a native of roselle, illinois, sunderlage attended elgin high school from 1943–44 to 1946–47. he was a guard who led his team to a big 8 conference championship while setting the elgin high school scoring record of 359 points during the 1946-47 season. following his senior season, sunderlage was selected to play in a north-south all star game where he would be the high scorer for the north. in two varsity seasons, sunderlage's elgin maroons teams would win 35 games while only losing 6 (win pct=85.3%).