Get Rid of the Blue Stuff

Ernie Broglio sent from Cards to Cubs

 You know that old guy you run into at the grocery store who starts talking to you? You are ready to pick a couple items and get home but the guy start telling you some story and you are still there 20 minutes later. Today as I write, I am that guy. The only difference is with the blog you can click and go back to whatever you were doing. 

HOF’er Lou Brock sent from Cubs to Cards

My mom always said to be careful in who you look to for inspiration. So I am embarrassed to say that my inspiration for writing this today was Don O’Brien. For those of you unfamiliar with Don. He grew up in Galesburg and has spent most of his adult life in Quincy. Hard to believe anyone could get a GHS education and make such a horrible mistake as to choose to live in Quincy. I tell people that Don was the “player to be named later” in the trade for Bumpy Nixon. Galesburg got Bumpy and many wins, Quincy later got Don. So yes, Quincy should view Don as their Ernie Broglio. For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about- google Broglio for Lou Brock trade.

Don O’Brien- Actually chose to live in Q 

On some Tuesdays, I post a picture of a t-shirt on Facebook for T-SHIRT TUESDAY. This morning Don asked if I would like a blue Quincy shirt to post some Tuesday. Don’s question sent me to Facebook settings to see if I could figure out how to permanently block someone- no luck! But it did inspire me to tell you a story from the start of my coaching career at GHS back in 1974. You might say my coaching career started out because of blue shirts!

First I need to give some background about the Galesburg vs Quincy rivalry. Since the 1950’s, Galesburg and Quincy have either hated each other or at least strongly disliked each other. The rivalry was centered around boys basketball. If one of the teams was good and the other not great, then there was a dislike. If both teams were really good, then there was a hatred. 

Bumpy Nixon

Why were Galesburg and Quincy such rivals? I could simply say it was a classic case of good (Galesburg) vs evil (Quincy) playing out on the prairie. While this is certainly true, it doesn’t tell it all. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, often the two basketball teams would meet in the Supersectional with one school going to State, and the other hanging their coach in effigy. Then there was the aforementioned Bumpy Nixon for Don O’Brien trade. Quincy didn’t know they were getting Don a couple decades later, they just knew their best player moved to Galesburg. The people of Quincy suspected Nixon’s move to Galesburg might have been a 1950’s NIL deal. The rivalry was so intense that in the 1960’s, fans in Galesburg chartered an entire train to go down to Quincy and back to watch the Streaks vs Blue Devils. 

By the time I started coaching in 1974, it was obvious the rivalry was still centered in boys basketball, but there was a general dislike across the board. In fact, I became the cross country coach in no small part because of this dislike for Quincy. 

Pregame honoring the Devil

For those who don’t know, Galesburg’s school colors are silver and gold. The gold from the days GHS was the Tigers, and silver when we became named after the passenger train, the Silver Streaks. It should be noted the “evil” are the Blue Devils and their primary color is blue. Communities in rural America had great pride in their schools, their nicknames, and even their school colors. 

When I started coaching cross country, I was shown the closet where all the cross country gear was kept. When I had a chance, I went to check out our equipment. I was surprised to see that our practice sweats were blue with white print. Our meet gear was gold with blue print. It seemed unusual but I knew cross country was an unusual sport- maybe cross country had different school colors. 

The Silver Streak

I mentioned to an administrator that our stuff was blue. I was told,”That is why you are coaching. We were not happy when a previous coach ordered blue gear. Blue is Quincy, and we don’t like Quincy!” Evidently an ao ready unhappy  administration had reached a breaking point over the blue gear. They were willing to hire someone to coach cross country who had never run cross country, and had never even attended a cross country meet. The message was clear- “We are Galesburg, we do NOT do blue.” 

In those days, GHS had a limited athletic budget, but a box with new gear arrived. I was told, “Hand this out and get rid of the blue stuff.”

It was an early lesson for me. There is a rivalry with Quincy. When you order equipment, get it in the school colors. My entire career, I ordered t-shirts in some form of black, silver, or gold print with two exceptions. I got some pink out shirts in pink, and for our summer league that we sold to area schools, I got various colors to try to make money. But I figured it is tough to last in coaching, so I was not going to get fired for ordering the wrong colored shirts!

So Don- two things you can be sure of….

1- I do not want a Quincy Blue Devil t-shirt for my collection.

2- I may be retired but I will still bring my own water if I am visiting Quincy!!

It should be noted that despite my always giving Don O'Brien a hard time about living in Quincy, Don is one of many good guys I met thru sports. Don originally was a sports writer for the Register-Mail and then later in Quincy at the Herald-Whig. Those were great days when you had newspapers that were actively covering local sports.