The 1944 Reflector described the arrival of C.C. Van Dyke to GHS in this way, “From Waverly, Iowa, came a new football coach, C.C. Van Dyke, and with him a new style of play introduced, a style marked with speed and deception, power and ease.”
C.C. Van Dyke was a 1924 graduate of Kewanee Wethersfield High School. He attended the University of Illinois, where he was a member of the wrestling team. He graduated from Illinois in 1928, and got his master’s degree from New York University in 1935.
Before he arrived at Galesburg, he coached football 14 years with stops at Edgemont SD, Reinbeck Ia, Cedar Falls Ia, and Wartburg College. He came to Galesburg in the Fall of 1943 with a record of 67 wins and 31 losses in 14 years of coaching.
Van Dyke was hired to be the head football coach, the head wrestling coach, and the head track coach. He remained in the positions of football and wrestling coach for 27 years. He coached wrestling for 14 years.
His second year as wrestling coach, one of his wrestlers, Gene Courtright won a State title.
The entire 27 years that he coached track and football, there was neither a football field or a running track at Galesburg HS. Van Dyke was forced to improvise. When GHS moved to Fremont St, the football team practiced in the empty fields north of GHS and played at Lombard. They had no equipment shed but instead had an old school bus with the seats taken out. It served to store equipment and to be able to take things out to practice or over to games.
At the new GHS, there was no track so they ran meets at Lombard and practiced on grass track marked off by Van Dyke. If they were to practice high jump, pole vault or hurdles, they had to drive to Lombard.
Van Dyke’s last season, an all weather track was put in at GHS. His last year coaching was the spring of 1970 on the new track. That Spring, Mike Doyle won the State long jump and Gary Icenogle placed third in the mile. As a team, GHS finished in 8th place at State.
It is interesting to note that in the last 82 years Galesburg HS has had only 3 head boys track coaches- C.C. Van Dyke, Jerry Albright, and Craig Hillier.
During Van Dyke’s football career, he produced 21 All-Staters, and had an over-all record of 137-83. Today Van Dyke remains the all-time winningest football coach at Galesburg HS. Twelve of his 27 seasons the Streaks won 6 or more games, and six times they won 8 or more games.
The highlight of his football career was the 1956 team that went a perfect 9-0 with Albert and Elbert Kimbrough. That team outscored their opponents 359-39 for an average of 40-4. The team never trailed in any game, and seldom did starters play in the fourth quarter of games. Five teams were held scoreless, and only twice did teams score two touchdowns on the Streaks. The 1956 team is considered by many to have been “State Champions.”
Jerry Albright started his coaching career as a football assistant coach and track assistant coach for C.C. Van Dyke. Albright described Van Dyke as having been very knowledgeable about football, wrestling, and track. He described Van Dyke as very intelligent and worked to become an expert in many areas. He had studied the stock market and through shrewd investments had gained a fair amount of wealth as a teacher/coach.
VanDyke always wore a suit and tie on the sidelines, and hat like Tom Landry of the Cowboys. He required the assistant coaches wear a shirt and tie, but did not have to wear a suit. Jerry said,”There were some hot nights with a shirt and tie.”
Gene Denisar also served on Van Dyke’s football staff. Both Denisar and Albright expressed their amazement about the college football coaches that Van Dyke was friends with and had professional relationships. It was not unusual to go into the coach’s office and Van Dyke would be on the phone with a college coach, where Van Dyke would be picking their mind and often the college coach was asking Van Dyke for his thoughts.
Probably the two most impressive coaching relationships of Van Dyke’s were with Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns and Bob Blackman of Dartmouth. Jerry related a story where they were headed out to practice when a GHS secretary came running down to tell Van Dyke that Coach Blackman called and said he just needs 10 minutes to ask you something. Blackman is in the college football HOF.
Joe Morrissey described Van Dyke this way, “No one worked harder at his chosen profession than the veteran Silver Streak mentor who spent most of his off-season time either reading up on the game or attending clinics to keep up with the ever changing tactics of the complex game of football.”
Although Jerry Albright was working for Van Dyke in his last few years, Jerry described, “Going all over the country to track and football clinics.” Jerry claimed that Van Dyke was so intense that he would get so locked into a conversation that he would not pay attention as a driver. So wherever they went for clinics, Jerry drove the whole way.
They drove to Alabama to listen to Bear Bryant, and Missouri to hear Joe Paterno speaking. It says a lot that Van Dyke was going to clinics even though his career just had a year or two to go.
Albright said that Van Dyke often was more knowledgeable than the speakers. He recalled a track clinic where the speaker was explaining the Fosbury Flop which was just becoming popular. As the speaker was talking, CC leaned over to Jerry and said, “That’s not correct.” After the speaker got done, Van Dyke explained the error. According to Jerry, as he later studied the Fosbury Flop, indeed Van Dyke understood it better than the college coach.
To illustrate Van Dyke’s intelligence, Jerry described a game where GHS was losing 20-0 as the went in at half-time. Jerry recalled as they walked into the locker room that Van Dyke matter of factly said, “Boys, what we are doing isn’t working. Here is what we are going to do in the second half.” And CC went to the board and drew up variations to the Streak’s offense and defense. Jerry said the Streaks went out and won the game 42-20 with the adjustments.
Thoughout the ‘60’s, up to 1978, Illinois law required mandatory retirement for teachers at 65 years old. Van Dyke did not want to retire. Joe Morrissey described Van Dyke’s attitude toward retirement this way, “Many times we found him hesitant to talk of his retirement because he seemed to dislike the thought of being “sidelined” after all these years.”
By law, Van Dyke retired at the end of the 1970 school year. He planned to stay involved in the football program. Through his urging, the new coach Bob John’s agreed to change the offense to a double wing. The plan was for Van Dyke to go out Blackman at Dartmouth and study the intricacies of the offense, then come back and help implement the offense. So the plan would appear that CC wanted to continue involvement in GHS football on a volunteer basis.
In June of 1970, the 65 year old CC Van Dyke went out East to study the double wing, spending a week out there. When he returned to Galesburg later in June, he did not feel well. He was hospitalized on June 28 and died on July 10.
For many it was a shock. Albright described Van Dyke as probably the strongest, most fit 65 year old that he has ever been around. Van Dyke at 65 was still a regular in the weight room working out.
GHS had never had a football field at their high school but in the Fall of 1970, the new field at GHS was finished an used for the football season. The new field was immediately named, “C.C. Van Dyke Field” by the District 205 School Board.
For Van Dyke, his last experience as a GHS coach was to watch one of his athletes, Mike Doyle, win a State Championship.
Right up to his death, he continued to actively study football and try to improve his knowledge of the game. In the weeks before his death, he drove to New Hampshire to study what was to be Galesburg’s new offense.
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