Tuesday, June 17, 2008 11:13 PM CDT
Marks left his mark on Arcola
By MIKE MONAHAN, Staff Writer
mmonahan@jg-tc.com
ARCOLA — When word of the death of former Arcola football coach and teacher Joe Marks spread plenty of people whose lives he touched had stories.
Marks was killed Tuesday from injuries he suffered in a two-vehicle accident just a half mile from his house.
“The first thing that came to my mind when it sunk in was that he was a guy that was an educator to the fullest extent of the definition,” said Casey Conlin, a former first team all-Little Okaw Valley Conference offensive and defensive lineman and a 1996 graduate of Arcola. “You didn’t have to play for him to have learned something over the years. His teaching experience ran the full gamut from junior high school to high school and he helped a lot of people out.”
In April of 1994 Marks was hired unanimously as the Arcola football coach replacing the legendary Steve Thomas, who went 210-90-2 in 29 years.
“I don’t know how anybody could fill the shoes of Steve Thomas,” said Marks in an article by Ken Ryan of the Journal-Gazette/Times-Courier on April 20, 1994. “So, I don’t look at it like that. Certainly he’ll be a tough act to follow and I’ll just do the best that I can to keep the success going.”
And that he did.
In 10 years at the helm Marks was 69-35, including 56-29 in the LOVC. Marks led the Purple Riders to the playoffs five seasons, capturing the LOVC title three times. His 1995 team finished as state runner-up, while the 1997 team reached the semifinals in Class 1A.
“He definitely helped continue the tradition at Arcola,” said Kevin Monahan, a 1996 graduate and first team all-conference linebacker and second team all-conference fullback. “We were picked third in the conference and ended up going to state and that is a big credit to him.”
Marks came to Arcola in the fall of 1979 and joined the football staff in 1980 under Thomas. While an assistant coach with Byron Bradford Arcola went 142-27 in 14 years, including two state championships (1985 and 1988) and a second place finish in 1991. Marks was an incredible 113-18 as the freshman or junior varsity level with nine undefeated junior varsity teams and four of the 10 freshmen teams were undefeated. Marks finished as the second winningest coach in the history of the Arcola program.
“Joe was an important part of the of the Arcola football program,” said Bradford, who was an assistant coach for 29 years under Thomas. Both Thomas and Bradford are members of the Illinois High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. “He often went to scout the other teams somewhere even though teams exchanged film. He agreed with me in that it was better to see a team in person because film didn’t always give you the best representation of size and speed.”
Bradford, who had seen Marks at Bradford’s 50th wedding anniversary in early April, said, “Throughout the United States tings like this happen, but when it hits home it makes a bigger impact than when you read about other accidents in the newspaper and see on television and say that is too bad.”
During his 24 years at Arcola Marks wore many different hats. He coached baseball (1993-1995, going 26-21-1, including 13-6 in 1994), junior varsity and freshman boys’ basketball and junior high boys’ basketball and track just to name a few. He was a junior high science teacher and then a high school science teacher as well as the school’s technology coordinator.
“He was more diversified than most people,” said former Arcola High School principal and assistant football coach Randy Rothrock. “He knew science real well and knew computers like no one else. He was self taught in computers and back in the early 80’s when we (Arcola High School) were starting with computers He would program things and he knew the internet inside and out. He was a great fisherman and hunter and loved to coach.”
Although Marks had been the Sullivan Middle School principal for the past four years he still considered Arcola home.
“He was a military brat and never lived anywhere long enough to put down roots,” said Rothrock. “He considered Arcola his home. He really liked being in education and liked telling stories. He had end of the year parties for 20 years at Arcola and liked the fellowship. He liked the people he worked with and liked being around kids.”
The 1995 team is the last Arcola squad to have an undefeated regular season, including a thrilling 7-6 victory over Tuscola as Valente Garcia provided the winning extra point. In the playoffs that team nipped Arthur-Lovington 14-13, got by Chenoa 30-28 and blanked Cerro Gordo 6-0 in the snow before stopping the state’s leading rusher (Patrick Bowman, who was held to 33 yards on 16 carries) and Greenfield 26-16 in the semifinals.
“Unbelievable,” said John Foran of Marks’ death. Foran, a 1996 AHS grad who went on to play at McKendree College and is currently a pharmaceutical salesman in Chicago said, “He had best interest of the players in mind at all times and not just as an athlete, but as a person. He helped lay the foundation for a lot of people that went well beyond their lives at Arcola High School.”
The 1997 team finished 11-2 and was led by Arcola’s all-time career leading rusher Kolin Peterson, who went on to play at McKendree, finishing with 5,138 yards, including 1,753 his senior year. Arcola blanked El Paso 28-0 in the first round; downed Monmouth Yorkwood 47-25 in the second round and beat Hardin Calhoun 28-0 in the quarterfinals before falling to Galena in the semifinals. This team also included Chicago Sun-Times Small School All-State lineman Luis Mendoza.
“He was someone we all respected and he did a lot of things for us whether we realized it at the time or not,” said Monahan now the activities director at Niles North High School. “He was always extremely friendly and was very proud of us (1995 team). When I tore my ACL six years ago I remember getting a card from him and that was really nice of him to do that seven years after I graduated.”
All coaches have clichés and Marks was no exception.
“He would say whirlybird when ever somebody knocked someone off their feet and I know he didn’t think of this, but he said three things happen when you pass and only one of them is good. He also liked to say put your bonnets on.”
Conlin, who lives in Arcola and is a construction worker in Sullivan , also played under Marks in the Illinois Coaches Association/Shrine All-Star Football Game in 1996.
“I had the distinct honor of being able to do that with my own high school coach and that was a pretty neat deal,” said Conlin. “It is a real big honor with you and your high school coach going to a prestigious game like that. During those practices he would say ‘These are the dog days’ and the players from the Chicago area asked me what that meant. It is double sessions and not getting any game time satisfaction-just beating up on another person.”
Conlin played two years at McKendree before a knee injury ended his career.
“Coach Marks always said I was never fast enough to play special teams and that is what happened,” said Conlin.
Foran said, “He kept in touch with us and when we would see him he would ask us how things are going and how our lives are treating us and then he would talk about the good old days. He was more interested in what we were doing and how our lives are.”
Marks coached in the Order of Eastern Star All-Star game in 2000 and his first football victory was in a 48-0 win over Oakland-Kansas on Sept. 2, 1994.
“It was evident what he meant to people by the number of people I heard from today,” said Conlin. “I got calls from people I had not talked to in quite a few years.”
Contact Mike Monahan at mmonahan@jg-tc.com or 238-6854.
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