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After a spirited Leo Advisory Board meeting, a trip to Greek Town's Pegasus Restaurant for octopus salad with an absolutely splendid woman, a sinkful of my son's post-shift skillets and sauce pans detritus awaiting Old Dad's pot-walloping, a sound sleep and an earlier than usual rising to the day, I am about to head over to the hallowed halls of Leo High School welcome the crew of Channel 2 CBS.
This morning at 4:00 AM, or there abouts, Chicago's CBS will arrive to film and interview Coach Ed Adams and the sprinters, hurdlers, harriers and weight men of six time IHSA Track Champions Leo High School. President Dan McGrath and I will be around to sic and fetch.
The first teasre shot goes off on Channel 2 News at 5:15 AM and the feature will broadcast all morning.
This legendary school is the Alma Mater to many of the Midwest's most successful and giving leaders in every vocation: Bishop John Gorman, philanthropist Tom Owens, Chrystler Magnate Bill Koloseike, retired Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court Tom Fitzgerald, one of the men who turned Egypt's economy around in the 1970's Frank Considine, ubiquitous civic, sport, religious, business and educational leader Andy McKenna, Boeing leader General George Muellner, U of I Educator Dr. Stafford Hood, Middleweight boxing pro Irish John Collins, Heavyweight boxing pro Thomas Hayes, Leo Coach Mike Holmes, Chicago Bulls execitive Curtis Cooper, Elevator Magnate Ken Mason, Comics, John Caponera, Bill Campbell, Kenny Howell and the great Paul Kelly, NFL stand-out Jason Jefferson, Leo Lion Bob Foster, attorneys of the damned Tom Durkin and Joe Power and Fathers Tom Mescall, John Sullivan and Bubbles McFarland.
Leo is not only the only Catholic school to win any track title in Illinois history, but also the only private school to so -and six times at that. Leo has no track.
Since 1926, Leo Track men have run, hurdled and vaulted on the marble floors of Leo High School's 2nd and third floors - not to mention the very vertical four floors of stairs recalled by every disciple of Brother O'Keefe, Brother Coogan, Brother Finch, Jimmy Arneberg, Bob Foster,Tom 'Malley, Jack Fitzgerald, Mike Holmes and Ed Adams. Walking them is a bitch and half, for this old fat boy. Sprinting them is the gradus to greatness.
Turn on tube this morning and watch some splendid young men work to beat the world.
I'll post the video, meself, ASAP.
Now, to 7/11 and on to Leo!
There had better not be a thing in the sink when I return, or I'll do them again. I mean it!
Mike Joyce and the boxing men of Leo Catholic High School.
Located on the southside of Chicago this school has been a safe and supportive place for young men to get a quality education for 86 years. © a bob milkovich short
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"My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress," Mr. Buffett argued forcefully in a New York Times op-ed. "It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice." Wall Street Journal
Mr. Buffet! Over here. Mr. Buffett, no one gets coddled on 79th Street in Chicago.
Mr. Warren Buffett can not wait to be taxed heavily for being a very wealthy man. He and Bill Gates are two self-made men of the Horatio Alger Stripe. Bill Gates established the Gates Millennium Scholars one of whom is a Leo High School graduate of the Class of 2011 - Eder Cruz.
As a Gates Millennium Scholar, Eder Cruz can go to the college of choice, Valparaiso University in Indiana, and go on to any post-graduate work he chooses. Leo High School prepared Eder Cruz and afforded that fine, tough and thoughtful young man to be so blessed. Leo Alumni helped Eder's family meet the cost of the tuition here at Leo High School. Shared sacrifice is the path to success along with old Alger-ian Luck and Pluck.
Eder Cruz has pluck aplenty. He was the only non-African American in the student body for two of his three years at Leo. Eder chose Leo High School, following a disappointing freshman year at the Jesuit run Christo Rey College Prep in Pilsen - a school founded in the 1990's to serve Latinos. Eder chose Leo High School which was established to serve the Largely Irish Catholic neighborhood of Gresham in the 1920's. The Irish, Polish, Lithuanian, Italian and Croatian Catholics Alumni are still with Leo, physically present at every school event and overwhelmingly the pillar of this inner city school's finances. Between October 2010 and June 30,2011 Leo Graduates from the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's 80's and the 90's supported Leo, a school of 150 inner city young men to tune of $ 846,000 and change.
Eder Cruz was Lucky to be taught and mentored by Ms. Aurora Latifi, an Albanian immigrant Math teacher here at Leo High School. It was Ms. Latifi who pushed Eder Cruz to apply for the Gates Millennium Scholarship. Luck and Pluck.
As some of you may have heard, the American economy has been less than robust since 2008. America's credit rating has been downgraded to AA. Nevertheless, the graduates of Leo High School Class of 2011 all are going to college across America.
Tuition drives Catholic education. In this economy, that drive is very bumpy. Tuition at Leo High School is $ 7,250, one of the lowest of all Catholic high schools. Most families apply or financial assistance. I venture to say that no family is a six figure family. Our five figure families annual income range sits between $ 15, 244 and $ 51, 763. Having one son attend Leo is challenge; have two or more is a financial crucifixion.
Most families opt to divvy up the full nut of tuition and pay, for one child $ 659 a month. That is a very low rent on a one bedroom apartment in Chicago.
We also are required to pay the staff, by the way. Aside from Mr. One Way Hickey, I venture to say that no teacher or coach makes anywhere near a princely stipend every two weeks and if that staff has a family must pay into the group Medical, retirement, the Fed, State and Medicare.
Without Catholic heroes like Chicago's Big Shoulders Fund, the Leo Alumni and our many friends of private and corporate Chicago, things would be much tougher.
Leo High School prepares young men.
Last week Warren Buffet challenged President Obama to tax the super rich like himself.
Here's a challenge, Mr. Buffet. Invest in Leo High School. I have been asking Oprah to help since 1995. We have been doing a great job without a Superstar Sponsor; imagine what the young men from the toughest neighborhoods and financial challenges in Chicago could do with a little stimulus dough? Hold the phone!
Leo High School will always be a working man's, lunch bucket high school. It is not St. Ignatius College Prep, nor is it a Whitney Young. No young man is turned away. The Leo Alumni, or the Big Shoulders Fund's Jim O'Connor will find a way to get the money to help.
This educational product is time tested. Some of the lunch bucket sons of Leo went on to become the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court - Tom Fitzgerald, or leaders of the Church like Bishop John Gorman, heroic and legendary firefighters like retired Chicago Fire Commissioner James Joyce, or Superintendent of Chicago Police -, the late James Conlisk, captains of commerce like African American Food Industry CEO Michael Thompson, and Chicago philanthropists and CEOs Frank Considine, Bill Kay, Andy McKenna and Don Flynn.
Warren Buffet and other great Americans should not wait for America to tax them; they should join the ranks of the Lions who continue to invest in young men who want to succeed.
Leo High School costs Warren Buffet not nickel one. We get no tax dollars. If Mr. Buffet wants to invest his surplus capital.
Write a Magnificent Check out to Leo High School and send it care of Dan McGrath, President for Institutional Advancement at
Leo High School
7901 S. Sangamon Street
Chicago, IL 60620
This will be a stimulus that will not go to waste. If you wish to chew me out for my presumption give me a growl at
Pat Hickey -Development Director
(773) 224-9600 ex. 208
Mr. Buffett, or any other captain of industry with surplus capital, let's make medicine!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904070604576514903799140840.html
Here is the Map of Success - 2011 Leo Grads are going to school all over America!
When asked by (WLS AM Bill)Cameron whether the conditions were ripe for a strike this year, she (Teachers Union President Karen Lewis)said: “I think it’s very high. Because people are very upset and people feel disrespected.”Chicagoist 8/15/2011 ( parentheses my own)
Ecstasy seems to be Jarrett’s identity: not only “follow your bliss” but “here, have a taste of mine!”Michael Moriarty, Actor, Jazz Musician, Journalist,Composer and Defender of the Unborn.
He’s one of the greatest storytellers we have!
As an actor I know a little about the subject of leading an audience through a tale of … mystery … and adventure … and … well … yes LOVE.
Is there a more sacred love song in the world than Danny Boy?
My adopted son, Floyd, just lost one of his sons today in a Toronto shooting.
Black on black vengeance.
To me the piercing truth of Jarrett’s rendering of Danny Boy has the agonies of profound loss in them, losses like that of my son.
Within all that pain, the beauty of existence is never more intense. The half-note interval tensions that drift … yes, mysteriously appear and disappear in his harmonies.
Speaking of “never more” … the “nevermore” of life and its fragility … and knowing how a great artist can literally force us to realize just how exquisite is God’s gift to us.Life!
How brief.
How divinely painful.
Bill Evans, one of the most influential jazz pianist of our time, performs Danny Boy in a much higher register … and … as lovely as his version may be … it carries none of the weight of Jarrett’s.
Why?
The stated key, at the very opening, tells us how profoundly serious Keith Jarrett is about Life in general.
The very last chorus of Jarrett’s Danny Boy leads to a brief quintessence of devastating harmonies, tensions that are at once divinely painful yet so deliriously inevitable. You know that this entire call to Danny Boy strikes at the very heart of our impermanence.
It ends with an allusion to the sacred plagal cadence, that all familiar ending to a choir hymn. Only an allusion, however.
Gates Millenium Scholar Eder Cruz and Principal Phil Mesina outside of St. Columbanus Catholic Church.
Soon to be members of the Leo Alumni Association
Leo Teachers and Urban Heroes All!
The Gunny -VP Frank Wilson with Ms. Silva and Ms. Latifi
The Prize
Leo High School not only endures, it thrives. Established in 1921, Leo High School's first student registered was Francis O'Neill Class of 1930. On Sunday May 21st at Chicago's St. Columbanus Catholic Church the 82nd Class of graduates received their diplomas from Principal Phil Mesina, Vice Principal Frank Wilson and President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath ( Leo '68).
Chicago Tribune columnist and Wittenberg College's greatest field-goal kicker Fred Mitchell addressed the graduates - his theme " Let No One Else Define Your Life." The young men coming out of St. Columbanus with a Leo Diploma, were not defined by their freshman entrance scores, the neighborhoods where they lived, the dollars in their family accounts, or the denomination of Christian church in which they were baptized - in fact one or two young men are Muslims. In four years, they learned to meet the odds and better resourced foes. It matters not that Leo has no track, its track team left all the wealthy suburban and private schools in the dust at Friday's IHSA Track Sectional with a score of 110.3 with their nearest competition scoring 87 points. It matters not that Leo High School's facility is eighty-five years old and land locked in Gresham on 79th Street without a tree-lined campus. What happens inside this school is a miracle.
Eder Cruz 2011 is a Gates Millennium Scholar. Eder's classmates Josiah Jones and Edward Vaughan the Salutatorian and Valedictorian will both attend University of Illinois with scholarships. Denzel Tucker, one of the toughest and finest young men it has been privilege to know, will go to Ferris State College in Michigan. Denzel is one of the State Track qualifiers, a boxer, a student leader and a gentleman to the backbone.
These fine young men and their classmates were served by genuine urban heroes. The faculty of Leo High School is comprised of veteran Catholic school war-horses like the legendary Pete Doyle who served as an Irish Christian Brother in the '60's, Principal in the '90s and the new Millennium, the spiritual link of thousands of Alumni to the school's traditions and mission, Leo's utility man Mike Holmes ( Football Coach, Admissions Director, Dean of Men and community activist/broker) Bob Schablaske, Joe Check, Ed Adams, Dr. Milt Kobus and The Gunny - Vice Principal Frank Wilson, USMC (ret.) who developed Leo's Freshman Academy. There is also a maniple of young men and women who patiently and commandingly direct the studies and deportment of proud and at times 'willful' young men - Aurora Latifi, Margarita Silva, Jon Crotty, LaDonna Hill, Noah Cannon, Kaitlyn Curta, John Lattiere, Nick Masciola, Christine Meany, Melinda Monge, Robert Sills, Bill Tomaka, Gloria Jones and Velma Smith.
Two Leo Alums, Dr. Jack O'Keefe and Denny Conway came out of retirement and volunteered to coach and tutor Leo upperclassmen to improve ACT scores. The school's scores were raised by 2 full percentage points over last year thank to these men.
Supporting all of these good people are the 8,000 + Leo Alumni. The Leo Alumni pumped hard needed dollars into scholarships for Leo families and into operational costs. More importantly, Leo Men are present at every event the school hosts and our guys know who exactly is backing their efforts and who will have their backs in the years to come.
Leo High School is blessed with young men who are making the school stonger -
Meet Darnell Harris of the Class of 2014. Darnell leads the freshman class with a GPA (unofficial prior to final exams mind you) well above 3.Something, plays basketball and was Leo's Student of Month for April. He is flanked by President Dan McGrath and some guy from Little Flower.
I love doing sic and fetch for this great school and the magnificent people the school represents.
The Leo High School Football players and other student volunteers, along with this well-fed impulse grocery shopper and President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath, will distribute bags of organic fruit, vegetables, juice and heart healthy canned goods to our neighbors tomorrow morning between 11 AM and 1PM at Leo Alumni Field.
Alumni Field is located on the south side of 79th Street between Sangamon Street and Morgan.
While some Chicagoans might wait for the Rapture, the young Lions will be taking care of their neighbors.
Leo High School was named for the Pope of the Working Man -Leo XIII - and established by Cardinal Mundelein in 1926. Since then, thousands of Leo Men have served their God, country, families, and their neighbors as leaders and doers.
Our guys maintain that tradition. I have been writing about the great Bishop Bernard J. Sheil who founded the CYO and was a tireless voice for Catholic Action. Here is what Shiel was all about - doing for others.
These guys are doing alright for themselves as well. Here are some of the Leo Class of 2011 College Placements:
Below are the current list of students who have been accepted into colleges with proof of an acceptance letter:
Josiah Jones-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northern Ill. and University of Ill. at Chicago.
Eder Cruz-Valparaiso University, Marquette University, Iowa State, St. Louis University, Bradley University, University of Alcorn, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Hope College.
Andre Cail-Illinois State and Northern Illinois.
Brendan Mahan-DePaul University
Rueben BlackWell- St. Norbert College, DePaul College, DePaul University, Alcorn State, Central State and University of Arkansas Pine Bluff.
Andre Patton-Iowa State, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, University of Missouri, University of Memphis and Northern Illinois.
Edward Vaughn-Georgia Tech, Purdue University and University Of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
Joshua Cooper-International Academy of Design and Technology.
Denzel Tucker-Ferris State University and Hamline University.
Lawrence Littlejohn-Utica College and Johnson & Wales University, Grand Canyon University, Columbia College, Nazareth College, Sage College of Alabama, College of St. Scholastica.
Anthony Morgan-Western Illinois and University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana.
Justin Douglas-Kentucky State.
Aundra Wright-University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana and Bradley University.
Fred Montgomery-Robert Morris University.
Derrius Hendrix-Bowling Green State University and Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Delexis Jackson-Robert Morris University.
Joshua Gilbert-Tennessee State University.
Eder Cruz flanked by Aurora Latifi and Margarita Silva of Leo High School
On April 21st, I posted the announcement of Eder Cruz Leo 2011 selection as one of 31 Illinois recipients of the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarship. The Gates Millennium Scholarship follows the recipient for his or her post-secondary education: college, post-graduate ( Law, Medicine etc.)
Eder Cruz transferred to Leo High School from Cristo Rey in his sophomore year. For two years Eder was the only non-African American student here at Leo High School.
Tomorrow's Mark Brown column is a look at this remarkable young man. Mr. Brown does a splendid job in telling about the school that helped a tough, earnest and thoughtful young man. Albanian born math teacher, Mrs. Aurora Latifi, Spanish teacher Ms. Margarita Silva and Guidance Counsellor Ms. Kaitlyn Kurta are three special ladies who were particularly important to Eder in his quest for success. Leo High School is generally known as a Catholic school with a particularly high testosterone level, but it is the young women who are making real impact on our guys.
Since mid-March, Leo High School's true story has been fogged by the media concerning an Archdiocesan personnel matter between the Cardinal and Father Pfleger of St. Sabina's Parish. The story went viral and national and Leo was tagged as struggling, troubled and in Father Pfleger's words "literally failing." The fact of the matter the taggers of those terms have no skin in the game at Leo High School - not Michael Pfleger, not Jay Levine and not Phil Kadner. Not one of the foggy narrative taggers, took the time to phone, much less visit the Leo Leadership: President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath and Principal Phil Mesina. No one the taggers talked to Leo Alumni President John Gardner, or Leo Advisory Board President Bob Sheehy. No tagger gave a call to Leo Men with much monetary and spiritual skin in the game like Frank Considine '39, Bill Koloseike '45, Andy McKenna '47, Dick Landis '47, Don Flynn '56, Bob Foster '57, Terry Sherman '64, or Joe Powers '70.
Mark Brown visited Leo. Mark Brown helped cut through the Pfleger Pfog narrative.
Eder Cruz leaves a great deal of skin in the corridors of Leo High School. Eder Cruz is a game changer.
Click my post title for Mark Brown's great Pfog Cutter.
By the way, Yale University is dropping by Leo High School at 9AM to talk to another Leo Man - a game changer of the Class of 2012.
Leo High School has been serving Chicago since 1926. The first applicant to Leo High School is Francis O'Neill of Visitation Parish. Mr. O'Neill of the Charter Class of 1930 retired as a City of Chicago Bridge Tender and on February 26, 2011 turned one hundred years young.
Leo High School Ready for Future With or Without Father Michael Pfleger : MyFoxCHICAGO.com
Saint Caimin
(Seventh century)
Caimin (or Caminus) was the son of Dima. He came from the race of Hy-Kinselagh and the noble stock of the Kings of Leinster. Caimin was half-brother of Guare, king of Connaught. Their mother was Cuman or Cumania, also known as Mumania. She was the daughter of Dalbronius. Little is known of Caimin's early life but considering his lineage it is certain that he was educated. The Parliamentary Gazeteer of 1845 writes that on Inis Cealtra (Holy Island) "he led a life of contemplation and austerity, the fame of which attracted to its shores numbers desirous of imitating his virtues and receiving instruction. The concourse of these disciples became at length so great that the holy man was compelled to found a place for their reception and shelter, and thus originated a monastery which, in after times, enjoyed a far-spread reputation."
It is actually unclear as to who founded the monastery of Inis Cealtra, St. Colum, St. Stellan or St. Caimin. However, St. Caimin is celebrated in local lore and legend for his many miracles and for his saintly life. It seems certain that he either built or rebuilt a monastery on Inis Cealtra and it is said that he had a reputable school here. There is evidence that a lay community and many monks resided here. Samuel Lewis writing in 1837 says that Caimin "is said to have written a commentary on the Psalms, which he collated with the Hebrew text." It is known as "St. Caimin's Psalter" and is ascribed to him by tradition. However, though it possibly originated on Inis Cealtra, it is far too late for Caimin. It dates to the eleventh or twelfth century.
St. Caimin was Bishop Abbot of Inis Cealtra and some accounts claim he was the first Bishop of Killaloe. He died probably in 644 or 652, though the Annals of Inisfallen claim that he died in 654. St. Caimin's feast day is on March 24th.
“Oh when those Leo men fall into line ...” and a long, generous and committed line it is!
Yesterday, was a typical day at Leo High School. I got in a little before 6 AM, after treating my readership to a couple of posts - topical and just plain fun. I opened mail from Mrs. McMahon of Florida who sent in a check in remembrance of Tim Sullivan '39 who went home to Christ in December. I had a Leo hat signed by the National Honor Society circulated among the students that will be sent to Mrs. Rose Rita Sullivan for a memorial for Tim Sullivan in Naples, FL. I talked to the energetic and studious Jeremy Clark of the Freshman Class who arrives at Leo shortly after me each day and must be kicked out of the place after his Freshman Basketball duties - Jeremy is an A Honor Roll student and a kid who cannot help exerting his talents over and above the call of duty. Jeremy worked the Veterans Observance in November and is present at every school event and activity. Like I said, the best hours of his day are spent within the walls of Leo High School.
The Walls and infrastructure were built in the 1920s. After Jeremy had gone to class, the chief of maintenance Ronell Reynolds reported that some plaster had fallen. Phil Mesina called contractor Lloyd Fuller who is an older model of Jeremy Clark. Lloyd sent his sons to Leo in the 1980's, drives the basketball team, attends every Leo event and is one of the top African American contractors in Chicago and Leo is in the wallet that Mr. Fuller opens to the "Lighthouse" on 79th Street. Lloyd sent tradesmen before the 3rd period.
Presdent Dan McGrath and Principal Phil Mesina supervised and accessed the damage with the plasterers. Vice Principal Fran Wilson, the Leo High School Gunny, a Marine, educator and Christian gentleman made the academic rounds. All the while the real work of the school was being done by the young and committed faculty - Mike Holmes, football coach and Admissions Director, attended property hearing on three lots Leo will acquire; Ms. Kurta, the Guidance Counsellor reported on college acceptance to Marquette, DePaul, Iowa State, Boston College and University of Illinois for members of the class of 2011; Ms. Aurora Latifi, Leo's Albanian born math teacher and Bookstore Chief, shepherded the gents through the arcana of Algebra and Calculus. I researched some grants.
Ms. Natasha Adams rushed to my cubicle with a UPS Express Envelope. It contained a letter from a Leo Alumnus Class of 1969 who is in the Insurance Business. Here is some of the letter
Dear Pat,and it continued.
It has been a while since we have spoken, I would like to contribute the enclosed check to Campaign Leo ( our Fall Mailing) to support the great work that all of you are doing at the school. I continue to be amazed by your progress, The School is a lighthouse in the inner city and provides students a good education by Christian adults. . . . Please use these funds to continue your excellent work. . . .
Leo's tiny gym was packed with Leo and Brother Rice students, parents, Catholic League fans, and most of all Leo Alumni. Mike Holmes, '76, Jim Corbett, '52, Rich Doyle '65, Leo President Dan McGrath '68, Bob Sheehy '71, Bill Melligan '59, Jack Farnan '64, Mike Joyce '86 Clarence Topps '77, Mike Regan '70, Jack Sexton '68, and Leo Hall of Fame Basketball star Jack Schaller '43 joined hundreds of their Brother Lions to bear witness to a Catholic League Classic.
Pat Richardson's Brother Rice Crusaders and Noah Cannon's Leo Lions went at it on the hard wood over the length of the game and FIVE OVER TIMES!
Read this great Bob Hurst's great Tribune account: Click my Post Title
Here is a taste . . .
The question at Leo on Friday night was not when would it end, but whether it would.
After five overtimes, 113 free-throw attempts and eight players fouling out, it finally did. Leo defeated Brother Rice 107-101 in a memorable Catholic League matchup.
"It was one of those crazy games," Leo coach Noah Cannon said.
The Lions' Sean Moore Jr. made 9 of 10 free-throw attempts in the final overtime as the Lions finally pulled away.
Tim Sullivan went to St. Brendan's Grammar School and then Leo High School and graduated in the Leo Class of 1939. Tim went to Watson Business School and then the U.S. Navy ( 1942-'46). After the war, Mr. Sullivan went to work for John Hancock Insurance Company in Chicago and Boston. He married the lovely Rita Rose and raised four great kids. Tim Sullivan returned to Christ on December 2, 2010 and was buried from Christ the King Church on December 6th.
This morning I wrote a letter to Mrs. Sullivan and sent a report on the memorial gifts in the name of Tim Sullivan - a total of $ 4,382.30 have been tallied . . .thus, far. Memorials are still coming in.
Mr. & Mrs. Sullivan had retired to Florida, but always kept n touch with the goings-on of Leo High School. Many families will get a boost of the financial load on their backs from Tim Sullivan and the thousands of Leo Alumni who pour dollars back to the school on 79th & Sangamon Street that boasts of its past and the work being done by young men today - Brendan Mahan,Leo '11 has been accepted at DePaul; Edward Vaughan, Leo '11 is deciding between The Ivy League (Yale & Columbia) or University of Illinois. These kids are backed by Tim Sullivan and the Leo Alumni ( Edward Vaughan is the Jack Howard Scholar - the late Jack Howard was the selfless leader of the Leo Alumni for many of its hardest years and worked with Bob Foster to keep Leo viable) a poor kid from St. Brendan's.
Tonight, the Lions of Leo face the Brother Rice Crusaders on the hardwood of the tight, 3rd floor gym and Frank McDermott, Leo '57 will get here around 2 PM - as he usually manages to do- and get a good parking spot. Snow is expected and many Leo Alums will park two and three blocks away and walk to the school and up the 90 degree angle ( it seems) stairs up three floors and cheer the Lions. Nothing keeps these guys from a game; in fact, about one hundred guys will gather at Father Perez Knights of Columbus on 111th and take a couple of buses here.
The snow will be light, but that always seems to be a factor when there is big game.
The Irish poet Lousi Macneice -an Orangman to be sure - wrote a wonderful poem about snow and posed one of my favorite tropes in literature - it speaks of our world - the world of Tim Sullivan taking so much from his experiences as a student at Leo and giving back to share that happiness with young black gents; the aging white Italian, Irish, Lithuanian, Polish, French, Belgian and German kids who ran up the stairs at Leo under the eyes of Jimmy Arneberg, Bob Hanlon, Brothers Finch, O'Keefe and Coogan wearing ankle weights and extra-sweats who come back to Leo and give back everywhere. The trope for this is "Incorrigibly plural."
This is wonderful!
The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was
Spawning snow and pink roses against it
Soundlessly collateral and incompatible:
World is suddener than we fancy it.
World is crazier and more of it than we think,
Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion
A tangerine and spit the pips and feel
The drunkenness of things being various.
And the fire flames with a bubbling sound for world
Is more spiteful and gay than one supposes–
On the tongue on the eyes on the ears in the palms of your hands–
There is more than glass between the snow and the huge roses.
Photo courtesy of Beverly Review
On Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Lou Knox tried to enlist in the Marines, but he was turned down for having an overbite.Caroline Connors -Beverly Review
Knox graduated from Leo High School in 1942, enrolled at DePaul University and was eventually drafted in February 1943.
“At that point, they would take you if you were warm,” Knox said.
A native of the parish of St. Columbanus Roman Catholic Church on the South Side, Knox served 34 months in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was a member of Darby’s Rangers, an elite special operations unit whose members were the first American soldiers to see combat in the war. He scaled a cliff in the south of France and was the first American soldier to enter Rome. He also met the king and crown prince of Norway. During his tour, he was wounded twice and received both the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
Now 87 and a resident of Tinley Park, Knox will recall some of his World War II experiences when he participates in the annual Leo High School Veterans Memorial Observance on Nov. 5. The event—co-sponsored by Leo High School, the Leo Alumni Association, Windy City Veterans, the Veterans Leadership Program, American Legion Giles Post #87 and the Chicago Commission on Human Relations—will take place in the school’s courtyard on 79th Street near Sangamon Avenue at 11 a.m. The event is open to the public.
President Rich Furlong and the Directors of Leo Alumni Association lead the Leo Lions of Yore onto to the links at Gleneagles Country Club -Wednesday, August 4th 2010.
Tiger? We got Lions!
Like any leonine pride, it is the woman who does the Lion's Share of the work. Joan Howard organizes the raffles, the sale of Alumni Sports wear, table placement for the turn-around and luncheon.
Joan's Husband the late Jack Howard ( '61) helped make the Leo Alumni Golf Outing the template for all such events - Leo Golf Outing attracts between 200-375 Leo Alumni and friends each year and help amass a great contribution in cash to Leo High School operations.
President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath and Principal Phil Mesina salute the Leo Alumni Association for its stalwart support of this great school.
God Bless All Leo Men and Women!
http://www.leohsalumniassoc.com/golf2009.htm
Leo President Dan McGrath talks with WTTW Phil Ponce on the Mission of Leo High School.
You can be a part of helping inner city young get a quality Catholic high school education.
Send your tax-deducatible contribution to
President Dan McGrath
Leo High School
7901 S. Sangamon Street
Chicago, IL 60620
Call Pat Hickey-Director of Development with any of your questions (773) 224-9700 ex. 208.
"Koz" #7 in action against Marshall in the 1944 City Championship. Click on Photo and then zoom in for the story and also a history lesson from the great Leo A;umni Association site developed by Tom Lynch '73.
This past April, Robert A. Kozlowski ( Leo '45) was inducted to the Leo Hall of Fame.
After leading the Leo Lions to the 1944 City of Chicago Lightwight ( 5'8" and under) Basketball Championship Bob Kozlowski entered the U.S. Army. The son of Jennie and Benjamin Kozlowki, Bob retired as a clerk for the Railroad Retirement Board of Chicago in 1982. His friends and family gathered at Heeney-Laughlin Funeral Directors and celebrated Mr. Kozlowki's life at St. Terrence Catholic Church in Alsip, IL.
Mr. Kozlowski always stayed in support of Leo High School and always gave the fullest measure of devotion to his country, family and friends.
God Bless You, Sir!
Sports Prose Master Dan McGrath reports on the continued support of all black Leo Catholic School by white Catholic Alumni, because Bob Foster articulated the mission of the Lions.
Bob Foster, 69, made it his life’s mission to keep the school open. A former Leo football star whose bent-nose bluntness reflects a lifetime of line play, Foster was Leo’s football coach, principal and president for more than 40 years before stepping down for health reasons earlier this month. Leo was built in 1926 to serve boys from Chicago’s working-class South Side, Foster said, and that mission shouldn’t change just because the makeup of the neighborhood changed from Irish, Italian and Polish immigrants to blacks.
Foster had a small group of deep-pocketed alumni he could call on for help with big-ticket expenses like a new furnace, but the smaller donations he coaxed from the middle-class graduates were the school’s real economic engine. The policemen, firefighters, teachers and tradesmen supported Leo even after they stopped sending their sons. Leo endures as an inner-city symbol of educational opportunity, a haven in a troubled area plagued by gang violence.
I am a
Canna
What Flower
Are You?
