After 36 years teaching Physical Education at ETHS, Randall Derousse is retiring. When Derousse started at ETHS in the fall of 1987, he was a full time substitute teacher for PE classes as well as a soccer coach.
His love for sports started at an early age. Growing up in Granite City, Illinois, soccer and other sports played a large role in his childhood, and also connected both his hometown and Evanston.
“We won the state championship every year I was in high school and the year after, and ironically beat Evanston in the state championship my junior year. Even more ironically, I was the head coach for Evanston in the 90’s, when we lost to my old high school in the state championship,” Derousse said.
A natural result of his love for athletics, Derousse saw teaching as a path that formed through his interests.
“It was just natural to go through that route, it was the thing I saw myself doing with kids and with soccer, sports and different activities like that,” Derousse stated.
Tom Chmela, retired head soccer coach for ETHS, was the one who brought Derousse’s attention to the school. When he was playing soccer in college at Eastern Illinois University, Chmela was attending the same school to get his masters degree. Once Derousse had graduated, Chmela brought him to Evanston, which is where he stayed.
“[Intially] I was a full time substitute here in the PE department, the boys soccer coach for the freshman team and the girls soccer coach for the JV team. That was my first year at Evanston Township High School,” said Derousse.
In his retirement, Derousse looks forward to never spending another winter in Chicago, but instead spending his time playing golf, tennis and pickleball with old colleagues in Florida.
“A couple guys I used to teach [with] here have places down there and belong to the same golf club, so I’m looking forward to meeting up with those guys and living that life for a while,” said Derousse.
