Frank W. McDermott, 78, founded McDermott Amusement and co-founded McDade & Company. He also recruited hundreds of football players for Indiana University, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame.
A resident of Palos Heights and formerly of Evergreen Park, he died Monday at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park.
”He was a friendly, aggressive man who was really involved with kids,”
said a friend, Rev. Robert McGinnity. ”He really loved kids and did an awful lot for them. He was a very good family man.”
During the Depression, he looked for a job that would allow him to be his own boss. He bought a three-ride carnival and developed it into the largest relocatable carnival and game business in the Chicago area. When he sold the company in 1973, it had 50 rides and served churches, fire departments and other groups that sponsored neighborhood carnivals.
McDade & Company, which went out of business in 1987, started as an adjunct to the carnival business. It grew from a small store at 51st Street and Union Avenue to a major Chicago-area retailer with eight showrooms and annual sales in excess of $100 million.
Mr. McDermott had played football in high school as well as briefly for Indiana University. He scouted and signed players for colleges, starting with Indiana University. He is credited with recruiting 12 of 22 starting players on the 1967 Purdue Rose Bowl team.
Mr. McDermott followed Chicago public and parochial leagues, maintained close relationships with coaches and officials and made films of players.
He is in the Tilden and Mt. Carmel High School halls of fame, having attended both schools.
Survivors include his wife, Elsie; two daughters, Patricia Costello and Debra Clamage; a son, Thomas; and eight grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at Kenny Brothers Funeral Home, 3600 W. 95th St., in Evergreen Park. Mass for Mr. McDermott will be said at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 9525 S. Lawndale Ave., in Evergreen Park.
