State Champions- Maine South
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Streaks Alumni Profile- Ken Johnson 1969
Today’s Streaks Alumni Profile features Ken Johnson from the Galesburg HS’s Class of 1969.
Ken took advantage of experiences as a Galesburg High student and then as a Knox College student to get a jump start on a career in journalism. Not only did he use school experiences, but he started working part-time at the Register-Mail when he was a student.
His career has taken him all of over the United States, and it has given him the opportunity to interview famous people in the world of politics, sports, and entertainment.
When I drive around Galesburg, I see the yard signs from Knox College that say, “Stay Near to Go Far.” In the future when I see one of those signs, I know I will think of Ken Johnson.
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Massey Quiz #61- Chicago Cubs vs St. Louis Cardinals
This quiz is for the Cardinals and Cubs fans. How well do you know the teams and the rivalry?
Ella Herchenroder- Figuring Things Out on the Golf Course
Senior year in high school can be a year where students decide to just coast home- senioritis. Ella Herchenroder is an athlete who has decided not to coast home, she has challenged herself with a new venture.
Ella has been an exceptional three sport athlete. She has played volleyball and basketball, and ran track. She has gone to State in track, and has been a three year starter for Streaks basketball.
This Fall, Ella is playing golf instead of volleyball. While she played golf in grade school, until this Summer she hadn’t picked up clubs the last 3 1/2 years.
Monday, August 31, 2026
Streaks Alumni Profile- Camellia Schwartzman 2021
Today’s Streaks Alumni Profile features Camellia Schwartzman from Galesburg HS’s Class of 2021.
Sunday, August 30, 2026
Streaks Senior Profiles & Sports Schedules (8-31-26)
Galesburg High School’s Fall Sports are off and competing. Here are Fall Sports Schedules, This Week’s Home Events, and Streaks Senior Profiles
This Week in Galesburg History (Aug 31, 2026)
“This Week in Galesburg History,” it was a time that you better show your City Sticker and your GHS student ID, football teams separated by 50 years were both getting ready to start their seasons.
This is a look back at the history of Galesburg (and the world). What was going on 100 years ago, 75 years ago, 50 years ago, 25 years ago, and 10 years ago this week?
“This Week in Galesburg History” appears on Mondays on the WGIL website and the Massey Basketball Blog.
Saturday, August 29, 2026
Sideline Stories- “If Any Girls Come Out, We’ll Cancel the Sport
The inclusion of girls’ sports in Illinois high schools did not happen over decades of planning. The addition of girls’ sports was not something individual school administrators chose but rather it was something that was thrust on them. No doubt, many schools and many administrators were caught off guard. Girls’ sports’ additions were not something that had been studied and planned out for years or even months.
Galesburg HS’s first competition in girls sports was in the 1972-3 school year.
I was hired as a teacher and coach at GHS in the fall of 1974. By that time, Galesburg had fielded girls’ sports but had played a very limited schedule in each.
My first duties as a coach were to coach the boys’ cross country team in the fall. There was no girls’ cross country team at GHS.
As part of my orientation, I was told that there was a rumor that there were two girls who wanted to come out for boys’ cross country. I was given the following guidance, “If any girls show up for boys’ cross country, don’t say anything, just go through your practice. When the practice is over, let us know. We will drop cross country as a sport.”
My thought was, “Wow, you have to be kidding. That is really harsh and really drastic action.” That would eliminate cross country not just for those two girls but for the dozen boys out for cross country.
Being 22 years old, happy to have a job, and wanting to keep the job, I asked no questions. While I wanted to at least ask why, I just accepted it. I was given no explanation at the time. My reaction was that it was an anti-girls’ sports attitude.
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| The Galesburg HS 1974 Cross Country Team |
It turned out that no girls showed up for cross country and the season continued.
Years later, the rationale behind the “we will drop cross country” was explained to me.
In 1974-5, Galesburg was offering girls the chance to play field hockey, bowling, tennis, golf, volleyball, track, softball, basketball, and swimming. While boys participated in football, cross country, wrestling, tennis, golf, track, baseball, basketball, and swimming.
An early concern throughout Illinois was that when Title IX was passed that girls might want to go out for boys’ sports. Girls rightfully might see things as not equal and decide to go out for a boys sports in protest? Would girls want to try out for boys’ basketball because the boys played 25 games and the girls only played 6 games? Would highly motivated girls want to play girls’ tennis in the fall and boys’ tennis in the spring? There was a fear that girls might disrupt boys’ sports. This was a fear in 1972 as girls sports started up.
By 1974-5, the fear was flipped to a concern about boys wanting to do girls’ sports. With no boys’ equivalent sport, were boys wanting to play field hockey, volleyball, or bowling?
Years later the direction of “we will drop cross country” was explained to me. The concern was about opening the door for girls or boys to go out for the opposite gender’s sport. “If we had let girls run boys’ cross country, would we be opening the door for a boy to go out for field hockey or volleyball?”
Some may not buy the explaination of the directive and view it as an administrative attempt to stifle female athletes. I did at the time it was given.
Today as I look back on my directive about girls going out for cross county, I believe it was the administration looking at the big picture and not wanting to have girls sports impacted by boys trying to play.
IHSA Resolution in 1971- Banning Males & Females from Competing Against Each Other
GHS’s History of Dropping Sports
According to my research, throughout GHS’s history, the school has dropped four interscholastic sports at different times.
Boys Golf- Boys Golf won the 1962-3 State Championship. With much of the roster returning, the District #205 dropped golf for the 1963-4 school year. The team was brought back for the 1964-5 school year.
Girls Field Hockey- Girls Field Hockey placed 3rd in State in 1975-6 and made the Elite 8 in 1976-7 years. Because of a lack of downstate teams to play, Galesburg dropped the sport starting in the 1977-8 school year.
Boys Tennis, Girls Tennis- In the 1930’s and 1940’s, Galesburg was a member of the Northwest Conference. The NW Conference instituted championships in girls and boys tennis. Both boys and girls tennis were dropped after the 1943-4 seasons. Boys Tennis was brought back in 1970-1 and girls tennis was brought back in 1974-5.
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Friday, August 28, 2026
Thanks for 2 Million Views! Here is How to Navigate the Full Massey Basketball Blog
Massey Basketball Blog
I started Massey Basketball Blog back in 2010. As the GHS girls basketball coach, I had just decided to put in the Grinnell System. The players loved it but some parents and fans were not sold on the idea, so the blog was my way of trying to explain “The System.”
After we discontinued using the System, I used Massey Basketball Blog as a way to share inspirational info and coaching tips with the players.
When I retired from coaching in 2024, I didn’t plan to be a full-time blogger, it just happened. While I do some about present day athletes, I love researching sports history and Galesburg history. I didn’t grow up in Galesburg but my grandfather drove a street car in Galesburg in the early 1900’s, my mom was the editor of the 1929 GHS Reflector, and I taught/coached at GHS for 50 years.
Massey Basketball Blog is my retirement hobby, doing topics that interest me.
2 Million Views
This week, Massey Basketball Blog went over 2 million views, and 1 Million of those views just happened in the last 6 months. I owe a big thanks to Jay Redfern and WGIL for helping Massey Basketball Blog take off. Jay suggested that I share one of my articles each week with WGIL. Soon one article per week became 3-4 articles. Not all the articles on Massey Basketball Blog appear on WGIL.
Finding Massey Basketball Blog
There are over 1,000 articles on Galesburg history, Streaks history, coaching tips, advice for players and parents, and more. It is simple to find Massey Basketball Blog. You can just Google, “Massey Basketball Blog.” Or if you click below, it will take you to Massey Basketball Blog.
Stay Connected to Massey Basketball Blog
Follow us on Facebook (Massey Basketball) and Twitter (@MasseyBball) and get instant updates on new blog posts.
Navigating the Blog Page
There are over 25 different sections that you can use to explore a variety of topics.
Massey Quizzes- There are over 50 post quizzes on general knowledge, Galesburg history, and Galesburg sites. There are a dozen quizzes focused on sports history.
Silver Streaks History- There are over 100 stories on Galesburg HS sports history from the 1913 basketball state champs to Lily Furrow winning the 2026 Don Morris Award.
Basketball History- There are 100 articles on things like the Cobden Appleknockers to Why Were Scores So Low to Greatest Illinois State Champions.
Streaks Alumni Profiles- I have “interviewed” over 100 alums at this point and want to keep adding to the list. I have profiles on athletes and non-athletes. With time I hope to get a cross section of GHS alums, sharing their memories.
Jay Redfern’s Podcasts- Jay has done dozens of podcasts on Streaks sports/activities, Knox sports, and area sports. This is a collection of his GHS podcasts.
Coaches’ Corner- This is a series of articles sharing experiences from my coaching career. Some are X/O’s, some motivational ideas, and other ideas to help with player development.
Hall of Fame Insights- I have reached out to 15-20 Hall of Fame coaches, and asked their opinions a variety of sports topics. They are football coaches, boys basketball coaches, girls basketball coaches, and volleyball coaches from Illinois and Iowa.
Players Playbook- This is articles designed to provide guidance to players.
Parents Playbook- These are all articles for parents of athletes. Advice on how parents can make their son/daughter’s experience more positive.
Caitlin Clark & More- I am a Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever fans. I also love the NBA and college basketball. These are all articles on my thoughts on Clark, the W, and basketball.
Galesburg Past and Present- This is articles on Galesburg, GHS, Sandburg, and more.
Top Ten Articles of the Past Year
Best of the Past Year
Here are the most viewed articles over the past year.
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