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!

IHSA Football Quarter Finals in Class 1-A: Leo v. Ottawa Marquette

St. Laurence High School, operated by the Irish Christian Brothers will host the Class 1-A Quarter Final game between Leo and Ottawa Marquette at 2 PM on Saturday November 16, 2013.After a great Leo Family Get-Together last Saturday at St. Rita's Pat Cronin Field featuring a win by the Lions over visiting Stark County 31-20, the Lions head to Burbank for the Quarter Finals. Generations of Hogans, Mahoneys, Coopers, Paynes, Halls, Torres, Garzas, Greens, Jacksons, Sheehys and McNallys followed Jay Standring in whatever cheer, chant or taunt he could shout out.  

If you did not run into a pal that you had not seen in decades, you must have had your eyes riveted to the action on the field.  Me?  I'm a rubber-necker.  I caught up with Ernie Kelly, Bud Monaco, Marquis "Biggs" Ball, Akim Hunter,  Johnny Vasi, Bob Quick, Jack McNamara, Wally Macaulay,the Brothers Hopkins: Jack and Tom, George Spearekis, Mike Gurgone,The Brothers Finn: too numerous to name, George Newell, Coach Jack Fitzgerald, Senator Ed Maloney, Father Bill McFarland, Standrings and Earners and McElligotts Oh, My!!!!


When I was not peeling off five-spots to Canaryville's own Duke Rusty Montana (2016), whom I drove to and from the game, and who eats like he's going to the chair, I made happy re- acquaintance with old friends.  We all look exactly the way we did in 1967,'68. '69, & '70 - at least through the lens of Leo High School and parish camaraderie ( VIZ, John 'O God, Sabina's, KillYuns, Sain Nicks, Big Weed, Tommy More ( too old to fight, or just mellowed?) R Lady a Moun'Carmel, Caj-uhtins, & da res').







Come out and watch the Lion, catch the Ottawa Crusaders in its brawny paws. .St. Laurence High School 5556 W 77th St, Burbank, IL 60459(708) 458-6900

Leo Veterans Observance - Facta Non Verba: Honor in Deeds Not Just Words

The Marines of Chicago's Own - 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines carried 1903 Springfield rifles in tribute to the late James Durkin, USMCR Leo Class of 1930 veteran of Guadalcanal, British Solomon Islands 1942, as it was the weapon Mr. Durkin carried in that campaign.


The Durkin Family with Leo President Dan McGrath and Principal Phil Mesina


Liam Durkin and his sister Lilly helped their Mom lay a wreath at the Memorial in Leo's courtyard that was placed in 1965 through the efforts of James Durkin, Leo '30.



Three heroes of the Vietnam War - Leo Men and veterans of the 25th Infantry Division




The Honor is a small part of our obligation


Korean War vet and CFD hero Jim Corbett gives Leo Math teacher Ms. Hickey sound advice concerning the like-surnamed troll to Chief Corbett's right.



Mr. Holden and Mr. Richards of Bugles Across America did a Taps Duet.


Campus Minister Pete Doyle leads all in the Catholic Prayer-  Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

More great Photos by Phil Mesina, Leo Principal 

The Loud and Stupid Have Had the Floor Far Too Long - Dan Savage e.g.

 Overdue. Had to be done.


We have been far too nice to the people who make time stand-still: the vacuous, lite-enlightened, shifty, greedy, egomanical and the just plain too-stupid to be Governor.  Good manners and spineless moral dictates developed by ninnies with far too much time their hands preclude the time honored retort of  " What is wrong with you?  Just How Goddam Stupid Are You?  For Crissakes, You Just Can Not Shut up!  Now, have your opinions follow your ass out of here!" following any uncommonly stupid proposition or pronouncement (see any Editorial in any newspaper in Chicago, or catch Chicago Tonight on WTTW).

These dominating ideas used to come only from hopeless drunks after some cash windfall, any recently hired faculty member with a grudge about Homecomings, public librarians, Elks and Hyde Park indigents seeking unrestricted admission to the Newberry Library.

Now days,  this field of shameless edgy opinion contrarians crowds and dominates our inkspace, cyberspace, wirewaves and  legislatures.

Take for example this celebrated and  accomplished asshole -advice columnist, playwright, activist, arse-burglar and bullying  lecturer Dan Savage:



All wax and no wick.

Then we have this financially comfortable, mildly educated and spiritually bankrupt couple from Texas:

Two pacifists out of necessity in the battle of wits

Tales of the South Side: My Favorite Year 1959! That Was Some Birthday!

Seven year old Pat Hickey tickles the genuine whiskers of El Jefe in the living room of Granpa Hickey's bungalow at 7535 S. Marshfield west of Ashland in the Highlands of Gresham.

Yep, I seem to recall the bearded presence of the future dictator of Red Cuba, when my uncle Bart brought him home to meet the family on November 8, 1959.  I had just turned seven at 10 AM and my Dad was at one of his three jobs ( Illinois Medicals Psychiatric Center, The Beverly Theatre, or Home for the Blind) - Ike was about to part the White House, the White Sox won the American League Pennant, but the LA Dodgers the Series, I was in third grade, JFK was a Catholic running for President and Castro visited the US.in April of 1959.  Castro went to zoos and ranches in NYC, DC, Texas and Canada and generally hung around with Chicago Tribune's Latin Affairs Correspondent Jules Dubois.

Dubois had been a Panama suit and hat reporter in Panama and later became an Army spook during WWII.  After the war, Dubois worked to overthrow governments in Central America and also hated Cuban dictator and Mafia puppet Batista.

My Uncle Bart was the tallest of my Dad's six brothers and as Mary Garvey once said, 'That Bart is strictly MGM.'  Bart had been a Master Sergeant in the Marines during the Korean War and afterward a Stationary Engineer.  I am given to understand that during one of his not too infrequent visits to Mr. Kelly's that Uncle Bart pal'd up with Col Jules Dubois.

The Colonel and Bart hit it off and met up for beers periodically.   After the Sox lost the World Series, the two ran into one another and met for steaks at Stockyard Inn.  Dubois told Bart about the guy who had kicked the Batista and the Guineas out of Cuba in January and had charmed the britches off of the Manhattan swells and the likes of Lenny Bernstein.  Castro had visited the States on his own, in full beard and Army fatigues many times.

Uncle Bart cried Bullshit.

The Colonel protested, " On the Square, Batty.  Want to meet him?"

It was arranged.  On November 8th 1959, Fidel Castro wiped his feet on the mud mat in the hall of the Hickey Manse on Marshfield, right here in Chicago.

All of my cousins were there but Eddie who was a freshman football player at Notre Dame and it was my birthday besides, which meant cake.  The cake was from the bakery on 79th & Laflin and it was okay but for the coconut flakes, which I have hated with a generous passion - Lo these many years. Cutting off perfectly good frosting because of coconut flakes is just wrong.  Most of the cousins did not seem to mind and swallowed the stuff without so much as a blink.

In walked Uncle Bart and two guys - one a geezer and the other dressed in Army clothes and beard.  "Split-tails and goofs, quiet down.  This is Col. Jules Dubois and he's a pal and this is his pal Fidel. Fellas, this is my brother Pat's boy -Patsheen -he's what? Sixteen?"

"Seven, Uncle Bart,"  I corrected.

" Did I ask you, wise guy?  Close your chow hole and give your ears a chance until you're talked to . . .it's his Birthday, Chief. What did you bring for the kid?"

Into the excitement and up from the basement came FATHER - Granpa Hickey, formerly of Crinnie Hill, Castleisland County Kerry, a founder of Engineers Local 399, father of seven boys and six girls and a pioneering road rage, unfiltered vocalist. " Bateen, who's yer pals, so?  I heard ye come in the front door when the back way is good enough for Monsignor McMahon.  Hello, I'm Lawrence Hickey, Bart's father, like the story."   A Kerryman pronounces Bart as Bayart, but said fast and says 'Like the Shhtory for no good reason. BTW - Bat is short for Bart, which is short for Bartholomew, and it's diminutive in Irish would be Bat-een, like I am Padsheen, or Patsheen.

GranPa took in a full eyeful of Fidel Castro.

"Fwhat are you doing here in my living room dressed up like Tom Barry's Flying Column?" quizzed the original Crinnie Rage-aholic.

Uncle Bart answer, " He's Castro, Father (with undiminished irony) - the guy on Time Magazine from Cuba."

"That's near Florida, so?"

It was agreed.

Hands were shook all around and Fidel Castro was seated at the dining room table next to the Chicago Pater Familias - " How's things with that crook Batista off in the jungles somewhere?"

Col. Jules Dubois translated for the English challenged revolutionist - Castro lit up like one of his virgin-thighed rolled cheroots - " Ah Bueno, Senor Hickey! Muy bien! Las personas que saquearon mi pueblo para este año madres Mañana no será bienvenido en Cuba. Al igual que los Medias Blancas y la Sra. Rigné, Ha, ha, ha! "

" So, that's the way of it."

On it went, I suppose, in this manner until the large bag was opened with my birthday present from the liberator and future dictator of Cuba.  We all got beards and imitation Army caps made like those paper painter's caps.  Some haul, huh?

Uncle Bart decided to put El Jefe on the spot, " That's all you got for the Kid? It's his birthday for Crissakes.  Dig, Pepe, and come up with some folding money for the little guy." This was dutifully translated by Col. Dubois.

Castro feined a smile of resignation and oiled these words in his native tongue through his gums and whiskers, "What is this?  A Capitalist trap?  You Yankees!  Very Well, here is five Gringo dollars for your homely nephew with the gapped teeth. I am out of here!  Say good-bye to your foul tempered Irish father. Basta Ya!, Yanquis!"

Within a few months,  Time Magazine's Boy Castro was locked in an embrace with Soviet Communism that still breathes lustily today.

I got to tickle the real whiskers of Castro and pocket a 1959 value 5-$pot from a Commie and never really caught the desire to cut sugar cane.

This Could Not Wait! Celebrate!

Few things make me more happy than a Life Affirming Celebration  Yesterday, after months of set-backs, false hopes, mystery and deep, deep concern, Illinois can now breath with the ease of a morbidly fat lady shoe-horned out of her corset! Weeeeehoooooohhhhh!!!!!!!!!! Send a Fax to the Capitol!

Brookfield Zoo has a brand-new baby girl gorilla, a zoo spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The gorilla, which doesn’t yet have a name, was born early Mondays, zoo spokeswoman Sondra Katzen said. . . .The infant was born to 18-year-old Koola and JoJo, 33, the father.

Mom and Dad are doing well . . .in the Animal Kingdom.

All the best to the happy couple and their darling infant.

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