Today’s “Streaks Alumni Profile” features John Hanlon from the GHS Class of 1975. John was part of the Streaks Cross Country team in the Fall of 1974. They were the first team I coached at GHS.
My only background with cross country was taking 3rd place in the Knox IM CC Meet. But I had no idea how they scored it, and had no idea how to train runner. My guess is that they probably had asked at least a half dozen teacher before they asked me to take the job.
I can remember like it was yesterday, being introduced to the team by the Athletic Director. The athletes were waiting for us, standing outside the doors on the gym circle. The introduction went something like this,”This is Evan Massey from Knox College, he is going to be your coach this year. He played basketball at Knox. He doesn’t know cross country but we will help him learn.”
John and his teammates in 1974 had every reason to be upset and frustrated with me as a coach. They never gave me anything but respect. I was open to their suggestions, and together we made it thru the season. I learned a lot about cross country that first Fall, but John and his teammates taught me a lot about coaching. They taught me the importance of the coach and the athletes working together to build a team and a program.
John Hanlon’s career as a lawyer has been inspiring. I am confident he could have made twice as much money in his career if he had chosen to go into private practice. Instead he has spent most of his career trying to defend individuals who were wrongly convicted and in prison. John has worked to bring new evidence to the court’s attention to free these individuals.
When did you graduate from GHS?
My GHS class graduated in 1975. For historical perspective, that was the year when the Vietnam war ended, Microsoft was founded, the movie Jaws was released, and Saturday Night Live aired its first episodes.
What were some of your favorite teachers/classes?
I enjoyed my 3 years at GHS. (Back in that era, high school was only three years - ninth graders went to Churchill or Lombard.) I especially enjoyed my classes on government, history, debate, and English. Those classes piqued my interest for my studies in college and law school. Several teachers had a significant effect on me, including Joe Patterson, John Glasnovich, Janice Patterson, David Craig (who entertained with talk of the "wee little beasties" in our environment), Gene Yoacham at The Budget, and a young first-year teacher of Government named Evan Massey, who also served as the GHS cross-country coach my senior year. It was obvious then that Coach Massey was destined to excel as a coach, and teacher, at GHS.
What are some of your favorite memories from GHS?
Galesburg, and GHS, was a good place to grow up in the early 1970s. I learned about hard work (and had much fun) with cross-country and track. I really respected Mr. Albright, who coached track at the time. My best friends from high school - Perry Hayes, Mike Haptonstahl, and Jeff Strader - are still my best friends today. I grew up without my dad, and so I learned much from these great guys and their families back then, and over the years. I bonded with these and other friends over golf, out-of-town games, club soccer at Knox, working for Galesburg Cable Channel 7, hanging out at Alfano's, DQ, McDonald's, and other places, and much more. I benefitted from having Hanlon cousins in Galesburg to lean on and learn from.
(So please note…John is a cousin of Galesburg’s most famous Hanlon…Michael.)
What did you do after graduating from GHS?
I went to the University of Illinois from 1975-1979. Really appreciated my years there, although my career path changed twice during that time. I started in Radio-TV but then switched to Education. I thought I wanted to be a history and government teacher and a coach, but unfortunately, I did not enjoy my student teaching experience. I decided to instead follow in the footsteps of three Galesburg attorneys - my uncle Jack Hanlon, his son John, and Jack's son-in-law Rick Barber, and pursue law school. I went to Wake Forest Law School in balmier North Carolina, and graduated from Wake in 1983. I began my career as a lawyer in Springfield later that year.
What have you done for your career?
I have been so fortunate to have experienced so many positive and fascinating experiences during my career as an attorney and college teacher. From 2010 through 2021, I served as the Executive Director of the Illinois Innocence Project at the University of Illinois in Springfield (UIS). Through 2021, our work proved the innocence of 20 incarcerated clients, and I learned that there is no greater achievement that a lawyer could have than to walk a truly innocent person out of a prison or courthouse.
Prior to my time with IIP, I argued 18 cases in the Illinois Supreme Court, almost all of those being capital death penalty cases. Our work on death penalty cases played a significant role in convincing the Illinois legislature to abolish the death penalty in Illinois. I am also proud of having taught as an adjunct faculty member for 11 years at the U of I College of Law in Champaign, and for 19 years at UIS.
I ran into John several years ago when he officiated a Galesburg basketball game at the Mattoon Tourney. I had confidence that he would be fair, but I couldn’t help remember when I let the cross country team play basketball after practice- it was not a pretty sight!!
I officiated basketball for about 25 years, beginning with youth leagues for five years, followed by IESA and IHSA basketball for 20 further years. My back gave out when I was 60, and so I was done after that. Like many officials, I started officiating because the local youth league needed referees. I climbed the ladder from there. I loved being on the court for 90% of the games that I worked. The other 10% of the games, I left the court wondering why I ever decided to become a basketball official. The highlight of my career as a basketball official was working the Mattoon Girls Holiday Tournament (in approximately 2012-15?), where I had the very cool experience of officiating a game between Effingham St. Anthony and Galesburg, the latter then coached by my old GHS cross-country coach, Evan Massey. I called the game straight-up of course, but I have to admit that I was relieved when Galesburg was victorious.
What are you up to these days?
I am semi-retired now, still working part-time as an attorney for the Illinois Innocence Project, and also on some private cases where I believe that there is some important issue of justice at hand.
My three children, Alyson (now 41), Jessica (37), and Will (25) have been the lights of my life. I am extremely proud of each of them and their successes - Alyson as an administrator with the U of I College of Education in Champaign; Jessica as a Certified Speech Pathologist in a northern Illinois school district; and Will as an intern with a physical therapy company in suburban Chicago. They all graduated with honors from the U of I, and the girls have further blessed me with six grandchildren.
What advice would you have for GHS athletes and students?
The best advice that I could ever give to young people is two items in particular. The first pertains to not being afraid to make changes in your job or career if you think it wise. I changed my career path after college and then made three significant job changes during my career. I gave great thought to each alteration before making the leap, and each worked out for the better. As Yogi Berra said, "when you come to a fork in the road, take it."
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