Molly- I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be a Silver Streak! I got to play the game I love with my best friends, and the best coaching staff in Illinois! The entire experience of playing basketball at GHS was a highlight for me. Learning the value of work ethic, teamwork, and getting the opportunity to compete in multiple state tournaments for the best fans in Illinois is something I will never forget!
The answers are at the end of the quiz. Keep track of your score and read exactly what your score indicates. If you would like- share your score on the Facebook or Massey Blog under the comments.
In the 1930’s, my father at Fulton always scheduled one game at Wharton FH vs Moline. It was a rare opportunity to play on an 84 foot court.
With small courts, there were many unusual ground rules to cover unusual things. For many early gyms, seating was in a balcony. It was not unheard of for the balcony to go over the court and have support poles on the court. Generally if the ball hit the pole, they played it as still live unless it went out of bounds. Some schools considered an overhanging balcony as being inbounds while others considered it out of bounds.
I have enjoyed this project as much as any. I reached out to some 2021 Galesburg HS grads to see what they have done the last four years, and what their plans are going forward. It is no surprise- their stories are very inspiring!
Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences!!
Massey- What are some of your favorite memories from your GHS days?
Clay Britton- How great the Galesburg community supported the Silver Streaks. Beating Quincy my Senior year.
Today I got to go to Thiel Gym to watch Denver East’s Olivia Hanlon work out. Olivia is Class of 2028 and the daughter of Sean and Karla (Emery) Hanlon (GHS Class of 1995). It was fun to watch her as she made 200 threes. Her grandpa and I solved a lot of world problems as we watched!
In 25 years coaching Streaks swimming, John’s teams won the WB6 10 times. His teams won the Sectional championship 9 times. From 1994-1999 his teams won 6 straight WB6 titles, 6 straight Sectional titles, and went 52-0 in dual meets. Swimming under Willy had 9 seasons going undefeated in dual meets.
John Willy grew up in Galena Illinois (northern suburb of Savanna). I am not sure how someone in Galena would learn enough about swimming to be such a successful coach. My guess is that he snuck down to Savanna to take swim lessons in the Mississippi as a youngster.
I reached out to some of his swimmers and asked them to share their experience in the swim program and the impact Coach Willy had on them. The swimmers responses show the pride they still feel in having been part of the GHS swim program, and the impact that Coach Willy had on them as swimmers and now as adults.
I am doing a lot of walking these days. Minnie and Nellie have Tractive devices on their collars to measure their activity. They are really pretty lazy laying around the house. So to help them reach their goals for the day, we do a lot of walking. And I do a LOT of listening to Podcasts.
The line from “The Herd” that stuck with me- “Caitlin Clark is like a black light in a hotel room.” Indeed, Clark’s popularity has brought eyes to the WNBA which the WNBA thinks is great. The eyes on the WNBA has brought scrutiny to the WNBA which they don’t always want and they don’t always know how to handle.
The WNBA like many businesses and many sports who are trying to “make it,” probably did a lot of things on the cheap side. Not anticipating how dramatic the increased income and increased attention was going to be- the WNBA is the hotel manager who didn’t know he needed to get the “Presidential Suite” a deep clean. The WNBA didn’t shine their own black light around the room, so it has been the media, the players, and the fans shining the black light to explore the WNBA room.
I am not sure Caitlin Clark is actually the black light in the WNBA hotel room, rather I think because of Caitlin Clark’s popularity she has helped others pull out the black light.
In Part 1, I focused on the issues of salary more than anything, and expressed pessimism that the WNBA will fairly deal with the issue without a lockout or strike first occurring. My focus in Part 2 is to look at the quality of games- in particular officiating and the rules.
Coach Lexi Demott started her second Summer as the Streaks girls head basketball coach. They are coming off a successful 20+ win season and a Regional championship. Galesburg will return 4 starters- Grace, Ella, and Taylor Herchenroder, along with Joz Kilgore. They will be juniors. In addition, Lily Furrow (Sr) and Khloe May (Sr) will return after being regulars last year. With all the returning players, there is great excitement about the 2025-6 season. I had a chance to ask Coach Demott some questions about how their Summer went.
Taylor Thiel was hired in the late Spring to be the GHS boys basketball coach. In the blink of an eye, he was running the Summer program for the Streaks. In Illinois, June is a crucial month for high school basketball. June is when high school teams have practices and games.
While the Summer season is important for the growth of the players, it is also significant time for the high school coach. Coaches get the opportunity to see how players respond in competitive situations, as well as how they respond to coaching. So the month of June was a great opportunity for Coach Thiel to learn about this team. I was able to ask Taylor some questions about how Streaks basketball went this summer.
She was described in the Reflector this way, “Marge is to be highly complimented on her work. She is a senior this year and when she leaves us, GHS will lose a valuable student.”
As part of the celebration, we tried to reach out to former player and fans to purchase 1,000 win t-shirts. I received a letter ordering a t-shirt from Molly Smith, who graduated from GHS in 1975. Molly attached a note to her order, which read in part,”Making the team back in 1972 changed my life- finally getting to officially play.” Her letter and my curiousity about that first season, led me to ask her to answer question for Massey Basketball Blog.
This photo of Galesburg HS grads- John Tuszinski, Zack Thiel, and Ruben Triplett on the SMU Mustangs’ 1972 basketball team is from the Tom Wilson Collection.
Triplett 18.2ppg, 10.8rpg
Thiel 10.0ppg, 3.4 apg
Tuszinski 5.5ppg, 3.9 rpg
At the beginning of the year, there were high hopes that the Fever might be up challenging New York and Minnesota. As the Fever are only 3 games from the mid-point of the season (right now have played 19 of 44 games), they are not close to being a top two team in the league. Right now, depending if you are a glass half-full or half-empty person- the Fever are either tied for 7th or 9th with Washington and Las Vegas. 9th place would mean the Fever would not make the playoffs. Some may say it is still early and Clark just got back- BUT THE CLOCK IS TICKING.
I have gotten so After The Timeout is one of my go-to podcasts on our dog walks. Some podcasts I listen to for pleasure and some I take a small index card and pen to stop and write some key points down. Their podcast with Jamon Copeland was one where I filled up my index card— great stuff!!
Jamon Copeland is the head men’s coach at Ave Maria University. I want to share just a few of the highlights from the podcast.
Please realize when I post about a podcast or clinic, I am not speaking for that presenter, rather giving my reaction and interpretation.
Here are the 6 most common questions college coaches asked me about my players:
As an Illinois basketball coach, we sometimes played Iowa or Wisconsin schools. When we played the Iowa and Wisconsin schools, it became apparent that different States actually had different rules- such things about whether a players could play in the pre-lim and the varsity game, whether coaches could stand or not, and even whether you had a jump ball to start the game.
Now in retirement, on my visits this winter to Oklahoma I became aware that they organized their state tourney to allow double-elimination in the early tourneys of the series. And in a smaller State, Oklahoma had at least 6 classes.
When first confronted to these difference in other States, my knee jerk reaction was, “That’s stupid” or “Our way is better.” But the more I thought about the differences, the more I began to ask, “Is the way that Illinois runs things the best way?” I began to realize that Illinois could benefit by re-examining historical methods and realize that there maybe better ideas out there.
Justin Shiltz was one of the most successful coaches in girls basketball in the WB6 Conference during his tenure at UTHS. His matchup zone still causes me to wake up in a cold sweat even in retirement. Justin is now coaching in Arkansas and I have maintained contact with him- picking his brain on a variety of topics for my blog posts.
