Jeff Thorne, who coached the North Central College football team to its first NCAA Division III national championship in 2019, was known as a man of strong faith and fierce competitive spirit.
Those qualities buoyed him after he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in February and learned over the summer that the tumor was inoperable.
Jeff Thorne, a Naperville resident, died Tuesday at age 53. He is survived by his parents, John and Kathie; his wife, Joanna; and his children, Payton, Noelle and Lauren.
Brad Spencer, who succeeded Jeff Thorne as NCC’s coach following the 2021 season and has won two more national titles, last saw his mentor and former boss in late October, when the team hosted the Refuse to Lose: Cardinals for a Cure game. NCC beat Augustana College 76-14.
“He spoke to our team in our Friday night meeting and led the team out onto the field for the coin toss for the game,” Spencer said. “It was a neat moment to look back and watch him.”
“Refuse to Lose” is a slogan coined by John Thorne, who won four state championships at Wheaton Warrenville South before taking over the NCC program in 2002.
“That chant is not about refusing to lose a football game,” Spencer said. “That chant is about making a decision in life and not letting adversity control you. That became Jeff’s mantra after the summer.”
Jeff Thorne, who was inducted into NCC’s Athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 4, repeated that phrase during his final appearance at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.
“He looked at his dad and said, ‘I refuse to lose,’ and it was a really powerful moment,” Spencer said. “He was a fighter, and he was still in fighting shape.
“His mind and his spirit was very high. That’s how I’m going to remember him.”
Jeff Thorne played quarterback, first under his father at Wheaton Central (now Wheaton Warrenville South) and then at Eastern Illinois, where his 6,578 career passing yards rank fourth on the university’s all-time list behind Jimmy Garoppolo, Sean Payton and Tony Romo.
Jeff Thorne was working in finance when he was hired by his father to be NCC’s offensive coordinator. The Cardinals went 118-30 under John Thorne, who retired after the 2014 season. Jeff Thorne replaced him and guided NCC to a 65-10 record and six playoff appearances in six seasons.
Spencer, who played on Naperville Central’s 1999 state championship team, was an NCC junior receiver when the Thornes arrived. Spencer joined the staff after graduation.
“I was really excited because when I was playing at Naperville Central, I really admired what they were doing at Wheaton South because they ran such a wide-open offense,” Spencer said. “As a receiver, that was something to envy in those days.”
The Cardinals, who have played in the past five national championship games, have become the envy of the Division III football world. Spencer said that’s a result of hard work and team-building plans that started under John Thorne.
“The idea was to get the players to know each other better,” Spencer said. “To do that, you’ve got to take time away from X’s and O’s. That’s something we do to this day.”
Jeff Thorne was an innovator who always wanted to add to his knowledge of the game.
“He visited Bill Walsh and wanted to know about the West Coast offense,” Spencer said. “Bill Walsh said, ‘Ah, none of that stuff matters. What matters is the relationships with your players.’
“That was kind of the idea and a lot of what Jeff did as an offensive coordinator and head coach, and that informed my coaching style. I’m using his kaleidoscope to view football.”
Retired Naperville Central football coach Mike Stine views Jeff Thorne as a brother. Stine coached Payton Thorne, who played quarterback at Michigan State and Auburn.
“We had Hall of Fame dads who were football coaches, and we wanted to be our dads growing up and follow in their footsteps,” Stine said. “Obviously, Jeff did that with John.
“I did with that my father. We had a lot of similarities, and we could talk about a lot of things that we had in common. I learned a lot from John and Jeff and Payton just on how to live your life.”
Jeff Thorne lived his life with a purpose that went beyond X’s and O’s.
“If there are young coaches out there, and you want to build something, then don’t look any farther than Wheaton South and North Central College to build your platform because they do it the right way,” Stine said.
“It’s not necessarily about winning and losing. It’s about teaching life lessons and becoming good, positive role models and good husbands and good sons and good fathers. If you win some football games along the way, so be it. They were fortunate to do both. They raised great young men, and they won a lot of football games.”
Faith underpinned Jeff Thorne’s approach to coaching. Spencer has continued that tradition.
“God has been a part of this program since his dad took over,” Spencer said. “He was a man of faith, and that’s a really important thing because you have all these Christian principles throughout our program — love, kindness, generosity.
“Those are principles Jesus laid out for us as humans to follow and to live by. That’s how we’re trying to run our program, where we’re treating people the right way. So I think that’s No. 1 about him.”
No. 2 was the competitive fire, which wasn’t restricted to football. Spencer found that out when they were assistant coaches.
“In our younger days, we used to play basketball against the players, and if we lost, we weren’t getting off that floor until we won,” Spencer said. “I’m dead serious. So as a coach you want to go really hard in that first game and win and not get stuck out there playing three or four games against 19- and 20-year-olds.”
Jeff Thorne and Stine grew up attending games, spending many Friday nights on the sidelines and in the locker room watching their fathers coach. Later, Stine joined Jeff Thorne to watch Payton Thorne’s college games.
“I was fortunate to be with them all for the Senior Bowl and the Hula Bowl last year,” Stine said. “At that time, we didn’t know what was going on.
“Their faith as a family was really unique and special, and it just got stronger as they all went through the last nine to 10 months.”
Stine said he last spoke with Jeff Thorne at Thanksgiving.
“Through the whole process, he was just so positive,” Stine said. “A couple days after Thanksgiving, Payton texted me and let me know that things had kind of turned for the worse and to give some extra prayers for his dad.”
Stine said his prayers are with the entire Thorne family, which he said has set an exemplary example.
“As I told them yesterday, they’ve impacted so many lives they don’t even know,” Stine said. “Jeff is truly going to be missed.
“His legacy will live on for a long, long time with all the lives that he’s touched.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
