Tim Meiss set to retire after 36 years with Eureka boys basketball
EUREKA, Ill. (BVM) — After 44 years of coaching basketball, Tim Meiss has finally decided to hang it up. Meiss spent his last 36 years as head coach of the Eureka boys basketball team, winning over 600 games in his career.
A multi-sport athlete at Heyworth High School, Meiss studied to become a teacher and coach at Western Illinois and later Illinois State. In 1977, Meiss began his first coaching job at Hartsburg-Emden where he quickly helped turn the small-school program around.
Meiss would continue his career in the early 1980s with Minonk-Dana-Rutland and later with Yorkville. But in 1985, the legendary coach would return home taking the head coaching job at Eureka High School.
After nearly a decade of losing seasons, Meiss helped quickly turn the program around once again with 14– and 18–win seasons in his first two years on the job. It didn’t take long for him to put his true stamp on the program either. With son Nathaniel at point guard, the Hornets won a program-record 30 games in the 1993-1994 season.
In the 1999-2000 season, Tim’s other son, Zach, would help lead Eureka to a perfect 24-0 record. Also on that team was future MLB star Ben Zobrist. Throughout the remaining two decades of his time at Eureka, Tim continued to lead the Hornets to multiple regional and sectional championships.
Known as a relatively soft-spoken, calm coach who was always honest and to the point, Tim finished with a 658-486 record as an Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Famer. Despite retiring, his family will continue to keep his legacy going.
Nathaniel has become a head basketball coach himself, starting out at Lexington and now spending the past 12 seasons at El-Paso Gridley. Meanwhile, Tim’s daughter, Lena, is in the early stages of her career as Eureka’s volleyball coach.
Now Eureka will look ahead to finding a new head basketball coach. It is quite possible they stay within the family, as Tim’s son-in-law, Aaron Dohner, is currently the head junior varsity coach at Eureka. No matter which direction they go in, there is no doubt Tim left an incredible legacy at Eureka, and has the program in a good place as he departs.
