Pechauer, Gordy still going strong at Antioch

There's not a single teacher left. Not one.

Or a single administrator.

Or a support staffer, custodian or bus driver.

Del Pechauer and Mike Gordy have outlasted them all, everyone at Antioch High School.

The two good friends were hired as teachers at Antioch in 1975, fresh out of college. Pechauer was in the physical education and driver's ed departments, and Gordy in English and journalism. They were each paid a salary of $8,700.

Eight principals have come and gone at Antioch since they began their careers, not to mention four different athletic directors. All of their teaching friends … long gone.

Literally no one who was at the school on the day they started in 1975 is there today.

"We are it," Gordy said with a laugh. "There's no one else left. I remember me and Del talking back when we started about how long we thought we'd be here. I don't think we ever thought we'd be staring 40 years in the face."

Pechauer and Gordy, both now 62, were also asked to be coaches when they were fresh-faced rookies. Being athletes themselves in school, they eagerly obliged. Between them, they've coached track (Pechauer) and softball (Gordy), and the biggie, football.

Pechauer and Gordy retired from teaching in 2010, but they're both still going strong with the football team. They never stopped with that.

This season marks their 40th consecutive season as coaches within the program.

As far as out-lasting people, Pechauer and Gordy have out-lasted most of their coaching peers, too. No other football coach in Lake County has logged more consecutive years of coaching, with the exception of Tom Baumann at Stevenson.

In fact, few coaches in the state of Illinois can boast of so many years of service, which is part of the reason Pechauer, who was Antioch's head football coach from 1987 to 2006, got inducted into the Illinois Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame last spring.

Pechauer and Gordy, who have helped Antioch get off to a 4-0 start this season, have coached for so long that they believe there are at least 25 instances of them coaching fathers, and then the sons of those fathers. They think that they could be close to getting grandsons soon.

"There are a couple of families where I think that could happen. Maybe that would be the time to retire," Pechauer laughed. "If we start getting grandsons … Holy cow!"

The thing is, Pechauer, now Antioch's linemen coach, and Gordy, the team's linebackers coach, don't have any plans to retire. They don't want to. They love coaching football. Especially together.

"I've thought about whether I would have continued coaching all these years if Del hadn't been there … and I have my doubts," Gordy said. "I really enjoy coaching, but there's something about it always being the two of us.

"It's the fact that we've become so tight, so brotherly. I never had siblings growing up, and Del is the closest thing I have to a brother. It's a family with him. Our wives were best friends. I have a hard time imagining what all this coaching would have been like without him. It's made the experience so much more fun."

Pechauer and Gordy have had their share of success, too.

They've been a part of 16 playoff teams, including seven when Pechauer was the head coach.

"I remember every playoff team. Those were all special teams," said Pechauer, whose son Alex was on the 2008 playoff team. Son Taylor also played for him. "We also had some big wins that I'll never forget. There were two years, late 90s, where we beat Stevenson one year and then Libertyville the next. It was a struggle to beat those two teams and we did and that was really exciting for us.

"We also had some really good games against Warren in the early years. That was actually a big rivalry game. I remember playing at Warren on their homecoming on Saturday afternoons and the place was just packed."

There are even some unlikely teams that Pechauer remembers fondly.

"We had a 4-5 team and an 0-9 team that I really, really liked," Pechauer said. "They were just really good kids, and fun to be around. It wasn't always just about winning games, it was also about the relationships you had with kids.

"I think that's what keeps you in coaching. You get to know kids, watch them grow and improve. That's why we still do it.

"Plus, what else would we do? Mike and I go golfing every now and then. But we can't do that all the time. Being around the other coaches and the kids … it keeps us young."

It's not a one-sided relationship though. The Sequoits get something, too, from having Pechauer and Gordy around.

Current head coach Brian Glashagel says that his program benefits from having older, wiser and more experienced coaches on its staff.

"Most staffs have a dynamic and our staff has been together nine or 10 years now and we have a good mix," Glashagel said. "You want those young guys who will run around for you and who still love working out with the kids, but you also want the veterans, the older guys, because there's nothing they haven't seen or been through. They bring a lot of wisdom. I mean, Del has coached in 350 varsity football games. That's huge.

"I don't know if I'm going to be coaching that long. That's a long time."

It was a long time coming when Pechauer and Gordy ended their teaching relationship with Antioch in 2010.

"We walked out the door together," Gordy said.

The two envision doing the same once they finally call it quits with the football team. Not that that will be anytime soon.

"There are coaches out there who coach into their 70s," Pechauer said. "I could see that happening.

"A lot of guys hit the burnout point with coaching," Gordy said. "I'm not sure why, but we haven't. Maybe it's coming, but I don't think so. We've kind of been immune to it. We just really like it. We're having fun."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com

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