By Richard Luken | Original Article Here
It’s a race against the clock for Jennifer Freeman’s latest homage to her father, the late coaching luminary Bill Freeman.
The elder Freeman was one of the most successful high school football and track coaches in Kansas history, having racked up eight state titles on the gridiron in Le Roy, Osawatomie and Lawrence, while winning two other state track and field titles at Lawrence.
He coached for 35 years before hanging up his whistle and settling down in Le Roy, where he became a banker and was town mayor.
Bill Freeman died in 2015 following a yearslong battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Jennifer’s efforts to honor her father, and aid other families affected by Alzheimer’s has taken various forms through the years.
She spearheaded a successful effort in 2014 to get her father inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, before she successfully lobbied the state in 2016 to consider implementing license plates in honor of Alzheimer’s victims (although more orders are needed for the plates to begin production).
Her latest venture comes in story form.
With the assistance of a ghost writer, Jennifer has penned “The Heart of a Champion,” which tells her father’s life story.
“My father was such a humble man, but he was a great man,” she told the Register in a recent telephone interview. “I got the idea about a year ago, and wanted to tell his story.”
“Heart of a Champion” traces Coach Freeman’s roots as a Burlington native.
After playing football at Burlington High and then Emporia State University, Freeman started coaching in 1954 at Parker High School. From there, he went to Le Roy, leading the football program there to a state title, and then to Osawatomie, where he won two more. It was in Lawrence that Freeman reached his highest acclaim, leading the Lions to five more state titles, and two others in track.
Following his retirement in 1990, Freeman returned to Le Roy, where he owned First National Bank of Le Roy. He also served as Le Roy mayor for 31 years.
Jennifer’s book also covers her father’s other health battles against prostate cancer and heart disease prior to his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2012. The final chapter details the disease’s progression until his death in December 2015.
It took about eight months for Jennifer to complete her father’s biography.
Through the process, she heard from several of his former players, including Osawatomie and Kansas State University quarterback Lynn Dickey.
Dickey, who went on to play in the NFL for the Houston Oilers and Green Bay Packers, earned all-pro status for the Packers in 1983.
Dickey agreed to write the book’s foreword.
“It was amazing to work with Lynn,” she said. “I think the best part was getting to hear stories about Dad I never heard before.”
There is some urgency to completing the project. She wants to have the books on hand by June 30, when she will appear with Dickey at the Osawatomie Days celebration.
“I’d really love for him to be able to sign books and not just pose for pictures,” she said.
Jennifer should have the final art pieces to the publishers at Amazon so it can be printed within the next week or so.
The books will be available via Amazon, or they can be ordered by contacting Jennifer via her Facebook page.
“It’s been a struggle to get a website set up,” she said. “That’s not really my speciality.”
The books sell for $12 a piece.
Jennifer had hoped to use the proceeds to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association, but bureaucratic hurdles have stopped that notion.
Instead, she hopes to either establish a scholarship in her father’s name, or make a monetary donation to one of Bill Freeman’s former schools.
“That’s what Dad was all about,” she said.
Freeman also will be in Lawrence Aug. 18 for a book-signing from 1 to 3 p.m.
As an aside, Freeman is still hoping to get others to sign up to order an Alzheimer’s license plate, although there’s a ways to go.
The state requires at least 500 orders to begin manufacturing the plates; to date, she’s received 60.
Jennifer has another reason for seeing “Heart of a Champion” in print soon.
She’s kept the entire process secret from her mother, Joan, Bill’s wife of 51 years.
“She’s 87 and doesn’t do Facebook,” explained Jennifer, who has done much of the publicity and groundwork for the book via social media.