Last summer, with his senior season just around the corner, St. Rita senior defensive end David Lyle saw his plans derailed in an instant.
At a midseason practice, Lyle went down with a knee injury that was ultimately diagnosed as a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and a partial tear of several other ligaments.
However, Lyle wasn’t going to be slowed down.
Staying closely involved with the football team despite his season-ending injury, Lyle helped wherever he could in practices and games, and his effort did not go unnoticed.
On April 18, the Chicago Bears announced that Lyle was named a winner of the 2024 Community High School All-Star Award. The honor recognizes nine high school football players from March through May who make a positive impact in their communities and schools.
“Winning the award still hasn’t hit me,” Lyle said. “When St. Rita posted the news, I had a lot of friends reach out and congratulate me. I’m very grateful for [Coach Martin Hopkins] nominating me and extremely grateful for what he’s done for me.”
Lyle, a 5’10”, 210-pound defensive end for the Mustangs, was in his second season on the varsity during senior year. The Morgan Park resident and St. Cajetan Elementary School graduate said the award is more than just about his football career.
He has also helped coach a boys basketball B-team at St. Cajetan with three classmates and friends over the last three years. At home, he tries to help his mom, Lisa, care for his dad, Michael, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008 and uses a wheelchair.
The 2023 season was Hopkins’ first as head coach at his alma mater.
He said he was incredibly proud of how Lyle handled the serious knee injury and kept battling.
“What is most important is how positive David stayed through the entire thing,” Lyle said. “Suffering an injury like that at a young age, that’s not easy to deal with. He was always at practice afterward and always with a smile on his face.”
Lyle’s positive energy was infectious, especially to his head coach.
“We’d be at practice and he’d tell me, ‘Smile, Coach!’” Hopkins said with a laugh. “That’s the kind of kid David is. He’s very mature beyond his years. There aren’t many kids like that. He did everything he could to help and be a part of the team.”
Lyle said that was his exact mindset through all of the ups and downs of being injured.
“You can’t change it, so you move on and see what you can do next,” Lyle said. “I wanted to be of any and all help I could to help the team. I still wanted to be a part of the team.”
So, Lyle became an unofficial manager/coach of sorts. He did everything from handing out water to teammates to helping run the scout team offense and defense, often giving GoRout devices to players in practices that helped the coaching staff implement play calls quicker and more efficiently.
“It felt like the right thing to do,” Lyle said. “Half the team was seniors, guys I’ve known and played with for three and four years. I thought of the practices in the heat, all that time, and I wanted to see it through to the end and to the best of my ability.”
Even after undergoing surgery on the knee midway through the season, he still tried to make as many practices and games as possible.
“I underestimated the pain at first,” Lyle said. “I started feeling a lot better and tried to be there to support the team and go to as many practices as I could.”
Claire DePrima, LAT, ATC, is a senior athletic trainer at St. Rita through Athletico Physical Therapy. She’s been at St. Rita since 2021.
DePrima is also on the Athletico board that picks the Community All-Stars.
“When David’s nomination came through, it was a no-brainer, an easy vote,” DePrima said. “He was determined to still be a part of the team after suffering a season-ending injury. He wanted to still be there for his teammates. Even talking to teammates who were out for a day or two with an injury, he was encouraging them. ‘This isn’t the end! It’s just a hiccup!’”
Lyle’s athletic endeavors aren’t just limited to his time as a player.
Over the last three years, he’s worked as a basketball coach at his alma mater, St. Cajetan, with a boys B-team.
He and three of his former Warrior classmates, Liam Nolan, Ryan Hartz and John Lietz, started with the team in sixth grade and stayed with the group through its eighth-grade season.
Lyle said Nolan took the lead as an unofficial head coach with the remaining three rounding out his staff.
“When some parents asked us to do it, I thought it was a joke,” Lyle said with a laugh. “We stayed with them though and really connected with the boys. Maybe as a friend or older brother thing, but we connected. We did the best to our abilities to help the boys get better.”
As for the NFL Draft party on April 25 at Soldier Field, Lyle and his friends had a blast, watching as the Bears drafted Caleb Williams and Rome Adunze in the first round and also getting a chance to take a photo with the 1985 Lombardi trophy.
“It was really cool,” Lyle said, “just surreal to be there and see all of it.”
Lyle will attend the University of Illinois-Champaign and pursue a degree in journalism.
He said he’s worked as a broadcaster on St. Rita’s YouTube channel when varsity basketball games are streamed live.
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