Longtime southwest Illinois high school football coach, teacher dies at 59
Known for wearing a construction hard hat on the sidelines, his infectious personality and love of working with kids, former Cahokia football coach Antwyne Golliday died on Tuesday.
Golliday’s step mother confirmed that the longtime coach was at home with his wife, Monique Luster-Golliday, when he died. A cause of death has not yet been determined.
“He was with his wife and was headed into the bathroom to get ready for the day,’’ Irma Golliday said. “Monique then heard a thud.’’
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Golliday, who would have turned 60 this weekend, served two stints as an assistant at East St. Louis Lincoln High School and was an assistant under Rob Eden at Cahokia for 10 years. He assumed head coaching duties prior to the 2003 season and led the Comanches until 2015.
He compiled a record of 81-53 and led Cahokia to the Illinois High School Association playoffs in each of his first seven years. The Comanches were Class 5A state semifinalists in 2005 and 2008.
A graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Golliday was inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2016 and the St. Louis Metro Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in2017.
Ken Turner, the former Althoff coach who currently leads the football program at St. Mary’s High School in St. Louis, has many memories of matching wits with Golliday.
Turner said he was stunned to hear the news on Tuesday.
“As intense as the Althoff-Cahokia rivalry was on the field, there was never any animosity between us. We were friends both on and off the football field,’’ Turner said Wednesday. “We used to ride together when we would go to Mount Vernon for the all-conference meets. We would talk football, life... you name it.
“Antwyne was a wonderful person.... A genuine person who deeply cared about people and kids. The world was a better place because Antwyne was in it.’’
Golliday was an instructor in vocational classes and driver education at Cahokia High School where he was also an assistant coach on Cahokia’s successful track and field program.
He was scheduled to retire at the end of the 2020-21 year.
Among those players Golliday worked with either as assistant or head coach at Cahokia were current O’Fallon football coach Byron Gettis, former Granite City coach Orlando Gooden and current New Orleans Saints offensive lineman Terron Armstead.
This story was originally published March 3, 2021 at 2:59 PM.
