GHS After 41 Years

The Quad City Times ran an article about the WB6 where they mentioned in boys sports, GHS has not won a WB6 title in baseball, track, football, or basketball since 1998. It mentioned that was 54 total seasons without a championship. People are quick to come up with explanations for success and lack of success.

On the girls side, GHS has won only 1 WB6 title in the last 8 years in basketball, volleyball, track, and softball.

In these 8 "major" sports as determined by the QC Times, 50% of them have not won a single conference title in the last 20 years. Only one of the sports has won more than one conference title in the last twenty years.



Galesburg is challenged competing in the WB6. We are the smallest public school in the WB6. This past year in boys basketball, Moline, Rocky, UT, and Quincy had enrollments which placed them in 4A. Galesburg is not the same school it was when the WB6 was started in 1969.

When I started at GHS in 1974, our enrollment was 2200 for a three year school. At that time ninth graders went to junior high. Today our enrollment is about 1200 for a four year school. If we were a three year school, we would be about 900 students. That represents a 60% drop in enrollment.

Most varsity teams are made up by juniors and seniors. In 1974, we had about 1400 juniors and seniors. And when you break it down by gender- there were 700 male juniors and seniors. Today, we have approximately 600 juniors and seniors at GHS, or only 300 male juniors and seniors.

With the change in our community's demographics, we have a higher percentage of students who are uninvolved in any activities at GHS. So in 1975 maybe 90% of those 700 males were in some activity, and today maybe 65% of the 300 males are in an activity.

Do these changes in numbers mean GHS cannot compete? No, but GHS is not what GHS was in the 1960's and 1970's, competing with a shrinking enrollment is much more of a challenge.