The Paw Print

By Elena Whitford, Features Editor

Students involved in any type of sport this fall season may have spotted a new face in the crowd. It’s our new athletic director Mr. John Lopez, who’s starting the school year strong by making an effort to show up for as many Payton sports games as possible. To help the school get to know him a little better, The Paw Print sat down with him for an interview.

The job of an athletic director is fairly different from that of an ordinary teacher or even an assistant principal. Mr. Lopez said that daily responsibilities include “making sure teams are eligible, making sure teams have transportation to the games, [and] reaching out to other schools to make sure that their team is going to be there.”

Apart from organizing the details of Payton’s sports games, Mr. Lopez also meets with coaches and discusses college recruiting with student athletes. “It goes from [the] big picture down to the minute details of running a high school sports team,” he said. 

And what about those sports games? “I’ve been trying to get to as many as I can,” Mr. Lopez said. He noted that he had already attended games for girls’ tennis and volleyball and boys’ soccer and football, but still wanted to attend a swim meet and a boys’ golf game this season. 

While he’s still mainly in training at the moment — he noted that his favorite part of his job is learning — Mr. Lopez has plenty of experience in the athletic field. “Previously, I was the athletic director at Kenwood Academy in Hyde Park. I spent three years there, and I do live on the north side, so transportation was getting pretty rough. And then the amazing school of Payton had an opening, which doesn’t happen very often. So I applied, and thankfully I was chosen to be the athletic director here.”

A lifelong Chicagoan, Mr. Lopez grew up on the South Side, attended Morgan Park High School — “I played baseball in high school, so that’s where I learned about team camaraderie and leadership,” he noted — and got his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “After college, I did everything you can do. I did banking, I did sales, I did marketing. [I] just didn’t really find my niche,” Mr. Lopez said.

“Then I ended up working at a school, in their office. Before that, I was pretty sure that I did not like children, but after working there, I realized that I really did like kids and enjoyed being a part of the education field. I spent almost 10 years there.” 

It was this position that led him to his first job in athletics education. “I was the operations manager at an elementary school called Roe Elementary on the North Side, and I helped build their athletic program from the ground up,” he said.

Outside of his work, Mr. Lopez’s life focuses on two things: taking care of his family, and enjoying meals at restaurants. “I love the Chicago food scene. Before having kids, my wife and I used to go to a different restaurant every Friday. My kids really hampered that,” he said. “But I just love going out and trying new foods and just seeing all the places that Chicago has to offer, from the really fancy places to the holes in the wall.”

Does he have any restaurant recommendations? “I really love barbecue. So there’s a place called Smoque that’s up in the northwest side that I really like. I like Piece Pizza, which is over in Wicker Park,” Mr. Lopez said. “When we’re feeling fancy, I like Boeufhaus, which is in the Ukrainian Village area.”

On a typical weekend, Mr. Lopez said he would “entertain my kids, just make sure that they’re busy and having fun.” A recent Saturday included Payton’s fall open house, then a birthday party, a football game, and a movie night.

Despite all the different jobs he has held, Mr. Lopez believes Payton is now the place for him. “Payton just seems so different, for lack of a better term. Students have freedom here to be themselves and participate in things that they like to do,” he said. “I walked around on seminar day and it just looked very collegiate. It doesn’t really feel like a high school.”

In addition, he’s found himself welcomed into the school community almost immediately. “All the students and staff have been awesome. A lot of students come up and introduce themselves to me and ask me how I’m liking it here, and that’s really cool to see.”

When asked about his goals for his first year as Payton’s athletic director, Mr. Lopez said, “I am looking forward to just becoming a part of Payton. I still feel like the new guy, and at the end of the year, I don’t want to feel like the new guy. I want people to be like, oh, that’s Mr. Lopez.”

He added, “I’m really feeling the love here and I’m making myself at home. I enjoy coming to work every day.”