JOHN TIERNEY, class of 1960, is being inducted into the Upper Iowa University Athletic Hall of Fame as an athlete. A 1952 graduate of Lawler High School, Tierney was a third team All-State basketball player in 1951 and 1952. He entered Upper Iowa in 1958 after serving a two-year hitch in the military with the U.S. Army 82 Airborne Division.
A two-year Peacock letter winner and transfer to Upper Iowa, Tierney was named an Iowa Conference basketball first team forward in 1959 after averaging 17.1 points per game. In 1960, he repeated the first team honors, this time as a guard, averaging 18.3 points per contest. He was coached by the late Everett "Eb" Eischeid.
After graduation from Upper Iowa, Tierney earned his Master's Degree from the University of Iowa in 1961. Tierney embarked on a four-decade coaching-teaching career, starting at Britt, Iowa in 1961. During the fall of 1961, he moved to Illinois, teaching and coaching at Marmion Military Academy in Aurora. Tierney was named the sophomore basketball coach at Rock Falls (Ill.) High School in 1964 before taking over the head basketball coaching duties in 1969.
Tierney continued his basketball coaching career at Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills, Ill. He retired from the teaching profession in 1999.
John and his wife Judy live in Homewood, Ill. They are the parents of Steve, Jill, Scott and Marc.
