Retired teacher and coach Art Dickinson will serve as the Grand Marshal of the 2023 Perryville High School Homecoming Parade on Saturday, Sept. 30. Mr. Dickinson, “Coach,” taught at PE Perryville High School for 27 years, retiring in 2007. He also served as an assistant and head boys’ basketball coach during that time, taking the Pirates to state twice. Coach Dickinson was twice named as the Southeast Missouri District Teachers Association’s Secondary School Physical Education Teacher of the Year. He remains an active member of the Pirate family today, serving as a substitute teacher at the district’s five schools, where he is often heard giving encouragement to struggling or shy students.
“I was a quiet, shy child, and my basketball talent developed late,” he said. “I promised myself that I if I was ever in the position to do so, I would help young people the way my mentor and friend, Coach John Swenson, helped me.”
Coach Dickison said that he found a saying that has been his mantra for several decades: “Some people light a candle, while others stumble in the dark.” “That really stuck with me,” he said. “I knew who had been a light in my life, and I hope that I have been and can be the light for others.”
He was cut from the team the first time he tried out for basketball, in the fifth grade in Crystal Lake, Ill., but never really considered quitting. He finally hit his stride in his junior and senior years in high school, and went on to play college ball and earn his degree in education at Edinboro State University in Pennsylvania. He earned a second undergraduate degree in physical education at Illinois State, and then played basketball in Europe for four years. When he returned to the States, he enrolled at Southern Illinois University, where he earned a master’s degree in health sciences. From there, he came to Perryville to teach.
“Perryville is my home,” he said. He and his wife of 24 years, Janice, who is also a substitute teacher, are active in the community. They also rescue dogs and cats.
He continues to guide youngsters in the community through his High Hopes Hoops Basketball Camp, a program he established to help elementary-age athletes learn the fundamentals of the game. “I’m a teacher at heart,” he said. “I love to see young athletes get better. Sometimes all it takes is an encouraging word. I like to work with kids of differing abilities to help them find the best in themselves. So no matter how awful a practice or game might be, we always end with a huddle, a positive word and cheer.”
Coach said his greatest joy is when a former student stops to tell him that he’s made a difference in their lives. “That makes me happy,” he said. “I have made mistakes, but I am so happy to know I’ve made a little difference.”