Bureau County Sports Hall of Fame: Howard brothers a fixture in Princeton Tiger sports in the 1960s

The Howard name was a fixture in athletics at Princeton High School in the 1960s.

Bill was the first to suit up for the Tigers, graduating in 1960, followed by Bob (1962), Corby (1964), Tim (1968) and Jim (1970), setting records in track and field and competing in football, basketball or wrestling.

They were the sons of Bill Sr., a former basketball and football coach at PHS.

Sorrow struck the Howard household in 1958 when Bill Sr., passed away from lung cancer.

The MVP of their home was their mother, Rosella, who was left to raise five boys ages 6-16 with the help of extended family on the Howard side and from Ericksons-Elmblads on their mother’s side. She had a similar childhood having lost her mother when she was just 5.

Rosella Howard was an elementary school teacher in Princeton with so many connections that Jim said she “would always know before you got home if something had gone wrong at school with you.”

The brothers describe their mother as a stubborn Swede who was very tough-minded.

“We transitioned through a very challenging time. As much hardship happened to us, we were very fortunate,” Corby said. “I was 11 when my dad died. By the time I turned 12, a group of businessmen delivered the deed to our house to mom a week later. That was unbelievable.”

Tim said losing their father was extremely difficult.

“It was a life-altering effect, but I think it’s also the reason all five of us played college sports and all five of us went on to different professional careers and were very successful,” he said.

“It was unique to be raised by your mother, but you also had four older brothers so you kind of had some guidance along the way of what to do and what not to do,” Jim said.

The Howard boys, who are among the 2025 inductees into the Bureau County Sports Hall of Fame this summer, kept their mom busy.

Bill, Bob, Corby and Jim all competed in football, basketball and track at PHS with Tim replacing basketball with wrestling. They received 36 varsity letters between them.

Jim said their mother’s rule was that the coach was “always in charge and had the ultimate say.”

The Howards were always one-upping one another when it came to track & field at PHS.

Bill set the school record in the shot put in 1960 at 52-8¼. Corby broke that record in 1964 at 55-5 only to have Tim come along four years later with a toss of 56-1 in his last meet in 1968.

“I don’t think brother Corb ever thought I’d throw it farther than he had. He’s five inches taller than me and he threw it 55-5,” Tim said.

Then along came little brother Jim, who upped the shot record to 56-7 as well as breaking brother Bob’s school record of 147-9 for the discus set in 1964 with a throw of 149-6 as a freshman. Both Bob and Jim were state qualifiers.

“It was one of those things you were hoping to carry on the tradition of the family and live up to what the other brothers had done,” Jim said.

Tim and Jim teamed up on the Tigers’ football team with Tim blocking for his younger brother.

“The off-tackle plays in the Rod Butler offense were legendary,” Tim said.

Bill was a three-sport star at Princeton High School, scoring 1,026 career points, ranked ninth all-time. The 6-5 forward and center helped lead the Tigers to a 23-3 record as a junior and 20-5 his senior year, averaging 17.0 points as an NCIC All-Conference selection.

He was also a two-time unanimous all-conference pick in football.

Like their father, who played at Northern Illinois, all five of the Howard brothers went on to compete at the collegiate level in football, most notably Bill, who went to Princeton University on an academic scholarship and excelled for the Tigers’ basketball and football teams.

He was captain of the 1963-64 Princeton basketball team that reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. Howard liked to joke that he and All-American Bill Bradley “averaged 30 points together. He averaged 25 and I averaged 5.”

He was also a starting tight end and defensive end for the Tigers’ 1963 Ivy League Champion gridiron team. He was the last athlete to win Ivy titles in both of those sports in the same year.

Bill Jr., who passed away passed away on Nov. 3, 2018 after a long battle with cancer, was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2023.

Bob, who had a long career in education and is now living in Yorkville, played one year of football and competed in track for four years at Northern Illinois and was a team captain.

Corby followed Bob to the NIU campus to play football, starting three years as a defensive end as the Huskies were transitioning from the college division to university.

“It was an honor to wear the Northern uniform the same as my dad,” he said.

Tim was an all-conference football player for PHS, receiving all-state honorable mention. Like his brother, Bill, he also took the path from Princeton, Illinois to Princeton University to play football and was the Tigers’ starting inside linebacker as a senior.

Jim went on to play Big Ten football on scholarship at Indiana University. He learned a hard lesson quickly there that to play football you had to hit the books.

“I remember still first semester my GPA was 1.4 out of 4.0. My coach had sent a note to my mom saying you better talk to your son or he’s going to lose his scholarship,” he said. “Mom didn’t mince words, she said, ‘you know Jim, I can’t afford to send you to school and this is your best opportunity, and if you screw it up, you’re not going.’”

With no question, Corby said the “bookend” brothers, Bill, the oldest, and Jim, the youngest, were the best athletes in the family.

“Jim was enormously talented,” Corby said.

“Bill was the big stud,” said Jim, who was a state track finalist in the discus and shot as a senior.

“Bill was the ultimate athlete out of the group because he really excelled in college and had a stellar high school career as well,” Tim said.

Between them, Jim (5) and Corby (3) sent eight kids to PHS, all participating in varsity sports.