Former Taylorville Tornado basketball player and winner of 392 games as a high school coach, George Zigman, will be inducted into the Taylorville High School Sports Hall of Fame at a Banquet on Saturday, April 22, 2006.
George Zigman graduated from Taylorville High School in 1950 and was a member of the Tornadoes basketball team from 1947 through 1950. During his senior year, Zigman, was a starter and contributed 147 points on the 24-9 team that advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen".
After graduating from Taylorville, Zigman attended Illinois State University, where he lettered in basketball his junior and senior years. Following college, Zigman returned to Taylorville, where he became a teacher and an assistant basketball coach. After four years at Taylorville, he got his first head coaching position at Delavan where he had a 4118 record. From 1961 —1968, Zigman was sophomore coach at Glenbard East High School and his teams won 105 and lost only 23. In 1968, he became head coach at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights. He posted 263 wins and 122 losses. His Hersey team won seven conference championships, seven regional titles, two sectional championships and one super-sectional title.
In his career, Zigman placed in the state tournament, was an assistant on two sweet sixteen teams, and coached two Heresy teams to the sweet sixteen and one to the elite eight. In his career, he won 478 games and lost 176.
George Zigman is a member of the Illinois High School Coach Association Hall of Fame. He retired in 1990. Following a short illness, George Zigman died in 1991.