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Gil Peterson obit

Athletics Department WIU Athletic Communications

Leatherneck Athletics Mourns Loss of Gil Peterson

WIU and NACDA Hall of Fame member was 86 years old

MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois Athletics mourns the loss of former Athletic Director Gil Peterson, who passed away at his home in Dade City, Florida, last Friday. He was 86 years old.
 
One of the longest tenured Athletic Directors in Western Illinois University history, Peterson began his career with the Leathernecks in 1970 and over the next 25 years, oversaw WIU's unprecedented growth from the NAIA ranks to NCAA Division I. 
 
A member of the Western Illinois Athletics and National Association Collegiate Director of Athletics (NACDA) Hall of Fame, just two of the five Hall of Fames he is inducted in, Peterson was instrumental in the creation of Western's conference home the past 30-plus years (now Summit League & Missouri Valley Football Conference) and the Leatherneck Club. During his career at Western, Peterson was one of the most well-known and respected Athletic Directors in the country.
 
"On behalf of the athletics department, we send our condolences to Marilyn and the entire Peterson family. Gil guided the department for a quarter century and during that time, left a lasting imprint on how we look and operate today, including our conference affiliations," said Matt Tanney, Director of Athletics. "Gil's legacy extended beyond Macomb, onto the national stage, and we're honored that he represented Western Illinois University with such distinction."
 
Funeral services will be held on Sunday, June 26 at 2 p.m. (eastern) at the Hodges Family Funeral Home in Dade City, Florida. Peterson is survived by his wife Marilyn and sons Mark, Chris and Kyle, eight grandchildren, one brother and one sister.
 
The family announced a scholarship to benefit Western Illinois Athletics will be created, the Gil Peterson Scholarship. For more information on the scholarship or to donate, contact Assistant Athletic Director Michael Jones at (309) 298-1190 or M-Jones2@wiu.edu.
 
A full obituary can be found at HodgesFuneralHome.com.
 
#W1U
 
 
 
Gil Peterson – 25 years as an Athletic Administrator at Western Illinois University
Written March 2015
 
The list of individuals who served as Director of Leatherneck Athletics is a short one, just six dating back to the 1920s. Each individual from 'Rock' (Ray Hanson) to current AD Tommy Bell made contributions to the betterment of Athletics. The impact that one athletic director made helped get Western to where it is at today.
 
Gil Peterson joined Western Illinois in 1970, taking over the Athletic Department after serving as the AD and football coach at Huron College. Over the next quarter century, Peterson helped shape the future of Leatherneck Athletics.
 
"When Gil came here in 1970, he was very well received. Everyone was excited about having a football guy come in as athletic director," said Dwaine Roche, former associate athletic director in charge of the Leatherneck Club who worked under Peterson. "He had been the head football coach and AD at Huron College in South Dakota. He'd been very successful there. People anticipated him being a fund raiser and running a good athletic program.
 
"We were a NAIA program when he came. He moved and transitioned Western into a Division II school then onto a Division I program like we are now. Gil knew the history and tradition of Western football before with Lou Saban, Red Miller, and Joe Collier all being here. He was a big football guy from South Dakota where football is big."
 
Bryce Dexter grew up near the Peterson family. A family friend, and former Leatherneck student-athlete during the Peterson era, Dexter now serves as the director of development for the College of Arts and Sciences.
 
"He was the biggest man I ever knew, a big towering man but soft spoken. Kyle (Peterson) and I were friends as soon as they moved to Macomb. On weekends Kyle and I could hang out at Western Hall and run around the place as kids would do," said Dexter. "When I moved back here 13 years ago it was fun to see Gil and Marilyn again. They have always treated me as if I was one of their own kids."
 
When Peterson joined Western as the men's athletic director, the department had men's and women's athletics separated. When Roche joined the department in 1985 the two departments merged and Peterson oversaw both.
 
"Gil was very instrumental in moving Western forward, he was very proactive. Gil did a good job with fund raising. It was the first time Western did any official athletic department fund raising and it really moved along. People were excited about being involved. The donor levels made people excited about being able to do certain things," said Roche.
 
Dexter remembers one of the gifts his dad received as being a member of the Leatherneck Club.
 
"Gil gave everyone purple blazers as part of being with the Western Athletic Club (now Leatherneck Club). It is the most purple blazer you have ever seen… my dad (fellow Hall of Fame member and former team physician Dr. Donald Dexter) still has his. It's awesome, it still fits him. I believe when you became a member of the Leatherneck Club (at a certain level) you got a purple blazer and as the years went by there were other WIU mementos and my Dad has kept every one. He made it very special to belong to the Leatherneck Club," said Dexter.
 
Developing relationships was crucial in creating the Leatherneck Club. He recognized this locally but also on a regional and national level as well.
 
"Gil and Marilyn would host these wonderful socials, like ice cream socials, golf tournaments at their home or at other locations. They were really good at involving the community in everything. They were very much a part of the Macomb and Western community," said Dexter.
 
"Athletics was coming into a new age, and Gil was bringing it in with all these new ideas he had. I think he saw it was important to get the community involved, get the alumni involved," said Dexter. "He raised $125,000 in one night from a dinner for 'Rebuild the Rock' (Hanson Field renovation). Athletics really grew under him. Obviously he was very creative with his ideas and he could put those ideas into motion. To me he was WIU Athletics."
 
Peterson was a well-known name nationally in collegiate athletics. He served on several NCAA committees, including the playoff selection of Division I FCS football along with basketball and track/field committees.
 
"Gil had strong ties with a lot of athletic directors around the country. He was a big name in National Association Collegiate Director of Athletics (NACDA), he was very involved with the organization," said Roche. "He served on some executive councils, he was with the United States Collegiate Sports Council during the World University Games. He's in the NACDA Hall of Fame, one of several Hall of Fames he is in."
 
Bell understands and appreciates the history of his position as the current leader of Leatherneck Athletics.
 
"As the sitting Athletic Director, in the same role as three NACDA Hall of Fame members once held, I am humbled and honored to serve Western Illinois Athletics. Gil's accomplishments for Western Illinois Athletics speaks for itself," said Bell. "He had great vision and saw the potential for Western Illinois University both academically and athletically. Western is one of - and last of - the founding members of the Summit League. Now in our fourth decade since Gil took the men's department up to the Division I level, this department and University has seen tremendous growth and opportunities for thousands of student-athletes."
 
Arguably the biggest relationships Peterson nurtured were with institutions in the region. Western is one of the founding members of the Summit League and Missouri Valley Football Conference. Peterson was instrumental in the creation of Western's conference home the past 30-plus years.
 
"Gil was one of, if not the, main person to put that conference (now Summit League) together. He saw that if Western was going to survive we needed to be in a conference. He was very close to the AD at Northern Iowa, Stan Sheriff, who built the Dome. Gil and Stan were very close. Stan was AD and football coach," stated Roche. "RC Johnson became Eastern's AD. Former Iowa Athletic Director and also former AD at Stanford Bob Bowlsby, he was at Northern Iowa too. We had great relationships with UNI and Eastern Illinois… Gil spent a lot of time with other universities talking them into the prospects of joining a conference and being affiliated with a conference group. He worked really hard at it."
 
The Leathernecks enjoyed a great amount of success during their NAIA era, from the men's golf and gymnastic teams winning national championships, men's basketball advancing to the national championship game, and wrestlers winning individual national titles. The department kept that success rolling after moving to the Division II level. However, recognizing the need to move up, Peterson had to make the sales pitch to the University and community.
 
"Before basketball games and football games we would have social events and different people would host events at their homes. You would go here then go to the game. They were very well attended. I can remember basketball games we would have 7,000-8,000 people in Western Hall. Football games sitting on the hillsides with so many people in attendance. The community really bought into the program," said Roche. "I remember the Eastern Illinois games, people would be lined up down the street to get into the games and be standing room only. They were always big games, both at Western and at Eastern. There was a lot of community support in the 1970s and 1980s when Gil had things rockin' and rolling.
 
"People I think were leery of moving to Division I, they didn't think we would be able to do it. Gil saw if we were going to be competitive, and compete with the schools in our region, we were going to have to go Division I because they were all there. That took a lot of selling. He spent a lot of hours then trying to convince the administration, the community and other people."
 
Peterson's counterparts in the league would routinely attend the Leatherneck Club Golf Classic, allowing members of the Macomb community to interact with the leader of those opposing teams.
 
"Gil had great relationships with the other athletic directors in our conference. They spent a lot of time together. As a matter of fact they came here a lot, he went to their institutions a lot – they visited more than the directors do now I think. Every year for the Leatherneck Classic he had all the athletic directors in the conference invited and most all of them came every year," said Roche. "That was a big hit around the community because some of them were real characters. People in the community got to know them and enjoyed them being here. It was always fun, you never knew what they were going to be up to."
 
The athletic department underwent unprecedented growth during Peterson's tenure. Dexter recalls the positive atmosphere surrounding the department.
 
"I was a walk-on on the WIU swim team. Kyle (Peterson) was a freshman football player and we lived in Tanner Hall with many other athletes. It was a positive atmosphere when I was here," said Dexter. "It was a lot of fun to go to football games, the stadium was always packed. It was a really great experience here.
 
Peterson retired from Western in 1995, and during that year was inducted in both the Western Illinois Athletics and NACDA Hall of Fame. Peterson is one of three Athletic Directors in Western history to receive the ultimate honor from NACDA, joining Ray Hanson and former women's AD Marion Blackinton.
 
Peterson, who just turned 85 last month, moved from Macomb to Florida with his wife of 56 years, Marilyn. They have three sons: Mark, Chris and Kyle.
 
"He was very visionary you could say, moving Western forward rather than sitting still and letting the world pass us by. Trying to keep the 'little school in little Macomb' up with the big boys," said Roche. "It was a challenge and still is a challenge but I think his vision and foresight was very important for Western and where we are now."
 
 
 
 
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