CREATING A LEGACY
When Coach Heimer steps onto the football field, the linebackers of Normal Community’s Varsity team know the rumors. Coach Heimer is one of the most fun and fiery coaches on the staff. Coach Heimer loves to strategize and compete. Coach Heimer is serious about teamwork and integrity.
Coach Heimer is creating a legacy.
It’s a legacy that began on a hog farm out in Colfax. When Casey (as Coach Heimer was known in those days) began high school, he knew that teaching and coaching were on the horizon. His love for sports was fused with solid experiences as a multisport athlete at Ridgeview High School before becoming a Heartland Hawk.
After two years of community college, he transferred his avion loyalties over to the local Redbirds and sprinted through the School of Education’s PDS program (a yearlong student teaching experience that allows emerging teachers to see an entire year in the classroom).
Along the way, God’s grace transformed Casey’s heart. A campus ministry provided him with a tangible experience of the gospel. The good news of his salvation propelled him into an active leadership role within the ministry. After being faithful in serving as a student leader, Casey was asked to join the staff of that ministry and set his teaching and coaching career aside.
At the time, it seemed like the God-ordained path for his life. Being a pastor in the ministry that changed his life was one of the most appealing offers before him. But after a few months on the ministry staff, he started to feel out of place.
The next few months were hard as the transition from student leader to staff member took it’s toll. The joy and life so evident in Casey as a student was being syphoned away. Slowly but surely, the ministry job was killing his soul.
After a tough year in ministry, Casey was not asked to return to the ministry staff. Instead, he was encouraged to return to teaching and to deploy his gifts in the education system.
God was quick to open the door to multiple schools in His efforts to draw Casey back into education. As an elementary school teach erby day, Mr. Heimer is actively igniting a joy for learning in the hearts of nine and ten year olds.
But, by night, he is Coach Heimer, a legend in the making. Only time will tell all that God has planned for this extraordinary example of faith and work.