The 2009-2010 season marks the 24th year Dave Heiss has been at the helm of the Chiefs’ basketball program. Under his leadership the Chiefs have become a perennial NJCAA top-20 program, ranking as high as #2 in the NJCAA’s Division II poll two different seasons. Heiss has led the Chiefs to 459 wins and counting, including last season’s 23-9 mark, the eleventh time one of his teams have won 20 or more games. In light of that success, the 2007-2008 season may have been Heiss’ best job of coaching. The Chiefs turned around a sub-.500 season to win the Region IV Division II Tournament as the sixth-seed and advance to the NJCAA Nationals for the third time during his tenure.

Coach Heiss was inducted into the NJCAA Region IV Hall of Fame in 2006, and entered the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame last spring. Heiss has been selected as the IBCA and the Region IV Basketball Coach of the Year three times, while the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) has tabbed him with that honor nine times. In 2008 Heiss became the ISCC’s all-time record holder for career wins when the Chiefs won their 191st league game under his direction. His squads have won nine ISCC titles with 55 of his players being named All-Conference, including eight league MVP Awards. After guiding the Chiefs to six league titles during the decade of the 1990’s, Heiss’ 2003-04 crew won their second consecutive league crown to give the program five titles in a seven year span. Waubonsee compiled a 70-14 record (83 percent) in conference play during that time. 

Under Heiss’s leadership, Waubonsee grabbed the Region IV title in 1990-91 with a school-record 29-8 record, en route to finishing 7th in the nation. His 1999-2000 team also snared the Region IV crown despite finishing second in the ISCC that year. Heiss’ teams have also reached the Region IV semi-finals 11 of the last 12 campaigns and grabbed the title of Waubonsee’s Invitational Tournament seven times.

In 1980, Heiss was an All-Upstate Eight performer at Aurora West High School when his team finished third in the state. He went on to play at Eastern Wyoming Junior College where he led the NJCAA Region IX in scoring as a sophomore. Heiss then transferred to Bemidji State University in Minnesota where he was All-Northern Sun Conference his final two years. Heiss was invited to the Utah Jazz rookie and free agent camp in 1986 and played for the Jazz’ rookie team in the Pro-Am League that summer.

Joe Currie joined Waubonsee’s staff in 2007 and helped direct the Chiefs to a Region IV crown and a National Tournament berth. Currie brings to the Chiefs’ bench more than 20 years of coaching experience at both the prep and junior high school level, where he has led successful basketball, baseball and football teams.    

Currie is a 1982 graduate of Marmion Military Academy where he was a three-sport athlete changing with the season from football to basketball to baseball. Currie has continuously remained active at his alma mater by helping with the Cadets’ annual Steak Fry and Christmas Tree Sale the last 25 years, while also serving on the school’s Alumni Board the last three years. Currie spent 12 years coaching basketball on the sophomore level at Marmion, serving as head coach for 10 years. His 2005-2006 squad won the Suburban Catholic Conference (SCC) title. Coach Currie also spent two years as a varsity assistant for the Cadets’ football program before taking over as head coach of the freshman program six years ago. His 2006 squad went undefeated en route to winning the SCC crown. Currie has also coached junior high level football for 15 years, and baseball and basketball for 10 years in the Aurora area. 

Currie earned an Associate of Science degree in Business Management from Waubonsee in 2007 and has worked as an Insurance Agent for more than 20 years. He also worked for Brown’s Sporting Goods as a Store Manager for three years. Currie lives in Sugar Grove with Lisa, his wife of 16 years, and sons Ben and Brandon.

After a long hiatus, Jim Sury returned to Waubonsee’s bench in 2007 and helped guide the Chiefs to the Region IV title and a National Tournament appearance. In the late 1980’s he was one of head coach Dave Heiss’ first assistant coaches. In between Coach Sury has spent time as a varsity assistant coach of both basketball and baseball at Marmion Academy. The last four years he has been the Cadets’ head sophomore baseball coach, while also coaching in Aurora’s Little League and Legion League for nearly a decade.    

Sury is a 1970 graduate of Marmion where he was a three-year letterman in both basketball and baseball, reaching All-Suburban Catholic Conference (SCC) status in each. On the court he was named the Cadets’ Most Valuable Player Award and was a Chicago Sun-Times All-State selection his senior year. Sury finished his prep career with a memorable 33-point first half performance in a Regional Final loss to Aurora East High School, making 15 of 16 shots in the process. He excelled on the diamond as well earning the Aurora Legion League Most Valuable Players Award the summer of 1969.

Sury went on to play both basketball and baseball for a year at Quincy College before joining the Navy for four years beginning in 1973. He graduated in 1980 from Hood University in Maryland with a degree in Psychology. Sury then spent four years working with gangs and youth on the streets of Chicago through the Christopher House, earning accolades from the Chicago Tribune. He later taught Science and Math at St. Rita’s Elementary in Aurora. Sury has owned and operated his own painting business for the last 16 years, while also serving as a member of the Marmion Alumni Board the last 11 years. Sury lives in St. Charles with his wife Alice.