Football Hall of Fame

Few coaches had more impact on so many local athletes as Tommy Correll - and almost no one coached as long.

Correll, an outstanding Bradley athlete, especially as an outfielder and hitter, gave his entire coaching and teaching life to Woodruff and the two schools that preceded it, Averyville and Kingman.

From 1925 through 1960 he coached north side athletes, many of the years handling the football, basketball and baseball teams.

He began at Averyville, then a Peoria suburb, in 1924 and switched to Kingman when Averyville became part of the city and the school was renamed. Kingman existed until the 1937-38 school year when the present Woodruff High School was constructed.

In 20 seasons at the three schools his football teams went 73-76-11, his best season at Woodruff produced by the 1939 team that won eight of 11 games and tied another.

As Woodruff's basketball coach he took two teams to the state finals, his 1938-39 team whipping Gillespie before bowing to Paris and his 1950-51 team opening with a win over St. Paul of Odell before being ousted by Stephen Decatur.

His 1950 Woodruff baseball team finished second in the state tournament played here.

Virgil Boucher, also entering the hall this time, succeeded Correll as Woodruff's football coach for the 1946 season and Don Mathews, a Spalding standout who later played for Bradley, took over the Woodruff basketball reins for the 1959-60 season.

Correll played semi-pro baseball in the Sunday Morning League for many seasons after graduating from Bradley and later was a baseball and softball umpire for several decades.

He passed away in December of 1980.