Hall of Fame
As an undergraduate at Coe College, Gordon Kerkman learned basketball under one of Coe's most famous coaches, Bill Fitch, and baseball under Glenn Drahn. In his senior year, he was co-captain of both the basketball team and the baseball team. But it is a lifetime career as a high school coach that has brought Gordon Kerkman to this event this morning. Gordon entered coaching at De Witt, Iowa as a sophomore basketball coach and then as a freshman football and varsity baseball coach. He moved to Aurora, Illinois where his stay as coach is now entering its 38th year. At Aurora West High School he has coached basketball for 35 years. For 21 years he has been the head basketball coach. His basketball teams have gone to the Elite Eight on four different occasions, won the league nine times, Sweet Sixteen five times, twice finishing third in the Illinois State Tournament and once finishing second. His team lost in the state finals this last year by a team that was listed first in the nation by USA Today. His 1985 team was 13th in the nation by USA Today. At Aurora West he also coached football and baseball. Gordon Kerkman is a member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, and for 16 years he served on the Board of Directors of the Hall of Fame organization, two years as president. He served two years as president of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association. He was selected District Coach of the Year in Illinois District 9 more than five times. He served on the Illinois Basketball Coaches All-State Commission and the Chicago Sun Times Commission. One of the more recent players of note is Kenny Battles, who played in the Final Four NCAA Tournament with the University of Illinois. We salute a successful lifetime of coaching and teaching as we induct Gordon E. Kerkman into Coe's Athletic Hall of Fame.
