Streaks Alumni Profile- Don O’Brien 1989

Today’s Streaks Alumni Profile is featuring Don O’Brien from the GHS Class of 1989.

Don may be one of GHS’s most famous graduates. Whenever I am talking about Don and start out by saying, “I don’t know if you know Don O’Brien,” everyone always interrupts me and tells me a story about Don. I think he has something like a million followers on Twitter, and 20,000 friends on Facebook!

Don grew up in Galesburg and was a loyal and responsible citizen. Something went wrong and he moved to Quincy to live. 

I don’t know who started the rumor that Don was the “player to be named later” in the trade for Bumpy Nixon. So Don was kind of the Ernie Broglio of the deal. 

It has been a real joy to stay connected with Don since he worked sports with Whig and now does the announcing for QHS girls basketball. He is definitely one of the “good guys.”

Don’s energy and commitment to anything he does makes him so impressive. He is truly great connecting with people and building relationships with people. He seems to be able to even get along with Quincy people- and we know that can’t be easy!

Don likes to point out that after this conversation with Michael 
Jordan, Michael went onto win 6 NBA titles. 

Sports / Activities at GHS

I was active in the student council, German Club, the Budget, and was the secretary of the senior class. I was enough of a ham to be the MC for some of the pep assemblies when I was an upperclassman. I was also Prom King, Galesburg royalty. I think the Budget is where I began my love for writing. One of my earliest opinion pieces, which I still have somewhere around here, was about how people need to stop with PDAs - Public Displays of Affection - in the GHS hallways. 

Favorite Teachers / Classes

My favorite teacher was Mrs. Fulton. I had her for a couple years for math. She was a great teacher and understood that I was a clown. I also enjoyed Mr. Peachey's class. 

Some of Favorite Memories Growing Up in Galesburg & GHS

Some of best memories growing up in Galesburg and attending GHS - I loved sports as a kid. I remember spending hours at the Knox County YMCA. We would play basketball for hours there. During the basketball season, I'd get dropped off in the morning, spend all day watching games when I wasn't playing. I'd walk over to the mall to get McDonald's for lunch. 

We also had the best Little League. I was on the Yankees. I can still tell you which teams many of the people in my class were on. Those teams helped form what was the golden age of Silver Streaks baseball. We made three state appearances from 1987-89 with the state title in 1988 when I was a junior and a third-place finish as a senior. Nearly every single one of those players played in the Galesburg Little League. There was no such thing as travel baseball back then. I'm convinced that those games at O.N. Custer Park and later H.T. Custer Park for Junior League helped develop those players into champions.

I was a Costa kid, so my first exposure to public school was my freshman year at GHS. I couldn't find my locker on the first day. It was tucked up in the far corner in what was then the math hall at the top of the stairs that was near the cafeteria. I still remember my locker combo 13-8-41. 

GHS was a great experience. I made so many new friends. We didn't have screens to distract us, so we had to distract each other. Lunch was decent, but we'd still try to sneak out. I was there shortly after the district closed the campus for lunch. We still left anyway. Not like there were cameras everywhere like there are these days. If I was afforded a do-over, I probably would have tried out for basketball as a senior. I did a bunch of off-season workouts, but chickened out when it came time to try out. I figured Coach Peck would play a bunch of young kids, which he did. 

I loved Silver Streaks basketball. I would buy tickets every week from the office at Costa. We'd sit up in the top of the bleachers on the side where the scorer's table is. I still have some of the old programs from those days. There still isn't a better place to be on a cold winter night in a packed gym watching Western Big Six basketball. When I was in school, I would go to some of the girls' games. We had some good players in our class. Those teams I believe really helped lay the foundation for the great success the girls program had into the 1990s and beyond.

Don O’Brien, myself, Jason Shay at 2026 NIT to watch our sons. 

Education After GHS

I attended Eastern Illinois University and earned a B.A. in Journalism in 1993.

Career

After spending many years in newspapers, I'm currently employed by the Better Business Bureau in St. Louis. I work as an investigator for the St. Louis region and am the regional director of our Quincy office and am based in Quincy. 

Life Today

My wife, Stacey, who I met at EIU, and I have been married for 31 years. Our oldest son, Derek, is a teacher's aide in the Quincy Public School District. Our youngest son, Reid, is a junior at Illinois State University and is majoring in recreation and sports management. He just finished his third season as a manager for the men's basketball team. He wants to get a masters in sports management with the hopes of coaching college basketball.

Be Honest, How Long Did It Take You to Either Not Apologize or Feel Guilty Living in Quincy?

We moved to Quincy in 1997 after spending three years working in Champaign after we graduated from EIU. When the locals found out the new sports guy who was covering the beloved Blue Devils boys basketball team was from Galesburg, it was met as you would expect.

One old timer who didn't like something I had written said I was "a hot dog from Galesburg trying to make a name for myself." Unless you have three generations buried in one of the local cemeteries here, you're not really from Quincy. I would say that I finally accepted my inner Blue Devil one Reid, our youngest child, started playing on Quincy Blue Devil traveling teams. I still have a Galesburg basketball jacket that was gifted to me around 2010 or so from the boys basketball staff at the time. I always wore it to the Galesburg-Quincy games here. But these days I'm all Blue Devils. I do P.A. for the girls basketball as well as the boys and girls soccer programs. I even fill in for the boys basketball team on occasion. So, it took about 25 years before I finally stopped feeling guilty for leaving Galesburg for Quincy.

Knowing I am not going to drink the water when I visit Quincy, what are 3 things I should do the next time I visit Quincy? 

You have to visit the riverfront and Clat Adams Bicentennial Park. Great spot for photos. Up the hill from there is a nice downtown with plenty of shops and restaurants. Like Galesburg, Quincy is trying to bring back its downtown, which seems to be a never-ending battle.

We also have a great civic center, which is home to the Quincy Community Theatre. Quincy loves its arts and there are plenty of options. 

Sports are big, too. We have a great public golf course, Westview. We have a summer league baseball team that plays at QU-Stadium, which was built in the 1930s under the Works Project Administration. We have an awesome walking trail, the Bill Klingner Trail, that stretches for more than 2 miles on the city's north side. My newest obsession is learning how to play pickleball at a cool, new indoor facility, PaddleUp. We've also put turf on all of our youth fields, so if you're one of those travel ball families you should look into the softball and baseball tournaments that are held at Upper Moorman Park. 

And despite what Coach Massey has to say about the water here, you can drink!

Advice to Today’s Students / Athletes

For the first 20 years of my journalism career, I covered sports, primarily high school and college. I would encourage them to do what they want to do, not what someone else wants them to do. 

There is so much pressure on student-athletes today. Everyone feels like they have to keep up with the Joneses by playing on every travel team. It's Ok to say no and to do what you want. I'm not anti-travel team by any means, they have a purpose. But don't go into every game thinking it's Game 7 of the World Series. As an athlete, you're there to get better. If you win, great, but if you don't, that's OK. There will be another game on another day. Enjoy the ride, because it's over before you know it.