Beloved football coach, FCA (Fellowship of Christain Athletes) leader, and family oriented father and spouse Mr. Larry Lilja upholds his faith and love for athleticism and discipline.
Lilja grew up in the small town of Worth, Illinois where he played baseball throughout his childhood. He continued throughout high school, following in the footsteps of his older brother and attended Harold L. Richards High School in Oak Lawn, Illinois. No one in Lilja’s family had ever played football, and he wouldn’t have joined had it not been the high school football coach who approached Lilja in the hallway and encouraged him to join the team.
Starting out on the freshman B team, he initially struggled and found himself benched throughout the season. Feeling defeated, his father encouraged him to continue sophomore year, where he grew stronger and began to get playing time. By senior year, he had multiple recruiting offers and accepted one from Northwestern, graduating high school in 1971.
Growing up, Lilja’s family prioritized academics which helped him develop strong study habits throughout high school. This helped him successfully manage the rigorous workload between academics, attending FCA, and athletics as an Economics major at Northwestern.
Lilja was the second oldest of five siblings, and was named team captain of his college football team. His two other brothers, Jordan (who played for Michigan) and David (who played for Indiana) were also named captains of their respective teams. Their claim to fame is that they are the only three brothers to be named captains of their college football teams in the history of college football.
Upon graduating, Lilja would join the NFL and was rostered on the Atlanta Falcons. However, a broken foot during preseason training left him benched for the season before he would be traded to the Seattle Seahawks. He played for a year on the Seahawks before retiring and pursuing a graduate degree in physiology at Northwestern.
After fully graduating from the program, he became a strength and conditioning coach for 32 years at Northwestern as well as becoming an FCA leader for the student body. He even had the opportunity to coach former principal Dr. Challa Holland during her basketball career at Northwestern.
After marrying his wife, Kelly Lilja, a gymnast at Winona state in 1991, they had three children who would graduate from LFHS; Scott (2006), Ricky (2007) and Victoria (2009). Lilja’s journey with the LFHS football team staff began throughout the 2002-2007 football seasons by volunteer coaching while his sons were on the team. However upon retiring at Northwestern, he was officially employed in 2010.
His role on the coaching staff has been a big part of the discipline instilled in the hundreds of athletes he has coached. He continued his role as an FCA leader in 2018 when FCA was introduced to LFHS through Mr. Stackhouse and alumni Lilian Alarcon (2022).
Lilja continues to exemplify his own standards through inspiring hard work amongst the student athletes he works with.
“He lives by everything he teaches and is a very integral person,” said junior Tim Dan who works with him closely as an FCA leader and varsity football athlete.
“Coach Lilja, is a great guy, but a better coach. He pushes us past our limits and never stops believing in us. I always look forward to stepping into the weight room with coach Lilja,” said junior Arjan Jawanda.
