DANVILLE -- John Spezia may be the "new guy" on the Danville Area Community College Board of Trustees, but he's not new to campus.

Spezia is retired from DACC, where he was the longtime DACC men's basketball coach and athletic director.

But Tuesday, he began a new role at the college when he was the top vote-getter in the race for DACC trustee, beating out the next-closest candidate by almost 1,000 votes.

Spezia said his solid win is likely a result of his name recognition from his years of coaching, not only at the college, but elsewhere in the region and from his family's roots in the area.

Spezia was the top vote-getter with 7,547 votes, followed by David Harby, 6,548; Richard Cheney, 6,206; Keith Souza, 6,003; and Vincent Koers, 1,884. The top three, Spezia, Harby and Cheney, won the three open seats on the seven-member board. The DACC district covers Vermilion County and portions of Iroquois, Edgar, Ford and Champaign counties.

When looking at just city of Danville results, Spezia was still the top vote-getter, but with a slimmer margin: Spezia, 3,444 votes; Souza, 3,141; Cheney, 2,936; Harby, 2,697; and Koers, 851.

Spezia was the only newcomer to grab one of the three seats along with the two incumbents, Harby and Cheney.

At least one of the three newcomers in the race was assured to take one of the three seats, because current Trustee John Halloran decided against running for re-election.

The newly elected trustees will be sworn in May 3.

Spezia said he's looking forward to starting his new role for many reasons.

He said the college plays a very important part in the education of the community and has administrators nearing retirement, and he wants to be a part of the effort to replace them. He said there are also financial and programming issues that he wants to be a part of addressing, and can bring his experience into those decisions, as well as various perspectives, because he's in touch with students and staff as well as administrators at the college.

"I've got a pretty good feel for what goes on and what administration and others at the college have to deal with," said Spezia, who added that it's all about the kids.