Today’s Streaks Alumni Profile is CJ Ramage from the GHS class of 1992. CJ was one of those athletes you loved to root for. He was a three sport athlete, who seemed to be able fill whatever role a coach needed and was able athletically to excel in multiple roles.
CJ Ramage is one of the most athletic performers at GHS in the last fifty years. His speed, strength, and jumping ability allowed him to excel in track, football, and basketball.
Massey: What were some of your favorite classes and teachers at GHS?
C.J.-
a. Mr. John Kessler (Pre-Calculus and Calculus) – Mr. Kessler could break the topic down so that everyone could understand the material and we had fun in his class learning about math
b. Mr. Larry Diemer (Sophomore English and Rhetoric)– the days he broke out his guitar and played were the best
c. Mr. Ken Maurizi (Freshman Biology) – he would not be able to get away with his comments today after every test due to student sensitivity and must make everyone feel good in today’s day and age. He would also drop a metal trash can by the student who fell asleep during his lecture (half the time it scared more than just the sleeping student because he would walk from behind the class)
d. Mrs. Barb Devena (Accounting) – never will forget when I got her with a whoopie cushion during class and I did not get sent to the principal’s office, she was a good sport about it and knew exactly who did it.
Massey- What are some of your favorite memories from GHS years – school and sports:
C.J.-
a. Coaches Jerry Albright and Mick Hickey stopped me walking to leave early for a sporting event and carriedme upside down for about 25 feet – (doubt anyone would even try that in today’s day and age) – they even kept the fifty cents that fell out of my pocket. I just laughed the entire time.
b. Freshman year my brother (who was a senior) knocked my books out of my hands, pushed me overand drug me down the hallway by my legs in front of Mr. Maurizi’s room (as we were both leaving early for sporting events). Mr. Maurizi walked out of his room due to the commotion and looked at us and then walked back into his room after saying “This is a family matter.”
c. State Finals in track my sophomore year (4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays)
d. Owning the curve on the third leg of the 4 x 100 relay every race all four years of varsity high school track (I never ran anchor leg always ran third leg as Coach Albright told me I ran the curve as good as or better than anyone he had ever seen run the curve).
e
. Shutting down Macomb 1st Team All-Stater and WIU recruit in the Regional championship basketball game (which we won) my sophomore year – my brother always told me that was the best game he ever saw me play. I was 6” shorter than he was but held him to below half his season average. We then upset Rock Island in the Sectional semi-final game (Rock Island was #2 in class AA state rankings and had beaten us twice during the regular season – back when there were only two classes for basketball)
f. Catching the game winning touchdown pass against East Moline at the Homecoming football game my junior year (when it was played on Saturday morning). I still vividly remember Buddy Cato being the first player to get to the end zone and me being dumb enough to think I should try to catch him as he jumped on me, needless to say, I ended up on the bottom of the dog pile as the rest of the team jumped on top of us. We almost got a 15-yard penalty for the celebration (did get a warning) – Coach Stiles would have not been pleased if that would have happened.
g. Coach Stiles at two a day football practices (back when two a days were allowed) telling us after water breaks “Put your bonnets on.”
h. Pick 6 against Joliet Catholic in first round of state football play-offs my senior year and playing against future Hall of Famer Mike Alstott (we were 5A back when there were only 6 classes for football).
Massey- What did you do after graduation?
C.J.- I attended Illinois State University and got my degree in Accounting and competed in the decathlon for track team. I got my MBA from Western Illinois University while working at Maytag.
Massey- What has been your career?
- Worked in multiple jobs at Maytag Galesburg Refrigeration Products after graduating from ISU (May 1997 – May 2003).
- Relocated to Ankeny, IA with Maytag and worked at Corporate HQ in Newton, IA (May 2003 – Jun 2005).
- Left Maytag to work for Grafco PET, Inc. (Bettendorf, IA) for one year (Jun 2005 – Jun 2006)
- Left Grafco PET and hired on with Caterpillar, Inc.Morton, IL (Jun 2006 – Dec 2010)
- Relocated to Danville, KY with Caterpillar, Inc. (Dec. 2010 – July 2014)
- Relocated to Peoria, IL area with Caterpillar, Inc. and have been living in Germantown Hills, IL (Metamora Township High School) since July 2014
Massey- What are you and your family up to today?
C.J.-
- My wife Barb and I have been married for over 24 years (25 years in May 2026); we met on a blind date in June of 1999 at my slow pitch softball game at Lake Storey
- Barb is a PTA (Physical Therapy Assistant) over 29 years in that field
- Have two children: Katy is 21 (September birthday) and Colin is 18 (March birthday)
- Katy is a junior at Northern Illinois University majoring in Nursing and is a three-year starter for the softball team (currently playing centerfield)
- Colin is a freshman at University of Kentucky majoring in Accounting or Finance (my wife Barb does not like him being 6 hours from home – difficult for her to go visit her baby)
- Barb and I have adjusted to being empty nesters (It really hit me when we got home from University of Kentucky in August). I opened basement bedroom curtains that my son kept closed year-round and just stood in the middle of the room with light shining in the windows and having this strange sense that the house feels empty – anadjustment to not have kids in the house after 21 years of always having at least one kid in the house.
- Still do some travelling for college softball (we do not attend every game – WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to try and attend all college games) but we are planning on travelling to University of Texas (defending national champions) and Purdue University this Spring for Katy’s softball games, as well as, visiting Colin in Lexington, KY.
Massey- What advice do you have for today’s athletes?
C.J.-
- The proliferation of travel sports has completely changed how kids play sports now. There is basically no off-season now and travel sports do not teach fundamental skills (depending on the sport) – it is all about games, games, games.
- NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) and the transfer-portal eliminated the student athlete and created professional athletes at the collegiate level
- My advice to today’s athlete is:
o embrace the grind of getting better and learning/mastering the fundamentals - you will need to do this on your own as most travel sports do not teach fundamentals (which is an absolute tragedy).
o Be realistic about your ability (not everyone is a D1 athlete) – parents are often more delusional than the athlete regarding this topic
o Embrace playing school sports – there is great pride in representing your school and community
o Play multiple sports as long as you can – too many kids nowadays focus on one sport by the time they are in junior high and are getting burned out or getting injured (most collegiate coaches prefer multi-sport athletes if you ask them)
o Parents: be realistic about your kids playing travel sports. Travel sports can be good for players if they do it for the right reasons and are realistic about the teams for which they play. Travel sports can become ridiculously expensive with the travel and fees – do your research and talk to your kids constantly about whether they want to play the sport in college and the level they can play
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