Friday Fotos- 1960 A Bumpy Year

New Gym- There was excitement about the opening of the new gym to in the Register-Mail as the “new unnamed gym on Fremont St.” That reaction was probably related to fact that GHS’s gym had always had a name before- “Steele Gym.” While people appear to have been excited about the new gym, they were quickly disappointed in its size at only 3600. In the first year, it regularly sold out and people were turned away. The gym was named for Coach John Thiel in 1993.

Morning After the Sectional- The Thiel family woke up on Saturday after the Sectional Championship to have a banner across the front of their house. 

Cleaning The Trophy Case- The Register-Mail got Coach Thiel to pose cleaning a spot for a possible new trophy before they headed to the State tourney. 

Bumpy Birthday- In one of the most famous birthdays in Galesburg history. Bumpy Nixon turned 19 after the Regional tourney, which with a new IHSA rule made him ineligible to play any more games for the Silver Streaks.

Bradley Knocks Off #1- GHS’s 1956 grad, Mike Owens helped Bradley (#2 in the Nation) knock off Cincinnati (#1) and Oscar Robertson in OT at the old Robertson FH. Owens hit the two ft’s at the end to ice the game. Although finishing in the top 10 in final polls, the NCAA only took the first place team from a league. Bradley took second and went to the NIT. 

A Different Place- Galesburg was a different place in 1960, and the new Galesburg HS was almost a “country school” based on its location. This is a photo of GHS in 1960 taken from the air. Chauncey Kenney (my cousin) was a pilot, science teacher, and yearbook sponsor who took this photo for the yearbook. There certainly was a lot of room for development in NW Galesburg.