Eastern President Lou Hencken won’t be able to use his own golf rules anymore now that he is retiring June 30.

When Hencken goes golfing with other people from the university he declares ‘king rules’, giving him the ability to make his own rules up as he goes along, assistant athletic director John Smith said.

“We told him since he is retiring this year, he is not allowed to use the ‘king rules’ anymore,” Smith said.

Hencken may have lost his high status in golf, but Smith said he would always be remembered for his contribution to the entire university and the role he played in athletics over the years.

Hencken took over as the interim director of athletics in 1996-1997 and was, at the time, also serving as the vice president for student affairs.

“Those are both easily, full time jobs on their own and he did them at the same time and did a great job at both,” said Dave Kidwell, Assistant Athletic Director for Special Projects and Eastern’s Sports Information Director for more than three decades.

Hencken decided he would fill the void left by former Director of Athletics Bob McBee until they could find a replacement.

“I went and said, when I made the announcement that he had resigned, I said, ‘I’m going to name a person who will have no qualms, and no desire to be the permanent AD, so I’m nominating and hiring myself,'” Hencken said.

Hencken was a key contributor in starting the Panther Club Fund Drive, which has become an annual program to help raise money for Eastern athletics.

Smith said when Hencken came in the budget was at an all-time low.

But Hencken’s Fund Drive and continued work with the department helped bring them out of the slump.

“President Hencken breathed new life into the athletic department,” Smith said. “We were coming out of some tough times with the previous president. He helped rejuvenate us and give us a sense of excitement and value.”

Hencken also served as a referee for high school and college football for 12 years each, but said he had to give up officiating when he became vice president for student affairs and the athletic department reported to him.

“I was an OK official, and then I met Ken Baker (who is currently the Campus Recreation Director and an NFL official),” Hencken said. “We were going to go referee a game in Paris and his shoes were shined and his shirt was tucked in. I said, ‘Why are you shining your shoes, it’s just a freshman game?’ He said, ‘That to those kids, that game is the most important game going on to them.'”

Baker and Hencken used to drive together to officiate games on Saturday afternoon for schools such as Augustana College in Rock Island and Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington.

Baker said one time they were officiating a game in Newton and they were at a hamburger place getting some food.

Baker got up to wash his hands and came back and his sandwich was wrapped back up but someone had taken a huge bite out of it.

“I knew Hencken had done it so when we got our ice cream cones, I hesitated to eat mine,” Baker said. “And then I said, ‘Lou, this ice cream smells funny, smell it.’ Then when he went to smell it I buried the cone in his nose, knowing he was the one who took the bite. But what I didn’t know was that he was going to be my boss in 20 years.”

Hencken said the culmination of his career as a NCAA official was being a referee for the NCAA Division III football National Championship game in 1989.

Being a football official could be what made Hencken such a great president, Baker said. He knew how to work with people and make good judgments and decisions, Baker added.

“The lesson I learned was to be able to stand back, be unbiased and say this is the call I’m going to make,” Hencken said. “Half the people disagreed with it because people were looking at it with their own eyes and hearts but I truly loved it. It was just a fantastic experience.”

Hencken also said being an official prepared him more than he could say to be a university administrator.

“When you have been booed by 40,000 people, going to a faculty senate meeting isn’t that difficult,” Hencken said.