NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players: No. 13 - Tim Scharf, Boylan

The No. 13 player on our list was one of the area's biggest winners in both high school and college.

Tim Scharf was a power fullback and linebacker on Boylan teams in 1991 and 1992 that went 15-1 in the NIC-9 and 23-3 overall. The Titans shared the NIC-9 title in 1991 and won it outright in 1992 and advanced to the IHSA state semifinals both seasons.

Scharf was first team all-conference as linebacker both years and finished fifth in the conference in rushing as a senior with 887 yards and 18 touchdowns on 165 carries.

Despite the stellar career, Scharf had to have some good fortune to end up in the Big Ten. Ray Robey was an outstanding lineman for the Auburn Knights and Northwestern recruiters were impressed by Scharf while scouting Robey. The two headed to Evanston almost as a package deal.

It was great timing. Gary Barnett had taken over the Northwestern program in 1992. The Wildcats hadn't had a winning season since 1971. The futility continued in 1993 and 1994 as Northwestern went just 5-16-1.

Then the magic happened.

The 1995 Wildcats started the season with a massive upset of No. 9 ranked Notre Dame in South Bend to put themselves on the national radar. The win looked to be a fluke when it lost to Miami of Ohio the next week, 30-28. But the Wildcats rebounded by beating Air Force and Indiana and then knocking off Michigan, 19-13. Northwestern would go on to go 8-0 in the Big Ten, winning the first conference title since 1936 and qualifying for its first Rose Bowl since 1948.

The Wildcats would lose to USC in the Rose Bowl, but Northwestern showed the season was no fluke in 1996. The Wildcats would tie for first in the Big Ten with a 7-1 record and be invited to the Citrus Bowl. In Scharf's final two seasons, Northwestern was 19-5. It was the best back-to-back campaigns since 1903-1904 Wildcats went 18-3. Northwestern wouldn't win 19 games over two seasons again until 2017-2018.

Scharf finished his Northwestern career with 150 tackles over four years, 10 of those being for loss. Scharf was invited to the NFL combine where he performed well. He was picked in the sixth round by the New York Jets in 1997. He didn't make that roster but was signed to the practice squad of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 1998, he played a season in NFL Europe with the Scottish Claymores before giving up the NFL dream for good.

Scharf went back to school to get a masters degree in predictive analytics from DePaul University. Today, Scharf is a senior machine learning engineer for Second Spectrum Inc. in Los Angeles. 

No. 13 - Tim Scharf, Boylan
Year	Level	School	Accomplishments	Points
1991	High School	Boylan	First Team All-Conference	2
			Playoffs	1
			Conference Champion	1
			Final Four	1
1992	High School	Boylan	First Team All-Conference	2
			Conference Defensive MVP	1
			Playoffs	1
			Conference Champion	1
			Final Four	1
1993	College	Northwestern	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
1994	College	Northwestern	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
1995	College	Northwestern	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
			Bowl Game	1
1996	College	Northwestern	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
			Bowl Team	1
1997	NFL	Jets/Steelers	Sixth Round Pick/Taxi Squad	5
1998	NFL	Claymores	Played in NFL Europe	2
Total				40

NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players