Bill Jenkins, a seven-time letter winner who played four years of baseball, three years of basketball, and became a hall of fame coach, graduated from Knox in 1955.
Bill helped lead the Knox baseball team to the 1954 conference championship his junior year and was named second-team all conference as a catcher. Bill was a co-captain his senior season and played a vital role in the baseball team’s run to the conference finals in 1955.
Mondo Lopez ’58, who was inducted into the Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994, said of Bill, “On a personal note, being three years younger and when I was in elementary school, I had the good fortune of knowing and watching Bill play sports at Kewanee High School. His example of sportsmanship and determination had an influence on me through my Kewanee High School and Knox days.”
The start of Bill’s 54-year coaching career began in 1954 while he was a senior at Knox. He served as the assistant football coach at Lombard Junior High School in Galesburg and the freshman-sophomore basketball coach at Corpus Christi High School in Galesburg.
After college, Bill started his teaching and coaching career at Manlius High School. He served as the head varsity boys basketball coach from 1956 to 1964, compiling a record of 132-69, while winning six holiday tournaments, two conference titles, and two district titles. Bill also coached the baseball team to a district championship and was an assistant football coach at Manlius.
Bill continued his teaching and coaching career at Polo High School, where he coached various sports until 2009. His varsity boys basketball teams had a record of 165 wins and 93 losses with two conference championships and six holiday tournament titles between 1965 and 1976. During that time, Bill also coached the freshman-sophomore boys basketball teams, and, in total, he coached more than 900 basketball games.
In addition, Bill served as the varsity and freshman-sophomore football coach at Polo from 1965 to 2009. His freshman-sophomore teams from 1971 to 1990 won 121 games while losing only 49 with three ties. He had seven undefeated teams and eight conference championships. Bill also served as the golf coach from 1966 to 1981 and finished with a dual meet record of 197-56-3.
Bill was inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2004, he was inducted into the Illinois High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, becoming the only Knox alumnus to be inducted into both. Bill, in September of 2011, was also inducted into the Kewanee High School Sports Hall of Fame. His son, Tim Jenkins, accepted the honor at the ceremony.
