Star-studded run of Bill Dortch as LHS Boys Cross Country/Track Coach

• The following is part of an ongoing series of articles in celebration of Libertyville High School's 100th anniversary.

Bill Dortch is a 1963 Mundelein High School graduate and a long time Libertyville High School cross-country and track coach. Although he graduated from Mundelein, he spent his first two years at LHS. When Mundelein became a new school for the 1961-62 school year and split from LHS, Dortch went with his fellow Mundelein residents to the new school.

"The athletes thought it was a shame to break up the programs we had," Dortch said. "We felt our LHS teams would have been powerhouses had we stayed together."

Track was Dortch's top sport as he was a four-year varsity letterman in the sprints. He was a scoring member of the 1960 LHS Track Conference Champions his freshman year. When he was a senior at Mundelein High School, Dortch won the conference title in the 100 and long jump. He played four years of football and was active in music. He was in the choir all four years and qualified for the All-State band playing the tuba.

Dortch went to college at Eastern Illinois University. At EIU he was a four-year letterman in track, qualifying for the nationals in the 200 in 1968. He graduated with an education degree.

Dortch started and ended his 31-year teaching career at Libertyville, beginning in the fall of 1968. Over the years, Dortch taught driver education, physical education, industrial tech classes and woodworking. He retired after the 2001 school year.

Dortch took over the Boys Cross Country program in his third year at LHS, the fall of 1970. He coached cross-country for 29 years. During this time his teams had a 217-32 record. They won 13 conference titles, 10 regional titles, 15 undefeated seasons, four of them in a row (1985-88). His runners earned 11 All-State finishes including two three-time All-Staters: 1993 grad Chris Brown and 1996 grad Andrew Willgress.

Dortch was an assistant track coach from 1970-80. He took over as the head boys track coach for the 1983 season, staying in that position for 11 years. His teams had a 110-16 record during these years, taking five conference titles and two sectional titles, and had five undefeated seasons. He also coached two years of football and wrestling early in his career.

In his retirement, Dortch began country western couples dancing. He has competed in the World Country Western Dance Championships several years along with his partner Judi Troemel, taking second in 2009. Along with his dancing, his other hobby is shooting the bow and arrow. He makes it back in the fall to be the starter for the Bill Dortch Libertyville High School Cross Country Invitational. Dortch was inducted into the Lake County High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.