Schools
GHS Hall of Fame: Derek Swanson's 1,700-Yard, 24 TD Season Among Geneva's Best Ever
Part 3 of 4: Derek Swanson, one of Geneva's all-time great running backs and an academic all-American at Western Illinois University, will be inducted into the Geneva High School Athletic Hall of Fame at Saturday's halftime versus St. Charles East. He's e
Derek Swanson, class of 1986, is the second of three Geneva legends who will be inducted into the 2012 GHS Athletic Hall of Fame.
During 19 consecutive winning seasons as Viking football coach, Jerry Auchstetter had had extremely fast and quick running backs. But during Auchstetter’s final two consecutive seasons, 1984 and 1985, he had both, in Swanson.
During his junior football season of 1984, this 175-pound tailback electrified spectators and punished opposing defenses with 1,258 rushing yards in just nine games (Geneva went 7-2 in ’84 but was excluded from the postseason)—highlighted by a 252-yard game against Waubonsie Valley. In his senior season of 1985, Swanson bettered that performance, with 1,360 regular-season yards, and an even 1,700 yards in 11 games overall, before the Vikings lost to Lisle in the Class 3A quarterfinals in the rain.
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In his two-year career as a starter, Swanson finished with what were then Viking records in career rushing yards with 2,958; single-season touchdowns with 24; single-season points with 144; and most consecutive games of 100 yards or more rushing with 12.
His senior season he was the Little Seven Conference’s MVP, the Beacon-News Player of the Year, was named to the Champaign News-Gazette’s All-State First Team.
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Swanson was a three-sport athlete who played on Geneva’s regional championship basketball team of 1985-86; in track in the spring of his senior year, he was Little Seven Conference champion in both the long jump and triple jump, and with teammates set school records in both the 400-meter relay (43.5 seconds) and the 800-meter relay (1:31).
Swanson graduated ninth in his class academically with a 3.75 GPA and was both an Illinois State Scholar and a member of the National Honor Society. He went on to Western Illinois University on a full athletic scholarship; for the Leathernecks, he set a school record for receptions in a game with 14—all out of the backfield; WIU coaches named him the team’s Most Valuable Freshman in 1987, Sophomore in 1988 and Junior in 1989.
In 1988, he was named to the NCAA Academic All-America team.
Today, Swanson—the father of two sons in the Geneva schools—owns and operates a successful home remodeling business. He has served on the Geneva Academic Foundation, has served as a Geneva High assistant football coach, and currently coaches both youth football with the Tri-City Chargers and as a track assistant at Geneva Middle School South.
And to top it all off, are competing Feb. 4 in the benefit.
Two other inductees, soccer star Katy Lindenmuth Green and "Voice of the Vikings" PA announcer Kurt Wehrmeister,.
The 12th annual induction ceremonies for the Vikings’ Athletic Hall of Fame is scheduled for halftime of the Geneva-vs.-St. Charles East varsity
basketball game. The game starts at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, in the school’s main contest gymnasium.
- Editor's note: This article is courtesy of the Geneva Athletic Hall of Fame. Geneva Patch Editor Rick Nagel is a member of the Hall of Fame Committee.
