The founding father of the Salem Sports Hall of Fame in 1985, John Cavaletto spent 20 of his 38 years in education at Salem Community High School where he served as Athletic Director, Assistant Principal, Principal and varsity boys’ basketball coach.

Cavaletto graduated from Sesser High School and earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in education at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Cavaletto completed his education at Eastern Illinois University where he received his Administrative Endorsement.

Cavaletto began his education and coaching career at Mulberry Grove High School where he taught and coached baseball and boys’ basketball from 1966-68. Cavaletto moved to Mater Dei High School in Breese and spent nine seasons as the Knights basketball coach. During that nine-year run Cavaletto’s teams compiled a 143-106 record, which included four regional championships and a fourth place finish at the 1974 Class AA state tournament.

Cavaletto arrived in Salem for the 1981-82 school year where he began a 12-year stint as the school’s Athletic Director. Besides founding the Salem Sports Hall of Fame, Cavaletto also constructed the Salem Boys Basketball Shoot-out, which attracted some of the top teams in the state to B.E. Gum gymnasium.

Already carrying a heavy workload as Athletic Director and Assistant Principal at the time, Cavaletto returned to coaching as the Wildcats varsity basketball coach from 1990-92 and relinquished his role as Athletic Director a year later to concenrate full-time on administrative duties. Cavaletto retired as SCHS Principal after the 2000-01 school year and was inducted into the Illinois Athletic Directors Hall of Fame in 2002.

After retirement from education Cavaletto sought a second career in politics. While Cavaletto lost the election to the Illinois House of Representatives in 2002 and again in 2006, the third time proved to be the charm when he won election in 2008. He won re-election terms in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. Cavalleto announced he would not seek re-election when his fifth term concluded in 2018.

During his time with the Illinois House of Representatives Cavaletto has served on the Appropriations-Public Safety Committee, the Counties and Townships Committee, the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, the Transportation Committee. Agriculture and Conservation Committee and Cities and Villages Committee. He has served as the Minority Spokesperson for the newly created Special Needs Service Committee and the Small Business Empowerment and Workforce Development Committee.