team is what gave her the most accolades.  Angie set numerous records her sophomore season, including hits, RBIs, stolen bases, runs scored and at-bats. Her junior season, she set a record of 50 RBIs, and threw a no-hitter in her first varsity start against Jefferson High School.

She pitched 15 innings in the regional finals where Rochelle lost 7-6 to a tough Belvidere team. In her senior season, Angie pitched the Lady Hubs to their first regional title by beating Belvidere 10-6 to avenge their loss the previous year. She went on to play softball at Highland Community College in Freeport playing on a full scholarship. She then was accepted into the radiology program at Kishwaukee College and received another full scholarship to play softball.

Upon graduation, Pullin Smardo started working at SwedishAmerican as a radiologic technologist, and she has been employed there for 19 years. She and her husband, Josh Smardo, have a son and two daughters.  In her spare time, she enjoys camping, boating and coaching her daughter’s softball.

Todd Smith

Todd Smith graduated from RTHS in 1976. He was a four-year, three-sport athlete having been a member of the wrestling, football and track and field teams. Smith was a co-captain of his senior football team where they made a quarterfinal appearance, losing to Geneva. This 1975 Hubs football team was the recipient of the Hackett Award.

Following his years at RTHS, Smith attended the University of Northern Iowa where he was on the wrestling team for one year. He then went on to work as an Ironworker, in real estate and securities. In 2004 he opened his business of Hub City and Hub Sports Photography. In addition, he started the rochellehubsfootball.com and rochellehubssports.com not for profit websites where he posts photos of and about everything RTHS. There are over 471,000 photos to date on the websites and it has allowed Smith to donate back over $25,000 to RTHS over the years.

Todd is also giving back to his alma mater by being the current president of the Rochelle Athletic Booster Club. Todd and his wife, Teresa have just celebrated their first wedding anniversary. They are the parents of Kyle (Nicole) Hansen, Mary Hansen, Emily Hansen and Cole Smith. He is currently enrolled at Central Academy of Ministry. Of all the Rochelle sports moments he has witnessed, Smith’s favorite memory is from 2009 when his son, Cole and Rochelle football teammates defeated the previously undefeated Geneva team on their home field in what has become to be known as “The Mud Game.”