DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - The first week of open field nights at Eisenhower High School started the same way as usual for Assistant Football Coach Kevin Hale, only on one particular night it was a bit warmer than usual.
Coach Hale said it was hot, so he was going to try to find a water source for the kids because he didn't really want to drag the cooler out on this particular day.
"Our old football coach Drew Wagers told me he had bought a brand new water tree that they didn't use last year, " said Coach Hale.
Coach Hale went to the basement or dungeon as he called it, to find the water tree. However, on this night, Coach Hale found much more than the water tree in the basement of Eisenhower High School.
"Among some paint cans, some dry-wall, and a shower curtain I found this piece of concrete," explained Coach Hale. "I pulled everything off and I noticed these two marble eyes and realized I think I found a panther that was part of the original school."
After dusting off EHS yearbooks, Coach Hale found out the panther was part of the older building and it sat in the courtyard. He said he even found a photo of the panther in a 1965 yearbook.
"Over the years it (panther) had been out there (in the courtyard) for people to view," explained Coach Hale.
School leader Dr. Amy Zahm and a maintenance worker saved the panther during the high school's big renovation. Coach Hale said, the panther was placed behind a maintenance shed for some time and then moved to the basement. The once sleek black statute, is now missing a tail, ears, a portion of its foot and features cracks and nicks along its body.
"Everybody had forgotten about it," said Coach Hale.
However, this panther would no longer be forgotten. Coach Hale sat down with Head Football Coach Steve Thompson and thought of a plan to restore the panther and give it a new sense of life.
"We have really tried to reconnect with the past and build tradition with our football program," explained Coach Hale. "You know something to give them that they can be proud of."
The two coaches got together and saw the future of the panther to be a symbol of pride and the past. Coach Hale said his idea for the panther will be like Clemson. Before the Clemson Tigers run out onto the field the rub a rock from Death Valley. Coach Hale and Coach Thompson plan to have this panther sit at the entrance of Alexander Field and have the players rub it on the way out.
"Each head coach has put their stamp on different things and for us it's just trying to connect the past," said Coach Thompson.
They hope this statue will serve as connection to help each player remember the players who came before them.
"I think it would not only tie this generation, but generations from the past," said Coach Hale. "I'm really hoping this is a rallying point for our athletes."
Both coaches have received a large amount of feedback from the community and from EHS alum. Coach Hale said he's had people from New York and California find out about the restoration plan for the panther and want to help.
"When Coach Thompson and I got into this we were not in it for the money, we were going to ask the district for help and then give it to the students," he explained.
Showing Eisenhower High School pride, these coaches feel the panther could be a turning point and will be a way to look back on traditions that Coach Hale feels some schools have lost.
"The thing about today's students and our community now is they are hungry for something. They want something they can look at and say it is their's and when you teach at a school like Eisenhower, we're kind of drifted away from tradition and honoring the past," said Coach Hale. "I hope when they walk by this old panther they look at it and they think about who came before me and I think that's a really important component of what Coach Thompson and I want to bring to our football program, our student athletes and our students in general."
Mark Scranton and Ed Lozano have offered to help in the restoration process of the panther. Coach Hale and Coach Thompson hope to have the panther completed by the home opener at the end of August.
