Mark R. Krueger
(Click name above to watch HOF video)
Broadcaster / Friend of the Program (2005-2020)
Waubonsee broadcaster for 15 years covering nearly 400 Chiefs’ Athletic events
IBCA Hall of Fame Announcer and Chicagoland Emmy Award winning broadcaster
Waubonsee scholarship established in his memory in 2025
The saying “when you find a job you enjoy doing, you’ll never have to work a day in your life,” certainly could apply to long-time area broadcaster Mark Krueger. The Downers Grove native had a passion for sports and a talent for describing the action with clarity and excitement. For over 30 years Krueger covered hundreds of high school and college games all over Chicagoland, but it was the Waubonsee Chiefs that became his home team.
Krueger graduated in 1985 from Downers Grove South High School where he played baseball and basketball. He went on to North Central College in Naperville where he was 6’4” shooting guard and right-handed pitcher, helping the Cardinals reach the NCAA Division III World Series in 1987. Krueger also served as a DJ for the college’s student radio station WONC, where he found his calling as an announcer. In the early 1990’s he embarked on an award-winning broadcasting career in front of the camera. Krueger received a Chicagoland Emmy award for his documentary production “All In,” and was nominated three other times for a Chicagoland Emmy award as an announcer. In 2015 he was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as a Media member.
Among his many roles Krueger served as a play-by-play announcer, color commentator, sideline reporter, in-studio host and public address announcer for nearly 3,000 events and programs over three decades. He covered football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball, water polo and numerous special events. Krueger worked seamlessly with a wide variety of announcing partners for more than a dozen broadcasting outlets in and around the Chicago area, including Comcast, the Illinois High School Association, WCIU and others. But he always made time for Waubonsee, covering more Chiefs games than any other single entity. Krueger’s involvement with Waubonsee began in 2005 when the school started broadcasting basketball games in coordination with the college’s Educational Television Department and TV Production classes. He quickly became a supporter of Chiefs’ Athletics and a friend of the program. For the next 15 years Krueger was the voice of Waubonsee’s men’s and women’s basketball broadcasts, and he filled the same role covering Chiefs’ volleyball for seven years. Overall, Krueger called nearly 400 Waubonsee regular season, tournament and post-season sporting events, with post-game interviews of players and coaches too. As a matter of fact, he was on the mic for every game of the Region 4 women’s and men’s basketball tournaments when Waubonsee hosted the two-weekend event in 2006, 2007, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Outside of broadcasting Krueger worked as a substitute teacher in the Bolingbrook, Naperville and Plainfield school districts. He also was a manager for Tire America stores in Aurora and Downers Grove for many years, served numerous times as a Polling Place Election Official in the western suburbs, worked as a Census Taker for DuPage and Kane Counties, and did a handful of other jobs in his spare time. Krueger unexpectedly passed away in August of 2023 at the age of 56. A Waubonsee scholarship in his name was established in 2025 by his family.
