I grew up a Streaks fan, hearing my grandparents rave about the Kimbrough’s. Watching the State games, including the agonizing loss to Cobden and then the exciting years of Dale Kelly and the ’66 Streaks.
In 1968 as a sophomore at Savanna, I was busy with my own team. I managed to get to see a couple games at Galesburg and then they played live on a QC TV station vs. Moline. My coach took a group to the Assembly Hall to see the State Tourney. The quarterfinal with #1 Effingham vs #2 Galesburg was a game everyone looked forward to. As it turned out, it was no contest as Galesburg blew them out.
The 1968 Streaks had athletes. They ran, they pressed, and they ran some more. Their 2-2-1 press with Mims and Luckett upfront were a nightmare for opposing guards. Then you had athletes in the middle with Wood and Triplett as interceptors, and Reinebach protecting the basket. And they didn’t waste time when they got the ball. When I asked Woody about how much they scored, his reply, “We only scored 100 three times,” not bad for a 32 minute game.
When people in Galesburg argue about the best all-time Streaks teams, they focus on the Kimbrough’s team, Bumpy Nixon’s team, 1966 with Dale Kelley , and 1998 with Joey Range. Who knows which team was the all-time best Streaks team? They were all pretty good!
I think it is a mistake not to include the 1968 team in the discussion. While they didn’t have the “superstar” that the other teams had, they had a collection of gifted athletes. The ’68 Streaks produced five D1 basketball players, a State Champ in track, and a D1 baseball player. They had some athletes who could defend and could run.
Dave Wood- Western Illinois then Knox- basketball
James Reinebach- Iowa State- basketball
Ruben Triplett- Southern Methodist- basketball
Zack Thiel- Southern Methodist- basketball
Mike Doyle- Tulane- Basketball (State Long Jump Champ)
Fred Mims- Iowa- Baseball
I was on the Knox basketball team with Woody during his senior year and my sophomore year. Thru the years, we have remained friends and I have always enjoyed our conversations about his days at Galesburg. It was great to get him to do the blog with me.
Who were your starters in '68?
Myself, Fred Mims, Leon Luckett, Jim Reinebach, and Ruben Triplett were the starters. Zach Thiel, Mike Doyle, and Roland McDougall came off the bench as guards, and Steve Olson came in the for the posts.
We knew we were supposed to get the ball inside to Reinebach and Triplett, they were our leading scorers. Mims and Luckett were terrors on defense and in the full court press. They were at the front of our 2-2-1 press, and could intimidate other teams guards with their quickness. They would not back down from anyone. They put the pressure on, and then I was supposed to steal the pass when the opposing guards panicked.
You always hear about the '66 team and the '68 team. What happened in '67? Were most of you who played in '68 playing regularly in '67?
We went 21-3 in the regular season, but lost to Quincy in the Sectional. Coach Thiel never mentioned it to us, but after we lost to Quincy someone hung him in effigy in his front yard. Think about that- you go 21-3 and the year before you take 2nd in State but someone hangs you in effigy.
Roland McDougall and myself were the only junior starters. Fred Mims and Leon Luckett played some.
What was your overall record in 1968?
We were 27-3. We lost to Moline by 2, Crane Tech by 10, and Evanston by 19.
The Moline game was a televised live by one of the Quad City TV stations. Coach Thiel never liked to lose to any of the Quad Cities teams. So the combination of it being a QC team, and being on TV made it a big game. At half-time we were losing. In the locker room at half was the maddest I ever saw Thiel during my career. He was especially mad at Reinebach and Triplett for not rebounding. I remember Thiel yelling at them, “Even Woody has more rebounds than you.” I don’t think he intended as a compliment to me.
We lost to Crane Tech at Galesburg. They had Jerome Freeman, and he could not be pressed. We were without Triplett that night as he was suspended. Crane Tech went onto finish 3rd in State.
What were your biggest regular season wins?
We beat Quincy by 14 and Pekin by 14, they were big games for us.
What were you ranked at the regular season? Were you ever rated #1 during the season?
We were ranked #1 in the State until we lost to Crane Tech. We ended the season rated #2.
Who did you play in the Regional? Can you describe those games?
Our Regional was at Bushnell. There gym was sunken into the ground that made it like a miniature Assembly Hall. We are had a real tough Regional! We beat Abingdon 97-35, Macomb 99-44, and Knoxville 118-44. Knoxville came out hot, Thiel got mad, so we pressed full court the entire first half.
Who did you play in the Sectional? Can you describe those games?
We beat East Moline by 87-59, and then Kewanee Wethersfield 95-67. Coach Talley of East Moline was upset that we beat them early in the year by 22, and said the only reason was we played the game in Galesburg. Thiel put that article on everybody’s locker before the game. He mentioned in the article that we would not win by 22, he was right, we beat them by 28 that night.
Thiel would say, “I’ll show you once, maybe twice, you don’t want me to show you a third time!” East Moline’s regular defense was 1-2-2 ¾ court press. We practiced on getting the ball to the middle of the zone, turning around and attacking the basket. I played in the middle of the offense, so I was to catch the ball, turn, and attack. Easy. During the game I turned the ball over on the first two possessions and had a seat between Thiel and Coach Beal. That was not a good spot. Though Thiel never looked at me, Thiel described in vivid detail what he thought about my hands and my lack of concentration. Once he was done, he put me back in the game.
Where was the Super, who did you play, close game?
We played at Western Illinois University, and beat Quincy 61-60 in OT. Some guy named Wood stole the ball three straight times at the end of regulation to send it into overtime.
Effingham was undefeated in the Elite 8. They were ranked #1, and you were ranked #2. Why were you confident going into that game? Why were you able to beat them so bad?
Effingham was very tall and very slow. Every game they played in the tourney, the scores got closer and closer. Before we played Effingham, Thiel told me that he thought Effingham was over rated and he thought we would beat them easily. It turned out they couldn’t handle our press or the speed of the game, and it was a blow out.
Who did you beat in the Semis. What do you remember from that game?
We beat DeKalb in the semis. They had a good team. The only thing I remember is that I almost got a technical for arguing with the ref.
What do you remember from the championship game?
I remember getting our butts beat! Evanston was tall and controlled both boards. We couldn’t get our running game going because of the lack of rebounds and being too tired from the afternoon game. That being said, Evanston was an awfully good team. One of the players (Cooper) went onto Ripon College, so I had play against him for four more years.
Everyone says that Thiel was ahead of his time. What was he doing or what were you guys doing that other teams were not doing at that time?
For our ’68 team, our keys were fastbreak offense and 2-2-1 zone press. We were committed to outscoring our opponents. At that time a lot of high school teams were not used to a running fastbreak game. Our approach was to shoot when open, and rebound.
In general, I think Thiel scouted more than a lot of people at that time. He scouted himself a lot, but also sent out his assistant coaches. He always had scouting report written up on chalk board in our locker room to study. It had their top 7 players and our matchups. I remember it was right where he taped us, so as he taped us you looked at the scout report and he talked to you about it.
What did you and the team do in the off-season?
We had open gym at the high school Monday thru Friday for the entire summer from 11:00am to 1:00pm. Anybody could play but only our team ever came. Tuesday and Thursday evenings we played in Dean Lindstrom’s driveway under the lights. Saturday and Sunday Bob Morgan opened up Churchill at 1:00pm and we played for two hours.
Talk about your practices, what do you think you did in practice that helped separate you from other teams?
At the beginning of the season, our practices were three hours long, then later in year we would go two hours. He was very precise with his practices. I remember him always carrying a 3x5 index card. You never wasted any time, you went from one drill to the next. We did lots of drills working on fundamentals and working on man to man defense. We did lots of shooting in practice.
What stands out for me was the speed in practice. We did everything fast. There was very little standing around, we were running all the time.
At the end of practice we always shot 25 free throws. If anyone had made 20 in a row, Thiel would yell for all of us to go to their basket. During the last 5 ft’s, all of us would try to distract them as they shot. Very few ever made 25 in a row.
I believe the '68 team statistically is the fastest or most uptempo team in Galesburg history. Why were you able to run and to score so many points?
We had three cupcakes during the regular season in Kewanee, Canton, and Monmouth. Plus the Regional was easy with only one class back then. We put a lot of shots, had a good full court press, and ran. By the second half teams were usually tired. We had two guards who could press and create steals, and all of us could run.
Obviously we will never know what team was the best Galesburg boys team of all time. People seem to always refer to the Bumpy Nixon teams in the '50's and the '98 team. I know you are biased but why do you think your '68 team should be considered the best or one of the best of all time?
Sure! We didn’t have a super star like Bumpy Nixon, Dale Kelly, or Joey Range, but we really jelled together well. I think we had the fastest team Thiel had on offense or defense. We liked to play together.
Last question- who are three people (living or dead) you would like to invite for dinner?
How about Bob Hope, Arnold Palmer, and Babe Ruth.
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