Gerald “Jerry” O’Connor, Fox High School’s winningest football coach and a respected retired Fox C-6 School District administrator, has died. He was 87.
Mr. O’Connor, who lived in Arnold, went 80-54-5 in his football coaching career, winning four conference titles and leading the Warriors to their only undefeated football season, going 9-0 in 1966.
He worked in the district from 1960 to 1996, spending most of his time at Fox High and retiring as the assistant superintendent of secondary education.
“He was my principal when I went to high school here,” Fox High School assistant principal Joe Salsman said. “He was the kindest, nicest, most genuine person you would ever want to meet. There is no one who would ever say a bad word about him. He was definitely my role model. Students and staff just thought the world of him when he was head principal. You couldn’t have asked for a better human being to work for the Fox School District.”
Christine Simokaitis, one of Mr. O’Connor’s four children, said her father died on Oct. 22 from complications after he had surgery due to a hip fracture following a recent fall.
She said he was a dedicated father and educator.
“He was not just a pillar in the community; he was the pillar of our family,” Simokaitis said. “He was always active and involved with family and his 12 grandchildren.”
Jim Chellew, former Fox superintendent, said Mr. O’Connor influenced his life when he was a student and later when he was an educator. The two served as assistant superintendents at Fox at the same time , with Chellew overseeing the elementary schools and Mr. O’Connor overseeing the secondary schools.
“He was my coach and teacher as a kid,” Chellew added. “He modeled the kind of behaviors that you want every kid to see growing up. He just was the perfect role model for any kid going through school.
“Working with him, he always gave me good advice. I could always count on him to give me something that made sense and that I could take to the bank.”
Mr. O’Connor was born in Chester, Ill., and was a standout athlete at Chester High School. He earned scholarships to the University of Illinois and Southeast Missouri State University.
From 1960 to 1970, Mr. O’Connor was a math and physical education teacher at Fox High, while also serving as the head coach for the football and baseball teams and as an assistant basketball coach.
Larry Kinder, the quarterback for the 1966 Fox High football team, once wrote a letter about the importance his coaches played in his life and sent a copy to O’Connor.
In the letter, which O’Connor’s family shared with the Leader, Kinder said, “Coach O’Connor … what can I say? The most significant male figure in my life. I love him as I do my father. I would do anything for him to repay my gratitude for the example he set. Often in life when I wondered what I should do, I resolved the dilemma by asking myself what do I think Coach O’Connor would have done?”
O’Connor was promoted to an administrative role in 1970, becoming the athletic director and an assistant principal. He served in those roles, while continuing as the head football coach, until 1975.
He then became Fox High’s principal until 1989, when he was named the assistant superintendent of secondary education.
“He was a great guy and community leader,” said Arnold Mayor Ron Counts, who served on the Fox Board of Education when Mr. O’Connor worked for the district. “He had a great career at the Fox School District. He loved the school district. He loved our city. He loved the kids at the school. That was his big passion. He is going to be missed.”
The Board of Education named Fox High’s athletic stadium after Mr. O’Connor in 1997, and he was inducted into the school’s sports hall of fame in 2005.
Mr. O’Connor was inducted into the Fox High School Alumni and Staff Hall of Fame on Oct. 19. The alumni and staff hall was established in 2023 to honor staff members who worked at the school for at least 15 years and students who had graduated at least 10 years prior to induction in 2023.
Mr. O’Connor was unable to attend the induction ceremony due to his injury.
Players from the 1966 football team were at the event, though, and spoke about Mr. O’Connor’s influence on their lives away from the field and on the field, Salsman said.
He said he is happy Mr. O’Connor’s name will always be part of Fox High through the stadium and his inclusion in the two halls of fame.
“Seeing those football players from the 1966 team, they will tell you how important it is to carry his legacy on,” he said. “That is how much he was admired.”
Salsman said Mr. O’Connor often attended Fox High home football games.
“He would try to pay walking in,” Salsman said. “It was like, ‘Mr. O’Connor, this stadium is named after you. We are not taking your money.’ He would sit by himself, and the former football players would go up and talk to him. He enjoyed more than anything sitting there watching a football game at Fox High School.”
Simokaitis said her father always had time for Fox High students.
“He was a mentor to so many young men and students at Fox,” she said. “I can tell you there would be teenagers who would knock on our door and want to sit in our living room and talk to Dad. He always had time to talk to anyone.
“There are so many stories. People come up to us all the time and say, ‘Your dad really cared about me when I was in high school and needed help.’ He was always looking out for everyone.”
Mr. O’Connor, who was preceded in death by his wife, Judith, always had time for his children, too. His other children are Mike O’Connor, Anne Symes and Joan Welsh.
Welsh said her father got her through a tough time while she was attending nursing school.
“I called home crying and saying, ‘I don’t know if I can do this,’” she said. “All Dad could say was, ‘Joan, you just try as hard as you can and let the chips fall where they may.’ That has stuck with me forever, and I say that to my kids. That is all you can do. Try your best and let the chips fall where they may.”
Symes said her father was a key member of the Fox C-6 community.
“These young teachers grew as the district grew, became lifelong friends, raised their children together and gave back tenfold what they ever received in pay," she said.