Leo Alumni and Friends: How To Get to the Football 1-A Semi-Finals at Lena-Winslow HS! Practice and Win a Bunch of Games

It's a two and half hour drive; bring some snacks.

Here are some directions from the South Side, using Leo High School as a starting point, to Lena-Winslow HS for Saturday's IHSA Football SemiFinals.

Here is Google Map:

Driving directions to Lena-Winslow School District

This route has tolls.

7901 S Sangamon St Chicago, IL 60620

	1. Head north on S Sangamon St toward W 79th St
		79 ft
	2. Take the 1st right onto W 79th St
		1.2 mi
	3. Turn left onto S State St
		207 ft
	4. Slight left onto the Interstate 94 W ramp
		0.2 mi
	5. Keep left at the fork and merge onto I-94 W
		1.6 mi
	6. Merge onto I-90 W/I-94 W
		15.6 mi
	7. Keep left to stay on I-90 W, follow signs for Interstate 90 W/Kennedy Expressway/O'Hare/Rockford Partial toll road
		67.0 mi
	8. Take the Interstate 39 S/U.S. 51 S exit toward Rockford/U.S. 20
		0.5 mi
	9. Merge onto I-39 S/US-51 S
		2.7 mi
	10. Continue onto Hwy 20 W/US-20 W
		46.3 mi
	11. Turn right onto W Galena Rd
		1.5 mi
	12. Continue onto E Lena St
		0.3 mi
	13. Turn right onto Fremont St Destination will be on the right
		410 ft

Lena-Winslow School District 401 Fremont St Lena, IL 61048 Here's Directions from Morgan Park, over by 107th & Rockwell what's my house.- Driving directions to Lena-Winslow School District This route has tolls. 107$% S Rockwell St Chicago, IL 60655 1. Head south on S Rockwell St toward W 108th St 0.4 mi 2. Turn right onto W 111th St 2.8 mi 3. Turn left onto S Cicero Ave 1.7 mi 4. Merge onto I-294 N via the ramp to W Suburbs Toll road 18.7 mi 5. Take the Interstate 290 W exit towardRockford/U.S. 20/Illinois 64 Partial toll road 1.4 mi 6. Merge onto I-290 W 14.5 mi 7. Take the I-90/IL-62 exit toward Algonquin Rd/IL-53 N 0.6 mi 8. Keep left at the fork, follow signs forIllinois 62/Algonquin Rd/Interstate 90 W/Rockford 0.4 mi 9. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for I-90 W/Rockford Partial toll road 0.5 mi 10. Keep left at the fork and merge onto I-90 W Toll road 50.4 mi 11. Take the Interstate 39 S/U.S. 51 S exit toward Rockford/U.S. 20 0.5 mi 12. Merge onto I-39 S/US-51 S 2.7 mi 13. Continue onto Hwy 20 W/US-20 W 46.3 mi 14. Turn right onto W Galena Rd 1.5 mi 15. Continue onto E Lena St 0.3 mi 16. Turn right onto Fremont St Destination will be on the right 410 ft Lena-Winslow School District 401 Fremont St Lena, IL 61048 Save to My Maps

Here's What Jack Farnan '63 has to say about avoiding construction.

" . . .  been thru Lena several times on way to Galena....

taking I-90 with the construction can get you stuck on the road for an hour if there is an accident.

It is better to take I-88 to I-39 and then the US 20 Bypass around Rockford and US 20 Bypass around Freeport

Also if you check the aerial photo of their stadium using the IHSA bracket link you’ll see there are very few seats out there."

N.B. Remember -Behave on the sidelines !  Leo is already playing the Lena Panthers, the clock and the Referees. 

The Pride of Lions - A Team of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Leo High School defeated the undefeated Crusaders of Ottawa Marquette 32-27

Up Next: CLASS 1A
Leo at Lena-Winslow
Maroa-Forsyth at Downs Tri-Valley

I am overwhelmed by the selfless commitment of the young men of Leo High School.   There is not one Super-star on this hard-scrabble score and half of teenagers suited and sometimes squeezed into Black and Orange; there is a collection of kids with heart and the tools to make a difference on the football field, the classroom and on the streets.

Leo High School may very well capture the Class 1A Football Championship, perhaps not, but I have pretty good idea of how they got here so far.

The Leo High School varsity is dominated by the Class of 2014.  These are the guys who began their freshman as the Leo Academy.   The Academy was the product of Mr. Frank Wilson - The Gunny.  The Gunny spent ten years as a United States Marine and the last ten years as Leo High School's Vice Principal.  Frank Wilson is  recruiting poster tall, lean and self-confident.  The Leo Academy that he envisioned pulled the incoming class of Leo freshmen together as a unit with a daily task and group accountability.  They formed a squad, a band of brothers.  It worked.  The Freshmen Class of 2014 amassed a GPA that set the standard for the next four years.  As a group these current seniors owe their success to the rigors of Gunny Wilson's discipline and command presence. The 2014 ACT is the highest in years and 2 full points above the Illinois Charter School scores.

Frank Wilson handles all curriculum and student accountability matters - all the tedious and attention to detail jobs, as well as serves as a powerful mentor to young men.  The Gunny exudes command-presence and never raises his voice.  It is near impossible to find photos of Frank Wilson on the Leo websites,because it is tough to catch him standing still.
Frank "Gunny" Wison, Ms. Silva and the Lady Lion Ms. Latifi.
When our seniors were summer session freshmen, Frank Wilson gave them a sense of team, personal accountability and selfless dedication to task that is clearly evident on the football field and so obvious in the halls everyday.

The Leo student body has followed the lead of the Leo Academy 2014 for respect of self and the traditions that are Leo -Facta Non Verba.

The game against Ottawa Marquette reminded me of an other Leo teams - the 1942 City Champs.  The team coached by Whitey Cronin featured no end of great athletes and Leo heroes - Jimmy Arneberg, Bob Hanlon, Bob Kelly, Tony Kelly and on and on.  There were no stand-out heroes; rather a team of extraordinary men.

There are so many impact players on the 2014 Leo Varsity that it is hard to say who stands out any one game.  Like the 1942 City Champs, Leo is the star,

We can thank Mr. Frank Wilson, Leo Vice Principal for making this year's leadership and talent heavy varsity football team, almost as much Coach Holmes, for making 2013-2014 Varsity Football a team of extraordinary gentlemen.

Forrest Contemplates His Next Government Appointment Amid Outcry -" Ventra is ObamaCare for CTA Riders

CTA President Forrest Claypool listens to complaints about Ventra during a budget hearing in Chicago.

Well, Ventra Cards are sure not doing much for Forrest Claypool's future CTA pay days.  The chinless job-hopper who has made a career of making his sandy eye-brows spike into Isosceles triangles when cameras roll aping genuine concern and attention has got to be thinking about the next appointment.

Let's see - Quinn already picked Paul Vallas for Guv Lite, dang. This accountability in the workplace is so not cool.

How about State of Illinois Chairman for Blue Ribbon Commission Appointments?  Knock down $ 185,000 per annum with all of the requisite perquisites.

Or, how about a County Gig - Forrest Preserve Commissioner - preserving a Claypool paycheck anywhere in the county.

City Hall might not be too happy. No.  Better let Rahm simmer down after 15,000 helots got free bus rides yesterday.

The Feds????  You bet.  There's three good years of Obama Czar Search Possibilities!!!!! Give Val Jarrett a jingle.

Hope and Change, Forrest!  Hope and Change, My Boy!

Pulitzer Prize Cartoonist Jack Higgins Defines the Quinn Campaign

My Legion of Reader will note that Paul Vallas was my neighbor and boon chum. I love Paul and his family.

Pat Quinn is no Paul Vallas.  Pat Quinn is Governor of Illinois because Rod Blagojevich went to jail.  Once Governor, Pat Quinn depended solely on the kindness of strange rangers -  Dawn Clark Netsches, Dr. Quentin Youngs, Boss Terry Cosgroves, Ralph Martires, and the canoe guy, Quinn keeps hiring.

Sun Times Cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize recipient Jack Higgins nails the entire Quinn strategy (above).  Quinn could not lead a glutton to a free lunch counter.

Pat Quinn proves the cockroach rule of Darwinian longevity.  Pat Quinn is a dyed in the wool, pure gospel, snake handling Progressive. He survived politics in much the same way that lamprey eels enjoy long and healthy life cycles.  Someone provides an electoral ride, dies, or goes to jail and Pat Quinn . . . well, you get the idea of my sentiments.

Anyway, I am not alone among voters who supported Pat Quinn in his run against Pat Brady and bought all of his 'workingman's best pal and loyalty is my middle-name" BS.   Pat Quinn is only loyal to the Hyde Park Progressive agenda - always was and always will be:  contrarian doctrinaire (if it sounds stupid Quinn is all over it) on law and law enforcement, pro-criminal, pro-radical, abortion happy and tax fabulous.

Pat Quinn has stuck his pinkies in the eyes of African American Democratic voters.  Quinn arrogantly assumes he has 'them' all locked up.  Quinn needs blue collar ethnic white voters, again.  He arrogantly assumes that they will follow the dictates of parish culture and neighborly obligation and vote for a one of them - the Tall Greek with Gorgeous Dutch Wife.

The very people for whom Pat Quinn scorns for their loyalty, their faith and their sense of civic duty - same as the black voters.

Pat Quinn needs Paul Vallas.  The very last thing Illinois needs is Pat Quinn. I love Paul Vallas, as I love myself.

I would not for Pat Quinn, if I were on the ticket with him.

Paul Simon & Sting? How about Ella Fitzgerald and Spike Jones?

Hope and Crosby, Bartles and James, Currier and Ives, Smith and Jones, - these I get.  They are combinations that make sense like the yellow and red plastic squeeze bottles on the tables where we hoi polloi grab a meal. Two bald guys - one with a hat!


Paul Simon? Meh. He lost me in the 1960's when he was duet-ted with the guy in the Jew-fro whose nuts had yet to drop.  If I wanted male falsetto, Lou Christie and Roy Orbison had it in spades. The Pop equivalent of choral castrati was never big with me.

Sting? Meh. Is Der Stingle a rock icon, movie star, fashion plate, or aging horn-dog? Back in the 80's when everything hip was all about being East German Stasi, Sting and The Police nailed the moment.  Big Hair went away. Sting stuck around, like Rudy Valle on a Bing Crosby Special in the 1960's.

Now, it's Simon and Sting - two bald guys and one wearing a hat, or one guy with two names and the other with but one.  What are we getting for our package?

I went to the official website to get a prospective - a sense of why.  All I got were opportunities to purchase ticket packages in each host city and learned that the PS & S Store would soon be open on the very same website.

Choose between three exclusive VIP packages to create your ultimate "On Stage Together" experience! Exciting package elements may include Front Row Seats, Pre-show Hospitality, Exclusive Merchandise and More! For details, click here

Did. Nothing.  ObamaCare is really having some effect, there, kids! Get a load of the Packages available! Now one ticket, at full price, best available will run this Old Dog who prefers the Kinks to Pink Floyd and Wilson Pickett to Paul Simon, $ 265.75 before all the County and Rahm taxes and sans the VIP ups and extras.   I'd feel about as happy and healthy as some poor slob who blew the mortgage and an additional $ 2,500 on VISA at Horseshoe Casino, after that purchase.

Maybe if I really, really, really like Simon and Sting, or at least one of the aging pop stars I'd toss away at least $ 400 on a stage visit to the front rows of United Center.

Having tucked away my pop-up road rage with disappearance of the Mormon Mockery on every news web page, I am now afflicted with waves of Simon /Sting Missives. I have yet to understand the musical mission?

What do Sting and Simon have that really demands a concert tour together? Imagine Ella Fitzgerald



With Spike Jones and his City Slickers



I imagine Luciano Pavaratti touring with Jigger Johnny and the Polka Fatboys, Ella Fitzgerald and Spike Jones, Carmel Quinn and Pogues, or how about Tom Jones and the Indigo Girls?


THAT I would pay to see.

In the Face of Changes, I Confess!

"Wenceslas!  Good King Wenceslas! You look out on the Feast of Stephen . . . OUT!  Around, See what's happening!   Jesus, you're as thick as a bull's Walt, your majesty!"



Things change for the better, except in government and popular music.  Most people are much nicer to one another. Certainly the evolved cuisine beats the blue-plate special offerings of forty and fifty years ago. Domestic thermostatic climate control is superior especially in summer months.  I no longer need to sleep with my feet hanging out a window over the gangway in July and August.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.   Well who don't? If Heraclitus has it right there is no constant but flux.  My hair and its absence in certain precincts of my noggin are pretty good indicators of this verity.  I ain't no kid.  I can still ascend the four floors of Leo High School without the aid of an oxygen mask full of natural gas on each landing and I am yet able to two-step like a self conscious Fred Astair; nevertheless, I am not the Steve Stunning of yore. Ecclesiastes 3, 1-8

I try to make my thoughts words and deeds appropriate to the occasion and fight my more juvenile impulses with . . .well that is not entirely true.  I behave only when threatened.  Somethings never change, Heraclitus. I confess my short comings and human limitations in order to off set any possibility of actually putting forth a huge effort. Kind of like when the Leo Maintenance Chief Ron asked me if I'd like to help unload fifty bags of sidewalk salt - " Gee, yes, Ron!  As soon as I finish mailing both of my thumbs to the Saudi Royals. Let me know where you guys are!"  I know WHAT TIME IT IS!

It's time for the Hollywood Argyles!