Lockport’s Zimmer passes away at 84

LOCKPORT – To say Bill Zimmer transformed Lockport’s football fortunes is an understatement.

Before Zimmer joined the staff in 1959 as an assistant, the Porters usually were near the bottom of the standings in the old South Suburban League.

But a year later, he assumed the head coaching spot, and Lockport not only became more competitive against larger schools, but also began to establish new levels of success.

When Zimmer stepped down as coach after the 1993 season, his teams had won as many games as Lockport had captured since it started playing the sport around the turn of the last century. As a result, he was inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1986.

In addition, Zimmer took over a wrestling program that still was in its infancy in 1960 and directed it for the next 27 years. For those efforts, he was named to the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Hall of Fame in 1988.

After his retirement, Zimmer got the opportunity to watch his son, Mike – who had played quarterback for him at Lockport – move up the ranks in the National Football League to eventually become the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings a year ago.

One of the most influential coaches not only at Lockport but throughout the Joliet area had struggled with health issues of late. A week after Mike Zimmer traveled to Naples, Florida, to see his ailing father, Bill Zimmer passed away Tuesday at age 84.

One person who was greatly influenced by Zimmer is Jim Hall, a hall of fame baseball coach in his own right. Hall worked with Zimmer for 14 years as a defensive coordinator.

“It’s a tough day,” said Hall, who introduced Bill and Mike on their induction into the Lockport Athletic Hall of Fame. “I cried a little bit this morning since Bill meant a lot to me and my family.

“We lost a good guy, a great coach, father and husband. He was a great influence on so many people, and he bled maroon and gold.”

Hall stayed in contact with Zimmer and his wife of 60 years, Ann. He had hoped to meet with them to see one of Mike’s games, but Bill’s health prevented that.

“Bill was a great mentor for me,” Hall said. “We did a lot of things together, and I used to play racquetball with him. He was as competitive a human being as I’ve met in life. He was as tough a guy as I’ve ever been around.

“He taught me so much about the game and about life. One thing he taught me was that these are the guys we have, so coach them up, which is what we did.

“My thoughts and prayers go out to the Zimmer family.”

His 34 years as a head coach are still a record at Lockport, and his 35 years with one program was another standard that has been broken only recently. A total of 10 Porter coaches have been inducted into state hall of fames, but Zimmer is the only one to be in more than one.

To put the Bradley University graduate’s accomplishments into better perspective, in the 27 seasons prior to Zimmer’s hiring as football coach, Lockport had 10 winning seasons, and the program never had had more than four straight winning campaigns. In the five years before he took over, the Porters had no winning seasons and had just 11 wins.

By contrast, in Zimmer’s first seven seasons, the Porters had five winning campaigns and went .500 in the other two. The highlight of those years was the 1966 team, which lost, 7-0, to Waukegan in its opener but won eight in a row behind All-American John Handy. That streak included seven shutouts, which helped Lockport win the first Illini-Eight Conference championship.

Zimmer’s teams won at least five games a year from 1969 to 1982, and they won I-8 titles in 1971, 1974 and 1979, with the last squad becoming the school’s first playoff qualifier.

Lockport made the postseason only once between 1974 and 1985, but qualifying was different from how it is today. A good example was the 1980 squad, which went 8-1 but failed to earn a spot. By the current playoff process, Lockport would have qualified nine times in those 12 seasons.

After winning SICA West titles and reaching the playoffs in 1985 and 1987, the Porters struggled during Zimmer’s final seasons. He still wound up with 170 victories (including some forfeits) – the same number of wins that Lockport had from 1899 to 1959.

While much of his coaching era featured a tough, physical defense and a strong running game – led by the likes of Kip Carmen and Handy carrying the ball – Zimmer also was a pioneer of the passing game.

He was ahead of most by airing things out starting with Pete Fulton at quarterback in the early 1960s. But his “Air Zimmer” attack is probably best-remembered from 1982 to 1985, when Bob Cernak and Spiro Voulgaris enjoyed record-setting seasons.

In wrestling, Zimmer coached the Porters’ first two state champions in the sport, Glen Malone (1969) and Ken Lewis (1972), and had four others who captured second place.