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Jeff Dunbar was baseball, football standout at CHS
What was Jeff Dunbar’s favorite sport in high school?
"Football was a close second, but it was baseball first," said the 1994 Centralia High School graduate who was equally adroit at both for the Orphans before following that up with a sterling career at McKendree University in the latter sport.
As the Orphans quarterback, Dunbar was the first in CHS annals to have back-to-back 1,000-yard passing campaigns with his varsity junior-senior seasons totaling 134 completions in 281 attempts for 2,093 yards.
As a senior, he threw the game-tying touchdown pass in overtime when the Orphans won a 36-35 thriller at Mount Vernon over the Rams, who were expected to be one of the top contenders in the South 7 Conference that season.
"Chad Hammons (the Rams’ quarterback) and I were good friends so it was very competitive from that standpoint," said Dunbar. "Coach (Kurt) Simon was trying to turn things around with the program and that was the start of the process."
But baseball remained his focus.
"I wanted to try and do both sports (in college) but at the time, especially at a decent-sized school, they weren’t looking for a 5-foot-11, 175-pound quarterback," said Dunbar. "Some schools wanted me to move to defensive back, and Eastern Illinois made me an offer to be a preferred walk-on. But it (baseball) was my first love and my goal was to play pro baseball."
At CHS, Dunbar was a first-team All-South 7 Conference selection three times and as a sophomore, stepped into the starting center fielder role and batted .310.
As a senior he batted a team-high .424 and was named Centralia High School’s outstanding Male Athlete in 1994.
From there, it was on to McKendree where he was a four-year letterman and in his sophomore year, batted .491 which ranked fifth in the nation.
His senior year, he hit .301 and was named a National Association of Intercollgiate Athletics All-American Scholar-Athlete.
From there, Dunbar pursued his dream of professional baseball with the help of longtime Padres scout and major league coach Rich Hacker, who was at McKendree as coach for a brief time.
"He (Hacker) was instrumental in my getting workouts with major league teams after my senior year (at McKendree)," said Dunbar. "That connection followed me and I was very thankful for the opportunity.
"I did well in school and that was my backup plan, but my goal was to see how far I could take baseball."
Dunbar had workouts with the Padres in Arizona and with the Yankees high-Class A team in Tampa.
"It didn’t pan out but looking back in the moment, the odds were against me," he said. "That’s just the nature of the business. But I wanted to know that I gave it all I had and didn’t leave anything on the table."
Now living in suburban St. Louis, Dunbar is a banker, specializing in commercial lending and travels the country while still having a connection with baseball.
"Last season was the first time since my son was four years old that I didn’t coach him," Dunbar said. "As much as I thought I’d miss it, it was kind of nice to watch from the stands."
Growing up in Centralia and playing sports made a deep impression on Dunbar and his path through life.
"It started at an early age when my dad told me to try and play not for the glory but because you can learn about life through sports and he was 100 percent correct," said Dunbar. "Those lessons, the people you meet and the things you do carry on well past your athletic career, and it’s all helped me in so many ways.
"In St. Louis, the big question is ‘Where did you go to high school?’ I like the fact that I’m from Southern Illinois, and a sports town in Centralia. I’m proud of where I grew up."
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