CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – There is a strong connection between the Fighting Illini and the Chicago Cubs. Twelve former Illini have gone on to play for Chicago's National League ballclub, but none were more successful than 1902 Illinois baseball captain Carl Lundgren.

Lundgren, a civil engineering graduate, won a Big Ten baseball championship in 1900 and was on World Series title teams in 1907 and 1908 with the Cubs. He also starred on the Illini football team as a halfback and was involved in campus government.

Although Lundgren never threw in the World Series because he was behind the likes of Mordecai Brown and Orval Overall in the rotation, he helped the Cubs get there with some stellar seasons. The Marengo, Illinois, native went 91-55 in eight years with Chicago, including seven shutouts in 1907. 

Lundgren was not only a fine pitcher but was also an above-average student. The Daily Illini said that, "the Cubs had a new pitcher, and the world lost a civil engineer," [W.H Beatty, 1923] when he chose to pursue baseball.

"Lundy," as he was called, turned his baseball knowledge into another career at the conclusion of his playing days. He went on to become the baseball coach at Michigan before returning to Illinois for a 14-year run as the head skipper. After guiding Michigan to three consecutive conference championships, his Illini teams went 209-78-14 with Big Ten titles in 1921, 1922, 1927, 1931 and 1934.

At one point in 1923, the Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner called him "the greatest college coach in the country."

For more on Carl Lundberg, Illini fans can read his biography on SABR.org by Bill Lamb.