This story first appeared in The DePaulia.

DOWNTOWN — Chicago’s fall sports season might be most strongly associated with the echoes of shoulder pads slamming and bats connecting with postseason baseballs. But at Oak Street Beach on the morning of Sept. 27, the traditional sounds of American pastimes were swapped with locals splashing in the 67-degree water of Lake Michigan to play a friendly game of water polo under the rising sun.

If you hit the Lakefront Trail underneath the skyline on Saturday mornings this summer, you likely found coach Chris Mulcrone refereeing and providing guidance to his community of dedicated water polo players.

Mulcrone runs the Hickory Water Polo Club, a northwest Indiana and Chicagoland-based organization he started alongside his niece, Tammy Travers, in 20

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