Meet Rob Beckman: Teacher, Angler, Coach and Historian

by Rob Beckman | November 2, 2026 | Recreation

Near the shoreline of a lake, two teenager boys stand and hold up large green and white fish in both hands. A man poses next to the two boys to the right. In the background is a floating covered dock over a lake.

2025 Mid Illini Conference champions. Coach Rob Beckman with anglers Mason Loser and Dawson Meteisis. Dunlap teams swept first and second place. All photos courtesy of the author.

For Rob Beckman, teaching has always been about more than a classroom. His career has run from youth counseling to the high school classroom to the shoreline. The common thread has been helping people, especially young people, discover what they’re capable of.

A man stands on a boat on a lake and holds up a large dark green and silver fish. In the background is the shoreline of the lake against a bright blue sky. — Rob Beckman and a 6.2 pound bass caught at Banner Marsh State Fish and Wildlife Area.

Beckman’s own fishing story began at Lake Springfield, where his mother first taught him how to fish. That early lesson turned into a lifelong passion. Over the years he has fished all across the upper Midwest, including Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and across the border into Canada. Yes, he’ll fish for anything that swims, but today you’ll usually find him at Banner Marsh State Fish and Wildlife Area chasing bass.

Working with Youth

Beckman started his career working with children who needed support. In the early 1990s, he was a shift supervisor at Chestnut Health Systems in Bloomington, where he counseled teens struggling with substance abuse in a residential treatment program and supervised staff. He then joined the Children’s Home Association of Illinois in Peoria, where he worked with children with behavioral disorders, first as a childcare counselor and later as a case manager. In that role, he counseled children and families and trained foster parents in behavior management. In 1994, he left to return to school full-time and pursue a degree in education.

That decision led him to Dunlap High School in 1996, where he spent the next 29 years. Beckman taught U.S. History; ancient, medieval and modern world history; civics; a course in logic and current events; and, for 18 years he taught AP Psychology, with 88 percent of his students earning college credit on the exam. He also ran the school yearbook for eight years and coached girls basketball at the freshman and varsity levels.

High School Club Develops a Fishing Passion with Students

Some of his biggest impacts at Dunlap came on the water. In 2008, Beckman founded and began coaching the Dunlap bass fishing team. Over 15 seasons he built it into one of the most successful programs in Illinois high school history, with a top-10, all-time record amongst Illinois High School Association.

Two boys hold up large silver and dark green fish in both hands. A man poses next to the boys. Behind the trio is the shoreline of a lake. — The 2017 Mid Illini Conference champions coach Rob Beckman (right) with anglers Sam Smith and Isaac Thompson.

The numbers tell the story. Beckman’s teams won two sectional titles and qualified for the state finals eight times, finishing as high as seventh twice. Across 62 tournaments, his anglers finished in the top ten 50 times, in the top five 34 times, and in the top three 24 times. That includes eight wins, eight second-place finishes, and eight third-place finishes. His teams also took the big bass award nine times, with a best fish of 8.14 pounds, and brought in a five-fish limit of 18.18 pounds. The Dunlap Fishing Club Facebook page was created to connect the team’s anglers, families and supporters.

Beckman’s favorite memory from those years, though, isn’t a record. It’s the team’s first tournament win. The student anglers started fishing hard at 7 a.m., but by 11:30 a.m. they had only one fish to show for it. Five were needed for a tournament limit.

“Those anglers could have gotten discouraged,” he recalled, “but they kept working hard.” By the 3 p.m. finish, they had gotten five fish to bite and landed every one of them. That was enough to take first place over more than 80 other teams.

Working as an IDNR Conservation Education Representative

Since 2024, Beckman has brought his fishing experience to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ (IDNR) Urban and Community Fishing Program as a seasonal fishing instructor in the Peoria area. Conservation education representatives are hired to introduce anglers of all ages to fish and fishing. The basics of ecology, why fish spend time in specific areas of the lake, pond or river, and what may entice them into biting a bait/lure are some of the topics discussed during fishing clinics. While many clinics are conducted waterside, and catching a fish is a goal, relaxing and becoming part of nature is what draws many people to fishing as a lifelong passion.

A photo collage of four photos. The photo on the left is of two men posing together. The man on the left holds up a large white and dark green fish. The man on the right holds the fishing rod and reel. In the background is the railing of a dock over a lake. In the middle top is a portrait of a young man holding up a fishing line with a successfully caught small green fish on a hook. In the background is the railing of a floating dock over a lake. The middle bottom photo is of two men posing together on a floating dock over a lake. The man on the right holds a medium sized silver and green fish. The seated man on the left smiles. The photo on the right is of a young boy standing on a floating dock over a lake holding up a fishing line with a small green and yellow fish caught on the hook. The young boy holds the fishing rod and reel in his other hand. Behind him is another boy holding a fishing rod and reel over the water while standing next to a man on the dock. In the background is the shoreline of the lake with trees against a bright blue partly cloudy sky. — “Nature is what draws many people to fishing as a life long passion.”
Rob Beckman has partnered with local camps that serve people with special needs. He provides advice for how to increase fishing opportunities at the camps and provides fishing clinics daily. He also takes small groups of children and families fishing when he gets the chance.

“Unlike coaching a traditional sport, teaching someone to fish can start a pursuit that lasts their whole lifetime,” he said. “And helping someone catch their very first fish, whether it’s a youngster or an adult, is something I consider an honor.”

Beckman’s skill in attention to detail in life, whether it is fishing, teaching or writing, thrives. When he’s not on the water, he is a published Civil War historian who writes as W. Robert Beckman. His publications include a book on life of Andrew Jackson Smith, an escaped slave in Kentucky who joined the 55th Massachusetts and finally was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001.

A man in a blue polo shirt sits behind a table. Two stacks of books are in front of the man on the tabletop. One of the books is standing upright on the stack of books on the left. The title of the book reads, "Carrying the Colors." A portrait of an African American Civil War soldier is on the cover. — In 2020 Beckman published “Carrying the Colors” the biography of Black Civil War soldier and Medal of Honor winner Andrew Jackson Smith.

Whether he’s explaining a battlefield or a bait rig, Beckman’s approach is the same: patience, curiosity and a love of helping people discover something new.

“I feel very lucky,” he said. “My life is now totally focused on my two biggest loves, fishing and history.”

In his work with the Urban and Community Fishing Program Beckman reaches anglers of all ages and skill levels. Some students are youngsters holding a rod for the first time. Others are experienced anglers looking to sharpen their skills with advanced tactics or are interested in taking up fly fishing. Like the history lessons he taught in the formal classroom, fishing lessons are ones that, when learned and understood, can have a lasting, positive effect on a person’s life.

Rob Beckman attended Illinois State University where he earned bachelor's degrees in psychology and history and a master's in history with a 4.0 GPA. The history faculty honored him with the Tasher Award as outstanding graduating senior and for the best senior research project in U.S. History. He later received two Cavanaugh Awards, for outstanding master's student and outstanding master's thesis in U.S. History. When he's not on the water, he is a published Civil War historian who writes as W. Robert Beckman. With co-author Sharon MacDonald, his former professor and master's thesis advisor at Illinois State University, he wrote Carrying the Colors (Westholme, 2020), the life of Andrew Jackson Smith. Smith escaped slavery in Kentucky and joined the 55th Massachusetts, one of the Union's first African American regiments. During a desperate assault in South Carolina, he saved the regiment's flag under heavy fire after the color bearer was killed. Lost records kept him from receiving the Medal of Honor for decades, until it was finally awarded in 2001. Beckman and MacDonald have a second book on the 55th Massachusetts forthcoming. He has also written about the war for North and South Magazine, with articles on the battles of Honey Hill and River's Causeway in South Carolina and on the Fort Pillow massacre in Tennessee. He contributed entries on Civil War tactics and on General Daniel Sickles to The Encyclopedia of the American Civil War.