Coach Henry Pillard: A Pillard of the Wrestling Community

I was lucky enough to have my father’s former junior college wrestling coach, Henry Pillard, as my tour guide while I was down in Joliet, Illinois on a fact finding mission.  Pillard coached my father in 1968 while he attended Joliet Junior College and can be credited with assisting my father in winning the 1968 NJCCA Championships.  Coach Pillard is a natural storyteller, someone who I have had numerous lengthy conversations with about my father’s history.  He has unlocked many stories of my father’s past, giving me a new perspective of my father as an athlete and a young man.

While I was in Illinois he had me stay at his residence as guest of his family, it was the same hospitality he show my father back in 1966 when they both met for the first time.  The fact finding mission started off as soon as Coach Pillard picked me up from the Chicago International Airport; we headed straight for the new campus of Joliet Junior College to speak with the school’s Director of Communications and External Relations, Kelly Rohder and the Alumni Relations Manager, Amanda M. Quinn. 

Then we travelled to the original Joliet Junior College campus located in the heart of Joliet.  The school is currently being used as the home of Joliet Township High School.  We toured the ancient building visiting the old wrestling room, the gymnasium where many of dad’s wrestling triumphs occurred and the locker room where Coach Pillard would give his pep-talks.  As we walked the halls Coach Pillard gave a great narration of stories from the past, describing the crowds and the atmosphere from 1968. 

We went to the Joliet Library and searched through the microfiche for old articles from the time dad wrestled at Joliet Junior College and hit a GOLD MINE!!!  I was able to recover thirty-two newspaper clippings that mentioned my dad’s wrestling adventures from his time at the junior college.

The next day we headed to the old neighbourhood where dad lived, the area where the grocery store he worked at was (it was burnt down during the Martin Luther King riots - a great story for the book) and visited with the old athletic director from 1968 who remembered dad very well.

The last day we drove to La Grange, Illinois for the Curby Cup, a dual meet with the US Olympic Team and the Georgian Olympic Wrestling Team.  The meet took place at the same venue where Coach Pillard and my father first met (another great story for the book). 

The time that my father spent in Joliet was a pivotal point in his wrestling career.  It is common knowledge that my father won the Junior National Championships his first year at Joliet Junior College, however the story of how he got to attend the American College is much more intriguing.  Thanks to Coach Henry Pillard I have the story for you, but you’ll have to wait for the book.   

 Joliet Junior College

House where dad lived