The seemingly divergent worlds of Matt Flesch BA ’96 and Nancy Faust BA ’69 came together four years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to their mutual connection to the Chicago White Sox.
Faust—the team’s long-term organist and Major League Baseball’s first female organist—met Flesch, a lifelong fan of the South Siders, when he started a project to distract him from the boredom of home confinement. A massive Sox fan, Flesch—who works in marketing for Amgen, a biopharmaceuticals maker—was making a now completed documentary about the Sox’s home stadium called “Last Comiskey.”
He posted a request for archival Comiskey videos on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and was shocked and delighted to receive a response from Faust, the organist at Comiskey for more than 40 years.
“Nancy Faust is a legend to Sox fans,” Flesch said. “So, I was so elated when she reached out; it was a bonus to find out she was so nice.”
A native of Edgebrook, Illinois, Faust went to North Park because “music was the only thing I knew, and North Park was the place for music.” But she soon noticed that her fellow students could read music and knew all the classics when she had only a natural ear. Eventually, someone pulled Faust aside and told her that her ability to play any song by ear wasn’t enough to continue as a music major. Taking his advice, she switched to elementary education. Spoiler alert: she never taught.
Instead, she continued to pursue her true love by forming a musical trio, performing at parties and events. Ironically, it was her knack for playing just about any song by ear that grabbed the attention of the Sox general manager—who was attending one of her gigs—that sealed her fate. He gave her his card, and she followed up. The rest is history.
It was a match made in baseball heaven, with flash-fingered Faust able to react instantly—whether it was the moon coming up over the scoreboard or a black cat running onto the field—and pound out the appropriate tune. Perhaps her biggest claim to fame is popularizing “Na Na Na Na Hey-ey Goodbye” when an opposing player strikes out.
“I had a dream job, and they took good care of me,” Faust said of the Sox.
So, when she saw Flesch’s post about the documentary, she was eager to help, putting him in touch with many former players and managers, including Jack McDowell and Ozzie Guillen. Thanks to the boredom of COVID-19, plenty of people were happy to unspool their memories during Zoom interviews.
Flesch taught himself video editing and, with the help of his brother, Mike, spliced together a series of videos that premiered on YouTube in March 2023. The series received local media coverage, and Faust and Flesch attended its premiere, including a game at the Sox’s current home, Guaranteed Rate Field.
Now, Flesch is hard at work on a series about the old Chicago Stadium, the legendary home of the championship Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, for release sometime next year. Faust, incidentally, also played the organ there.
Thanks to their many connections, including North Park, Faust and Flesch now consider themselves good friends. Flesch’s family has visited Faust and her husband at their home in Mundelein, Illinois, where Faust raises donkeys. Incidentally, the hobby started when Faust stepped in to adopt a donkey that, shockingly, went unclaimed at a White Sox giveaway.
“That’s what I love about North Park; you meet alumni everywhere,” Flesch said.
“I tell so many people how North Park was the perfect school for me. I got to do so many different things, from playing baseball to being sports editor for the newspaper, where I got to interview [then Seattle Seahawks Coach] Mike Holmgren a week before they played in the Super Bowl. North Park was just a very well-rounded experience for me.”
Oh, and in case you’re wondering who covered for the inimitable Faust on her sick days? Pretty much no one; over the course of her career, which ended in 2010, she only missed six home games following the birth of her son, Eric.