During the opening ceremony of the January 31st Winnebago Scholastic Bowl Invitational, the Galena Quiz Bowl team learned of possibly the greatest news that they could get in the realm of Scholastic Bowl:
Their coach, Ron Jenkins, will be inducted into the Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association (IHSSBCA) Hall of Fame.
“I felt truly honored and glad to be recognized for my years of working with some of GHS’s best and brightest students,” explains Jenkins, who went on to win the tournament altogether. “It was particularly nice to have it announced at a tournament where so many other coaches and players were gathered.”
This achievement does not come undeservedly for him. One of the winningest Scholastic Bowl coaches in our conference and perhaps the state, he has amassed an incredible win-loss record of 830-279 over his decades-long career, translating to roughly a 75% win rate. He led the Galena Scholastic Bowl Team to win the IHSA Regional Championship 15 times, the Masonic Bowl Sectional Tournament 10 times, and the NUIC Conference Tournament 9 times, making Galena the most dominant team in their conference. Most notably, Jenkins coached the 2004 Scholastic Bowl Team to a Regional and Sectional Championship, where he would go on to win 4th place at the IHSA State Championships that year.
Perhaps his greatest achievement is his coaching method. Under his leadership, hundreds of students embarked on the journey to join and thrive in Scholastic Bowl, and dozens more have positively benefited from this. “Every year, the team has developed its own group personality, so I have tried to fit my coaching style to adapt accordingly,” explains Jenkins, who adapted the main goal of his team to have fun.
“We have fun by winning; we win by answering more questions than the other team; we answer more questions by knowing more stuff; and we know more stuff by studying. That philosophy has been pretty much the same since the beginning, and it has worked,” he elaborates.
It’s clear that after a tenure of coaching spanning over thirty years, his methods work—and he has the accolades to prove that. His entry into the IHSSBCA Hall of Fame furthermore corroborates the work he has put into the culture of Illinois Scholastic Bowl. Thus, he will be officially inducted at an awards banquet in May.
As for what he’ll be doing before then, he still has a state championship tournament, the 2026 IHSA State Series, and a national tournament to look forward to. Fielding such a team is no easy feat, and he’ll be sure to start scouting for new players on the team from all aspects of school life.
In his own words: “What better way can you think of to put to use everything you’ve learned in school and in life so far? Scientia potentia est—Knowledge is power!”
