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Fenwick girls water polo head coach Jack Wagner during a tournament at Fenwick High School on Friday, April 6, 2018. Wagner is returning to the poolside in Oak Park after five years and will lead the Fenwick team once again this spring. (H. Rick Bamman / Pioneer Press)
Fenwick girls water polo head coach Jack Wagner during a tournament at Fenwick High School on Friday, April 6, 2018. Wagner is returning to the poolside in Oak Park after five years and will lead the Fenwick team once again this spring. (H. Rick Bamman / Pioneer Press)
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Try as he may, Jack Wagner could not stay away from the sport he loves.

Wagner, who stepped down after the 2020 season following an extremely successful run as girls water polo coach at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, is back at the pool.

Fenwick won nine state championships with Wagner as coach. He also was at the helm for a 10th state title, but that was before the IHSA officially recognized girls water polo.

A delivery driver for years for Final Mile X, a company that distributes food and beverages to restaurants in the Chicago area, Wagner, of Forest Park, likes his job, but “there was something missing in my life,” he said.

It was a familiar feeling, because it wasn’t the first time he’d left Fenwick. He was head coach of the girls water polo team at the Catholic school in Oak Park from 1993 through 1998 before leaving for a two-years stint as assistant coach for the women’s water polo team at Indiana University in Bloomington. He returned to Fenwick in 2000 for another successful two decades.

“When I walked away the second time, I had been there an additional 20 years and I wasn’t sure there was anything else I could do,” Wagner said. “Yeah, I could’ve stayed there and continued coaching, but I was worn down.”

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the graduation of his son from Fenwick in 2020 convinced him to retire.

“It just felt like a really good way to wrap everything up,” he said.

A surprise phone call from Fenwick officials a few years later turned his attention back to coaching.

“They wanted me to recommend some people for the job,” Wagner said. “Then, in about 24 hours, I got a phone call from the athletic director asking me to come in and meet with the school principal and president.”

The job was his if he wanted to come back. Wagner was pleasantly surprised. It didn’t hurt that “they’re going to pay me a couple more bucks this year,” he said.

“I’m very grateful to them that they think enough of me to want to bring me back,” he said. “We’re going to do the best we can to see how to get ourselves in a better position.”

Coaching is in Wagner’s blood — his first coaching position was at age 18 at Portage Park on Chicago’s Northwest Side.

Water polo, he said, blends elements of “my favorite sport, hockey, with basketball.”

“Most of the strategy they have for hockey or basketball applies to what we try to do in water polo. It’s about trying to cross the ball, make the defense work and get yourself a good open shot with a lot of off-the-ball activity, a lot of movement,” Wagner said.

As in those sports, defense, “without a doubt,” is the key to victory.

An average game has a score of 9-7 or 10-6, he said. That may sound like a lot of offense, “but it’s when you get stops and what you do when you get those stops that changes the game.

“You can always figure out a way to score. But if you figure out how to stop the other team, you have a much better chance of winning,” he said.

Jack Wagner celebrates his 600th win as head coach of the girls water polo team at Fenwick High School in Oak Park in 2019. (Fenwick High School)
Jack Wagner celebrates his 600th win as head coach of the girls water polo team at Fenwick High School in Oak Park in 2019. (Fenwick High School)

Winning? He’s well versed in that.

During the 2019 season, Wagner won his 600th match with Fenwick.

His team won three straight state titles from 2004 to 2006. Between 2000 and 2017 his teams lost fewer than 100 matches. His last state crown was in 2016.

In a news release announcing his return, Fenwick Aquatics Director Beto Garcia said Wagner “has built a career of achievement that spans decades.”

“He not only transformed teams, but also shaped the lives of countless athletes who have gone on to achieve greatness in and out of the pool,” Garcia said.

A graduate of Lane Tech High School, Wagner said he learned how to play water polo in the pool at Portage Park.

That’s a famous pool in Chicago and Olympics history. It’s where the legendary Mark Spitz qualified for the 1972 U.S. Olympic swim team. He later famously won seven Gold Medals in Munich.

Wagner was at the park, working as a timer, when Spitz auditioned. “It was awesome, I’ve got to tell you,” he said.

Wagner loves water polo because “it kind of grabs a hold of you,” adding it “gave me an opportunity to extend my aquatic athleticism.”

Wagner, who was elected to the Illinois Water Polo Hall of Fame in 2005. has a long history in the sport.

He started The Chicago Polo Bears in 1988, which became Windy City Water Polo in 1998. He served as the USA Water Polo Midwest Zone Coach for boys from 1990 to 1998.  He was the USA Water Polo assistant coach for the Men’s Junior National program from 1992 to 1998.  And, with him as an assistant coach, the U.S. Men’s Junior National team won the Pan-American Gold Medal in 1997.

“Like any other team sport, it teaches you responsibility, accountability, how to get along with people you might not normally get along with. And it teaches you a lot of things you’re going to need the rest of your life,” Wagner said.

Fenwick Athletic Director Scott Thies called Wagner an “all-time great,” saying he is known for “building teams, setting high expectations and getting everyone to bring their best every day.”

Team building is his foremost task.

“Our season starts March 3rd which gives us approximately five weeks,” he said Jan. 22. “We have a numbers problem. We have to get more people involved. We’re young, very young. We have some obstacles to climb. We’re looking for girls to play.

“There’s so much I have to do. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m excited they’re allowing me to do this. And I’m even more excited that I get to go back to a place that’s been an integral part of my adult life,” he said.

Wagner returned to Fenwick’s pool on Jan. 19 “to find a locker, put some shirts and shorts in it.”

“I walked in and I had some trepidation. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel. The longer I walked around the pool, I said, ‘it’s good to be back’,” Wagner said.

He knows nothing lasts forever, but Wagner, 61, plans on staying for a while.

“I believe I’ll be here until I decide to stop working,” he said.

Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.

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