Hero Spotlight: Bartek Jozwiak

A simple Covid-era resolution to get back into the shape of his youth set a busy Chicago-area dad and tennis coach on a path to complete the 2026 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. 

Growing up in Warsaw, Poland, Bartek Jozwiak traveled around the world, competing in tennis tournaments and moving up the world and national junior rankings. He ultimately reached national number 11 in the under-18 category and became the Polish co-champion in U18 doubles play. He also won two doubles International Tennis Federation tournaments and achieved a career world ranking of 560 among juniors.   

A scholarship to DePaul University brought him to Chicago in 2008 where he was a top seeded doubles player and named to the Big East All-Academic Team three times. 

It was at DePaul where Jozwiak would meet his future wife, Katarina Milinkovic, also a standout on the Blue Demon tennis squad. 

The couple eventually wed and moved to the northern suburbs of Chicago to start a family. Jozwiak has built a successful career as a tennis pro at LifeSport Athletic Club in Libertyville, Ill., developing young juniors into national level players. 

In addition to tennis, Jozwiak always loved running, especially as a means of conditioning.  

As a student in Chicago, he ran on his own and participated in a few organized events around the city.  

“I ran a 10K really fast, I think it was like 42 minutes,” Jozwiak said. “I was in pretty good shape, so I was moving.” 

But later, the demands of fatherhood and career left less and less time for running. Knee and foot pain also posed barriers.  

“Any sort of sprinting on the court, any sort of run would give me some weird sensations around the knee,” Jozwiak said.  

Finally, with the Covid pandemic in full swing, Jozwiak had a moment of clarity about his fitness. 

“I'm looking myself in the mirror, I'm like, ‘this isn't looking good,’” Jozwiak said.  

“So, one day, I decided to put on my shoes and go for a run.” 

At first, he overcorrected, running four times a week. Taking on too many miles too fast on top of working on the tennis court for 50 to 60 hours a week only aggravated old injuries.  

“I couldn't walk some mornings,” he said. “Throughout the winter, I had a hard time getting up in the morning and being able to walk down the stairs.” 

Things changed when Jozwiak was fitted for custom inserts and received formal instruction about his mechanics from a podiatrist. He also incorporated biking into his fitness routine. After finding the sweet spot in his training regimen, two runs a week, the weight began to fall away. And with it, so did the pain.  

“I did not have any knee pain in a year. My back pain went away,” he said. “Running just helped me get very healthy.” 

He lost 20 pounds in a year. And along with his youthful stride, his passion for running returned as well.  

“I was like, oh my gosh, this is great. And now I'm just totally hooked on running. I love it,” Jozwiak said. “And you know what? Nothing better than setting myself some goal.” 

Since his days as a college athlete at DePaul, Jozwiak had mused about running the Chicago Marathon, though it seemed more of a remote fantasy than a realistic goal at the time. His incremental progress since returning to running has rekindled that dream, and he can see the finish line come into clearer view with every mile.   

By the time he decided to set that goal, his wife Katarina, a wealth advisor, had been actively involved with Mercy Home for about 10 years and told her husband about the Mercy Home Heroes program. He admired the work that the organization did to change the lives of young people in crisis. He thought “there can be no better cause than to contribute to that.”  

Running for a charity already near and dear to the family seemed like the perfect opportunity and just the motivation he would need to push past discomfort and complete his first marathon.  

"There's a goal, there is a deadline. There are things to do, money to be raised for a great cause,” he said. “Just everything came together. 

In addition to training, Jozwiak has also enthusiastically embraced his fundraising goals. He reached out to his tennis community and organized a charity tennis event at LifeSport benefit the Home. Leveraging some of the sales skills he developed as a finance and marketing major at DePaul, his event more than doubled its original fundraising goal. Jozwiak has already generated more than $4,000 toward his overall marathon fundraising efforts.  

He hopes the tennis fundraiser becomes an annual tradition. 

“I'm looking to grow not only as a runner,” he said. “But I'm looking to grow the charity event. I am pretty ambitious and I'm not stopping at this. So, it's just the beginning and what a fun, exciting way to do this.” 

While Jozwiak expects to run the Chicago Marathon for Mercy Home again, he said that this year’s race will initiate a new era of athletic goal setting.  

“I'm not going to stop on a marathon,” Jozwiak said.  

He has already made plans for a half Iron Man next June and has his sights set on a full Iron Man in Wisconsin after that.  

"Mercy Home and the Chicago Marathon sparked my passion for moving and running and I'm going to add some cycling and swimming to it.” 

But whatever the future holds, his eyes are fixed firmly on October. Jozwiak looks forward to passing the Mercy Mile and crossing the finish line in view of his cheering family.  

"It's going to be a big emotional moment for me just to run the Chicago Marathon, to do it for Mercy Home and to represent such a wonderful organization,” Jozwiak said. “And to run for this cause and the road that it took ... it makes it so much more special.”  

The Heroes welcome at the DePaul Center following the finish will also feel a bit like a homecoming.  

“I haven't been there since my graduation and now, I'm going to go back there after all these years,” he said. “It's going to be very nostalgic.” 

Jozwiak’s determination to push himself is a model for others. As a coach and mentor, Jozwiak spends his days helping young people believe in themselves and to be their best. Now, as a father of two young children, he hopes his marathon effort will have a similar impact at home. 

“I hope that this inspires them,” he said. “I'm hoping that as they see me move more, like that, that is going to inspire to stay healthy, to run, to move.”