No quit in them: Saluting the ultra-veteran coaches, with 50-plus years in high school football

In the summer of 1975, the White Sox still had an artificial turf infield at Comiskey Park, Walter Payton warmed up for his rookie season with the Bears by playing in the College All-Star Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And Bill Kleckner was in Jacksonville, Fla. trying out for the World Football League.

Kleckner had just finished his college career at Illinois and needed a job, football or otherwise. He got a call from Downers Grove North High School, which was seeking a summer driver ed instructor.

The WFL didn't work out, so Kleckner said yes, and he's never left. He retired as a teacher in 2009, but still subs at the school. In fact, he was back teaching driver ed just this week. Of course, he still coaches linebackers for DGN's successful football team.

“If there's a guy that's more DGN, I don't know who it is,” Trojans head coach Joe Horeni said. “He lives and breathes DGN football. He has more energy than any 72-year-old guy should have.”

This is a tribute to high school football's ultra-veterans. Kleckner has spent 52 years coaching at Downers North. Antioch's Del Pechauer was honored at a recent game for 50 years of coaching at one school.

There's probably no one who can match the longevity of Stevenson's Tom Baumann, who was the first head football coach when the school opened in 1965 and is still helping this season. There were a few years along the way when he slid over and coached at Libertyville.

Antioch actually has a second assistant with 50 years in high school coaching — Jim Rejc. He was head coach at Carmel from 1981-85, then defensive coordinator of the Corsairs' 2003 state championship team.

“When you're in the intense games, the old guys, they're calm as can be,” Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. “Crowd's going nuts, it's a key moment in the game, you look at them and they're calm and collected. That's reassuring.”

One other ultra-veteran worth mentioning is Dave Proffitt, who is coaching defensive line at Prairie Ridge. The former Lake Zurich and Marian Central head coach took his first high school job in 1969 at Gordon Tech.

Kleckner and Pechauer had similar reasons for staying in the same place for so long. They're enjoying the experience, so why leave?

Pechauer grew up in Bradley, near Kankakee. When he finished college, teaching vacancies were scarce. His first interview at Antioch was unsuccessful, so he took a few more college classes and was hired a year later.

“I like the community, like the kids, like the coaches I work with,” said Pechauer, who was head coach at Antioch from 1988-2006. “I still enjoy doing this. It's still fun to be competitive.”

Downers Grove North hasn't had much coaching turnover — except for the one year in 1986 when Kleckner served as interim head coach after Dick Carstens, whose name is on the field, had to step aside. Kleckner said he told the athletic director he didn't want to continue in the head job, but didn’t stop coaching. He was there when DGN grad John Wander led the squad to a state title in 2004.

“To be perfectly honest, I don't know if there's a better coach in the state of Illinois than Bill Kleckner,” Horeni said. “He's more zeroed in on his position group than virtually anyone I've ever seen. He's an elite football coach for sure.”

Baumann had to step away from the field in recent weeks, but has stayed involved with Stevenson football.

“He was with us all summer and the first game or two,” Patriots coach Brent Becker said. “He watches game film, he still sends notes to our players. We do some Zoom meetings with our players and he'll get on those. He's just unable to travel and come to practice.”

Coaching often boils down to trial and error while learning how to handle different situations. Whether it's facing a certain defensive scheme or finding a way to motivate players, there's usually benefit to having been through it before.

That's what makes these veteran coaches so valuable. They've seen just about everything over the years and probably already problem-solved whatever obstacle is about to strike.

“The thing about Tom, he is so passionate about the game and has given so much to the game,” Becker said. “It's just incredible what he's experienced. I think all of us would hope to be as sharp as he is as we get older.”

The only downside in Kleckner's mind is this run will have to end eventually. His preference is not anytime soon.

“Sometimes it scares me to think about, this ain't going on forever,” he said. “Hopefully it's by my decision and not by health or anything like that. That could be around the corner and I know it.”

Both Kleckner and Pechauer brought up the same topic when asked what keeps them coming back — the kids.

“I still enjoy being around the youth of today,” Kleckner said. “I tell people, once you start complaining about, 'Oh, kids today, they don't do this, they don't do that.' Then it's time to get out. I just realized, kids are kids, and they're adapting to the environment they're being brought up in.”

The kids are all right, and so are the sideline seniors.