Kerkman explains why this was the right time to retire
There comes a time for all good things to end, and that time is now for legendary West Aurora boys basketball coach Gordon "Gordie" Kerkman, who announced his retirement from coaching on Thursday.
He mulled it over this past season, during which Kerkman won his 800th game on Feb. 20 and finished his 39-year head coaching career with a record of 805-313 to rank fifth all-time in victories in Illinois.
"I was getting a little tired," he said Friday. "It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it, but there were certain aspects to coaching that I didn't enjoy. I've got a small courier business and a lot of times I'd get home at 1:30, 2 o'clock (p.m.) from deliveries. Once I got to school I was OK, but it was just that getting up and going to practice that was bugging me."
The past several offseasons typically included speculation on when Kerkman, now 78 years old, would hang up the whistle. Typically his teams responded with another strong season and no answer as to when Kerkman would retire. This past season West Aurora won the last of Kerkman's 13 sectional titles since he succeeded his mentor, John McDougall, starting in 1976-77. The Blackhawks have won four straight regionals and 24 total in Kerkman's tenure. The highlight of six final four finishes was the 2000 Class AA state title - and the coach noted other highlights included nail-biting wins, and losses, against rival East Aurora.
All told, as assistant or head man Kerkman coached 55 years. West Aurora athletic director Jason Buckley posted the job for Kerkman's successor on Friday.
"I was very fortunate having a lot of good players over the years," the coach said. "I think that's probably contributed more to the success than anything else, I've had good players, had great coaches - guys on the sophomore teams, the freshmen. I've had a lot of real good coaches."
A 1997 inductee into the Coe College Athletic Hall of Fame, from which the native Iowan graduated in 1960, and a 1990 inductee into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, Kerkman taught social studies and physical education at West Aurora. Out of Iowa's DeWitt High School, where he coached football, basketball and baseball, he started at West Aurora in 1962.
He noted he enjoyed this past season "very much," but the early morning and afternoon hours he worked as owner of Secor Industrial Mail Service made juggling both responsibilities difficult.
"It was sort of a hard decision," he said. "I think I'd enjoy coaching another year. All the things were in place. But at my age it was just getting a little tougher. Not a lot, but a little."
Asked why not retire from Secor, he said: "I make money with that. Basketball, I don't make any money with that."
Kerkman said he'll miss not only the coaching aspect but also seeing his friends in the coaching ranks as often. That will be offset by newfound opportunities to watch former players at the college level and travel his wife, Marilyn, to see son Randy in Denver and daughter Julie in Oregon. Another daughter, Amy, lives in Plainfield.
Gordie Kerkman appears to have left the shelves fully stocked for his successor. Along with returnees such as freshman Camron Donatlan from a 22-9 varsity team this season, West Aurora's sophomore team went unbeaten. Kerkman anticipates a season of adjustment, followed by success.
"I think they're going to be all right, in fact I think it'll be a very fun group to coach because they really get after it and they enjoy the game. I think when those present sophomores are seniors they will be pretty tough," he said.
It's hoped Kerkman will be in the stands watching the continuation of what he created as one of Illinois' greatest coaches.
"I think I will. A lot of it depends on if my wife says, no, you're not going to," he said, jokingly.