Hall of Fame Inductee - Grover Kerr

The "perfect season" is a rare find in the world of high school sports. Only a handful of sports in Illinois have a "perfect season" in their record book. Grover Kerr was the first coach in Quincy High history to achieve this feat. Under Grover Kerr the 1935 Quincy High Blue Devil football team rolled to a still un-duplicated 9-0 record. The Devils of '35 were juggernauts on both sides of the ball. On defense, they shut out their opponents seven times, allowing just 19 points for the entire season - an average of 2.1 points per game. On offense, the Blue Devils were equally impressive - racking up 230 points, including a lopsided 56-0 drubbing of Pittsfield. And the Devils scored in a manner decades ahead of the time - with the forward pass accounting for over 140 of the final 230 points. Behind it all was a man born in 1892 on a farm just outside of tiny Mount Eric, Illinois. In a teaching career that spanned 46 years, Kerr came to Quincy after serving his country in World War I. While overseas Kerr served with the Marine Corps in France, Belgium and Luxembourg - seeing action in three of the war's major battles. He was wounded in Chateau-Thierry (France), but remained on the front lines until long after the Armistice. Kerr earned his B.A. in education from Illinois Normal College and later received his Masters degree from the University of Iowa. Kerr, his wife Helen and their two daughters lived in Quincy until Kerr's retirement in 1958.