For 35 football seasons Rod Butler coached in the college and high school game and few had more success.

His largest impact on the local grid scene was the nine seasons he spent as head coach at Richwoods High School after taking over from Tom Peeler.

His Knight teams went 90-15 with eight of the losses coming in the state playoffs. All nine of his teams made post-season play, his 1988 team winning the 5A championship.

And he could have won a couple more state titles. A pair of one-point losses were all the stood between Richwoods and three consecutive championships in the 1987-89 period.

Butler spent nine seasons as an assistant at Illinois State and Morehead State and ten more as an aide at Richwoods and Limestone.

He went 18-7-2 in three seasons as head coach at Princeton High School and alter retiring at Richwoods, taught part-time at East Peoria High School and coached the Red Raider football team.

His teams there went 0-8, 2-7, 3-6, and 5-4, the final year the first winning season for the school in nine years. He then retired from coaching for good.