Dean Riley

from NewsTribune_IV Hall of Fame_092921

D.J. Glynn

OTTAWA / IVCC

Accomplishments

• Legendary basketball coach at Ottawa, compiled a 332-146 career record with 17 winning seasons • Won eight regionals, two sectionals & led the 1977-78 team to the Elite 8 in Class AA • At IVCC, program went 234-118 in 12 seasons • His 1987-88 team finished third in the nation and 198889 team went 30-2 and was ranked No. 1 in the nation for most of the season • Member of the Ottawa High

School HOF, ICA Hall of

HOF, National Junior College

HOF and annual Ottawa

Thanksgiving tournament named in his honor

SUBMITTED PHOTO

By Andy Tavegia

If you go to Ottawa Township High School’s season-opening boys basketball Thanksgiving tournament or even just a practice anytime throughout the season, it’s no coincidence you may walk away thinking of Dean Riley.

Even in the years since his passing, his fingerprints, his terminology and his name are all over a program that — very much like Riley’s Pirates teams of the 1960s and 1970s — have been as successful as any program around. That’s by design and a major tribute from current OTHS coach Mark Cooper. He’s known Riley since Cooper was a little boy attending his basketball camp and was a major part to two wonderful Riley-coached teams at Illinois Valley Community College. “He obviously had a great impact on my life, and anything I can do to carry on his name … I owe that to him,” Cooper said. “The things he stood for while he was at Ottawa and the coach at IVCC and the coach of me, I want to carry on those traditions and what NOW WHERE are they our program tries to represent is what he was all about.”

But it’s more than just a bunch of winning seasons, words, and a Thanksgiving tournament that carries the Riley name and was established not long after Cooper took the reins at Ottawa. It’s a matter of respect and the ethics of a man that played a major role in basketball across the Illinois Valley.

“A lot of my sayings and phrases and how I carry myself is a compliment

to him,” Cooper said. “He always did things in a first-class manor. He was extremely competitive and organized. He treated kids the right way.

“He had as big an influence on my life, not only coaching and otherwise, that I could ask for.”

Dean Riley’s son, Brad, himself a product of Dean Riley’s coaching at OTHS, could not think of a better tribute to his father.

“It means a lot because, as I grew up, I knew everything he did and how much he loved coaching and what he put into it, the passion he had for it,” Brad Riley said. “To him, it was all about the people. It’s something he liked not so much for himself, but the chance to be with other people and other people in the profession. It’s something he loved, and we remember that about him.”

Much like Cooper, Brad Riley had the opportunity to learn from Dean Riley as a player in his playing days. Brad graduated from Ottawa in 1971 and played both basketball and football with his father as coach. It’s an experience he cherishes to this day.

“He was very worried about that because there are challenges to having your dad as a coach,” Brad said. “He was very set on not showing favoritism to anyone. In a lot of ways, he said there are a lot of advantages until you’re the coach of the team, and then that’s a disadvantage. He bent over backwards to not show favoritism. But while he was worried about that, I was never worried about it because that’s all I knew. It was him as a coach. To me, it was nice to have that role and see what he did first-hand. I saw how he went about his business.”

And how he went about his business was as a very competitive, organized and charismatic figure who managed to get the best out of his players, no matter the strengths or weaknesses. It didn’t matter if it was loaded with talented players who knew each other well like the 1977-78 Ottawa Pirates or a group like the 1987-88 and 1988-89 IVCC squads that featured a mixture of the best from the Illinois Valley and the Peoria areas.

“Wherever we went he would run into people we knew, because he liked to talk, and he liked to tell stories,” Brad Riley said. “He liked to interact with people and help them get along with people. He knew each person was different and put that into coaching and knew how to get the best out of people.

“Each group is different, and I think the one thing he was able to do was blend the styles to put people in the best position to do well. He was able to get the most out of people because he wasn’t stuck on any one way of doing things. It was more of how you build a team to get the most out of everybody.”

In addition to Brad, Dean also has three daughters in Robin, Reggi and Christa.

“To him, it was all about the people. It’s something he liked not so much for himself, but the chance to be with other people and other people in the profession. It’s something he loved, and we remember that about him.”

Brad Riley, son of Dean Riley