Meadows coach's dad missed 3 games in son's 26-year career

In his 26 years of coaching high school football, Doug Millsaps' sports-loving father missed only three of his son's games.

The 75-year-old William Millsaps and his wife were in the stands behind their son Friday night as he coached the Rolling Meadows High School Mustangs' homecoming game against the Wheeling Wildcats.

Late in the second quarter, William Millsaps collapsed from a heart attack. Those around him attempted CPR as his son rushed to the stands. An ambulance took William to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, his son trailing in his own car, but William didn't survive.

"We did everything together. He meant an awful lot to me," Doug Millsaps said Saturday. "I feel really blessed to be the son of William Millsaps."

William Millsaps is survived by his wife, four sons and one daughter. Working as an engineer for Chrysler, he raised his family in Rockford and - a former high school football player himself - taught his children the value of sports.

Doug Millsaps has been the Rolling Meadows High School football coach for more than a decade. In that time, his father only missed two games, and he only missed one of the scores of games Doug coached in Rockford before that.

"My older brother Bill had said, 'He died exactly where he wanted to be, watching your football game,'" Doug Millsaps said.

The Rolling Meadows Mustangs won Friday's game 36-7, making them playoff eligible for the seventh consecutive season. The win broke the team's five-year losing streak for homecoming.

Millsaps said the team and community have been generous with phone calls, texts and notes of condolences during the school's homecoming weekend.

"Doug is a highly regarded member of our school community. He is always one of the first to reach out to those in need of support," Rolling Meadows High School Principal Charles Johns said. "So it is no surprise there is an outpouring of concern for Doug, his mother and his entire family. All of our thoughts and prayers are on his behalf."

Visitation for William Millsaps will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and from 10:30 to 11 a.m. Wednesday at Honquest Funeral Home at 4311 North Mulford Road, Loves Park. Funeral services will begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Sunset Memorial Gardens, 8800 N. Alpine Road, Loves Park.