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| William Allen- Knox grad, GHS teacher |
Well over a half-century ago, I grew up in Savanna, a small town in Illinois, where no one ever locked their doors. I don’t remember any of the young boys in the neighborhood who didn’t love sports. We knew about Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry on the Baltimore Colts. In the winter, once a week we got to watch Bob Cousey, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell on TV.
In the ‘60’s in Savanna, our heroes were not Unitas or Russell. Our heroes were Alan Cottral, Louis Ramirez, and Dennis Radabaugh.
We had a basketball court in my basement. When friends arrived to play, we had a magic marker to put numbers on our t-shirts. No names were needed. If a player put 10, 32, or 50 on their shirt, we all knew who they were. The numbers were our heroes who played basketball for the Savanna Indians.
This story has been repeated in small towns across Illinois for decades. In Galesburg, generations have grown up wanting to be Coke Mills, Mike Owens, Jimmie Carr, Dale Kelley, Jim Reinebach, Mike Campbell, Molly Watson, Joey Range, Sarah Larson, and many more. No community has been more excited about their high school heroes than Galesburg.
“This Week in Galesburg History”
Lot’s of football to celebrate this week. Galesburg’s greatest football team was preparing for their last game, a McKillip was honored, and the Streaks lost in the play-offs.
A huge murder trial in Cleveland would result in a movie in future years.
This is a look back at the history of Galesburg (and the world). What was going on 100 years ago, 70 years ago, 60 years ago, 50 years ago, 30 years ago, and 10 years ago this week?
Today’s Streaks Alumni Profile features Tyson Parks IV from the Galesburg HS Class of 2014.
Tyson was a multi-sport athlete at GHS. He excelled in both football and basketball. In basketball, he earned All-Western Big Six Conference honors. Fans remember the excitement Tyson brought to the court with his tremendous athleticism and his ability to play above the rim.
He was actively involved serving his community even as a youth. Today he lives in Peoria and has continued his active service. He family has a tradition of helping others.
State Champions- Thornton
2nd- Galesburg
3rd- Belleville
4th- Decatur
In the “HOF Insights”, I ask a group of successful, veteran coaches to share their thoughts on a variety of topics. Each week, I ask a different question. The questions can be focused on helping coaches, parents or athletes to have a more successful athletic experience.
For this post, I asked coaches what are things they picked up from their mentors and important people in their lives. What were examples that these mentors set that impressed you, and/or what were words of wisdom that they shared.
