Charlene E. Bremberg, former assistant executive director of the Illinois High School Association, died early Thursday morning after a long respiratory illness. She was 61.
Bremberg, a graduate of York, served with the IHSA for 15 years before retiring in 1992. Bremberg was in charge of girls basketball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls tennis, girls bowling, girls badminton, girls softball, scholastic bowl and speech.
Under her leadership, Bremberg turned girls cross country into the two-class system used by the boys program.
Before joining the IHSA staff, Bremberg coached girls basketball and girls volleyball at Normal. In 1973 she became an assistant women’s track coach at Illinois State.
Bremberg’s successor, Susan Hinrichsen, said Bremberg was a “good human being,” professionally and personally.
“Once she retired, her one goal was to be a clown,” Hinrichsen said. “She went to clown school before she got sick. That describes the personality she had.”
