By Rick Peterson | Original Article Here
The late Bill Freeman, who coached 10 state championship teams in two sports, including five football and two track and field titles at Lawrence, is remembered in the book “Heart of a Champion: The Life and Legacy of Coach Bill Freeman.″
The release of Jennifer Freeman’s book didn’t quite make it in time for Father’s Day, but it is definitely a gift to her dad, legendary high school coach Bill Freeman.
Bill Freeman, one of Kansas’ most revered coaches during a career that included 10 state championships in two sports, passed away at the age of 84 in December 2015 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Jennifer Freeman decided to launch a book project honoring her father about a year ago.
The result is “Heart of a Champion: The Life and Legacy of Coach Bill Freeman,” which is expected to be available on Amazon.com sometime this week.
The book tells the story of Freeman, best known for a dominating run at Lawrence, through the recollections of Jennifer and many others who knew Freeman.
“It was myself, former players, coaches, friends, newspaper articles and it was just a collaboration of everybody putting a lot of heart, work, effort and tears into this,” Jennifer Freeman said.
After compiling the stories, Jennifer enlisted the help of Kansas City writer Tina Wendling to put everything together in book form.
“I had toyed with the idea for about a year, and I had a lot of people say, ‘You can write it,’ but I can see the story in my mind and everything, but putting words to paper, especially writing about my hero, I couldn’t do it,” Freeman said. “So I hired (Wendling) and she’s done an amazing job.”
Freeman said she had no trouble finding people to contribute to the book, including former Kansas State star and National Football League quarterback Lynn Dickey, who played for Bill Freeman at Osawatomie. Dickey wrote the foreward for the book.
“Everybody that contributed to this has been great, but Lynn Dickey has gone above and beyond,” Freeman said. “I called him about two months ago and asked if he would even consider writing the foreward for the book and he said, ‘Consider it done.’ That’s a tribute to how much dad touched his life.”
Bill Freeman coached at Lawrence from 1974-90, leading the Lions to five state championships in football and two in track and field. His Lawrence teams went 134-38 in football. He coached Osawatomie to two state titles (one mythical) and LeRoy to one mythical championship, and he also coached at Baxter Springs, Parker and Nickerson. His career record as a football coach was 242-81-3 over a 36-year coaching career.
Bill was a 2014 inductee into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame and he received the Hall’s Pride of Kansas Award in 2012. He also is enshrined in the Kansas State High School Activities Association Hall of Fame and the Emporia State Hall of Honor.
“I wanted to do the book to not only honor him, but share his life story, his legacy,” Jennifer Freeman said. “His legacy is still carried on by the stories I’ve heard from former players, friends and coaches, and even myself to this day with my kids, with their kids, with the kids they coach.
“I still hear Freemanisms, as they call them, people saying, ‘Hey, do you have any geetus?’ Dad, probably a week before he died said, ‘Jenny, you don’t have any geetus.’ ”
Freeman also touched countless lives outside of teaching and coaching, owning the LeRoy bank and also serving as that town’s longtime mayor. In addition, he owned a 3,000-acre farm.
Jennifer Freeman, who was at her father’s side throughout his fight with Alzheimer’s, said part of her reason for wanting to write a book about her father was also to help continue raising awareness about that disease.
“There’s cures for certain cancers and you can have heart surgery, and dad did, but there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s,” Jennifer said. “Every 67 seconds somebody is diagnosed with it. It’s the fifth-leading killer in the United States. Why do we not have a cure?”
But while the book deals with that struggle, Freeman wanted “Heart of a Champion” to be more about how her father lived than how he died.
“That’s not what dad’s life was about,” she said. “Dad’s life was about touching players’ lives on and off the field, every-day life lessons and how humble he was.”
In addition to being available on Amazon after its release, books also will be available for $12 through Jennifer Freeman, who can be reached by phone at (620) 364-6126 or by email at Jennylew18@yahoo.com.
A website about the book, www.coachbillfreemanheartofachampion.com, is under construction.