Coaches

Dick Laity

Year Inducted: 2002

Category: Coaches

Schools / Organizations:
Odell High School
Lena-Winslow High School

Biography:

Dick Laity had a successful coaching career in Illinois at Odell and Lena-Winslow High Schools. Laity spent eight seasons at Odell and fashioned a 121-84 mark. He took over at Lena-Winslow from 1980-94, took three years off, then came back to coach three more seasons. At Lena-Winslow, the Panthers were 296-187 under Laity’s direction, making him 417-271 overall.

Lena-Winslow claimed a fourth-place trophy in the 1984 IHSA Class A state tournament, appeared in the Elite Eight in 1988 and won 14 regular-season tournaments, four regionals, two sectionals and seven conference championships during Laity’s tenure. Three players, Bill Bramz, Justin Yeager and Jon Julius, earned all-state honors under Laity.

Three times Laity was an IBCA District Coach of the Year and he served as IBCA Class A North All Star Game coach in 1994. He also served the IHSA on its basketball advisory board. His induction was dedicated to the assistant coaches who served him – Brian Hill, Lou Baker, Chuck Coffman, Mike Dennis, Larry McKeon, Steve Schneiderman, Mike Taft, Jim Cox, Scott Hawkinson, Jon Wallace, Ric Arand, Joe Daughenbaugh, Dennis Hutenlocher, Steve Hawkinson and Justin Yeager.

Laity was also a baseball coach at Odell and a golf coach at Lena-Winslow. After he left Lena-Winslow, he moved to Florida and became a teacher and coach. He was a 1989 inductee into the Northwest Illinois Sports Hall of Fame. Dick Laity passed away on Jan. 13, 2014 at the age of 68.