Gathing honored for lifetime achievement

“We need to support our kids in every facet.”

Jess Gathing expressed that sentiment in 1993. It is a view that he has maintained for more than half a century.

Monday, Gathing was honored for both his support of youth and his leadership in the community as he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation of Kankakee County. The award is given during the Interfaith Prayer Service at the College Church of the Nazarene at Olivet Nazarene University.

Gathing took up volunteer coaching and mentoring of youth very quickly after graduating from Kankakee’s Eastridge High School in 1973, in the days when Kankakee had two public high schools. Gathing had been a three-sport star in football, basketball and baseball for the Raiders.

His work with youth is a direct link to his deep faith in God. Gathing is a minister at Zion Gate Missionary Baptist Church.

“God has called me to be a servant,” he told the congregation. “When you listen to what God has to say, you can’t go wrong.”

Acknowledging his great contributions to track and field over the years, last fall at homecoming, Kankakee High named the track that circles the Kays’ football field as the new Jess C. Gathing Track and Field.

“It’s a great honor,” Gathing said at the time. “I’m here for the kids and have always been for the kids.”

The naming of the track was not the only major previous recognition for Gathing. In 2018, he received the Ray Lindner Service to Youth award from the Kankakee Area YMCA. That award is given to a community member who helps children. He is also a member of the Kankakee High School Hall of Fame.

Gathing has been active for 38 years as a coach in the Eastside Bulldogs youth football program. He has been league president for the last 15 years. He has been a track and field official for 20 years and a high school basketball official for 35 years.

He served as a baseball coach in the minor leagues at Kankakee’s Beckman Park. He was also one of the founders and coaches for the Kankakee Summer Track Program. Today that program is merged with the Kankakee Vipers Track Club. Gathing remains active as an administrator.

Gathing made it a point during his volunteer work to tell youngsters that they could make athletics work for themselves. His daughter, Jamie, was an all-state basketball player at Kankakee High and earned a scholarship to Indiana University. Son, Jeremy, was all state in long jump and triple jump and received a scholarship to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville to play basketball.

Monday he thanked his family for their support. In addition to Jamie and Jeremy, he and his wife, Jan, also have daughter, Jessica, granddaughter Jayla, goddaughter, Alyncia, bonus daughter, Preciou,s and god-granddaughter, Malani. Gathing’s bothers, Gaylord and Cornell, were also on hand for the ceremony.

Friend and fellow coach Theodis Pace has said that Gathing has coached thousands of local youth. Pace estimated that two-thirds of them are younger than 18 and three-quarters of them were under the poverty line.

Pace once described Gathing as the “go-to” person to get things done for Kankakee youth.

Gathing was the president of the track club and was also the Illinois Coach of the Year for the USA Track and Field Association.

Gathing was helped along the way by coaches and others. He once told a story, remembering an umpire, nicknamed “Blindman.” A young Gathing was terrified of a fastball pitcher in Little League. Gathing was “gifted” a walk, although the pitches were down the middle. That helped a young Gathing get over his fear.

Gathing previously said that high school basketball coach Joe Gubbins and Little League coach Cleveland Whalum were inspirations. Pace, along with fellow coach Joe Rockett, former alderman Steve Hunter and the late Kankakee Mayor Don Green were all great people to work with.

Gathing has also been a leader in the community. Gathing has served two terms as an alderman for the City of Kankakee from 1995-99 and from 2001-2005. He was a trustee for the Kankakee Public Library. He was on the board of the Kankakee Valley Park District for six years.

In addition, his volunteer work also included the Kankakee Chamber of Commerce, the Kankakee Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Kankakee NAACP and the City of Kankakee Police and Fire Commission.

He is a member of the Kankakee School Board and is currently the vice president of the board. In his third term now, he was preparing to step down, but felt he should stay on as the board works with a new superintendent.

He is likely one of the few individuals in this community and maybe in any community to win elected office to three different local boards.

He is, he said, optimistic about the future of Kankakee.

“We are moving forward,” he said.

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