Amboy High School was very good to the Augustana football program in the 1980’s, providing Coach Bob Reade’s Vikings with back-to-back All-America centers, each of whom was a member of two national championship teams and named College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Offensive Player of the Year as a senior. The first of the Clippers’ duo to hit the Augustana campus was Greg King, who set the standard for Viking centers who followed, including his successor, John Bothe, a 2007 Hall of Fame inductee.
King arrived on campus in 1981. He was, like many of Reade’s offensive linemen, a basketball standout in high school, earning all-conference and all-area recognition in that sport in addition to All-State honors in football.
He saw spot duty as a freshman behind veteran center Harlan Walker on the Vikings 9-1 CCIW champion and playoff qualifier and stepped into the starting lineup as a sophomore. For the next three seasons he anchored an offensive line that cleared the way for Viking runners who produced over six miles of rushing offense and 117 touchdowns. Four different Augustana running backs surpassed the 1,000 yard mark running behind King during his junior and senior seasons.
As impressive as the statistics are, they pale in comparison to the wins and championships. In King’s four years at Augustana, the Vikings won four consecutive undefeated conference titles and piled up 44 wins against just two defeats. Both losses occurred in the NCAA Division III playoffs, a 19-7 setback at Dayton in 1981 and a 14-0 loss to West Georgia in the 1982 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. In 1983 and 1984, King and the rest of the Vikings went on to win the first two of what would be four straight national championships. During his three years as a starter, Augustana compiled a 35-1 record.
After earning second team all-conference honors as a sophomore, the 6-foot-4, 250-pound King was a first team honoree as a junior and senior. In addition, he was named CCIW Offensive Player of the Year and to the All-America teams of the Associated Press, Kodak, Pizza Hut and Football News following his senior season.
King graduated from Augustana in 1985 with a degree in public administration. He also earned master’s degrees from Western Illinois University in sports management and American College of Education in educational leadership.
He spent 11 years as a teacher and coach at Rock Island High School in Rock Island, Illinois and four at Bushnell-Prairie City High School in Bushnell, Illinois. For the past nine years, he’s been at Sterling High School in Sterling, Illinois, where he serves as head football coach and Director of Athletics.
Greg and his wife Cathi live in Sterling, Illinois with daughter Ashli, 17, and son Trevor, 13. He is active in Knights of Columbus and was formerly president of the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association.
About his time at Augustana, King states simply, “Four years of hard work, camaraderie and fun!”
