A Knight to Remember: Kenny Deatherage
By Ray Popkess
In every city, there are people known as “pillars” who hold up vital aspects of community, education and philanthropy in order to create a thriving ecosystem. The Triad School District has produced a multitude of individuals who give back to the community that gave them so much. Today, we focus on one of those and certainly one-of-a-kind in Kenny Deatherage, the current Athletic Director at Triad High School, in our first of what we envision becoming a regular summer series – ‘A Knight to Remember.’
Before Deatherage became the AD for the Knights in 2013, he took on a life of sports without knowing where it would lead. Originally growing up in Collinsville, the sport that helped shape his career in education wasn’t available until high school.
“I first remember playing tee-ball and soccer while I went to Jefferson Elementary School from kindergarten through fourth grade,” he said. His love for football wouldn’t come until later in his academic career but baseball was always near the top of his list.
Jefferson Elementary has since been closed at the conclusion of the 2023-24 school year, but Deatherage still enjoys a trip down memory lane. “I’ll drive by there once a year to show my sons and say, ‘Hey, this is where your old man went to grade school.’ It’s amazing how small that building looks now but when you were a kid you thought that place was huge.”
Deatherage then moved with his family to St. Jacob before his fifth grade year and joined the Triad School District in 1990. From there, he attended St. Jacob Junior High through his eighth grade year. After completing his primary education, coaches and teachers at the high school had big plans for Deatherage.
“It was all Coach Bassler,” he recalled. “Only then during my freshman year was I introduced to football. Bassler was a young, brand new coach at Triad and he was the underclass coach at the time. Paul took me under his wing and got me involved in this whole thing called ‘the weight room,’ which we didn’t even have at the time.”
Before the Triad weight room became the state-of-the-art training facility it is today, Deatherage and teammates would push heavy things around in what used to be the ‘Ag Building’ at the current middle school, currently the band and music facility. “Coach Bassler created the weight room and got everybody started on a weightlifting program and the rest is history.”
At the time, freshman year for any young male athlete was the first time football coaches got to lay eyes on their potential roster members. Eighth grade football didn’t exist at that point and Deatherage describes his first football practice as the first time all three of Triad’s communities came together in an athletic setting. “I remember running the 40-yard dash and doing strength and agility tests and that’s where Coach Bassler told me, “‘You know what, I think you’re going to be a running back, son.’”
Despite an initial love for baseball and contributing three seasons to the Triad program, Deatherage realized along the way that football was the path he had chosen. “I played baseball my freshman, sophomore and senior seasons and decided to go a different route my junior year to concentrate on getting bigger, faster and stronger, so I ran track during the spring instead.”
During his varsity football career, Deatherage helped Triad earn their best overall record to date in his junior year, amassing an 8-1 regular season record and capturing their most victories in a single season with their first round playoff win against Salem. Their nine wins that season is a school record that still stands today, only having been tied since.
Before committing to McKendree University, Deatherage was offered a spot at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. “I received the Congressional Nomination and I went [there] the summer after my senior year and learned very quickly that I was homesick.”
Deatherage decided to return to the Metro East after his father had a conversation with the late Coach Carl Poelker at McKendree. “When my dad reached out to him, Coach Poelker said ‘You get that boy home. He’ll always have a spot here at McKendree.’ That’s where everything changed.”
Initially graduating high school with the thought of flying planes, Deatherage enrolled at McKendree with a pursuit of business and accounting degrees. It wasn’t until he got injured that he started volunteering his time as a coach back at Triad. “Once all that happened, I decided that the education route was the one for me.”
It just so happened that McKendree had a business education program that piqued Deatherage’s interest. “I was able to change my major from accounting to business education and graduated with that degree and I’ve been a part of Triad ever since.”
Being a former Knight, Deatherage leaned on his relationships with teachers and administration to find his way back into Triad’s halls. “The principal who hired me was Mike Scroggins, and when I was student teaching in Edwardsville, I’ll never forget it, my cooperating teacher came in and said, ‘Hey, I think you need to take this call. You have someone on the line for you down in the business office. I’ll watch your class.’ I picked up the phone and it was Mr. Scroggins and he said ‘Hey, rookie.’ He used to call me ‘rookie’ all the time. ‘I got a job for you here at Triad High School.’”
“Holy cow, you’re offering me a job right now over the phone?”
“Yes sir, I’ve got a Business Ed position for you here at the high school and I’ve got a baseball coaching position. You’ll be able to coach football with us as well, but I need a favor,” offered Scroggins.
“What’s that?” asked Deatherage.
“I need you to coach wrestling,” Scroggins proposed.
“Well I’ve never coached wrestling before in my life.”
“That’s okay, ‘cause we’ve got an All-American Head Coach in Russ Witzig and he’ll teach you anything that you need to know,” assured Scroggins.
“So I was offered the job over the phone and that’s how my teaching and coaching career started,” shared Deatherage.
When asked how his favorite memories as a player compared to his favorite memories as an educator/teacher, Deatherage traced everything back to football. “The majority of my favorite memories as a player revolved around Friday Night Lights and Triad football games. Those were special moments and times I’ll never forget but there’s nothing that compares to, now, getting to watch my own kids under those same lights. [That field] is a pretty special place.”
With all those memories solidified, Deatherage is a firm believer that he’s exactly where he is supposed to be. “Never in a million years did I think that I would’ve been a teacher and coach until I got the opportunity to volunteer here. I’ve learned over the years that as much as you think you’re in control, there’s only one entity that’s in control of everything and I’m a firm believer that all the good, all the bad, everything in this world happens for a reason and there’s a reason why the Good Lord put me in the place that I am right now.”
Deatherage says that with whatever amount of time he has left as Triad’s Athletic Director that he will continue to do whatever he can to improve the overall experience for all athletes. “I’ll work until the day I walk out of here and hopefully leave this place better than how I found it.”
Deatherage currently resides in Highland with his wife, Ashleigh, and two sons, Dawson and Dayton, who are currently enrolled at Triad High School. He enjoys hunting and fishing with his sons during his free time.
Kenny with his sons, Dawson (left) and Dayton (right), and wife, Ashleigh.
If there are any former Knights you deem worthy of being ‘A Knight to Remember,’ send inquiries to us at 1200 12th St. in Highland, Illinois 62249. If you’d prefer to send a digital inquiry, email our sports reporter, Ray Popkess, at [email protected] and he will respond to you promptly.
