The Hall of Fame ring is nice. Kankakee's Duane Tucker doesn't deny that.

But earning American Youth Football's highest honors was not one of the goals set by this longtime coach and league administrator.

"The thing is, I grew up in Kankakee. I was one of those neighborhood kids trying to play a game over at Pioneer Park, on the playground over at the old Franklin School, or in someone's backyard," he said. "There was never a problem finding enough kids — sometimes, we had a problem finding a ball.

"And I've just wanted to make sure other kids had the chances I did. Football can't save every kid, but I wanted to save as many as we could. My parents moved us up from the south to give us a better life, and I just wanted to help other kids that same way."

So, in 1986, Tucker volunteered to help the Kankakee Colts Junior Football program. He was giving back to the organization that gave him a purpose years earlier. After playing for the Colts, he went on to play for Kankakee Westview High School. And, even though his playing days were over, he couldn't give up the game.

"So, yes, I did coach in 12 of our league's championship games. And we won five of them," he said. "I always say: The victories will come, but our goal out here is to build character."

And that ambition involves more than leading his team through practice sessions and games. As the president of the Colts' organization, he has done the behind-the-scenes work of finding business sponsors who keep the group financially solvent. As the president of the Will-Cook-Kankakee Youth Football League, he juggles the needs and interests of teams from Hazel Crest, University Park, South Holland and other suburban outposts.

"It's been a little easier since I retired," he noted, referring to his departure in 2010 from his job at the Illinois Department of Corrections. In 34 years at the Dwight Correctional Facility, he moved from guard to assistant warden.

"But any success I've enjoyed ... I owe it to so many people. It was never just me," he said.

That list of credits then begins with his father, Nise, and his mother, Louise. They raised Duane, his eight sisters and one brother on Nise's salary from the Roper Corporation's Kankakee factory. The next major influence would have been local coaches such as J.R. Black and Paul O'Connor. In 1991, he married his wife, Kathy, and she's played a critical support role in his volunteer mission.

"It takes a lot of time, the scouting and everything ... and she and my daughter, Kyra, have been very good to me," he said. He noted, however, that coaching youth football does not leave much time for watching college or pro football on TV.

"I did watch when [former Kankakee Colt] Tyjuan [Hagler] was playing in the Super Bowl," he said. "I thought it was great that he won our super bowls as a Colt and he won the big one as a Colt."

Duane also has built valuable relationships with Colt organization volunteers, officials and parents, as well as the Kankakee Valley Park District, the owner of Old Fair Park, where the league has played its games since 2011.

Of course, there are hundreds of other former players Duane would like to mention. He estimates he has been a mentor to more than 6,000 young men throughout his tenure with the Colts.

"I'm a product of this system, and I believe in it," he said. "I'm grateful for the people who showed an interest in me, and I never get tired of the young men coming back to tell me that I had a positive impact on their life.

"So, what would I change about the way I spent my life? Well, first, I never dreamed I'd be involved like this. It just kind of happened. But I wouldn't change a thing."