SJO Legend Dick Duval Passes Away

Illinois High School Football lost one of the best today. Dick Duval, the longtime coach for the St. Joseph-Ogden Spartans past away after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Just last week before their scrimmage, SJO dedicated the field in his honor, and sounds like something will be done tomorrow night before their game with Monticello. It's fitting that the game is against Monticello where Duval served as a part-time teacher after he retired.

I didn't know coach Duval too well but in the few interactions that I had with him, he sounded like he was a great guy that loved coaching more than he loved the game of football. He was definitely a man that did all he could for his players and got the most out of them as both players and as men.

https://www.news-gazette.com/sports/hall-of-fame-sj-o-football-coach-dick-duval-dies-after-cancer-battle/article_09d5aa88-4ddd-51e3-9e39-f12cc355eff1.html

My first encounter with Coach Duvall was quarterfinal weekend in 1997. There was a ton of Snow that day and it was freezing cold out. We made the mistake of clearing all the snow off the field. They had a huge Tailback in Ryan Jones who ran wild on us and everyone really that playoff run and thus ended my prep career. That was really the first time i heard about Coach and the St. Joe Ogden program.

I would go on to play at Olivet where I became teammates and friends with a number of his former players including classmate Terry Maxwell now the HC at Seneca. From that day forward I always kept my eye on that program and it was a great small school program for a very long time. Great Community Support, Great team and a Great Coaching staff that was together for a long time. For many years they got the best of us.

I got to know Coach on a personal level right around the time he stepped down from Coaching. We would text and talk quite frequently throughout the year not just football season. He would come up to our 7 on 7 we hosted in the summer and come hang at the Crazy Beaver in Chebanse afterwards it was always a good time talking ball and being around him.

Last year as he was going through cancer he befriended my late love Michelle as she was going through her own health issues. He was a very positive person for her and I think she was the same for him. On the toughest day of my life at Michelle's funeral Coach Duvall took time out of his life to come up to to these parts and be there for me. I was blown away to say the least as I did not expect that at all. Dick Duval is a Hall of Fame Coach, Friend and Person. I will miss him alot. Cancer is a nasty disease. I hope he is resting peacefully now Im sure Ill be thinking about him tomorrow night and Friday nights throughout the season.

Nice tribute to Coach Duvall Bighitter. I never personally met him but have never heard anything but good things about him. I still remember the state title game a few years back between SJO and Stillman Valley. Duvall should have gotten his state title that day. There was a TD awarded to Stillman Valley but the ball never made it to the goal line. After the game Coach Duvall was a class act when he could have been sour about a bad call.

He grew up in Herscher right acroos the street from the football field in that white farmhouse, he was my 6th great teacher before he headed off to Kankakee 111.. I was good friends with his sister in high school, great family and great guy..

Quality human. Naturally, I knew Coach Duval from his first season at SJO. He was the first to congratulate me when I got the HFC position at MS.

BigHitter11: I coached Terry and Ryan when they were in Junior High football and in HS track. Tried like heck to talk Terry into coming to coach for me, but thrilled for him in his new gig.