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92_HR0908
LRB9216864RHrh
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Amid a quarter-century-plus of decision-making,
3 Al Way has apparently sent in his final play as head football
4 coach at Harrisburg High School; and
5 WHEREAS, Following 21 highly-successful seasons, Al Way
6 has retired as Harrisburg High School's winningest football
7 coach in school history; and
8 WHEREAS, The Charleston native and Eastern Illinois
9 University graduate began his football coaching career in
10 1972 at Eldorado High School, where he served for three years
11 as an assistant under the late Al "Boz" Adams; upon Mr.
12 Adams' retirement, Coach Way was named to direct the Eagles'
13 program in 1975, where the Eagles went 12-7 in two seasons;
14 in addition to coaching football, Coach Way, also coached
15 baseball from 1973 to 1976; and
16 WHEREAS, Coach Way was hired at Harrisburg High School in
17 1977 and served as an assistant under then-head coach Ken
18 Joggerst for four seasons; in early 1981, less than two
19 months following Harrisburg's second-place finish in the 1980
20 Class 3A finals, Al Way took over the controls as Head Coach;
21 and
22 WHEREAS, Continuing to implement the straight-T,
23 full-house backfield ground game that became a staple
24 throughout the 1980s, Coach Way's theory of ball-control and
25 time-consuming drives - a hand-me-down from former Coach
26 Adams - ruled over teams which used diversified offenses; the
27 success of what was considered an antiquated form of football
28 was stellar, as was the string of success against larger
29 schools in the old South Seven Conference days; and
30 WHEREAS, Without an organized system of football at the
31 grade school levels, the Harrisburg High School program
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1 developed players from the ground-up as freshmen and still
2 reigned supreme over opponents that seemingly had more
3 hands-on experience; and
4 WHEREAS, If not for a bizarre ending to a 1984 loss at
5 Mount Vernon and a teacher's strike in 1992, Coach Way's
6 career at Harrisburg High School would have likely started
7 with 14 consecutive playoff appearances; as much as the
8 Harrisburg program thrived, the Bulldogs several times found
9 themselves snake-bit when the playoffs rolled around; twice
10 the Bulldogs, normally a Class 3A playoff entrant, were
11 "bumped up" a division; still, the Bulldogs made two
12 semifinal appearances in Class 4A (1983, 1991), another in
13 Class 3A, and the 1997 team advanced to the 3A title game
14 before losing to Maple Park Kaneland; and
15 WHEREAS, Despite all the Bulldogs' success under Coach
16 Way, Harrisburg had lost at least one regular-season game in
17 the first 19 years of Coach Way's tenure; that all changed
18 in the fall of 2000, when Coach Way's career came full-circle
19 with a perfect season; the 14-0 championship season finally
20 arrived in the Bulldogs' 16th playoff appearance under Coach
21 Way; blessed with what can only be described as a dedicated
22 assemblage of young men, the Bulldogs steamrolled their
23 opposition en route to the Class 3A championship in
24 Champaign; the Bulldogs capped the season with a 41-13
25 victory over Oregon; and
26 WHEREAS, Coach Way's varsity success was not limited to
27 just football; he also took over the Harrisburg High School
28 softball program in 1995, and behind the fireballing efforts
29 of his daughter Chrissy, the Lady Bulldogs took home third
30 place in the 1996 Class A State finals; coupled with a 30-1
31 record the year before, Coach Way's record in two seasons as
32 Lady Bulldogs coach was 60-6, a .909 winning percentage; and
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1 WHEREAS, Coach Way, who in 1999 was named to the
2 Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of
3 Fame, ranked seventh among active coaches in victories with a
4 record of 178-71, including a 27-15 log in the post-season;
5 and
6 WHEREAS, Coach Way will continue to serve as assistant
7 wrestling coach, as well as keeping his positions in physical
8 and driver's education; and
9 WHEREAS, Coach Al Way is the devoted husband of Michelle
10 and the proud father of Scott and Chrissy; therefore, be it
11 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
12 NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
13 we congratulate Coach Al Way on his retirement as football
14 coach after a stellar coaching career at Harrisburg High
15 School, and we wish him well in all of his future endeavors;
16 and be it further
17 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
18 presented to Coach Al Way as an expression of our esteem.