Coach beat odds with ALS
By Eileen O. Daday
Daily Herald Correspondent
Posted Thursday, June 14, 2007



James L. Payne ~ 1940-2007

Every year after football season ends at Leyden High School in Franklin Park, officials bestow a special honor on one player: the “Jim Payne Badge of Courage Award.”

They began the tradition in 1991, shortly after Assistant Football Coach James L. Payne had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's Disease.

In 1993, when Mr. Payne was no longer able to coach, the football team dedicated the season to him.

Mr. Payne passed away Monday. The 30-year Schaumburg resident had defeated the odds and lived 17 years after he was diagnosed. He was 66.

“There is no doubt that because he was such an outstanding athlete and he had this tremendous will to stay alive, that he lived that long,” said Jack Leese, former head football coach of East Leyden High School.

Mr. Payne grew up in Amboy, where he was a standout athlete in high school, lettering in football, basketball and baseball.

When he attended Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., he set several records.

As a halfback for the Redmen, Mr. Payne played on a team that had a 19-game winning streak. During their run, Mr. Payne set the record for longest punt return — 88 yards — and average career yards from 1960-1963 by averaging 8.7 yards per carry.

He held the record for yards per season within the College Conference Illinois Wisconsin (CCIW) and was All-Conference, All-State and All-American while at Carthage.

Mr. Payne began his teaching career in Woodstock before accepting a position at East Leyden, where he taught physical education and coached freshmen football.

Within four years, he moved up to coach the backfield on the varsity team.

“Of the eight years he coached with me at the varsity level, we won six conference championships and one state championship in 1977,” Leese said. “There has to be a correlation.

“From the players’ and students’ viewpoints, he was the most popular coach we every had,” Leese added.

Mr. Payne also was well known in the Schaumburg community. For several years during the summer, he managed Atcher Community Pool, now known as Atcher Island Water Park.

Survivors include his wife of 46 years, Ruth Ann, as well as his son Kent (Sherry) of Burlington, and daughters Krista (Steve) Feldman of Pingree Grove and Angela (Adam) Gallien of Sugar Hill, GA, as well as five grandchildren.

Services for Mr. Payne will begin with a celebration of life at 5 p.m. today at Church of the Holy Spirit, 1451 Bode Rd. in Schaumburg, followed by a 7 p.m. funeral.