Honor stirs memories for Rolling Meadows High alumni Lloyd

Rolling Meadows High School reached back to the early days to find an alumnus to honor this year.

As far back as possible, in fact.

Jack Lloyd, the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, was a member of the school's first graduating class, 1973. He's being honored at a reception today at the school following a Q&A with students.

Lloyd, regional president/community banking for Harris Bank, took time this week from his crowded schedule to chat about his school days and his take on life.

"I've been forced to recollect how I got where I am," he says. "I've experienced life to its fullest, and now I've come full circle."

He fondly remembers growing up in a budding Rolling Meadows. His father, a veteran, moved the family into a new home on Grouse Court in 1955, when Lloyd was a year old. His mother still lives here.

He attended Forest View High School until the new school in Rolling Meadows was finished in 1971. Only sophomores and juniors attended the first year, so his class was the first to graduate.

Ongoing construction at the new school posed challenges. He and his football buddies would spend lunch hour clearing the nearby field of rocks. "We knew it would be used for practices someday," he said.

He also remembers when the stadium got lights for the first time. "I think the whole city showed up to see us play under the lights," he said. The stripe along Central Road was painted purple and white for the occasion.

"For me, a kid who was born and raised there, to have your own high school, it was a tremendous honor and privilege."

Sports defined his high school years. He excelled in football, basketball and baseball and received a scholarship to play football at Notre Dame, where his team won two national championships, He was part of the team Rudy Ruettiger tried out for, a tale told in the movie "Rudy." "The essence of that story is absolutely true," he says, "though Hollywood tends to embellish it."

Lloyd went on to earn an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Business, and with his first job came a big dose of humility. He was hired as a banking assistant, and he expected to be shown an office and a desk. Instead, he was sent immediately to a teller window.

When he got there, he was handed a broom and told to get to work.

He discovered right then the meaning of paying your dues. "You have to earn your way," he says. "Young people seem to want things right away."

Lloyd's career took him from coast to coast until, eight years ago, he returned to the suburbs. "When I got out of school it was my goal to be the hometown banker," he said. "It only took me 30 years."

Now a Palatine resident, he is entrenched in community service. He's a board member for several area foundations, including the Rolling Meadows Park District Foundation.

Lloyd's love of sports shifted to coaching at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Palatine. Two years ago he led his girls team to the national championship. He founded the Northwest Suburban Basketball Ministry, which helps people who can't afford to pay for equipment and fees.

"There's no place else I'd rather be than right here." He gives his wife, Linda, lots of credit for willingly relocating several times with their four children.

Today, he plans to tell the students his secrets to success. "It's not about failing, because you will fail," he says. "It's about getting up afterward."