Bill Hartje
For over 50 years, Bill has been a dedicated educator in Evansville, teaching English and speech, coaching sports, and continuing to inspire students even after retirement.
Interviewer’s Note: Since Bill was/is an English teacher, he felt more comfortable writing his own story. He chose to focus on his teaching and coaching career even though he was also involved with the Boy Scouts and teacher union activities. He has spent more than 50 years teaching students in Evansville and has positively influenced more than his share. This is his story, in his words, although I have edited it a bit.
Many people in or from Evansville recognize me because I have taught full time or subbing for more than half a century (51 years, to be exact)!
It started back in 1973 when sometime on a Tuesday in mid-August I received a phone call from the EHS principal asking if I could come down for an interview. I had applied months earlier but the person they originally hired was unable to take the job so they opened up applications again.
They were looking for someone to teach English and speech, and coach football; I fit that as my major from UW-Madison (some would be surprised to learn) was in Communication Arts with an emphasis on public address and a minor in English.
I met with George Knuckles (principal at the time), J. Peter Shaw (speech and English teacher) and Bob Brezowitz (head football coach) and must have done okay as I was called down on Friday to sign my new contract. The next Monday afternoon I was on the field coaching freshman football with Joe Amato! The week that changed my life!
My classes that first year were Speech 1, Modern Literature and American Literature. I also had agreed to coach a debate team. At the end of football season I was asked if I would be interested in being junior varsity wrestling coach. I explained that I had never wrestled, but they told me it was okay as the head coach (Paul Schwenn) hadn’t either. (Not sure that made sense!) As it turned out, I loved coaching wrestling and EHS had a great team!
When that season ended I was approached again to see if I would be interested in the middle school (7th and 8th grade) boys track teams. I had done track in high school, so sure, why not. In the two years that I coached as the only person for all track and field events, we broke every school record except high jump. All credit goes to a wonderful group of athletes!
Now, a first year teacher coaching four different activities is not usually a good idea but I survived. By the next year I was just coaching wrestling and track, then neither of those after year two.
By that second year I also added a new course, Mass Media, which was a student favorite. I did that for the next 35 years.
There were ups and downs over the years as I became involved in local union work as president and a negotiator, but I always enjoyed the teaching.
Courses changed; I taught freshman English and advanced frosh English, sophomore English, speech classes, Creative Writing, Advanced Literature Seminar, and Mass Communication among other classes.
One aspect of English that I always emphasized was the importance of a strong vocabulary. In fact, I admitted to my students that in the early 1980s I actually read the dictionary cover to cover, (twice, even though I told them that I knew how it ended the second time – “zymurgy”, you can look it up) and took notes. Decades of students heard that story and passed it on. All true!
Of course technology changed significantly over the years, as we went from mimeograph worksheets to copy machines; eventually we added computers and the Internet, then cell phones. In the late 1990s the referendum passed to build a new high school, so after 29 years in Room 4, I moved over to Room C219. We all finally had a computer and phone in our rooms!
In 2011 the state legislature passed Act 10 cutting local school funding significantly and leading to layoffs. In order to save the jobs of two young teachers Chris Wagner and I decided to retire at the end of 2012 school year. My teaching career was not done yet of course, as I began substitute teaching that next fall. I have done over ten long term sub jobs (in English at the middle school and high school), high school social studies and even eight weeks as the agriculture teacher.
My longest break was in 2020 when COVID hit. Being in the “older citizen” profile, I did not sub again until the district arranged for me to get the vaccine shots early and I only had about 350 days off.
In addition to my teaching, I also worked with the local and council Boy Scouts for around fifty years; I was active in teacher union positions locally and at the state level for probably forty years; plus I helped start the state chapter of the Future Problem Solving program and was a state director for another forty years.
People often ask me how the students have changed over the years and I can honestly say that I have nothing but wonderful memories from teaching full time and from my years substitute teaching. When doing career units for classes, I would tell students that if they can have a job where they never dread going to work every day, they will be fortunate. I know I have been very fortunate in that way!
