Because of misdirected mail, Mark Zubor waited extra weeks to find out he had been inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame. Considering it’s been nearly 60 years since Zubor last played competitively, the former longtime Riverside resident was ecstatic to finally receive the much-deserved honor.
“Absolutely. It’s almost more surprising the older you are, something like this happening,” Zubor said. “[You think], ‘Oh my God, there are people who remember.’ It’s very nice. That’s all I can say.”
Zubor will be among the oldest in the Class of 2025 Saturday in Normal. He had a remarkable, record-setting career at the former Gordon Tech High School (now DePaul College Prep since 2014) followed by three varsity seasons for the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1966 with a degree in business administration.
Now living in Florida, Zubor said he returns annually to the Chicago area during the summer to visit family. He’s not sure who he will see at the ceremony. Zubor jokes about how, with age, autographs and photos from his playing days continue appreciating in value on eBay.
“Probably not many of my contemporaries are still around,” he said. “I tell the story that when you’re 16, 30 is old. When you’re 30, 65 is old but when you’re 80 years old like I am, everybody says you’re old.”
Zubor and wife Cheryl initially lived in Evanston and then moved to Riverside, where they stayed for roughly 25 years while raising four children. Laura graduated from St. Ignatius, Kevin from Riverside Brookfield, and Brian and Scott from Fenwick.
He was a mainstay in area recreational basketball leagues into his 50s with the likes of John Egan and longtime Riverside Brookfield boys varsity coach Tom McCloskey, another IBCA inductee who retired in 2017. Egan attended St. Rita and was a starter on Loyola University’s 1963 NCAA national championship team.
Zubor’s last playing days were in a 40-years-and-over recreational league.
“After a while, that was it. Other people out there were getting too young,” he said. “If I could just stand some place and shoot, fine, but they expect you to run up and down the court and play defense. My knees started to hurt.”
At Gordon Tech, Zubor was quite the shooter and scorer. The 1962 graduate was all-state as a senior, a two-time Catholic League Player of the Year and the Rams’ all-time career leader all the way until he was passed by 1991 graduate Tom Kleinschmidt, who is now the coach at DePaul College Prep, which has won three straight IHSA state titles.
He attended the game where Kleinschmidt became Gordon Tech’s all-time career leading scorer. Zubor simply came to watch Brian play for Fenwick.
“I didn’t even know anything about [the scoring record] until I read about it the next day,” he said. “I was shocked that I still had the record for points and that I was at the gym and saw it and didn’t realize it. Now all of the Gordon Tech records are locked forever.”
Zubor was raised in Cicero and recalls playing basketball on an auditorium stage with netting “so we didn’t fall off.” He would have attended Morton but was noticed by Gordon Tech coach Bob Luksta, who arranged a meeting with Zubor and his parents.
“Any success I had in basketball, he had a huge part of it,” he said.
In Zubor’s senior year, Gordon Tech finished 27-5. The Rams lost the Chicago city championship title to Carver (led by future NBA standout Cazzie Russell) but beat Loyola Academy for the Catholic League championship after losing to the Ramblers twice during the season.
At that time, Catholic schools were not allowed to play in the IHSA state tournament. However, Gordon Tech did earn a trip to the national Catholic championships in Washington D.C. and finished third. One of their opponents was an all-black team from Louisiana.
“I believe we were the first all-white team they ever played. That’s what we were told,” he said. “That was a heck of an experience because I had never really been away from home.”
Zubor earned 1962 all-state honors and traveled to Champaign for the banquet. The University of Illinois player who hosted him was future Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo.
From August 1962, there’s an online photo of Zubor and three other Chicago-area athletes at the Wisconsin Alumni Club of Chicago “sendoff dinner.” There’s also an action shot from Gordon Tech photo day where the right-handed Zubor takes a half-hook shot left-handed.
“[Luksta] wanted to show off that you could shoot with either hand so they wouldn’t overplay you,” Zubor said. “Somebody showed me that photo. I looked at it and said, ‘That’s me.’ I knew the guys in the caption, but I had no idea where that was.”
In the 1960s, freshmen were not allowed to play varsity college basketball. In his three varsity seasons at Wisconsin, the 6-foot-6 Zubor averaged 12.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in 70 games and was a team captain senior year. He graduated as the program’s No. 9 career scorer. His single-game 26 rebounds in the 115-71 victory over Gonzaga, Dec. 17, 1963, still ranks No. 3 all-time.
“The ball bounces the right way and good things happen or there were a lot of missed shots by them or us. You don’t rebound made shots,” he said.
Zubor recalled one tournament as a sophomore at the University of Kentucky, then coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp. The Badgers lost 90-87 to Princeton with future NBA Hall of Famer and U.S. Senator Bill Bradley.
“I always joke that I guarded Bill Bradley to 26 points,” Zubor said. “He actually scored 52 points, but we were double-teaming him, me and Bobbie Johnson. I only take credit for 26.”
The Zubors moved to Carmel, Ind. to be near Laura and planned to eventually continue to Florida. He moved shortly after Cheryl died in 2016. In Florida, Zubor recently moved within his complex and the congratulatory letter from the IBCA was delivered to his former address. The new residents were out of town and the letter sat unopened.
Hoping that Zubor would not learn of his induction from others, his family set up a Zoom meeting. Brian read a copy of the IBCA letter revealing the news.
“I didn’t know what [our Zoom meeting] was about. I was shocked and surprised and very happy,” Zubor said. “[The extra wait] doesn’t matter, really. It’s very nice they recognized me. I have no idea how those things work. They only contact I had with [the IBCA] was when they told me I was in.”