Illinois Loyalty Location Census

Where do you currently live?

  • IL - Chicago

    Votes: 34 6.3%
  • IL - Chicago Suburbs

    Votes: 76 14.0%
  • IL - Northern Illinois (Not Chicagoland)

    Votes: 22 4.1%
  • IL - Central Illinois

    Votes: 112 20.7%
  • IL - Southern Illinois

    Votes: 37 6.8%
  • Another state in the Midwest (IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, OH, NE, ND, SD or WI)

    Votes: 77 14.2%
  • A Northeastern state (CT, DE, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT or DC)

    Votes: 25 4.6%
  • A Southern state (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA or WV)

    Votes: 85 15.7%
  • A Western state (AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, WY)

    Votes: 64 11.8%
  • Outside of the United States

    Votes: 10 1.8%

  • Total voters
    542
#176      

Mike

C-U Townie
From Chattanooga TN. Graduated Tennessee Chattanooga. Moved to champaign to intern at NCSA. Married a UI alum/marching illini/daughter of old UI wrestling coach. Got two kids at UI now. Still live in Champaign.

granddaughter of a UI coach from like 50+ years ago I should say...
 
#177      
Born on a farm in Effingham County and graduated Altamont Comm. HS in 1986, Lake Land College in 1988, and SIU-C in 1990. After leaving home I have lived in Carbondale, Charleston, Edgewood, and Robinson. My youngest son was a member of the Robinson HS 2010 Class 2A state champions with Meyers Leonard. In fact, I retired from the Robinson Police Dept. last year after over 28 years. While at the RPD I was the DARE instructor for one slightly ornery 5th-grader named Meyers Leonard (I take credit for his success, lol). In case anyone is interested, the state championship team will be having a reunion and will be recognized before the varsity game on Feb. 14th. I'm not sure if Meyers will be there BUT it IS NBA all-star weekend, so he just might be.

I have been an Illini fan for as long as I can remember and grew up idolizing Bruce Douglas and Kendall Gill. I have spent my adult life as a cop, a basketball and football referee, and now a substitute teacher. I am a glutton for punishment and have found that those things prepared me for the gut punches received on a constant basis for the last 8 seasons prior to the current one.
 
#178      
Born on a farm in Effingham County and graduated Altamont Comm. HS in 1986, Lake Land College in 1988, and SIU-C in 1990. After leaving home I have lived in Carbondale, Charleston, Edgewood, and Robinson. My youngest son was a member of the Robinson HS 2010 Class 2A state champions with Meyers Leonard. In fact, I retired from the Robinson Police Dept. last year after over 28 years. While at the RPD I was the DARE instructor for one slightly ornery 5th-grader named Meyers Leonard (I take credit for his success, lol). In case anyone is interested, the state championship team will be having a reunion and will be recognized before the varsity game on Feb. 14th. I'm not sure if Meyers will be there BUT it IS NBA all-star weekend, so he just might be.

I have been an Illini fan for as long as I can remember and grew up idolizing Bruce Douglas and Kendall Gill. I have spent my adult life as a cop, a basketball and football referee, and now a substitute teacher. I am a glutton for punishment and have found that those things prepared me for the gut punches received on a constant basis for the last 8 seasons prior to the current one.

Thank you so much for your service.
 
#179      

drsmitty74

Rochester
Born on a in farm Logan County. Mount Pulaski High School 90-93, UIUC 93-97. Lived in Chicago for 10 years. Moved to South Carolina in 2006. Moved to North Carolina in 2008. Moved back to Central IL (Rochester) in 2012. I bleed O&B. My brothers and sisters(5) bleed O&B.
My 11 year old bleeds O&B.
I watched the recent Michigan game from the hospital, where he(my son) was hooked up to IV antibiotics for MERSA. All he wanted to do was watch our beloved. After the win, it was the first smile from him in 2 days. He looked at me, shook his head yes, and raised his hand for a high five. THAT is why I love my Illini. Always have, always will.
 
#180      

BC Stealn

St. Charles MO
Born in Central Illinois, Petersburg-PORTA grad, Quincy University grad. Settled in St. Charles MO(STL) with my wife who grew up in a big MIZNOZ family. Family get togethers are always fun, espescially during the Braggin Rights game.
 
#182      
Born in ATL, grew up in a little town called Anderson right outside of Clemson, SC into a family full of Clemson fans. If further asked I’ll elaborate exactly how I became an Illini fan but my family could not stand the fact that I was cheering for a different team in Orange. That was back in 2003 when my Illini fandom begun, and everytime I played NCAA football on my old ps2, I choose juice Williams and the Illini and set the computer up as Clemson to beat them every time. I got the honor experience Deron, Dee, and Luther on the basketball squad in my early fandom days. Beating #1 Ohio state in football had me more excited than any Clemson game I’d ever been to. Honestly, I’ve never had the honor of going to an Illini game in Champaign, but I’ve been to several of their games in my area. The football game against UNC a few years back when we got blown out, and most notably the two Illinois-Clemson basketball games that have been played at Clemson. The first was the legendary 20-point second half comeback that Illinois pulled off. Wore my Illini shirt amongst my family and friends that were in full Clemson gear to that one and the most recent game when the only person on our team to hit a 3 was Tracy Abrams. While Clemson has been in the National Championship the past couple years, and I’m currently in my last semester as a student at Clemson, I have yet to find as much joy watching them as I have the Illini throughout my life. I could’ve had it made cheering for a football powerhouse that my whole family loves, as a student too, but as is the life of an Illini, it never goes as planned. I found passion for a team with so much potential that never got national respect or the credit they deserved. I watched the fall from grace when I first become a fan in 2003 to now, but I still love them just as much and have faith in this university’s future. Just goes to show, from someone who’s never been to an Illini game in the home state, and has absolutely no ties to being an Illini, this Place is family no matter what, and I’m blessed to call myself a fan of the Illini through thick and thin. I see great things ahead for this program, the players, the coaches, and the fans. If I could go back in life, even knowing all the pain we’ve suffered as fans and what would become of Clemson, I still wouldn’t change the day I decided to become an Illini fan before all other teams, regardless of sport or league
Love your story....I grew up in Champaign and live in Charleston, SC. My youngest is 18 and from the day he was born I tried to indoctrinate him with everything Illini. As luck would have it, he became a Clemson fan at the age of 2 and it's stuck with him since. If things work out he will take your place on the Clemson campus next fall!
 
#183      

danielb927

Orange Krush Class of 2013
Rochester, MN
Born and raised in Chambana, and went to UIUC, so I lived there the first 22 years of my life. Since then I've lived out in California (5 years), a fun little stretch in Italy for 3 months, and now up in Rochester MN for the last year. CA and Italy were great in their own ways, but it feels good to be back in Big Ten country — especially just as Illinois hoops is starting to take over again!
 
#185      
Born in Central Illinois, Petersburg-PORTA grad, Quincy University grad. Settled in St. Charles MO(STL) with my wife who grew up in a big MIZNOZ family. Family get togethers are always fun, espescially during the Braggin Rights game.
Athens grad here. My cousins are PORTA Bluejays.
 
#186      
Born on a farm in Effingham County and graduated Altamont Comm. HS in 1986, Lake Land College in 1988, and SIU-C in 1990. After leaving home I have lived in Carbondale, Charleston, Edgewood, and Robinson. My youngest son was a member of the Robinson HS 2010 Class 2A state champions with Meyers Leonard. In fact, I retired from the Robinson Police Dept. last year after over 28 years. While at the RPD I was the DARE instructor for one slightly ornery 5th-grader named Meyers Leonard (I take credit for his success, lol). In case anyone is interested, the state championship team will be having a reunion and will be recognized before the varsity game on Feb. 14th. I'm not sure if Meyers will be there BUT it IS NBA all-star weekend, so he just might be.

I have been an Illini fan for as long as I can remember and grew up idolizing Bruce Douglas and Kendall Gill. I have spent my adult life as a cop, a basketball and football referee, and now a substitute teacher. I am a glutton for punishment and have found that those things prepared me for the gut punches received on a constant basis for the last 8 seasons prior to the current one.

I remember you from your days on IHSS!
Image-1.jpg
 
#189      
East side?


Grew up on Ave D. 4 blocks east and you in hoosierland. Where the Chicago Skyway turns in to the IN toll road. Where the opening of the Blue's Brothers was filmed. When the steel mills were still open.

Live in MA now. Work in NH. Still have family in Chicagoland. Just bought tickets to the Iowa game, a trip to visit family and see a game. Last game I saw was Groce's last regular season game at RU. Psyched to go to a home game, usually seeing games out east somewhere.

GO ILLINI!
 
#190      

Illini79

Illini79
Summerfield, FL
Enjoyed reading everyone’s stories! My Illini story starts with my dad. He was extremely intelligent, but being from a farm family there was not a lot of money for college. He went through the ROTC program at Illinois, majoring in Agriculture. He lived at Newman Hall & worked in the kitchen of one of the sororities on campus. Back in his day, the basketball team played at Huff gym. He & his friends went to the games there, as well as football at Memorial Stadium, becoming a lifelong Illini fan. At the end of his time at Illinois, he had earned a spot on the Bronze Tablet & headed out for the Air Force, stationed in Tokyo during the Korean War. Not bad for a farm kid from central Illinois! So proud to be his daughter.

I was born & raised in Peoria County, grew up on a farm. Because my dad was an alum & enjoyed Illini sports, he would take the family to a football game every few years. This was a big deal! Chief Illiniwek & the marching band what a sight to behold. When it came time to make a college choice, the only place for me was Illinois. Of course, I went to as many basketball & football games as possible & was part of Block I for a few years. Anybody remember when there was a second Block I in the upper deck on the west side of the stadium? It was always special knowing that I was having a similar college experience to my dad’s (except I never came close to getting my name on the Bronze Tablet lol!)

My three sons are all Illinois grads, but they didn’t inherit the love of sports gene, oh well. My husband is a huge fan though & we watch every game we can get via Directv. We had our picture taken with Dee Brown about ten years ago, a great player from an unforgettable team. Never will forget that year, wish my dad had lived to see that!

So after living and working in the Peoria area for many years, a job transfer brought us to Central Florida three years ago.

GO ILLINI!