Leo Alumni Boost Leo Win Over Crusaders

Leo Alumni pump several hundred thousand dollars into financial assistance that helps the current 'brawny stalwarts' get a quality Catholic college prep education.

The Leo Alumni are largely middle aged white Catholic guys from the parishes and Leo students are black kids from the neighborhoods of Gresham, Auburn, Grand Crossing, Chatham, Brainerd, and Englewood - most are non-Catholic.

Tough guys give back.

Last night Leo played two very tough sophomore and varsity Brother Rice basketball teams. Both games were squeakers - by 4 points. The Varsity behind Paul Beene, Issac "Too Much Science" Smith and my pal Malcolm McFarland managed to get by a tough disciplined and graceful Brother Rice Squad 76-72.

Paul Beene, Malcolm McFarland and Isaac Smith III keyed the Lions (12-6, 5-3) victory. Smith opened the overtime with a layup to give the Leo the lead it would never relinquish. McFarland followed that with a spinning layup and Beene connected on three of four free throws to put the Lions ahead 66-59 with 1:29 left in overtime. Rice (11-5, 5-3) committed four turnovers in that same time frame.

Beene held the hot hand all game and led the Lions with 26 points including 8 of 10 from the free throw line in overtime. McFarland added 16 and Smith contributed 14.

The Lady Who Holds My Heart accompanied me to Leo High School's storied gym and witnessed real life played out on the same hard-wood floors that formed the character of Illinois State Senator Ed Maloney, Legendary Sports Journalist Dan McGrath, Insurance Man Frank McDermott, NIU Coach and Toronto Raptor Star Donnie Whiteside, Bro Farrell,Jackie Schaller, Bill and Jack Hessian, Bob Kozlowski, Ray Topps, Jerry Schimtt, Chico Driscoll, Harry Valadex, Bobby Lake, Tom O'Malley and the legendary Jack Fitzgerald.

Alumni President Rich Furlong along with Larry Lynch, Gene Earner, John Gardiner, Dave Cheval and the ever present Frank McDermott herded more than one hundred Alumni Association members to cheer on the Young Lions. There always Alumni at Leo Games, but this crowd was especially animated to meet the challenging squads of Pat Richardson's Crusaders ( Rice and Leo, along with St. Lawrence in Burbank were directed by the Irish Christian Brothers).

The Old Lions have teeth that gnaw into savings and checking accounts to make sure that our young Leo Lions bite hard.

They do.

God Bless All Leo Men.

My beautiful, elegant and delicate Love of My Life judged "They are all such gentlemen."

Tough guys always seem to be just that.

Confessions of a Substitute Teacher Semester II at Leo High School

A teacher resigned over the Christmas break - a science teacher. I was asked to fill in the gap.

I taught English ( Composition/American, British and World Literature as well as genre seminars: Drama/Poetry/Novel/Essay/Short Story) from 1975 until 1993. After that time my duties in education were writing grants, soliciting support, editing and publishing Alumni Newsletters, conducting prospect research and generally advocating for the mission of the schools that employed me.

Yesterday and today, I tried to keep six sections ( Physics/Environmental Science and Chemistry) of young men busy and teach them something.

My knowledge of science is as broad, deep and accurate as my knowledge of the Byzantine workings of the mind of Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan - tabula rasa, kids, tabula rasa*!

I arrive at Leo (yesterday and today) at 6:15 A.M. and meet Mrs. Washington of GFS Food Services in the parking lot and walk with that lovely lady in through the venerable portals of Leo High School. Those gates to wisdom welcomed Dr. Steven Reid, M.D. who played football for Northwestern University and went on to design football helmets. General George Muellner -George K. Muellner President Advanced Systems Integrated Defense Systems George Muellner is president of Advanced Systems for the Integrated Defense Systems business unit of the Boeing Company, responsible for developing advanced cross-cutting concepts and technologies, and executing new programs prior to their reaching the System Design and Development. General Muellner developeed the STAR Defense Systems used in Desert Storm I & II.

I can not operate all the devices on my now obsolete Cingular One LG Phone and barely understand the concept of the balanced check book; nevertheless, I was a classroom teacher.

Yesterday, I learned that I was without lesson plans and teacher manuals. No sweat.

I dusted off Lord Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philsophy and discussed the Atomists of the 6th Century and handed out a one page study sheet on Heraclitus.

We talked about this quote attributed to Heraclitus:

Upon those who step into the same rivers, different and again different waters flow.

.

Flux - extreme flux. I stepped back into the river - it is still very wet, but boy them waters is differnt.

More at the end of the week.

I may post photos that the Gents take of me - curled in the fetal position and whimpering like a whipped wet kitty.


* Tabula rasa (Latin: blank slate) refers to the epistemological thesis that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes from experience and perception.

RIP - CPD Commander Donald Hilbring -Leo Hall of Famer

By Trevor Jensen - Chicago Tribune
Donald L. Hilbring taught school by day while also rising through the ranks of the Chicago Police Department, where he retired as a captain and district commander.

Mr. Hilbring, 62, died of pneumonia on Monday, Nov. 16, in Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, said his brother William, a Chicago police detective. He was a resident of the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.

The son of a police officer, Mr. Hilbring joined the Police Department's cadet program in 1966 and started as a patrol officer two years later. He was promoted to detective in 1971, and sergeant in 1977.

As his career bloomed, he also kept taking college classes. He received a bachelor's degree in business education from Chicago State University, a master's in public administration from Illinois Institute of Technology and another master's in corrections and criminal justice, also from Chicago State, his brother said.

While many police officers work second jobs in security or related fields, Mr. Hilbring moonlighted as a teacher until he reached the rank of lieutenant in 1984. He taught math and later served as disciplinarian at Jackson Elementary, and Tilden and Collins high schools.

"Donald always worked an afternoon or evening shift, and he'd get up in the morning and instead of just piddling around, he'd go to school," said retired police deputy superintendent James Whigham.

Mr. Hilbring's daughter Monique remembered trying to rouse her dad on Sundays when he was laid out on the floor with a newspaper, relaxing after a long week working two jobs.

"He'd be a little cranky. Now I understand," she said.

Mr. Hilbring made captain in 1988 and was commander of the Prairie District. From 1993 to 1997, he was commander of the Gang Investigation Unit, overseeing a major takedown of the Unknown Vice Lords street gang in 1994 and working closely with federal and state investigators.

"He was a man of compassion and very fine judgment," Whigham said.

In his final years on the force, he was a commander of the Wentworth District and then a watch commander in the South Chicago District. Like earlier assignments, they could be pressure-packed positions, but off the clock it never showed.