ALTON - Former Alton head football coach and athletic director Jeff Alderman enjoyed a successful career as a head coach at various Illinois high schools, including Piasa Southwestern and Alton at the end of his career.
And on March 28, Alderman will be recognized for his success when he'll be inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in a ceremony set for the Stadium View Hilton hotel in Champaign-Urbana.
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"It's humbling, it really is," Alderman said in a recent interview when asked about the honor. "I'm grateful to all the kids I've coached, all the coaches, administrators, teachers, just all the people I've worked with over the years. It's a chance to reflect back on all those great memories, and all the people over the years."
Alderman began his coaching career at Springfield Griffin Catholic, an all-boys school since merged with all-girls Sacred Heart, in 1980, then coached at East Peoria from 1981-1988, at Jacksonville Routt Catholic from 1989-1991, the University of Evansville in Evansville, Ind. from 1991-1994, returned to Illinois to coach at Southwestern from 1994-1999, then at Dunlap from 1999-2010, finishing up with the Redbirds from 2012-2015, retiring as athletic director this past spring.
"I think we still have some china that we still haven't unpacked yet," Alderman said with a laugh. "And my family always told me that we need to put our furniture on wheels," Alderman also said with a very hearty laugh.
But wherever he's coached, Alderman has played an important role into helping make his teams competitive, and it's something that he's very proud of. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment as a coach is how he helped Dunlap transition from a small rural school into a large suburban Peoria area school, and helping the Eagles become one of the best teams in Peoria.
"We helped make Dunlap in a transition from a small, rural school into a suburban area of Peoria," Alderman said. "As we grew, we transitioned into a much tougher conference (the Mid-Illini Conference), and we made the playoffs seven of my 10 years there."
While he was at Southwestern, he coached the Piasa Birds to three straight South Central Conference championships, and while at Alton helped make the Redbirds into a very competitive team in the Southwestern Conference, a league that Alderman considers one of the best in the entire state.
"I'll put the Southwestern Conference up against anyone in the state, including Chicago," Alderman said. "It's that good a conference in the state."
Alderman officially received notice of the election to the Hall of Fame on Dec. 14, with the official announcement coming via press release shortly after Christmas.
"It's really humbling, and kind of overwhelming," Alderman said when he was informed of the honor, "especially with the kind of people I've worked with. so it's really overwhelming."
And there's some great names who are currently in the Hall of Fame, including some of the great coaches in area football history, such as Bob Shannon, Lloyd Dunne, Stan Wojcik, Vergil Fletcher, Jim, Bob and Glenn Monken, Antwyne Golliday, Dennis Littiken, Ric Johns, Tim Dougherty, Glenn Schott, Bruce Arnold, Fred von der Linden, Charlie Raich, and George Martz, among others. It's like a who's who of area coaches.
"There's a lot, and it's humbling when you look at that list and see who's in there," Alderman said. "It's a great honor."
Alderman will be inducted along with 13 other coaches in the noontime ceremony in March, but there will be only one speech given.
"And I hope it's not me, for the sake of the people attending," Alderman said with another hearty laugh.
Nevertheless, whoever is chosen to give the speech will probably say all the things the other honorees would say.
"I think we'd all say the same thing," Alderman said, "in that we'd thank our families, the kids we coached, and our staffs for everything. I'm excited about it. It'll be here before we know it."
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