Jerry Eiserman has stories.

He has stories about park visitors he met during the 20-plus summers he worked at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. Or when he was younger, delivering Hamm’s beer on a truck around northern Illinois.

Eiserman also has stories about his 50 years of officiating basketball and football games for the Illinois High School Association, running concessions for McHenry’s parks and recreation department, and teaching in McHenry Elementary School District 15 until retiring in 2002.

Those stories, and his ability to talk to anyone, learn about them and find the best in people, have made Eiserman part of the fabric of McHenry.

His community connections also led the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce to name Eiserman the recipient of their 2026 Frank E. Low Award – the local business association’s highest honor.

Eiserman’s legacy, according to the Chamber’s announcement, “is his remarkable ability to connect with people.”

“His relationships – built on kindness, respect and genuine care – are a testament to the impact one individual can have over a lifetime of service," according to the release.

Eiserman, who turns 80 this month, says he connects with people because he looks beyond the surface: “You have to look for the good in people, and you have to have fun.”

Both he and his wife, Trish, came to McHenry to work in its schools after they met, married and graduated from Monmouth College.

“My wife and I are very blessed. She is the anchor of the whole family. Oh, now I am in trouble,” Eiserman laughed. Trish will have something to say about all of the attention because she always kept a lower profile, he said.

But when they moved to McHenry, it was Trish who had a job lined up at District 15 first.

“I was a tag-along,” said Eiserman, who taught physical education and math in the junior high grades.

Former McHenry Alderman Vic Santi had Eiserman as his seventh grade P.E. teacher and as his seventh and eighth grade basketball coach.

“He was more than a teacher and a coach. He was an extra parental guiding light,” for students, Santi said. Even when the topic wasn’t so positive, Eiserman always made students feel supported.

“He knew how to teach through the good and the bad times,” Santi said.

As an adult, Santi would run into Eiserman at a game, community event or just at the store, Santi said.

“We always had a great conversation when we bumped into each other around town,” Santi said. “We’d talk in depth about what his thoughts were, what was going on in the city or in local sports. I was always comfortable talking to him – as an eighth grader or as a 67-year-old adult.”

Those deep roots in the community have extended to the next Eiserman generation. Son Greg Eiserman is now principal at McHenry High School Upper Campus. Their daughter, Jenny Mihevc, is a resource teacher at Hilltop Elementary School and is married to District 15 board President Chad Mihevc. Of the seven Eiserman-Mihevc grandchildren, almost all are in education or pursuing their degrees now.

Jerry Eiserman, however, said he doesn’t think he deserved the Chamber’s recognition.

“It is my wife who has had an impact on people. There are several who are teaching because of her, and grandkids who are teaching because of her,” Eiserman said.

He praised Trish, too, for being at home with their children as he traveled to basketball and football games to officiate during the school year. During the summer, he ran souvenir and candy stands at Great America in Gurnee for many years, before leaving there to run concessions for McHenry Parks and Recreation.

“I appreciate my wife for letting me do that, big time,” Eiserman said.