In basketball terms, the 1959-1960 team is referred to as the 1960 team. So although the new school opened in the Fall of 1959 school year, I will be referring to the 1960 season. So not to confuse, the 1960 team played in 1959-1960.
In 1959-1960, Galesburg High School moved to West Fremont Street. When it first opened up, it was definitely on the edge of town. You could see more corn than homes at that time. There was no industrial arts wing, there was no learning center, and there was no foreign language wing. All of those things would come later.
There was a new gym. The Register-Mail referred to it as the “new, unnamed gym on West Fremont.” Jimmie Carr and his 1959 teammates were very disappointed that they had not gotten to play in the new gym. Jimmie described first going into the gym on Fremont St, and being struck about how “bright and light the gym was compared to Steele Gym.”
Bob Swanson, who played for Monmouth HS, described the first visit to play Galesburg as feeling like you were “entering a palace.”
Previously in Galesburg there were two main spectator gyms- Memorial Gym at Knox College and Steele Gym at the old GHS. Knox’s Memorial Gym was built in 1950 and held 2,750. Most accounts say that Steele held 2,600, although some claim it was 2,800. Steele the third largest HS gym in Western Illinois behind Wharton FH (7,200) and Canton’s Alice Ingersoll (3,000). Whether Steele held 2,600 or 2,800, by the late 1950’s the Galesburg community had outgrown, with people being turned away.
The new gym on Fremont St held 3,600. But to get up to 3,600, it required some work. When the wooden bleachers were to have the seats paints, the legend is that Thiel instructed them to paint each seat about 2-4 inches smaller than standard width. This may have added somewhere around 10 more seats per row, and with 60 rows of seats, it all added up. In addition, the team benches were moved to the baselines which added approximately 50 more total seats. So to get 3,600 into the “new, unnamed gym,” they were packed in.
The excitement of opening night was apparent. Tom Wilson later wrote a story that Coach Thiel drew names for the starting lineup the first night. Bumpy Nixon did not start but was the leading scoring. The distinction of scoring the first basket in the new gym went to Ralph Cannon- in fact he made the first two baskets as Galesburg crushed Macomb 63-42. Ironically, the 1960 team only lost two regular season games, and one of them was later at Macomb when they played short-handed.
Right from the first game in the 1959-1960 season, there was an issue of people not being able to get into games. And this continued throughout the 1960’s. The First Tuesday program that aired in 1970 showed ticket manager, David Gunderson turning away fans.
Even though the seating went up from 2,600 to 3,600, there appears to be immediate disappointment with the size of the gym. After fans were turned away from the first game, the Galesburg Register-Mail wrote, “Hindsight is always safer than foresight, but it appears to us that the new Galesburg Senior High School gym is already outdated as far as seating capacity goes.”
Adding to the concerns about the gym capacity were the sizes of new gyms by Galesburg’s rivals. In 1957 Quincy (3,900), 1959 Rock Island (6,400), 1960 UTHS (5,280), and 1964 Pekin (4,100). So in the period from 1957 to 1964, Galesburg went from having the third largest gym in Western Illinois to the sixth largest gym. And in 1960, Moline and Galesburg played in front of 6,000 fans at Wharton FH.
Throughout the years, there have been multiple stories about the building of the new high school and the new gym. Like with most projects, it appears that there was a give and take on where to put the money in the new building. Most say that originally the gym was to hold over 4,000 (without painting smaller seats). The consensus is that the gym was cut back to accommodate building a larger auditorium.
The walls at the end lines of the basketball court are much closer than in most gyms. The baseline is 79 inches from the wall. With team benches under the basket, the distance was cut down to only 44 inches. Because air vents, much of the walls were not padded. In the middle of the 1960 season, the Register Mail reported that Jeff Sandburg was injured and might be out after he ran into the “Chinese wall.”
If they had put the walls 12 feet from the baseline which is at least what most gyms would have, that would have added 8 seats per row and with 60 rows, you would have had an additional 480 seats.
The other popular story is that originally the GHS students were to be placed in “end zone” seats at the East end of the gym. Obviously if they had put 1,400 seats to accommodate the students, it would have been a much bigger gym. Some old times said the plan was to add that seating later but the ceiling beams were put the wrong direction so the East wall became a support wall.
After 1970, the capacity of the gym has not been much of an issue with some sell outs in 1976, some in the 1980’s, and then in 1998. In the 1965, an “unnamed Galesburg official” had proposed to move the Galesburg vs Pekin game to Robertson FH. The Galesburg administration said no to this idea. It is easy to understand that just five years after building a new gym, they were not excited to move games.
Athletic director, Chuck Bednar in 1965 explained the ticket process for GHS games, “With some 1250 season ticket holders, 250 seats reserved for District 205 school employees, and an allotment of 400 tickets to Pekin, it is anticipated that the remainder of the seats (some 1,400) will be taken by the students of our senior high school. Subsequently, we expect that there will not be any tickets remaining.”
Bednar also outlined where “standing room” only assignments were, and where media had to go. Everyone had assigned spots.
GHS students for games had a deadline time for picking up their tickets. At that time, any tickets not picked up were sold to the general public. In most cases, the entire north side main bleachers were all students.
Galesburg, like other schools, when they remodeled or updated the gym, they lost seats. There is a standard width for seats, there are requirements for aisles, and the slope must be less so fewer rows.
In the 1980’s, Galesburg replaced the original wooden bleachers. The company that made the original bleacher had gone out of business in the 1960’s, and when the bleacher broke down, parts actually had to be fabricated. The bleachers were replaced by a light metal material. Each main floor and each balcony section lost one row and lost seats to four aisles in each section. Seating capacity shrunk to 2,900.
In the 1990’s, a new floor was put into the gym. As you enter the gym, you will see it is slightly raised. This caused the divider used in the middle of the gym for PE not to be able to come out anymore.
In 1992, the “new, unnamed gym” became the John Thiel Gym. Thiel had coached at GHS from 1956 thru 1973 seasons. Thru the next 50 years, GHS was to have 11 coaches of boys basketball, and none as long as Thiel had coached. Thiel and Dawdie Hawkins at Pekin were two of the legendary coaches to have the gyms named for them.
In the 2010’s, the John Thiel Gym was further remodeled with a new floor and new bleachers. The gym was reduced to 49 rows (originally there were 60 rows), and had additional, wider aisles. As a result, today Thiel Gym has a capacity of 2,350. Least you think this is just a Galesburg thing, Rock Island FH originally held 6,400 and today it holds 4,200.
While Thiel Gym probably could have sold 4,500 tickets regularly in the 1960’s, it could be argued the smaller 3,600 gym certainly provided a loud, packed, home court advantage. When full, there was a sense of everyone being right on top of you. In later years, the capacity has served GHS well. When there have been good teams in boys or girls basketball, it has given that same loud, packed atmosphere of the 1960’s. Most coaches, players, and fans would label Thiel Gym as one of the truly great high school gyms in Illinois. When Thiel is filled and the band strikes up “Hi Yo Silver,” there is no other place like it.
