Basketball: Former Princeton coach Don Holler dies at 88

Don Holler’s 47-year, hall-of-fame coaching career took him to six high schools and one college, including Princeton High School.

Holler coached at Princeton from 1968-74, directing the Tigers to a 67-83 record in six seasons.

His basketball teams won 644 games over his career, including stops at Gridley, Flanagan, Shelbyville, Oswego and Aurora Central Catholic high schools along with Aurora University.

Holler, 88, died Jan. 4 in McHenry after an extended struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Holler came to Princeton in 1968, succeeding Jim Wilson as head coach, and was a big winner off the bat, winning 50 games in his first three seasons.

The Tigers went 19-8 his first season, 14-11 the second and 17-10 the third with talented players such as 1,000-point scorer Rick Allen and 7-footer Rick Larson.

Jim Howard (PHS Class of 1970) played for Holler’s first two years at Princeton and enjoyed having him as coach.

“He was a great coach and individual,” Howard said. “We had a good team at that time with Rick Allen, who has also passed away. We had Donnie Lind, who I believe was a junior at that time. We were competitive. You always enjoyed going to practice and participating because he made it a fun sport.”

Howard said Holler also became his weights coach in track and field when football coach Rod Butler left PHS and there wasn’t any coach available.

“It was kind of an interesting relationship. He’d say, ‘Well, Jim, what do we want to do today?’ because he didn’t have much of a background in track. But he was always an individual who wanted to help you out in any way possible,” Howard said.

John Smith, who served as sophomore coach for Holler at PHS, said Holler could be a little fiery at times, always demanding the most out of his players.

“He was very demanding in what he wanted to do. I think he was very verbal coaching and making sure he got the guys’ attention,” said Smith, who became the varsity girls coach at PHS from 1984 to 1994.

Holler coached three more seasons at PHS, departing after the 1973-74 campaign, handing over the reins to Tony Lavorato, who coached the Tigers for 13 seasons.

Holler was named the head coach at Oswego on Aug. 8, 1974, the same day Richard Nixon resigned as president. He coached there for four seasons, going 52-47.

He moved on to Aurora University in 1978-79 and took over as head coach from 1980-81 through the 1993-94 season. Over 14 seasons he had a 207-154 record (.573), winning seven conference championships with a 98-43 conference record (.695).

Holler’s Spartans had five seasons of 19 or more wins, including a 22-6 record in 1982-83 in which the team made a trip to the NAIA postseason.

At the time, he had the most coaching wins in AU men’s history but was surpassed by his former player, assistant coach and the man who followed him, James Lancaster.

Although he didn’t get to play for him at PHS, former Tigers great John Rumley (Class of ‘79), got in two years with Holler at Aurora. Rumley had signed to play for SIU-Edwardsville coming out of IVCC, but circumstances led him to Aurora to play for Holler.

“He didn’t recruit me very hard. In fact he was very polite about it. He said, ‘I know you’re going to play at a higher level, but if anything happens, we’re going to be interested,’” Rumley said.

Rumley, who was a senior captain for a 22-6 Spartans team, said Holler taught him there was time to be quiet as a coach when you have a lot of talent on the floor.

“He wanted to know why you weren’t playing well. He gave you that ability to express yourself,” he said.

Rumley joked there’s “a lot of stories out there about Don, and most of them were true.”

Holler later offered Rumley, who coached at Princeton from 2000-05, winning two regionals and a sectional in five years, a position on his coaching staff at Aurora.

Growing up, all Tony Holler knew was basketball following his dad around.

“My childhood was spent in school buses, locker rooms and gymnasiums. Match-up zones and motion offense were discussed at the dinner table,” he said in an article for strengthcoach.com.

The younger Holler followed in his dad’s footsteps and is in his 43rd year in coaching. He became the youngest head basketball coach at Harrisburg when he was hired at age 23 in 1982. He coached three years in basketball and moved on to track at Harrisburg, landing three state championships.

What he learned most from his dad was loving the job.

“Dad loved being part of a team. He was consistently excited about the next practice, next game or the next season,” said Tony Holler, who now coaches track at Plainfield North.

As an athlete, Don Holler’s favorite sport was baseball, but it was a point of contention with his father, who thought he should get a job and buy a car. He often shared how his father hid his glove on the day of a game.

Holler played high school basketball for legendary hall-of-fame coach Gay Kintner at Decatur. He finished five victories shy of his beloved coach.

Holler is a member of hall of fames at Millikin University (1995 for baseball), Aurora University (2008 for basketball, lifetime achievement, coach) and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (1999).

In his obituary, Holler is described as always saying nice things about other people, with the possible exception of basketball referees.

There will be a memorial gathering for the coach from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16, at Dunn Family Funeral Home with Crematory, 1801 S. Douglas Road in Oswego.

He is survived by his wife, Paula – he died on their 66th wedding anniversary – four children, one brother, nine grandchildren and five great grandchildren.