Dean Riley

Class of 1948 A resident of Ottawa for more than seven decades, Dean Riley enrolled at OTHS in 1944. He played football and basketball at Ottawa High and went on to play football at Western Illinois University. Dean Riley returned to OTHS in 1954 as a mathematics teacher and coach. He later served as assistant principal and dean of students at OTHS. He was an assistant football coach under Bill Novak in the 1950’s, 1960’s and early 1970’s. He was an assistant basketball coach under Gil Love in the late 1950’s, taking over as head coach in 1961-62. He compiled a 332-146 record as the Pirates’ head coach with his teams winning nearly 70 percent of their games over 18 seasons. He guided Ottawa to eight IHSA Regional and two Sectional titles and a trip to the IHSA Class AA Elite Eight in 1978. Dean Riley then moved on to Illinois Valley Community College where he taught mathematics, coached basketball, girls tennis, and assisted in football. His basketball record at IVCC was 234-118 from 1979 to 1990 including two particularly outstanding teams: 1987-88 (third in the nation) and the 198889 team which was 30-2 and ranked No. 1in the nation most of the season. He is a member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame. In addition to his duties at OTHS and IVCC, he served as the parks and recreation director for the city of Ottawa for many years. Dean Riley passed away in January, 2006. The annual Ottawa Thanksgiving basketball tournament is named in his honor and the west Kingman Gym scoreboard is dedicated to his memory.