Sep 22, 2011
By Joe Szynkowski
Reciting The Lord’s Prayer before and after games. Partaking in a pre-game meal at a local church. Graciously pointing to the sky after scoring the winning touchdown.
Football and faith have gone hand in hand for many years and Benton defensive line coach Bob Pankey has found a way to intersect the two in his professional life. Brought on the staff last year as a “character coach” and assistant defensive line coach, the full-time youth pastor has quickly transitioned from new guy to leader of the trenches.
Pankey played high school football for Benton and graduated in 1992. After earning two bachelor’s degrees from Southern Illinois University, he became youth pastor of Whittington Church in 2002 and began coordinating a club called Fellowship for Christian Students. His knowledge of Benton and his love for football made it an easy decision to join Jeremy Clodfelder’s staff last season.
“I’ve always thought that to be an effective pastor or person of faith, you have to get outside of the church walls and try to make a difference in the lives of people,” Pankey said. “It’s hard to make a difference inside the church. You have to get outside and be involved with the community.”
A local seminar sparked Clodfelder’s idea to hire a “character coach.” He noticed during the summer before last season that Benton’s players responded well to Pankey in the weight room and realized the positive impact Pankey could make on the Rangers.
“We felt like that was a direction we needed to go in a hurry,” Clodfelder said. “He’s good for the kids and, heck, he’s good for me. I know that I can get close to out-of-bounds from time to time. I still have my moments, but I try to clean things up. Not that I would say we’re awful, probably no different than other programs. I think his presence in our program has been a positive for us.”
Pankey doesn’t have “character coach” typed out on his business card – it just goes without saying that he understands and specializes in the process of building character among his players and even his fellow coaches.
“It’s not really an official title, but it’s just kind of understood,” Pankey said. “Most of them view me as another football coach. I take the approach, whether you have the designation or not, we’re all character coaches. If you’re around young people they’re watching you and learning from you whether you want them to or not.”
Tough Transition
The welcome addition of Pankey came at about the same time as the tragic subtraction of longtime Benton coach Mark Harben. The linebackers’ coach unexpectedly passed away on June 19, 2010, at the Rangers annual camp in Rantoul.
Pankey did not travel with the team to the camp, but was there for the Rangers when they returned home with heavy hearts. “I just tried to give them all encouragement,” he said. “I just wanted to help them through it and help them know how to react. I told them it was OK to grieve and to respond however they responded.
“I was really careful last year to not make it seem like I was replacing coach Harben, because you can’t replace coach Harben. I was just coming in as an additional person to coach football and be support for the boys at any point and time.”
Clodfelder did his part to assure his players, too, assuming Harben’s duties as linebackers’ coach and asserting Pankey’s job as Doc Simpson’s assistant defensive line coach. Still, some players found it to be an uncomfortable situation. “I knew him because he is my pastor,” said senior wide receiver/defensive back Eric Price. “But I know to some of the guys it felt like he was replacing coach Harben. But it didn’t take long for everybody to warm up to him.”
“I’ll be honest. I didn’t really want him at first,” said junior lineman Shane Bettenhausen. “I wanted coach Harben. Now I go to him probably more than anybody else for anything. He’s my coach.”
After working for a year under Simpson and spending the offseason helping rebuild Benton’s defensive philosophy from the ground up, Pankey now feels that the transition is complete.
“I learned a lot from Doc Simpson. Not just about football,” Pankey said, “but about being around the boys and how to do your thing. He was a really big influence on me.”
“He’s done a tremendous job,” Clodfelder said. “He’s taken over the defensive line. It’s his. I give him full reign.”
Melding Faith and Football
Pankey coordinates Thursday night pre-game meals for the Rangers at various churches throughout Benton. Eating at different churches each week helps players and coaches connect with a large group of community members. That fits right in with Pankey’s overall philosophy on faith.
“I try to be an example and let my faith show in the way I live my day-to-day life,” he said. “Whether it’s coaching on the football field, let your faith show. Whether it’s walking through the halls of Benton High School let your faith show. Whether it’s doing something at the church Sunday morning, let your faith show.”
Pankey said although faith and football work well together, he is careful not to overstep his boundaries. “We’ve tried really hard to not push the faith aspect of things off on the kids … I’ve never tried to shove that in anybody’s face or be over the top with anything like that. They all know what I do for a living.
“I have had kids come up to me that would say, ‘coach, I’ve got an issue going on in my life …would you pray for me.’ And I do. I would do that for somebody who walked up to me in Wal-Mart. But then I know that there are also probably some kids who aren’t interested in the faith aspect of things.”
Benton’s players appreciate Pankey’s faith and say that he does a good job of balancing his religion and his duties as football coach. They feel comfortable approaching him for issues that may arise, football-related or not.
“He’s patient with you and makes sure that you know what you’re doing,” said senior lineman Colt Dugger. “He doesn’t just get mad and keep going. He stays and waits with you.”
“He’s a laid back guy, but he’s a coach at the same token,” Price added. “He handles things in a Christian manner.”
So can this patient and laid back pastor yell if he has to?
“Oh yeah, I love the intensity part of football,” Pankey said. “I think the players know what to expect and what not to expect from me as far as how I respond in certain situations. It hasn’t been an issue at all in terms of getting them geared up and having their respect. I haven’t felt like they think I’m soft.”
Pankey has lent his ear to many people dealing with painstaking problems and challenging circumstances. He officiates funerals. He understands that there are more important things in life than football – a message he constantly shares with his players.
“I try to use illustrations of life to help make sense of things on the football field,” Pankey said. “I told them this last year, life’s not all about football, but football is all about life. There’s a whole lot you can learn here that translates to all aspects of life.”
Joe Szynkowski is a freelance writer for SISC. He can be reached at joeszynkowski@hotmail.com.
