Jim Heeres never married and has no children, but he became a father figure of sorts to thousands of Whitehall High School students through 48 years of service as a teacher and coach. During that time, he successfully coached football, basketball, baseball, and softball, but the lessons he taught went well beyond the playing field.

His greatest impact came in the classroom where he taught the class for which he is best known, entitled “Self-Discovery”. Heeres asked Whitehall seniors to look inside themselves and evaluate who they are and what type of person they want to become. Though he has retired from teaching, his former students created and maintain a Facebook page thanking him for all he’s done and the page now has more than 1,700 fans.

Heeres is still impacting students and adults in every aspect of his life. He strives to show others that in this age of technology — human interaction, sharing, and connecting is more critical than ever. In a recent speech he shared, “I have tremendous gratitude which comes from the heart. Out of the heart comes all of the issues of life.”