Derek Swanson’s accomplished college football career at Western Illinois University did not end as well as he would have liked. An anticlimactic senior season lessened his professional football prospects, at the time, somewhat of a disappointment.
In retrospect, Swanson, one of three who will be inducted into the Geneva High School Athletic Hall of Fame tonight, has no regrets.
“I really, truly believe had I pursued a professional football career that takes me who knows where, I don’t think I’d have the happiness I have now, with the stability of my hometown with family and friends,” Swanson said.
Swanson, a dynamic running back for coach Jerry Auchstetter’s teams in the mid-1980s, Katy Lindenmuth Green, a class of 2002 soccer dynamo, and Kurt Wehrmeister, the longtime Vikings’ public address announcer and a former sports journalist who covered the Vikings, will be inducted at halftime of today’s 6 p.m. home boys basketball game against St. Charles East.
Swanson’s emergence was partially enabled by injuries to older teammates during both his sophomore and junior seasons. The cut-back runner soon made his own breaks.
He rushed for 1,258 yards in nine games as a junior, including a 252-yard outing against Waubonsie Valley. As a senior, he upped his output to 1,700 yards in 12 games, and left the program holding several major records.
More than 25 years later, Swanson still raves about the Vikings’ option offense. Swanson said quarterback Tim Cottier – an eventual roommate of Swanson’s at WIU – was even faster than he was, and Geneva also boasted a capable passing attack.
“We really had a full package on offense,” said Swanson, also a track and basketball athlete at Geneva. “I was really fortunate to be part of that program.”
Swanson was named the most valuable freshman, sophomore and junior in the Leathernecks’ football program but said the death of fiery head coach Bruce Craddock changed the program’s direction for the worse. An assistant to Craddock took over and Swanson said an emphasis was placed on newcomers as the program changed directions.
One major perk of his time in the Leathernecks’ program: Swanson met his wife, Jodi, who was an athletic trainer. The two have a freshman daughter, Quincy, at Geneva High School and a son, Luke, a budding football and track athlete who attends Geneva Middle School South, where Swanson is a track assistant coach.
Swanson also gave coaching a whirl for the Vikings’ football program in the early years of coach Rob Wicinski’s tenure, jokingly referred to as “The Dark Ages.”
“I felt very bad for those boys because I know they didn’t have near the kind of experience I had,”
Swanson said. “It was a unique opportunity to see the other end of the spectrum but it was a great learning opportunity for me and obviously since then, Rob has grasped hold of the program and turned it around, and I really give him credit for sticking with it.”
Swanson, who operates the Geneva-based D. Swanson Sales & Installations home remodeling business, is enthused about sharing the spotlight tonight with Wehrmeister, who was sports editor of the Geneva Republican during Swanson’s playing days.
Don’t expect Swanson to have many butterflies during the festivities. He’ll save those for the following Saturday, Feb. 4, when Swanson will reprise his celebrated footwork for the annual “Dancing with the Geneva Stars” fundraiser for the Geneva Cultural Arts Commission and Geneva Academic Foundation.
"My dance instructor keeps telling me it's just like running in football, it's all about leverage and timing, and I said, 'Yeah, as long as I have a football in my hands, I'll be fine out there,' " he said.
• Jay Schwab is sports editor of the Kane County Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5382 or jschwab@shawmedia.com.