Fifty years ago this month, Jordan Kopac took the only 50 cents to his name, bought five Muriel Magnum cigars, sat under an oak tree on the Carroll College campus in Waukesha and pensively smoked all five.
Looking into his future as a new graduate of Carroll, Kopac thought not in terms of simply making ends meet, but of stretching his potential to the limit.
"I was thinking I've got to get a million dollars by the time I'm 36," Kopac said. "It seemed like the right age. It would give me 15 years."
As Kopac enters his third term as coach of the Racine Raiders - they open their regular season on the road Saturday with a Mid-Continental Football League game against the Indiana Mustangs - that story perhaps best defines the man.
He met that millionaire goal by 1975 and continues to stretch his limits to this day. Four months prior to his 73rd birthday, Kopac is in the process of purchasing a fourth factory for his iron and steel firm, International Production Specialists, which employs about 130 people.
He awakens every morning in his Delavan home - precisely 50 miles from Horlick Field, he says - at 5:30 and rarely gets to bed before midnight. He earned a doctorate degree in 2007. He routinely puts 200 miles a day on his Lincoln Continental, overseeing his twin passions - his business interests and his football team. And he is a regular at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Delavan, always insisting on dressing in his Sunday best.
This is clearly not a man who is content to live out the twilight years of his life watching CNN and ESPN.
So when Kopac claims he intends to win three more national championships as Raiders coach, bringing their total to 10, skeptics should be aware. This man has been a consistent model of success.
For years, he served as the loyal right-hand man to longtime Raiders coach Bob Milkie. He was a master teacher primarily as defensive coordinator and enjoyed similar success when he switched over to offensive coordinator under Terry Converse in the early 1990s.
And when he became coach of the Raiders in 2001, after Milkie retired for the final time, all he did was win what is the most recent national championship for the Raiders before moving on after that season.
A second tenure for Kopac as Raiders coach from 2005-07 ended on less-than-ideal terms when he didn't see eye-to-eye with the organization's board of directors at the time. But now he's back and he believes it's for the long haul this time.
"I think so," he said. "My dad came into work until he was 82, so he never retired. I would like it to be for the long haul. I would like to see if I could get three more championships and that will maybe take a few more years."
Kopac will do so by going back to the future. He will open the season with 41-year-old quarterback Gary Griffin, who last played for the Raiders in 2005.
"What he's really got going for him is he's able to analyze the defense and analyze the field," Kopac said. " ‘Grif' is one of the best analysts who ever played for me."
The turnover from last year's roster, when John Mamerow was in his third and final season as coach, is considerable. Kopac will carry about 47 players, down from the 60 who were listed on the Raiders' final roster last season.
Of those 47, Kopac said 14 have been brought in from the Wisconsin Wolfpack, a franchise he owned before merging its operations with the Raiders. Among the familiar players who will be missing are receiver Sam D'Alie, who could be out for the season after undergoing knee surgery, running back Torris Childs, who may return at some point this season, and multi-talented quarterback Alex Nunez, an emerging standout last season.
There is still considerable tweaking to be done, but Kopac is comfortable with the players he will take into the regular season. The only issue for Kopac is no preseason games this year - Horlick Field will not be available until July because new grass has been planted - for him to implement his system.
"As soon as we go out of the blocks Saturday, it's going to be a league game and we're going to be way behind," Kopac said.
But one way or another, this is likely to turn out well. After all, things usually do with anything Kopac takes on.
"When he told me he was going back to Racine, it didn't take a whole lot for me," said Griffin, athletic director for Rockford (Ill.) Lutheran High School. "I'll do anything for the guy. He's wonderful.
"He's a real guy. There's no sugar-coating with him. He's going to tell you what he likes and what he doesn't like. It's straight-forward all the time and that's the thing I appreciate."
Peter Jackel is a reporter for The Journal Times. You may contact Peter at (262) 631-1703 or by email at peter.jackel@lee.net
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