By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

It's not necessarily ironic that the third grader who once wrote a school paper about one day playing middle linebacker for the Fighting Illini now occupies an office on the same campus block as a statue of the University of Illinois's greatest defender.

And though Bret Bielema's hopes of playing for his home-state university's team were never realized, it was his inimitable work ethic, dedication and desire that gave him the opportunity to return "home" to become the head football coach for his state's flagship institution.

Bielema, himself, described it as coming "full circle."

"I can't wait to walk down the street and see someone representing Illinois and give them an ILL- and get an -INI back," he said in his introductory press conference.

Bret Bielema: Full Circle

Bret, the son of Arnie and Marilyn Bielema—weighing 11 pounds at birth—was introduced by doctors on Jan. 13, 1970 at then-named Illini Hospital in Silvis, Ill. Bret's mother remembers that day well.

"At Thanksgiving (of 1969), our older kids caught the chicken pox," Mrs. Bielema recalled. "They brought it home and by Christmas I had the chicken pox, too. When Bret was born, he had chicken pox. Of course, he couldn't be in the nursery with the other children, so I had him in the crib in my room. The doctors and nurses would knock on my door and ask 'Can we come in and see the 11-pound baby with chicken pox?'"

In 1974, when Bret was four, Arnie quit his job as a State Farm Insurance agent in East Moline and moved his family to a farm six miles outside of Prophetstown in Illinois' Whiteside County. There, the Bielemas owned 200 sows and, with the assistance of sons Bret, Bart and Barry and sisters Betsy and Brandy, eventually marketed between 3,000 and 4,000 pigs annually. It was a never-ending, 365-days-a-year job.

Said Bret's childhood friend, Jeff Detra, a banking executive who now resides in Colorado Springs, Colo. "On the Saturday mornings after our high school football games, I was sleeping in 'til noon, but Bret was getting up at 5 AM to do whatever he had to do with the hogs."

When they weren't working in the hog barns, the Bielema boys participated in football and wrestling and ran track. During the summer months, they'd play Pony League baseball. They inherited their love of sports from their dad, who in his younger days was a basketball and baseball player and track man.

In fact, Arnie was talented enough on the diamond to try out for Coach Lee Eilbracht's Illini baseball team in the Fall of 1957 when he enrolled as an engineering student. Deane Frary, a Prophetstown native and 1930s Illini track letterman, opened the door for Arnie's audition. Unfortunately, the ultra-challenging U of I engineering curriculum proved to be a bit more than Arnie could handle and he dropped out of classes just prior to December finals.

As for Bret, sports captivated his interest from a very young age. Jeff Tuisl, Bielema's childhood friend and playmate from kindergarten through their freshman year at Prophetstown High School, admired his buddy's grit and determination.

"No one was going to outwork Bret," said Tuisl, a 1992 U of I graduate and current insurance broker in Saint Charles. "When people ask me what it is that Bret's got, I can tell you. He's got this work ethic of growing up on a farm."

Detra concurred that Bret Bielema has always displayed qualities of determination and leadership.

"Working on a hog farm, Bret learned from a very early age that hard work is what it took to get things done," Detra said. "Bret is a one-day-at-a-time kind of guy and that quality came from Arnie. Bret is honest and he treats people right. He never takes any shortcuts. It does not surprise me one bit that he's been as successful in life as he has. Absolutely, I could have predicted that."

While Bielema didn't receive any "love" from the home-state Illini football staff as a small-town athlete, it was Arnie's side job as a sports equipment salesman in eastern Iowa that ultimately opened the door for Bret getting a walk-on offer from the Hawkeyes.

"With me traveling throughout Iowa, I got very acquainted with the whole eastern side of Iowa," he said. "The University of Iowa was one of my accounts. Bret went to camps at Iowa for football and wrestling with my encouragement because I knew the coaches at Iowa. Then, in January, Bret got a call one night from (Iowa assistant coach) Donnie Patterson and he was invited to walk on. Later on, we drove over and talked to Coach Fry, and, as they say, the rest is history."

Bret's mother says her son exhibited his compassion for people as a very young child.

"I started working fulltime when Bret was in kindergarten," she explained, "so I had to leave him with my parents. My mother (Bret's grandmother) had a relative at the local nursing home who wasn't capable of feeding herself, so my mother would drive over and help her during the lunch hour. Bret tagged along every day with her to the nursing home and he made friends of a lot of the older gentlemen there. While Mom was feeding her relative, Bret would go down and push some of the men in wheelchairs down to the dining hall so that they could have their lunch. I think that really made an impression on him. He's always been so caring to older adults. He's so aware that people want attention and that everyone has something to give. And he does it."

"I remember Bret's first year coaching at Iowa," she continued. "The team had its Spring game and then hosted a cookout for the players and their parents. I remember Bret stopping to talk with every single person that was there. We were the last ones to leave the facility and as we were walking down the hallway, he stopped at the kitchen door and called in to thank the cooks for the wonderful meal. I thought to myself, 'You're going to do okay, kid.'

When the married couple of 60 years got confirmation from their son that he had landed the Illini job, Arnie knew that it would be a popular announcement in Prophetstown and the surrounding communities.

"I told Bret that the sporting goods store up in Sterling had better get plenty of Illini clothing and stuff because they're going to have a run on it."

Echoed Detra, "It wouldn't surprise me at all if there are already some Illinois flags flying in Prophetstown."

Tuisl said that, as Bielema did in his introductory Illini press conference, "Bret will wear his emotions on his sleeve."

"That's one thing that has attracted players to him in the past and it will attract players to him at Illinois. You know exactly what you're getting from him. Bret takes things personally and he takes everything to heart. It's because he wants to help his guys grow and win."