For his determination, commitment, and achievements Ray Liberatore is being inducted into the MCHS Hall of Fame in 2025 as a coach. Liberatore was the MCHS girls basketball coach for 24 years.

Liberatore had a lot of memorable moments as an MCHS basketball coach but none of his accomplishments even compared to who he spent his years with.

“My greatest accomplishment was not a single event or athlete,” Liberatore said. “I believe I was very fortunate to have coached the type of athlete who has been at Minooka High School.”

Liberatore has more wins than any other girls varsity basketball coach in program history. He finished with a 362-276 record, five conference titles, four regional titles, and seven 20-win seasons.

Liberatore said his most important win for the girls was beating Oswego in 2007 for their first conference championship.

Along with his many years as a basketball coach, he also took part in coaching Minooka football. His favorite win as a sophomore football coach was beating Plainfield North to go undefeated.

“As I got older, football and basketball were my two favorite sports,” Liberatore said. “The strategy involved in both sports is something I appreciate being a part of.”

His coaching style was a little bit different from the times that he coached. Most of his role models turned out to be people that he would mirror in his career.

“As a young coach, my style was influenced by the coaches I had as an athlete,” Liberatore said. “As my knowledge and experience increased, I settled into the style that I was most comfortable with.”

Liberatore had a great experience with coaching in all of his years at Minooka and there were definitely some people that made it a lot better.

“I feel very humbled, and I feel I earned this honor due to the tremendous coaches and athletes that I worked with at Minooka Community High School,” Liberatore said.

Liberatore will be recognized before the varsity Homecoming football game on Oct. 3. Other Hall of Fame inductees who will be recognized then include Dustin Williams (athlete), Tim Stevens (athlete), Ashley Jones (athlete), Nina Simotes Scott (athlete), Bob Tyrell (special merit), and the 2013 softball team.