Attending Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox was all part of the family for Eddie Olszta, who played football and baseball through his four years at the institution. Olszta’s parents and his aunts and uncles went there, along with both of his grandmothers when Providence was an all-girls school. His uncle was even the head basketball coach for 25 years.
Going to sporting events and supporting his hometown team became a weekly ritual. Olszta had known former Celtic football coach Matt Senffner since he was a kid and joked that playing for him was much different than fishing or going on vacation with him.
“He got the most out of his players day in and day out. You look back and I’ve said this with many people just talking about the teams in the past, and of all those undefeated state championship teams, you could count on one hand how many Division I football players there were,” Olszta said.
“That’s a true testament to Coach Seff and his staff throughout the years, truly getting the best of what they had every year,” Olszta continued.
Providence gave the opposition its best every season. Senffner coached the program for 38 years, achieving a 300-114-1 career record and nine state championships, including four straight from 1994-97. Olszta was a member of three title runs from 1994-96, and his teams went 42-0 to kick off that mind-boggling run. He has particularly fond memories of his senior season which he declared as “the best overall experience” he has ever had on the gridiron.
Robert Cruz quarterbacked the 1996 team with Louis Medina as the lead tailback. Medina at one point was in the top 10 all-time in rushing yards in Illinois, and as of November 2024, has the 16th-most yards in a season at 2,745. Tim Teehan was the lone senior on the offensive line, yet the juniors around him held their own. Add it all up and Providence had the recipe for a three-peat to end Olszta’s high school career.
“The first year you’re happy to be in a state championship game and it’s awesome we ended up winning. Second year, it’s like yeah we can do it, the expectations are not as high, and then by the third go around — my senior year — it’s not if we’re going to win, it’s how bad are we going to beat this team,” Olszta said.
The winning continued after Olszta graduated as Providence carried a 50-game winning streak into the ninth game of the ‘97 campaign. That streak is the second-longest in state history only behind Pittsfield’s 64 consecutive wins from 1966-73. At the root of the program’s success, Senffner wanted his players to become good citizens who upheld Catholic standards.
“Nobody’s going to hand anything to you, and sometimes you get kicked in the teeth and you just gotta get back up and work hard at what you want to do. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes we don’t get it done with all of them,” Senffner said. “But the majority of our kids graduate and they know what it’s all about. We’re very, very happy with all the kids that graduate that come out of our football program, and we see it when they come back for homecoming games.”
Senffner praised Olszta’s “awesome family” in particular for maintaining their strong values. He also expressed his joy in loyal families like the Olsztas who made the necessary sacrifices to send their kids to Catholic schools and kept the same traditions as it “meant somewhere along the line [the school] did something right with these families, and they keep sending their kids back.”
Olszta played wide receiver and took some snaps at defensive back during his playing career. Senffner sensed Olszta’s abilities as a two-sport athlete contributed to his outstanding abilities to make plays on the field when it mattered most.
“He was kind of like an outfielder [or] catcher baseball-wise. He had great vision. He was a smart kid and we told him what he needed to do,” Senffner recalled. “He would get to the ball, catch the ball and he had good breakaway speed.”
Providence established the Green & White Hall of Fame in 2004 to recognize outstanding players, teams and coaches from the school’s rich athletic history. Senffner was one of the two inaugural inductees, and Olszta followed suit several years later in the Class of 2019. Olszta also joined by his father Ed, a member of the baseball team during the early 1970s. The elder Olszta was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 14th round of the 1974 MLB June Amateur Draft. Eddie's own son, also named Eddie, is following in his shoes as a standout on the diamond at Providence, as the shortstop is a current senior at the school.
With Thanksgiving on the horizon, the Olszta family and Senffner have plenty to be thankful for in contributing to the most successful chapter in the history of Providence Catholic’s football program.