Leo Man in the News - Marlon Britton

Marlon Britton was the Class 1A runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles last season for state champion Leo. This season, Britton and the Lions have good shots at state titles.

Leo High School is the only non-public school to claim an IHSA track Title; Leo High School has won two back-to-back Championships, Titles in Both A and AA Classes and seven 1st place trophies in Illinois Track over all. Brother Steve O'Keefe won the the first titlle in 1985 and Coach Ed Adams claims the balance.

Having a crucifix on every wall helps - the kids still train in the halls.

Watch CBS Channel 2 - 6 Time IHSA Track Champs Leo High School Practicing on Leo's All Weather Track on the 2nd & 3rd Floors of Leo High School

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!

Six Time Illinois Track Champs -Leo Catholic High School -No Track? No Problem.

The New York Times/Chicago News Cooperative features the legendary Leo Catholic High School Track Team coached by Ed Adams.

Leo is the only private/Catholic/Independent school in the history of the IHSA to win a track title - make that six track Championships.

N.B. -I will encode the video later in the day. It is wonderful.
Here is Idalmy Carrrera's text in full: as promised!

Without Facilities, State Champs Make Due from Chicago News Cooperative on Vimeo.

In sports, it’s about numbers.

Leo High School won their latest track and field state title last May by one point. This marked the school’s sixth state championship. When Leo won its first state title in 1981, it became the first Catholic school to take the top trophy in track and field, and no other Catholic school in Illinois has done that since then.

But the biggest number for the Leo track team may well be zero. That is the number of indoor and outdoor practice facilities the team has–none at all–meaning one of the state’s top track teams trains by running laps and hurdles in the school’s hallways after class.

Leo is hardly the only school dealing with sub-par practice facilities: In fact, no Chicago public school has an indoor track. But Leo is the only Chicago school to win a state title in track and field in the last 15 years, a championship no Chicago Public Schools team has claimed since 1974.

“I think it would be easy to get a case of the poor-me’s based on a lack of facilities,” said Jim Prunty, president of the Chicago Catholic League. “But the fact of the matter is that in Chicago, you would be hard pressed to find a school with really great facilities. It’s a reality we’re all dealing with.”

The Illinois High School Association surveys high schools every year on its website regarding track and field facilities at state schools in order to determine postseason sites. However, many schools do not complete the survey, making it difficult to determine how many of the 777 IHSA schools have their own tracks.

“It’s not uncommon for teams all over the state to be running the halls or the stairs if they want to get started on conditioning early. Most schools in Illinois don’t have an indoor facility,” said Ron McGraw, an assistant executive director with the IHSA.

“Having facilities doesn’t make you a state champion and not having them obviously doesn’t keep you from succeeding.”

Track and field hit its peak in the U.S. almost three decades ago when American athletes consistently brought home Olympic medals for the sport. Its low visibility since then has been one of the reasons why fewer young athletes get involved with the sport. Funding for track and field programs also has dropped, said a spokesperson for USA Track and Field.

In 2010 CPS cut pay for assistant high school track coaches in an effort to save money in the district’s budget. According to information provided by CPS, there about 70 high schools with track and field teams. Eighteen schools have outdoor facilities on school property or at a nearby park, and four schools have stadiums with surrounding tracks that can be used for track meets.

At Leo–a Catholic school that is not part of CPS–the track and field team works on technique and conditioning in the school’s weight room, hallways and stairwell landings beginning in January. Any day that weather permits, they move practice outdoors to the sidewalks or nearby woods because almost any other surface, said head coach Ed Adams, is better on the athletes’ bodies than the hallway floors that have no give.

Adams has worked at Leo 17 years. Under his leadership, the Lions have won five of their six state trophies. He has done so despite a steep decline in school enrollment that finally leveled off in the last couple years.

Today, there are 148 students at the all-boys Catholic school that in its heyday enrolled more than 1,000. Chicago News Cooperative sports columnist Dan McGrath since the summer of 2010 has served as president of the school, which continues to face enrollment and financial challenges.

Adams, who has received a combined eight coach-of-the-year plaudits from the National Federation of State High School Associations and the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association, leads a team of 30–or about 20 percent of the school’s student body.

“Track and field relies heavily on individual talent available in your school,” Adams said. “It’s not easy to build, say, a powerhouse.”

Of the six students who represented Leo at the state track meet last year, five graduated and the other is now a sophomore. That athlete, Theo Hopkins, remembers spraying his teammates with water to celebrate the state championship.

“You know how teams in the pros do that with champagne? Well, we did it with water,” said Hopkins, 15. “Then we remembered we’re supposed to always be polite so we just got on the buses quietly and came home.”

The team is in a rebuilding year in a sport where success can be fleeting. Leo’s prior state win was in 2003.

“It doesn’t matter that we don’t have tracks or anywhere but the halls to practice on,” said Hopkins. “I want people to know that at Leo we don’t need a track because we work hard and that’s why we can win.”

Imagine what these tough and focused young gents could do with a fraction of the money tossed to any public school? Facta Non Verba - Deeds not Words!

Thank you Jim Warren, Jim Shea, Dan McGrath and Idalmy Carrera!

Leo High School Wins Its Fifth Class A and Sixth IHSA State Track Final

In the entire history of the IHSA the only Catholic/Private school to win a track & field title is Leo High School.

Leo has won five Class A State Track Championships and one Class AA Title.* Leo High School has no track. Leo Lions tain in the school.

Today, Coach Ed Adams and the Leo Lions did it again.

CHARLESTON, Ill. — Bruce Gray didn't want to leave the track Saturday after completing the 100-meter dash. Instead, the Leo senior stared anxiously at the scoreboard, waiting for the race results at the Class 1A boys state track and field meet.

After a push in the final 20 meters, Gray paced around during a short delay while the photo finish was reviewed.

"I didn't know where the finish line was," Gray said. "I just wanted to finish."

Gray's surge led to a rare first-place tie with Peoria Christian's Jon Hutchison. Both finished in 10.79 seconds. The tie helped Leo edge Harrisburg 42-41 for the 1A title.

"We haven't had (a state title) in a few years," Gray said.

Leo's first state title since 2003 can be credited to a strong showing in the relays.

Aided by another strong finish by Gray in the 400 relay, the team that included Andre Patton, Theodore Hopkins and Denzel Tucker took second (42.95), just ahead of Winnebago (42.96). Leo junior Rueben Blackwell was second in the 110 hurdles (14.83) and Gray added a fifth-place medal in the 200.

Leo's 800 relay team of Patton, Hopkins, Tucker and Gray finished runner-up (1:29.31) to Walther Lutheran's Cole Evans, Tyreese Russell, Andre Cooper and Sean Cotton (1:28.12).

"Everybody came out and ran their hearts out," Cotton said. "I just tried to run (the anchor) hard and hold off Gray."

 

*Boys Track & Field
Season Class Titles Place Won Lost Tied Coach
1980-81 A 1 Bro. John O'Keefe
1982-83 A 3 Bro. John O' Keefe
1994-95 AA S 1 Ed Adams
1997-98 A S 1 Ed Adams
As Chicago (Leo)
1999-00 A S 2 Ed Adams
As Chicago (Leo)
2000-01 A S 3 Ed Adams
2001-02 A S 1 Edward Adams
2002-03 A S 1 Edward Adams
2003-04 A S 2 Edward Adams
2004-05 A S 3 Edward Adams
2009-10 1A S Edward Adams

Leo High School Track Team ( The School Without a Track) Blows Away the Field at Lisle Sectional

Leo High School is the only Catholic High School and the only non-public high school to have ever won a State Track & Field Championship in the history of the IHSA.

Leo High School has no Track. The sprinters, hurdlers, high and low jumpers relay teams and shot putters all practice within the walls of Leo High School.

Yesterday, while Cardinal George and Father Pfleger made nice after putting Leo High School in the middle of their tiff for nearly three months with a narrative of troubled school, the Leo Lions of the Track Team, coached by Ed Adams and Pete Doyle, blew away all competition at suburban Lisle Sectional -

LISLE SECTIONAL
Leo 110.5, Westmont 87, Lisle 85, Walther Lutheran 80, Francis Parker 44.

All through the constant media bombardment of unvarified slanders and slights about Leo High School from March 15th, when CBS 2's Jay Levine set the nasty tone that Leo High School was struggling to stay open and through Father Pfleger's canard on the Tavis Smiley NPR gabfest with Cornell West that Leo is 'literally failing' this school kept its head up and its eyes on the best interests of the young men it serves. N.B. While the puffed-up Tavis Smiley sells his book at St. Sabina's today, the Leo High School Football Team and other student volunteers will be distributing groceries to our neighbors at Leo Alumni Fields -Facta Non Verba.

Leo Alumni poured in support and foundations like Cashel, Clare, WP & HB White, The John Buck Company, Irish Fellowship, Bidwill, Barney aand the Brach Foundations kept faith.

Leo Graduating senior Eder Cruz was the only Catholic League representative and one of 31 Illinois Gates Millennium Scholars.

The Leo Track Team does not need a track and Leo High School does not need a Lone Ranger savior.