I remember watching NFL and College football games on television at a very young age, and sometimes we would even make the trek up to Champaign-Urbana to watch the Illini play at memorial stadium. On Friday nights, everyone was at the high school watching the Bulldogs play, and I was right along with them. Or, rather, I would be behind the stands throwing around a nerf ball with all my friends.
As I grew older I played some city league sports - soccer and baseball mostly - but it never gave me the joy I had hoped for. I begged my mom for years to let me play football, even if it was just flag. But she wouldn't let me.
Finally, in the 6th grade. She relented and allowed me to try playing for the local JFL team, the Jaguars. The Jaguars were made up of kids from the towns of Staunton, Bunker Hill, Livingston, and Mt. Olive. I made some incredible lifelong friendships through this program with kids from other towns. These relationships have lasted with me throughout my life. As a part of this team learned football fundamentals, and by my 8th grade season I was starting every game for the Jaguars.
After that fall, I couldn't help but look forward to what I had dreamed about for many years. Playing under those Friday Night Lights. My Freshman year I thought that I wanted to change positions, but that mistake was quickly corrected by my mentor and offensive coach, OCP (Old Coach Parmentier). OCP’s real name is Bill Parmentier, but I would never in my life call this man anything but Coach, OCP, or Sir. He was as old school as you can imagine, but he instilled in me morals and lessons that I will never forget. He also taught me a thing or two about football. My first two years I watched incredibly talented players take the Bulldogs deep into the IHSA playoffs and once again I had dreams and aspirations of making it to that level. My junior year I worked all summer and fought to gain a starting position on the offensive line, and I held that position every game (barring injuries) over the next two years.
Unfortunately, we did not make the playoffs my senior year. We lost in the final game of the season to our biggest rivals, Gillespie.
I spent that entire Summer working harder than I ever had in my entire life. I gained 30 lbs trying to bulk up. I had done decently my junior year, but I knew that I would need to get bigger and stronger if I wanted to be better. I ended up becoming a two-way starter and was named a captain.
That was when I really became much closer with my head coach, Mike Parmentier. We developed a much closer bond during my senior year. There were several hardships that I faced that year including my grandmother dying, and receiving my third concussion. The entire team, and my coach’s brother- Joe Parmentier - brought his team from East Alton Wood River, too.
This when I knew football really was family.
That season was up and down for us, we ended up 5-4… but that was enough not squeak into the playoffs with the last spot.
As the lowest seeded team, we faced off against the #1 Fairfield Mules, and won, 7-0. Then we moved on and beat Carlyle in the second round. We faced our arch rival, Gillespie, in the quarterfinals. They had just beaten us a few weeks earlier on Senior Night, but we were prepared. We came out rolling and beat them on their home field. We moved on to the semifinals, the furthest we had ever been in school history, to face Auburn. It was a hard fought battle, that came down to a broken play in the last minute of the game… and we won.
The fans rushed the field, everybody hugged someone no matter who you were or how sweaty you were. The type of things you see in movies. I still don't believe I was there. But, 10,000 other people were. An IHSA attendance record for small schools.
Finally, we headed to DeKalb for the state title game. We were beaten and broken, we were tired, the power had been cut off at our hotel the night before. Beyond excuses, we did not play well and played a much better team than us in Sterling Newman Catholic. And while we lost, we were still the second best team in the state of Illinois that year. And I will take pride in that until the day I die.
I ended up going to Illinois College after graduation and decided that this school, and this program were the ones for me. I played football for the Blueboys for about half a season before getting a concussion, my fourth documented concussion in four years. I spoke to two separate neurologists and they both suggested I retire from the game I've known and loved my whole life. Reluctantly, I did just that.
However, I was offered to help coach my new team, my new family here in Jacksonville. I immediately hopped on that opportunity and became the signal caller for our defense. Being on the other side of things helped me to understand the game in a different way than I had before. I learned much more about the Xs and O's of the game.
Towards the end of the season, I got a job at the local radio station in Jacksonville. Radio is what I want to do with my career, and so this was an amazing opportunity to improve on my skills. The only issue is that, my job at the radio station requires me to work every Saturday. If you know anything about college football, you know that doesn't work well with being a coach as well. So, again reluctantly, I had to decide to step away from the team in order to improve myself and my career. It sucks. It hurts. And I miss being out there, even if it's not in a helmet and shoulder pads. I know that it is for the best, though.
I think I best summed up my feelings in this Instagram post:
