About Jeff
I was born in 1967 in McLeansboro, Illinois. I spent my first year in school attending Kindergarten in Oakland City, Indiana and the rest my years growing up were either in McLeansboro or in Woodlawn, Illinois with my dad. Growing up in the 70s, we did not have cable television and the only video game was Pong, so I spent a lot of time playing sports. I spent countless hours in my backyard throwing a football or dribbling a basketball. My dad was a teacher, so when I was at his house on the weekends, I had 24-hour access to the Woodlawn HS gym. I can tell you that I took advantage of that perk. All I ever wanted to do was play ball. Football in the fall, baseball in the spring, and basketball year round. If I was not playing ball, I was watching it on television. I still remember the first basketball game I ever watched. It was June 4, 1976. I was nine years old and it was game five of the 1976 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Suns. The Celtics won 128-126 in what at the time was considered the greatest game in NBA history.
Growing up in the 70s, we did not have cable television and the only video game was Pong, so I spent a lot of time playing sports. I spent countless hours in my backyard throwing a football or dribbling a basketball. My dad was a teacher, so when I was at his house on the weekends, I had 24-hour access to the Woodlawn HS gym. I can tell you that I took advantage of that perk.
All I ever wanted to do was play ball. Football in the fall, baseball in the spring, and basketball year round. If I was not playing ball, I was watching it on television. I still remember the first basketball game I ever watched. It was June 4, 1976. I was nine years old and it was game five of the 1976 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Suns. The Celtics won 128-126 in what at the time was considered the greatest game in NBA history.
I still remember John Havlicek banking in a shot at the end of the 2nd OT for what they thought was the game winner. However, the refs put one second on the clock and Gar Heard hit a rainbow jumper from the top of the key to send the game into the third overtime. That game got me addicted to basketball and sports in general.
Some of my greatest memories are of going to games with my dad. My dad was a coach and referee, so I was at his games almost every weekend. In the summer he played softball and I was at those games too. I spent a lot of time at fields and gyms all over southern Illinois.
I played basketball, baseball, football, and ran track in high school. I was not very good, but I loved to compete. I graduated high school and thought my playing career was over. I played in the Lion’s Club All-Star game at Rend Lake College in June, 1985. I had a severely sprained ankle and could barely walk. RLC’s coach, Mitch Haskins, taped my ankle before the game and offered me a scholarship for the following year at RLC. I accepted and that was the end of my recruiting. I played for two years at RLC and then went on to play at the University of Wisconsin-Superior until my eligibility was up in 1989.
I graduated from college with a teaching degree in mathematics and took a job as a teacher and head basketball coach at Vienna HS in 1991. I taught and coached there for four years. I earned my master’s in educational administration in 1994 and would leave coaching in 1995. I worked as a high school administrator from 1995-2010 in schools in southern Illinois and St. Louis.
In 2010, I left my job as a high school principal in Affton, MO due to suffering from sever depression. I had dealt with depression since I was in my early teens and it had gotten significantly worse. I even attempted suicide six times between 1997-2009. I could no longer do the job of being a principal, so I left and started working in schools teaching about how to prevent suicide.
I also started bartending part-time in 2016 and I have been working as a bartender ever since. I also am working on finishing my doctorate in Educational Leadership at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in June 2023.
I have two kids, Chloe and Quinn. Chloe is a paralegal at a law firm and Quinn is in nursing school. They are my greatest accomplishment. I am also lucky that both my parents and my stepdad are still going strong and I try to see them as much as I can.
My hobbies include working out, playing pickleball, watching movies, quoting Seinfeld, and spouting off random sport’s trivia whenever I can. I also have spend a lot of time over the last two year writing. In addition to my dissertation, I have also written a book that is hopefully going to be released at the end of 2023 and I am working on a second book.
I currently live in Soulard in St. Louis, MO and enjoy spending time riding in my golf cart around to local dive bars with my two dogs, Griff and Clarice.