William Burcky was a versatile athlete in both high school and college. At Bluffton High School he played basketball, baseball and tennis. As a collegiate athlete, he earned four letters in tennis, three in basketball and one in track. Burcky’s involvement at Bluffton extended beyond the classroom and athletics, as he was president of both his senior class and the Varsity B.
After his graduation from Bluffton with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Burcky received his master’s degree in counseling from Bradley University and his doctorate in higher education and counseling from the St. Louis University.
Burcky began his career in education as a teacher, coach and counselor on the secondary level in 1957. While working on his doctorate at St. Louis University, he was an instructor in counselor education and was director of housing in student personnel. In 1971 he became a professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in counselor education and is now chairman of the department.
Burcky holds several positions in church and civic groups including elder, deacon and trustee in his church and chairman of the Mayor’s Senior Citizen’s Advisory Committee. He is also a volunteer for the senior citizens’ Olympics and the senior citizens’ exercise group.
At the university he is a member of the president’s task force on athletics and a member of the athletic director search committee.
“Serving as a student leader provided me with the many opportunities to experience the responsibilities which go along with those positions. Also, it has been a challenge to emulate and to add to my teaching that extra spark of dedication which the faculty at Bluffton possessed when I was a student. I can give credit to Mom, Dad, Jean Ann and the wonderful family life we shared together for establishing the characteristics I brought with me to college. Through participation in athletics those characteristics were enhanced and further refined.”
