Monticello's Cully Welter looks for players to put in the game in the final minutes of the Sages' 2024 state title game against Montini. In addition to last year's Class 3A title game appearance, Welter, who was inducted in 2018, has led teams to IHSA state championships in 1998, 2001, 2002, and 2018 and state runner-up finishes in 2005 and 2006. He is only one of two Illinois high school football coaches to win state titles at two different schools. No area head coaches will be honored at this year's annual IHSFCA conference.
Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks
ROCHELLE - The Illinois High School Football Coaches Association announced its 2025 Hall of Fame class today. The honored coaches will be recognized on Saturday, March 29, at the I Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign.
While no coaches from the Champaign-Urbana area made this year's selection, Leonard Sementi, a longtime assistant for the Tuscola Warriors, will receive an award at the luncheon.
In addition to serving as the football team's defensive coordinator for more than 30 years, Sementi was the school's head softball coach for 23 seasons. In August, he was hired as the head softball coach for the Parkland College Cobras.
Eighteen coaches, split into five categories — active, career, assistants, deceased, and retired — are scheduled to be inducted at the annual event. The coaches were chosen based on their contributions to the football coaching profession and the impact they made within their programs.
Tickets are $40 and can be purchased through the association's official website, ihsfca.com. Illinois Fighting Illini football coach Bret Bielema will be the keynote speaker for the noon luncheon.
Nominations for future Hall of Fame selections can be made at
ihsfca.com.
Active
John Shadowens - Sessier-Vallier
Ray Kauling - Centralia
Career
Tom Bailey - Homewood-Flossmoor
Leonard Sementi - Tuscola
Lee Maciejewski - Glenbard West
Dan Groce - Chenoa
Neal Taylor - Springfield HS
Assistants
Michael Eudy - Anna-Jonesboro
Keith Laughary - Morris
Greg Segraves - Harrisburg
Thomas Lahey - Andrew
Terry Stanger - Woodstock Marian
Pat Beadle - Galena
James Huffman - Routt Catholic
Deceased
Tom Peterson - Minooka
Larry D. Caldieraro, Jr. - Staunton
Retired
Paul Bassler - Triad
Nick Flowers - Carrollton
Ray Eliot Award
Tim O’ Halloran - “Edgy Tim”
