Cain leaves lasting legacy at Whiting
By Paul Honeycutt
WHITING — This column has been saved in my documents since Whiting’s all-time winningest coach, Jeff Cain, announced his retirement from coaching in December 2018.
Imagine a short, stocky kid dressed from head to toe in Whiting gear with an Oilers baseball shirt, a letterman jacket and green swishy pants roaming the hallways, as the freshman was still a little unfamiliar with the high school side while trying to deliver a note to a teacher he had yet to encounter.
The young kid knew who he was as a football coach but never knew the man and teacher.
After delivering the note on that cold day in late March, Cain said to him in his patented dry tone, “Hey, who do you like in the tournament?”
“Michigan State and Mateen Cleaves are awesome,” the kid replied, as the kid then asked to watch a little bit of the NCAA tournament game with Cain and a couple of his senior football players.
“Pull up a chair,” said Cain.
What was supposed to be a few minutes turned into 30 of the quickest minutes of this kid’s life, as Cain had a unique way of helping kids and on that day, unbeknownst to Cain, he helped that kid.
That kid was verbally berated during that morning, as he was often at his home, but on this day, it didn’t matter as much because of a simple gesture.
That action taught that kid that a simple gesture goes a long way, whether it be offering a shoulder to cry on, asking how someone’s doing or even a quick smile.
While that kid never played football, he did get to know Cain over the years while in class and then as a sports writer over 11 years until his retirement in 2018.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I was that freshman.
That’s just a little snippet of what Cain represents off the field, to a person who didn’t play football for him or coach with him during his majorly successful career.
The achievements on the field are one reason why the community of Whiting celebrated Cain on Friday night and the other reason was because of who he is as a mentor, teacher and person.
As a teacher, Cain was awarded the Inland Steel/Post Tribune Educator of the Year for Whiting High School and then in 2015, he earned the Whiting-Robertsdale Educator of the Year for Whiting High School.
While the Little City by the Lake may have celebrated his 2023 IFCA Football Hall of Fame career, it also commemorated his place in the history books of the School City of Whiting with a ceremony in Cain’s honor at halftime of Friday’s game against Highland.
“I thought I got rid of you,” said a smiling Cain with that dry tone as we approached each other so many times before.
Over Cain’s career, he amassed a 194-83 record with four sectional titles, three regional titles and one semi-state title and state finals appearance in 2015.
Cain fondly remembered the night in 2015 when Whiting hosted and beat Woodlan and former Oilers coach Sherwood Haydock 14-7 in Whiting’s version of the Ice Bowl where before and during the game, Oilers fans shoveled snow off the field, much like how it’s done at Lambeau Field to this day.
“I remember at the end of the night it was just me, (Cain’s wife) Sandy and one of the custodians who left the lights on and I said to her ‘We made it,'” Cain recalled. “Coach and his team drove all that way to get here, so we weren’t gonna postpone the game and make them come back here.”
He was voted as an IFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year five times and Conference Coach of the Year a whopping 12 times.
“I was overwhelmed when I got word about the Hall of Fame and it’s nice to be under the lights again, but I have no regrets,” said Cain. “It was the right time for Sandy and I because with COVID and all that came, I’m not sure how we would’ve handled it.”
Cain may tell you that his second favorite accomplishment on the football field was coaching 35 all-state players and seven Indiana All-Stars.
However, his most highly regarded accomplishment? Turning his players into good men and eventually good fathers.
“No doubt about it,” Cain confirmed. “(Whiting school board member) Chris (Davenport) and (Whiting football coach) Jason (Jendreas) did a good job putting this whole thing together and so many former players and coaches came back with some bringing their kids and even grandkids.”
No matter how the program evolved, the game of football changed or whenever the new kids came into the program, the message was still the same.
Be a good person.
“We always tried to bring consistency,” Cain stated. “We had a lot of talented kids over the years, but consistency is what the program needed.”
While that freshman back in 1999 had three terrific father figures of his own, in that moment, on that day when he was sad, you reached out.
On behalf of the Whiting community, players, coaches and the thousands you affected both on and off the field, thank you, Jeff.