MAC ON SPORTS: LEGEND JIM HALLIHAN SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION FUND CREATED
J. Thomas McNamara
A future Decatur student-athlete will receive a scholarship from the late Jim Hallihan’s memorial fund that is being formed.
As well as being an outstanding Stephen Decatur prep and Miami Ohio college basketball
player, the late Jim Hallihan also was a leader in so many different ways.
Character building was one of those activities. In fact, he brought his program to Decatur in the fall of 2018-19 for our coaches to hear.
Trish Hallihan, Jim’s widow, wrote Paul Osborne about what she and the family are doing to memorialize her late husband, father and uncle.
Trish advises two scholarships will be awarded one to an Iowa student and one to a Decatur student from either Eisenhower or MacAthur.
“The amount will depend on the donations received. We are having a memorial service on August 8th at 1 p.m at Hilton Coliseum where he coached with Coach (Johnny) Orr for 12 exciting years.
“We anticipate a large crowd, and we are hoping that many of those attending as well as those unable to attend will honor Jim’s legacy of character building and sportsmanship by contributing to these scholarships.”
The Hallihan Family announced creation of the “Jim Hallihan Character Legacy Scholarship.
“Please join us in honoring our husband, Dad, Papa, brother, uncle and loyal friend, as we begin the Jim Hallihan Character Legacy Scholarship through the Iowa Sports Foundation.
“We want to take our deep grief and broken hearts and try and do something we know he would have championed and encouraged. He believed that good character was even more important than grades, success in sports, or excelling in other talents.
“He believed in mentoring young people and often talked about the biblical principle of how challenges in life create perseverance which builds character and leads to hope.
“The scholarship will provide applicants the opportunity to share some of those challenges and experiences where their character was tested, and they prevailed with good decisions and caring actions.”
