2023 Daily Chronicle Male Athlete of the Year: Zack Crawford

Zack Crawford really didn’t want to give up playing two sports just because he was going to college.

So even though the Sycamore standout had scholarship offers in wrestling or football from larger schools, the two-sport star decided to go to NCAA Division III Wartburg College in Iowa, where he can continue playing both sports.

He’s one of the fiercest competitors I’ve ever been around.”

—  Joe Ryan, Sycamore football coach

“A lot of people told me two sports, that’s going to be really tough to do,” Crawford said. “But it’s like I’ve done it for 18 years. Why would I stop now?”

Crawford’s senior season ended with a selection on the Daily Chronicle All-Area football team and a third-place finish at the wrestling state tournament to earn Daily Chronicle Wrestler of the Year honors.

For his accomplishments, Crawford was named the 2023 Daily Chronicle Male Athlete of the Year.

Crawford was a two-way player for the Spartans football team. He had 86 tackles, two sacks, and nine tackles for loss from his linebacker spot to lead a tough Sycamore defense into the Class 5A semifinals for the second straight year, losing 10-7 to Nazareth. He also ran for 644 yards on only 43 carries, scoring nine times.

On the mat he won 44 matches, notched 33 pins and took third at state, earning his first career medal.

“With the accolades we were able to accomplish, even with falling just a little short, it felt really nice to have a sense of closure,” Crawford said. “Even though we may not have finished on the top of the podium, we still felt like we finished on top as champions.”

Sycamore football coach Joe Ryan said the fact Crawford is attempting to play two sports in college shows how much of a competitor he is.

“He’s one of the fiercest competitors I’ve ever been around,” Ryan said. “I think that’s what allowed him to be so successful. He never shied away from tough competition. He really liked that, whether he was playing football or wrestling. He didn’t run from that.”

Crawford was a Daily Chronicle All-Area selection all three years he wrestled. He was honorable mention All-Area for the fall 2021 football season.

Thanks to Wartburg, he’ll be able to continue in both sports at the collegiate level.

“A lot of kids think D-I, that’s the place to be,” Crawford said. “I could have played D-I in football or wrestling, I was talking to some schools. But a lot of schools don’t give you the chance to be a two-sport athlete. Even D-III schools don’t want you to be a two-sport athlete. And Wartburg gave me that opportunity.”

First-year Sycamore wrestling coach Randy Culton, who coached the Sycamore youth program for years before taking over the varsity level, said he’s always been impressed with Crawford’s leadership.

“He’s been an amazing athlete since he was a little kid,” Culton said. “And over the years he turned into a leader. He elevated kids’ ability around him whether it was on the football field or the wrestling mat. He brought the best out of his teammates.”

Crawford’s high school experience varied from a traditional one, with parts of his freshman and sophomore years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with his sophomore football season not happening until the spring and wrestling taking place in the summer.

But he was part of a football team that reached back-to-back semifinals and a wrestling team that made back-to-back team sectionals.

“My high school experience was definitely not conventional,” Crawford said. “Spring break my freshman year started with COVID, so after that I didn’t really get a full year of normality until my senior year pretty much. We weren’t in school or we had masks on. When you think of high school, you don’t think of walking around with masks on. It was a very different experience, but I’d say a very good experience overall.”