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| Mike Campbell at Northwestern |
Massey- I have enjoyed reading your memories and thoughts. I really appreciate your willingness to share the memories. Do you have any conclusions to share?
Campbell- It should be acknowledged that the events leading up to and during the 1976 Regional Final (and, in fact, all of our team and individual successes during the 1975-76 season) were made possible by the time, energy, and knowledge invested in us by individuals such as Coach John Thiel, who started us on a path toward being Streaks via his summer camps; Coach Bill and Coach Bob Morgan and Coach Barry Swanson, who got us involved in the open gyms where we learned how to play the game the right way; the former Streaks players (too numerous for me to mention without forgetting to name several of them) who played with and against us in those open gyms, modeling for us how to play and inspiring us to believe that we could one day be where they had been; a guy like Craig Johnson, whose backyard full court was the site of the many summer evening pick-up games where we developed our skills and built up our confidence and camaraderie; those teammates who, through the years, contributed to our development as players but then fell away completely or took on a less prominent role on the team, thus never getting to share the full impact of being a 1976 Silver Streak the way some of us did; our parents, who loved us unconditionally and supported us through the ups and downs of our high school years, including our basketball experiences; the rabid Galesburg fans (even those who occasionally booed us and me) and the very attentive Galesburg print and broadcast media (hey, where else can one get out of high school for part of a day to be on a local radio show (“Swick on Sports”)??); our assistant coaches, such as Coach Massey, who provided us with good scouting information and energetic practices; and Coach Mike Owens, who not only got the most out of an imperfect roster, but did so while modeling what it looked like to be a very good man and father, even while being a fierce competitor in the arena. I’ve had the opportunity to go around and thank several of these individuals over the past several years, and I’m happy that I did so.
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| Eric Doss playing baseball for WIU |
Doss- My basketball career was spotty. Injured my knee during sophomore football. Missed most of my sophomore year. Coach Owens had me practicing varsity heading into the Quincy game in 1974. Twisted the knee at practice and missed the rest of my year. Didn’t get to make the road trip. Missed the first quarter or half of the junior year also. So, getting to play my senior year and being part of the ’76 team was a true honor for me. Playing with 2 guys with the talent of Mike and Scott was fantastic and made the rest of us look better. Not to mention the other guys on the team, Bill Dwyer, Stoney, Mendy, Cheese. Drew Hendricks, Poguesly, Slim, Rollie Williams, Carl Finley, Rance Berry, and Mike Wilder.
And being part of the Galesburg/Richwoods game is a highlight that lasts a lifetime!
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| Mike Campbell at NW |
Campbell- Perhaps oddly, although we have been together back in Galesburg a couple of times for class reunions and have otherwise stayed in touch some over the years, I do not recall ever having compared memories about our high school basketball experiences, in general, or about the Richwoods games, specifically, in the manner in which Coach Massey’s reaching out to us for his blog has caused us to do. It was interesting to reflect upon how different each of our experiences were in some important ways even as we lived through many of the same events. Eric’s story, especially, reminded me of how grateful I now am for having been almost entirely injury-free throughout my basketball career (except for a couple of sprained ankles at Northwestern, one of which, admittedly, was “tragic’ in that it caused me to miss a road trip to U. of Arizona and Arizona State early in my freshman season – although even that “tragedy” had a silver lining because, laid up in my dorm room with my ankle elevated under an ice bag, I had nothing to do except study for my upcoming first quarterly final exams of my college career, on which I proceeded to do quite well, getting the academic portion of my college experience off to a solid start). I have to admit that, until our younger daughter tore her ACL playing high school basketball, causing her to miss substantially all of her senior year, I was oblivious to how fortunate I had been to not have any serious injuries, especially when I think back to how many hours (and hours) we played basketball, year-around, many of them on concrete surfaces or, in my own driveway, even gravel!! I now have a new appreciation for Doss’s perseverance!!
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| Scott Kelley played for Iowa, Evansville |
Kelley- Thanks for reaching out to us with these questions. Growing up in Galesburg as a Silver Streak in the time we did was a great experience. Unfortunately, I don’t think the high school basketball experience we had is repeatable in this day and age. Times change. It seems like whenever kids play today it is organized basketball. Kids may not have the experience of playing just for the joy of playing the game like we did. They may not know it, but I think they are missing out.
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| Iowa headed in soph yr |
Campbell- I agree with Scott’s final point about how our experiences playing high school basketball in Galesburg in the ‘70’s cannot be replicated today. Our two daughters had very nice high school basketball experiences (Including, between them, three trips to the Illinois “Elite Eight” to my one!), except for the aforementioned unfortunate injury suffered by our younger daughter, but their overall experiences were quite different. Reflecting upon both their experiences and mine/ours, I agree that there was a purity to the joy of playing basketball in our case – a joy that made all of the apparent “work” that we put into it really never feel like anything but “play” – that seems to have been unique to our place and time (at least to that era in Galesburg), which is among the several things that I am grateful to have experienced, at just the right times and in just the right places, during my life, and all of my Galesburg teammates and coaches were a not insignificant part of it being so! Thanks for that, and thank you Coach Massey for initiating this reflective writing exercise that has brought all of that back to mind and even expanded upon it!
REST OF 1976 SEASON
Galesburg played Peoria Manual in the Peoria Sectional. The Streaks beat Manual 46-45 with Campbell and Kelley combining to score 29 points. In the Sectional Championship, Galesburg faced Peoria Woodruff and Michael Robinson. Robinson finished his career with 1929 points, which was the most ever by a Peoria player. Twenty years later, his son playing at Richwoods tallied over 2900 points. Robinson had 30 vs the Streaks, but Campbell had 27 and Kelley 14 as the Streaks won 67-63.
Galesburg defeated Moline in the Supersectional 52-47 with Kelley pouring in 24 points.
In the Elite 8 matchup vs Morgan Park, after being tied at half, the Streaks lost 53-48. Campbell and Kelley combined for 30 points, while Levi Cobb poured in 26 points. Morgan Park went on to win one point games vs Oak-Park River Forest and Aurora West on their way to the State Championship.
1977 SEASON
Don Wright left coaching to go into the ministry. I was moved into the position of varsity assistant with Head Coach Mike Owens. Barry Swanson remained the Sophomore Coach but the position of sophomore assistant was eliminated. The varsity team suffered a losing season going 11-17. Galesburg again beat Richwoods in OT (53-52) for the Regional Championship. Galesburg then lost to Peoria in the Sectional in OT (56-49). Peoria went onto win the Illinois State Championship that year.
Going Forward
Mike Owens chose to leave coaching after the 1977 season. He remained at Galesburg HS, where he became the GHS Principal. Later he left Galesburg and finished his career as the Athletic Director at Moline HS.
Barry Swanson- Barry remained the Sophomore Coach. He became the Galesburg Varsity Coach from 1979 thru 1984, and again from 1989-1996. Coach Swanson earned a PhD completing his career as school administrator at Lyons, then professor at Knox College, and today is an author about complete his third book.
Evan Massey- I resigned as varsity assistant after the 1977 season and took a year off coaching basketball. In 1978-9, based on a recommendation from Mike Owens, the administration asked me to coach the varsity girls’ basketball team. I remained in that position for 46 years.
Don Wright moved to Colorado where he used his Christian faith to eventually work with youth in basketball and baseball skill development camps. In thirty years running his private camps, it is estimated he served over 50,000 youth in his camps. Sadly at the age of 66, Don passed away in 2017.
Perspective
Since the IHSA created separate classes in 1972, two GHS boys’ basketball teams have made it to State- 1976 (Elite 8) and 1998 (2nd Place). It is interesting to note that while individuals from the 1976 team have been selected to the GHS Hall of Fame, the 1976 team has never been recognized.
People on the “edge of sports”- fans who never played competitively, and former athletes who were never part of championships- many of them don’t fully understand how hard it is to win championships. A team has to have talent, a team has to the right chemistry, and the team has to get all the right breaks. One only need to look at the 1976 Richwoods teams to begin to understand how hard it is to win championships. The 1976 Richwoods teams may have been one of the all-time best teams in Peoria, but they didn’t win the Regional.
Some Galesburg fans may still not appreciate how good the 1976 Galesburg team was, and what they accomplished. Winning the Regional vs Richwoods was one of the all-time great athletic achievements in GHS athletic history. In the last fifty years since the IHSA went to the two-class system, only two GHS boys basketball teams have managed to get to the Elite 8. Beating Richwoods was “hard”, beating Manual in the Sectional was “hard,” beating Woodruff in the Sectional was “hard,” and beating Moline in the Super was “hard.” Winning championships is hard.
Sadly some Galesburg fans don’t realize that. They don’t look at what the 1976 Streaks achieved, instead they say that the Streaks “should have beat Morgan Park.” The average fan just doesn’t quite understand championship competition- IT’S HARD.
I am sure every Streaks player would like to have had a chance to replay the Morgan Park game just one more time. But that loss does not take away the huge achievement during the tourney run by the 1976 team. The wins over Richwoods, Manual, Woodruff (with Robinson), and Moline is one of the all-time great tourney runs in GHS history.
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| Eric Doss and Family |
Eric Doss- I attended Western Illinois, majoring Business Transportation/Logistics. While at WIU, I was a four year starter as 3rd baseman and shortstop, during summers played in the Central Illinois Collegiate League and Colorado Summer League in Grand JunctIon, Co.
I returned to school in 1999 and completed my MBA at the University of Memphis, 2001. I have worked in Supply Chain Logistics his entire career, working for Airco Gases, Pepsico, Kraft Foods, McKesson Pharmaceuticals. Currently I am still working, Avantor Life Sciences (Distribution) where is the Senior Director for the Central and West regions. I oversee distribution operations for 12 sites in North America and Latin America. At this time, I plan to work 2 more years.
My career has taken me across the U.S. from Houston, TX to Alabama to Atlanta to Denver to Memphis and the last 11 years in the Chicago area.
I have been married to his wife, Sharon for 39 years. My daughter lives in Charleston, SC, and my son lives in Portland, OR. We have a granddaughter in the Charleston area, where I hope to retire.
Scott Kelley- I attended Iowa from Fall 1976 to Spring 1978 for my freshman and sophomore years. I played basketball for Lute Olson. In the spring of 1978, I transferred to the University of Evansville. I attended Evansville from Fall 1978 to Spring 1980, and played basketball. I graduated in the Spring of 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in Business.
The Evansville basketball team was killed in a plane tragedy on December 13, 1977. As a result, the NCAA waived the transfer rule, and I could transfer to Evansville without having to sit out a year. Two of my teammates from Iowa also transferred to Evansville- (Jimmy Hallstrom from Moline, and Larry Olsthoorn from Pella, Iowa). It is interesting to note that Hallstrom was on the Moline HS team that Galesburg beat in the Super-Sectional in 1976.
After graduation, I worked in Marketing for the local Pepsi Franchise in Evansville for 2 years. I attended WIU starting in Fall 1982 through Summer 1983 and earned an MBA while serving as a graduate assistant basketball coach and a research assistant in the College of Business. After earning my MBA, I taught at Highland Community College for a year (Fall 1983-Spring 1984) and was an assistant basketball coach there that year.
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| Scott at Evansville |
In 1984 I started my doctoral program at the University of Kentucky. I graduated in 1987 with a doctorate in Marketing. I taught at Bowling Green State University from Fall 1987 to Spring 1989.I joined the University of Kentucky faculty in the Summer of 1989.
While at the University of Kentucky, I have held the following positions-
2023-present Executive Associate Dean
2021-2023 Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
2020-2021 Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
2010-2018 Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs
2007-2010 Director, School of Management
2003-present Professor of Marketing
2000-2010 Director, Center for Sports Marketing
1992-2003 Associate Professor of Marketing
1989-1992 Assistant Professor of Marketing
I am not retired yet. I like what I am doing, and I like the people who I work with. I'll probably work another couple years before I retire.
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| Mike Campbell’s daughters with their sectional championship plaque |
Mike Campbell- After graduating from Galesburg High School, I attended Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, from 1976 to 1980 and graduated from NU with a B.A., with distinction,, in Economics, having met my now wife Stacy there. She went to high school in the Quad Cities and her dad played sports at Rock Island High School. It was ironic to go to a place like Northwestern, whose students come from all over the U.S. and, indeed, the world, but end up meeting and marrying someone from just up the road. Although, because her dad was a Colonel in the U.S. Army, she was actually born in Germany and had lived in places such as Thailand while growing up, before going to high school back in the Quad Cities.
While playing basketball for Northwestern, highlights included beating Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s eventual NCAA National Champion Michigan State Spartans (by 18 points, no less) in 1979. Our NU teams improved each year I was there, but the Big Ten Conference, bolstered by tremendous recruiting after the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers had beaten the Michigan Wolverines in the 1976 National Championship Game, was a dauntingly tough league during my four years playing in it, featuring such future Hall of Famers as Kevin McHale, Isaiah Thomas, and Magic, as well as a number of other future long-time solid NBA players such as Joe Barry Carroll, Eddie Johnson, Herbie Williams, Mychal Thompson, and others. In 1980, my senior season, both Iowa and Purdue went to the Final Four.
Personally, I was a four-year starter (starting against GHS teammate Scott Kelley and Iowa on TV as a freshman) and, as a senior, a Co-Captain and the team MVP. Over the course of my college career, I was coached by Tex Winter (the designer of the “Triangle Offense” later used by the Chicago Bulls and L.A. Lakers to win numerous NBA championships) and Galva and Northwestern alum Rich Falk (who, at that time, held the scoring record in GHS’s gym), and expanded my offensive game to include an effective inside-pivot move made famous by Jack Sikma (who played at Illinois Wesleyan on his way to becoming an NBA All-Star and Champion). My offensive versatility, combined with my having made a couple of All-Big Ten teams as a senior, resulted in my being drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the 1980 NBA Draft.
However, while at Northwestern, I had also been on the Academic All-Big Ten Team three times, was named, as a senior, to the Academic All-American Team (for which they flew the five of us to New York City to be honored during the final weekend of the NIT Tournament), and received the Big Ten Medal of Honor (for athletic and academic achievement).
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| Mike Campbell and family |
With those academic credentials providing me with options as to what I would do next, upon graduating from Northwestern, I chose to study law at Harvard Law School, rather than to pursue a professional basketball career. That decision was heavily influenced by the stage at which the Chicago Bulls were in their roster construction at the time -- they were still searching for stars; not so much role players, as I would have been. As a result, I was not the Michael that they needed at that time. (When I was drafted, their roster had the mismatched Artis Gilmore (whose strength was in methodical post-ups in the half-court) and Reggie Theus (who scored primarily via mad dashes in the open court). The Bulls famously found the star Michael (Jordan) that they needed a couple of years later (a player whose skills I could have complemented – who couldn’t?!), and went on to win six NBA Championships. As I tell folks now, “I was the next-to-last Michael drafted by the Bulls before they drafted THE Michael. You could say that they just kept drafting “Michaels” until they got the RIGHT one!”
Stacy and I got married in June 1981, after my first year at Harvard Law School, and I graduated from HLS with a J.D., cum laude, in 1983. Interesting to note that the Intramural basketball competition at HLS was quite good. For example, my team also featured a guy who had played professionally in Israel (and who, fortuitously, really liked to share the ball and had great court vision).
After law school, we moved back to Chicago, where I practiced corporate and securities law for 20+ years as a partner at Mayer, Brown & Platt, a large international law firm then headquartered in Chicago, working primarily on large financing transactions, typically public and private offerings of equity and debt securities (representing both issuers of securities and their underwriters), a career in which I found the physical stamina and competitive instincts of a sports background provided some advantages in the midst of sometimes all-night drafting sessions and intense negotiations.
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| If only Mike shot as well!! |
Stacy and I later moved north to Wilmette, Illinois (the second suburb north of Chicago), closer to her work, at Northwestern, where she has been, for 35+ years, the General Manager of the company that publishes the award-winning Daily Northwestern newspaper, written and produced primarily by Northwestern’s journalism students, many of whom have gone on to national prominence (for example, both ESPN’s Michael Wilbon and USA Today’s Christine Brennan were in our Class of 1980 at NU), as well as NU’s yearbook, the Syllabus. We have now been married for 43 years and have two adult daughters, Maeve and Hayley, who both played basketball at New Trier High School (Winnetka, Illinois), going, between them, to a total of three IHSA “Elite Eights”, as did our 1976 Silver Streaks team (losing to tough opponents each time – a “family tradition”!). Their New Trier teams played in the Galesburg gym against Coach Massey’s teams. Both got married (within 3 months of each other) in 2021 and, via Maeve and her husband, we now have a 14-month-old granddaughter, Eloise, who looks as if she may have gotten some of the height genes that have resulted in my being 6’10” tall! (She was only one inch shorter at birth than the 23” I checked in at.)
Outside of work, I’ve been very active at the First Presbyterian Church of Evanston, where Stacy and I began attending while at Northwestern all the way back in the 1970’s, and where, in more recent years, I’ve served as an Elder, Trustee, and on various other committees and task forces.
Massey- Thanks for taking the time to share your memories! It was an exciting time.
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