UnBroken -American Heroism

 

To the Officers and Enlisted men of the of the 27thBombardment Group (L) dead or missing in action in the
Philippine Islands, Australia Java, and New Guinea, we
dedicate this book and all our efforts to repay, ten thousand
times over, the Japanese for every one of our men lost.

Thomas P. Gerrity ( Leo 1930) Top row extreme right - shortly after his escape from Bataan.

 It was great to see that Angelina Jolie's film of UnBroken, based upon Laura Hillenbrand’s wonderful book of the same name, has exceeded box office expectations.  Hollywood no longer wants movies that extol common values like valor, honor, courage and faith. Instead, movies are churned out that cast doubt on any one's ability to reach deeply to the human core forged in faith, commitment, sacrifice and duty.  Valor comes not from a political bequest and certainly not from a reparation of grievances and is therefore taboo to the Procrustean themes forced by Harvey Weinstein, Peter Gruber, or Scott Rudin.

Marvel and DC Comics are the script templates replacing the Torah, the Pentateuch, or the Rights of Man.  Abe Lincoln fights Vampires, Werewolves, or the demons of his sexual identity.  Valor only works when pagan totems are doled out by Odin, Zeus, Minerva, or learned in the classrooms of Hogwarts Staff.

Anything that leads a person to behave selflessly and in good-faith from a First Cause is verboten.

Yet, thanks to Ms. Jolie's UnBroken, it is evident that People will pay to witness a man act without the aid of PC, or magical powers.

Our Thumb-Dummy Kultur Kampf is meant to keep people from talking with another person and arriving at mutually satisfying conclusion that 'boy, a man's faith in God and himself can sure give him an edge in a tough situation.'

Tough situations abound, but tough people ( people who can it - whatever it happens to be) are getting scarce it seems.  Seeming is not being.   We can be tough without Bat Utility Belts, a bog-ass Mjǫlnir in our mitts, or help from President Obama.

I linked a story writtten by a group of very tough people - the battered, under equipped, out-numbered and alone survivors of the 27th Bomb Group, including Lt (later Captain) Tom Gerrity of 17th Bomb Squadron who were sent to the Phillipine Islands less than a month before Pearl Harbor.

Tom Gerrity (Leo Class of 1930) flew a B-18 bomber that only seems to appear in a Bugs Bunny Cartoon

The plane was obsolete and Gerrity never got his plane off the ground of Nichols Field on December 9, 1941 when the Japanese destroyed General Mac Arthur's air power on the ground. 

The next day, (9th), found the 17th with some of the crews manning machine gun
posts at Nichols Field and with flying crews standing by to man the B-18’s. Tom Gerrity
and Ed Townsend had one, Pete Bender and Harry Roth of the 16th had the second, and
Gus Heiss and F.E. Timlin of the 17th had the third. All had it easy on the 9th but on the
10th all were called out. Tom and Ed were down at Nichols preparing for a bombing
mission when shortly afternoon the Nips staged a huge raid. Tom and Ed ran for cover as
the Zeros began to strafe the B-18’s that they were to use on their mission. Tom
unfortunately was hit in the hand by a piece of shrapnel and Ed got to cover just as the B-
18’s load of bombs blew up. “Tim” and “Gus” ran into a dog fight but finally managed
to get to San Marcelino.
In the same raid, several of the 17th gunners at Nichols were strafed and one crew
manned its post until blown out by bombs.

Nine days later:

The 27th Group Commander, Major Davies and a number of pilots left early this

morning by plane for Australia. They plan to pick-up the 27th’s A-24 dive bombers, and
ferry them back to the Philippines. In the absence of Major Davies, Major Sewell acted
as Group Commander with Captain Whoffell as executive officer and Tom Gerrity as
group Material Officer.
Due to the lack of aircraft and the dis-organization of the entire situation, the 27th
was left high and dry. A complete air corps unit with no airplanes with which to fight.
The “Powers the be” later turned the Group into an infantry outfit.
On December 20th Tom Gerrity was assigned to the North Luzon force as Air Corp
Liason Officer. On the way north he stopped off at Stotsenberg. Clark Field was a
shamble. Wrecked airplanes lay burned all over the field.

Tom Gerrity served as liason to General Wainwright, flying from the island fortress of Corregidor to Bataan and back keeping the man desiganted by MacArthur to be the goat for his monumental failures and arrogance in the Phillipines apprised of the appaling air defences,

Gerrity front row far right on Bataan as a P-40 pilot

 Tom Gerrity later went to Bataan as a pursuit pilot in one of few remaing P-40's, until malaria, dengue fever and the Japanese Zero turned pilots into rifle men.
Gerrity was one of the last men to escape the Death March when he was ordered to Australia only hours before the fall of Bataan. Gerrity patched up a Grumman Floatplane and flew himself and others one thousand miles south Mindanao's Del Monte Field, where he was picked up by comrades from the 27th Group ordered to Australia months earlier.

The next day two more missions were flown by
each flight. Cebu Harbor and Dabao was heavly bombed. Anti-aircraft fire was heaby
on all missions, but the Japs consistenly underestimated the speed of the B-25. After the
last mission both flights landed at Del Monte, and under cover of darkness bomb bay
tanks were reinstalled and the ships were serviced for the long hop back to Darwin. Up at
the clubhouse, the 27th Pilots welcomed back into the fold, two 27th men who had make
their way down from Bataan bare hours before it’s fall.
The faces of Tom Gerrity and Jack Wienert clearly showed the strain of four
months on beleaguered Bataan. They could give no information about the men of the
27th who remained on Bataan to the last, except that all the officers were still alive up to
the last day and that the casualties among the men had been small.
Take-off time was set at 2300, and shortly before midnight ten B-25s, each
overloaded to capacity with officers recently evacuated from Bataan - - took off from Del
Monte, bored up through a low overcast, and headed south toward Darwin, 2000 miles
away in the darkness. The scourge of the tropic “old man dengue” had smacked Talley
squarely between the eyes just before the last mission, and Pete gladly let Jack Wienert take his place as co-pilot during most of the return trip. All the ships landed at Batchelor
Field, forty miles south of Darwin, after daylight the morning of April 14, staying only
long enough to gas up, and taking off immediately. Night found them back in Charters
Towers, more than a little weary from nearly fifty hours of hard flying in four days, and
asking for nothing but a bed.
After a few days of rest, the group was called on to furnish ships for constant patrol
out of Port Moresby. J.R. Smith and Talley – now recovered from his battle with dengue
- - took two ships up April 23 and spent the usual four or five days, running a nine hour
recon flight every day over all Jap bases from Kavieng in the North to the deboyne
Islands in the south. The recons were long, lonely, and dangerous, but the pilots who
flew them gained an intimate knowledge of the entire combat area which was to be
invaluable to them later on.

Gerrity flew B-25s against the Japanese is credited with sinking 28 ships in the Bismark Sea.

UnBroken.   There are many tales of Unbroken people. We need to tell those tale. Shared memory is civilization.

Churches Go Secular and Meet the Wrecking Ball

There is flurry of media stories about the closing of Catholic schools in America.  I don't know if that is meant to trumpet the secular tendencies to cry " We believe in Science and Reason!  We are Evolved and on the Right Side of History and, by Zeus, Bill Moyers thinks well of us!"   That's nice.

Perhaps, it is a an actual call to action.

I go to church. Catholics call it Celebrating the Eucharist.  It seems to me that in congregations where the priest is central to the worship, as Christ's consecrated celebrant, the pews are packed.  In others, where the Rev. Mr. Clergy holds the congregation captive, if not captivated with his stunning personal charisma and NPR homiletic stylings, there is plenty of seating and more than a few husbands pulling the Judas shuffle* after communion. Where the sacred and the traditional hold, the devout can be found.

Catholic schools are traditionally appendages of the parish church, when the parish empties so too the schools. Catholics feel an obligation to provide faith-rooted services to all and the economic realities are of that sensibility are becoming all too real. especially in the inner-city. 

In my years of service to Leo High School in the Auburn Gresham community, I have witnessed the closings of the following parish schools - St. Leo, St. Justin Martyr, St. Dennis, St. Killian, St. Ethelda, St. Thomas More . . .to name but a few as well as Academy of Our Lady ( Longwood) and St. Martin Porres High Schools.  Most of these closing had been the result of racial change and the infeasibility of continued operation due to enrollment and family by-in - paying tuition.

Alone of the above mentioned parishes, St. Thomas More continues as a church and attracts parishioners from far beyond its territorial boundaries.  Father Tony Brankin and his successor maintained the traditional Catholic worship and eschewed the rather sad attempt of some pastors to morph into a non-descript Christian place of worship.  St. Sabina Parish alone, by dint of its pastor's political savvy and personal magnetism thrives as a definitively Black Church. Father Brankin filled the pews without aid of the Chicago media, or celebrity guests. He did so, as does his successor, by maintaining the sacred in the Catholic liturgy -in the vernacular and in Latin.

Father Brankin has managed to do the same for St. Odilo's parish in Berwyn, where it is very tough to find a seat at every Mass. Schools that are rooted in the Catholic traditions do well. However, funding most be provided.  Here at Leo High School, black and white alumni pour funding back to the school that prepared them.  The bulk of the Alumni giving comes from the aging white graduates and much work is going to be needed to find ways of shoring up the loss in contributions from dying patrons.

Leo High School has provided a quality college preparatory education for the sons of Chicago families since 1926.  From 1926 until 1990, the majority of students at Leo were Roman Catholic. From 1991- 2011 less than 9% of the African American student body claimed to be Catholic.  In 2011, 12% of the students are now Catholic.  Here's where it gets tough - 87% of these students receive financial assistance provided by the school or the Big Shoulders Fund. Leo High School struggles to boost its enrollment and attract more families who can or are willing to meet the cost of a Catholic education.

To my surprise, the closing of churches also greatly affect the Protestant churches and it seems for much of the same reasons. Jeffrey Walton offers a solid study. 

Regardless of if they are traditionalist or revisionist, these older churches are leasing their church buildings to pre-schools and other non-church groups and feature graying congregations.

With this backdrop from my local community in mind, Associated Baptist Press caught my attention this week with a story about a church in Decatur, Georgia which is about to be shuttered, demolished, and re-developed into a shopping center. Once drawing 500 persons on a Sunday, Scott Boulevard Baptist Church is now down to less than 50 members, most of which are rapidly aging.To be clear, the congregation, affiliated with the moderate-liberal Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, isn’t dissolving. Having secured a lease agreement with a nearby church, Scott Boulevard will continue on without their facility of 60 years. But the article establishes the downward trajectory of the church.
“Congregational aging, if unplanned for, can be gut-wrenching,” the article reads. “And it’s likely in store for more congregations who fail to track the intersecting trends of giving and aging that eventually forced Scott Boulevard from its property.” . . . 

Scott Boulevard’s story reminded me of two Baptist congregations in my town. One was never large and failed to cultivate children’s programs, by default directing any new families who arrived at the church to another (thriving) Baptist congregation a few blocks north. The small congregation dissolved, sold its building to another church, and placed the revenue from the sale in the hands of a Baptist mission organization. It was a God-honoring exit, but not what they had probably hoped for.

The other church, housed in a large building, once attracted over 1,500 persons on a Sunday. In the 1970s they failed to adapt to changing demographics – namely, an influx of northerners and immigrants – and the congregation is now down to about 50 persons. I am told that every young church plant in Arlington has hopefully inquired about moving into the church building. . . . we note that many fading congregations proclaim liberal theologies that are not in accord with traditional church teachings. But while theological traditionalism is almost always a prerequisite for a large, vibrant congregation, it is not the only element. (emphases my own) 

There must be attention to core values and also attention mission strategies and tactics.  Religion has enough wolves licking their chops in anticipation of a slowed gait; the secular world has replaced faith with science.  That is foolish in itself.  Science (theoretical) is merely a tool to somehow understand the world and practical science a means to tweak problems.  Wisdom begins with fear (respect) for God and that respect is merely means of sorting the tools.

* (Catholicism) The act of leaving Mass early, typically between receiving communion and the concluding rite, without a justifiable reason for doing so. The Judas shuffle is named after Judas Iscariot, who left the Last Supper (the first Mass/Divine Liturgy) early in order to summon the guards to arrest Jesus. This is also known as pulling a Murphy.

Francis Cardinal George - One of Us! We are all Supplicant Lions!

Catholics are supplicants.  From the time we first learn to chatter, we are taught to ask for help, intercession, aid and comfort; we beseech.  We supplicate - ask humbly, earnestly and with faith.  Our prayers are chock-filled with verbs, adverbs, adjectives and nouns rooted in the Latin past participle -supplicatus/supplicare.

Catholics are required to go where help is most forthcoming, through intercessors.  We also pray in Adoration, Confession and Thanksgiving, but intercession and prayers of intercession are recognition of our helpnessess and subordination to others more capable giving aid -beyond our family, friends, co-workers and most certainly beyond Google, MSNBC,  our Advanced Degrees hanging on our walls and the guys at the local bar.

Catholicism runs counter to Thoreau, Emerson and Dewey.  Outcomes can not be determined by data. Nature can not be apprehended by legislation, policy, or desire for outcomes.

Catholics pray not to fix things, but to reconcile ourselves to God and Nature.  We fix things by paying for them whether they be hips, knees, gutters or unpaid parking tickets.  We can not lawyer up with God's Universe.  Catholics asks humbly and earnestly to keep faith. The absolute best prayer is the Memorare*

On the first day of classes at Leo High School, Thursday last, a giant child of a freshman and one of my morning transport lads, Daylon F. of Bronzeville was waiting for his schedule after being fitted for his uniform polo shirt.  Daylon is 6'3" in height and every bit of 300 lbs and change at 14 years old. Daylon got himself a XXXXX(5)L.

This Mannish Boy was staring at the wonderful life size crucifix with attached kneeler that dominates the wait area outside of my Development cubicle.  He asked me, " What's the INRI on the top of the cross mean?"

Daylon, like so many Leo Men, is non-Catholic.  More so , there are too many Catholic kids who do not learn that theological-historical tidbit in their eight years of Catholic grammar school anymore.

"INRI??? What's that?"

The Romans did not have the letter J and they used I instead.  Jesus was IESUS pronounced Yeah Sus, or something like that.

"What's INRI mean?"

That was the charge Jesus found guilty of violating by the Roman Court - Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

" Damn, that's a crime ?"

A capital crime to the Romans - no king BUT Caesar and the Caesar at that time was Tiberius and he was real piece of work.

"Why a crime."

The Romans wanted nothing but attention to government -everyone and everywhere and the Romans did everything according to law. There is no wiggle room. It says, on that plate in no uncertain terms that Jesus of Nazareth, IS King of the Jews and only Caesar can make a King - like Herod and his old man.  This execution settled it.

" But it didn't."

No it certainly did not.  Jesus rose from the dead and over turned the court's ruling.

Daylon gets it.  He said Jesus "prayed to His Father and Father rose Him from the Dead."

No one does it alone, pal.

Daylon is at Leo because of Mike Holmes, Mark Lee,  Dan McGrath, Rich Furlong, Jim Furlong, Jim Arvetis, Andy McKenna, Frank Considine, John Gardner, Bill Koloseike, Bob Sheehy, Jackie Schaller, Bernie Pepping, Jim Corbett, and seven thousand other Leo Alumni who give money all year.  Even guys who might not have enough money to give volunteer, come to games and most of all pray for Daylon, whom they have yet to meet.  Daylon has Francis Cardinal George backing his play; Cardinal George is a Leo Alumnus.  He is one of us.

We take care of each other.  This summer, one of us, a classmate of Daylon was murdered -

Chicago police said Antonio Davis, 14, was shot and killed Friday night near 69th and Union around 8:40 p.m.A day later, a 13-year-old boy was shot and killed in the 6200-block of South Rhodes. Neighbors said there was a large party at the home where the boy was shot that spilled into the street.Also, a 14-year-old and 15-year-old are recovering from being shot while playing basketball near their home Saturday night. It happened around 8:43pm in the 2400-block of East 74th Street. The two victims were playing when a gunman approached on foot and opened fire, striking the two.Davis' family said he was an A and B student at Leo High School and had dreams of becoming a basketball player."I just know that he was walking to the store to get my niece's baby water and a car pulled up and jumped out at him and shot him" said Davis' aunt, Latrice Strong

Dan McGrath called the Leo community.  Leo paid for the gravesite and the repast held at the school.  Mr. Leak of the Funeral home handled the funeral, Dwayne Wade's mother preached the funeral - Dwayne Wade was coached and mentored by Leo Man Jack Fitzgerald. Antonio Davis attended one week of summer school - he was a Leo Man.  Cardinal George is a Leo Man, Daylon is a Leo Man and we are all supplicants.

Cardinal George has cancer. He is one of us.  We are all supplicants. There are seven thousand and change Leo Men saying the Memorare - a prayer of intercession and supplication,  Help and provide, Mary Mother of God, one of our own - old school and new school versions.

MEMORARE, O piissima Virgo Maria,
non esse auditum a saeculo, quemquam ad tua currentem praesidia,
tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia,
esse derelictum.
Ego tali animatus confidentia,
ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro,
ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto.
Noli, Mater Verbi,
verba mea despicere;
sed audi propitia et exaudi.
Amen.

Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to Thy protection,
implored Thy help or sought Thine intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
I fly unto Thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother;
to Thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in Thy mercy, hear and answer me.
Amen.

*A prayer beginning, "Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary." Of unknown authorship, it has been attributed to St. Augustine, to St. John Chrysostom, and with more reason to St. Bernard or to Claude Bernard, "poor priest" of Paris. Passages in sermons of St. Bernard echo the theme (PL 183:428), but none comes close to the actual wording of the Memorare. The manuscript tradition can be traced only to the 15th century. It appears as a section of a longer prayer in the Antidotarius animae of Nicolas Salicetus (1489). J. Wellinger included it, possibly as a separate invocation, in his Hortulus animae (1503). Claude Bernard (1588–1641) …

What Leo Men Will Not Be Wearing for the 2012 School Year

The Chicago Values Dress Code - Not @ Leo H. S. -

                               Our guys know who they are -Leo Men

Leo Catholic High School

Regular School Day is from 7:45-2:35 p.m.
Regular Wednesday Schedule is from 7:45-1:45 p.m.
Early Dismissal is from 7:45-11:30 a.m.

First Day of School/Early Dismissal (7:45-11:30 a.m.) - Thursday, August 16, 2012. Students will be in full uniform.

"Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly."  ~Epictetus

 I am always thrilled to see the return of the men of Leo after a few weeks off.  Most of our gents have been around all summer, taking Trig and Algebra with Mrs. Latifi, working out in the weight room supervised by the coaches, helping move athletic gear and the checking up with Vice -Principal Frank Wilson and Miss Hyland our guidance counsellor. The incoming freshmen had three weeks of summer school and made themselves home to Leo High School and meeting expectations of a Catholic college prep school - most of our guys come from Chicago public schools.

I was amused by the fashion tips provided by the Chicago Tribune*, yesterday which featured the poor kid at the top of this post.  I tried to imagine the poor lad's entree to Vita Leonis were he to enter the hoary portals on 79th Street, or the entrance on Sangamon street and Coach/Dean Ed Adams's jolly welcome - 

something like this I'd venture.  Here is Ms. Wendy Donahue's tips to urban teens:

Boy meets girl forback-to-schoolfashion. Both are borrowing from classic menswear, reworking it in younger ways. Wall Street plaids and herringbones migrate to skinny pants and miniskirts. Brogues and boots abound, sporting unusual soles or metal details. Adding a "Wild One" edge, motorcycle jackets top preppy looks for boys. Denim and military-inspired shirts are staples for both, but with twists — a contrast collar for him or jeweled embellishment for her. . . .On him (above left):Motorcycle jacket: "Some of the must-have pieces of the season — khakis, colored denim, military shirts, motorcycle jackets — are closet staples for girls and boys," Steinmiller said. Motorcycle jacket, $129, at zara.com
Denim on denim: The denim-on-denim trend continues to defy naysayers. "The easiest way to indulge in a trend but not commit to it fully if it's a bit risky or very fashion forward is to pick an accessory that reflects the trend and work it into your current wardrobe," Steinmiller said, as with this tie. Denim shirt with contrast collar, $27.90, and denim tie, $9.90 atforever21.com. 
Safety pin as tie clip: "For guys, a small accessory adds character and personal flair to an outfit," Steinmiller said. "Pins, watches, a pocket square or friendship style bracelet all are personal pieces that make a look his own."
Old-school shoes: Brogue shoes come in hip colors like gray, or with new details like rubber soles. "The best stores for shopping the trends at a reasonable price offer options for guys and girls — Topshop, American Eagle, H&M, Zara, Maje. Vesuvius brogues, $110 attopshop.com.
The chino in color: A natural extension of the colored-denim trend: Colored chinos. Chinos, $88, and white leather belt, $128 at diesel.com.  (emphases my own)

$88 chinos?????   That's lunch for the freshmen!  White leather belt $ 128??????????  First off, . . . .A WHITE LEATHER BELT???????

How a man dresses is good barometer for the man's worth.  A comfortable cotton polo in stunning white, or basic black sporting the Leo crest and logo with clean pressed Wrangler chinos at $18 a pop, sensible and comfortable shoes in black wrapping a well groomed gentleman is a dandy start to a productive day.

Poor Steve Stunning from Ms. Donahue's fashion goo would be known by another name here on the series streets around Leo . . . Victim comes to mind; object of derision; bully-bait; the poor kid; former student  . . .& etc.

* Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago and Leo Man 2012, made national headlines with his column challenging Rahm Emanuel on "Chicago Values - a Moveable Feast of Folly," but the Chicago Tribune thought it not fit to print.  How's that old print media shaking out?  Enrollment is up here at Leo.

http://www.leohighschool.org/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Leo-Catholic-High-School/177598272253218

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/life/sc-fash-0730-school-style-20120731,0,5830363.story

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Leo High School - Incubator of Wit

 

Tully eloquent in his glozes, yet vainglorious: Solomon wise, yet too wanton: David holy but yet an homicide: none more witty than Euphues, yet at the first none more wicked. The freshest colors soonest fade, the teenest razor soonest turneth his edge, the finest cloth is soonest eaten with moths, and the cambric sooner stained than the coarse canvas: which appeared well in this Euphues, whose wit being like wax apt to receive any impression, and having the bridle in his own hands, either to use the rein or the spur, disdaining counsel, leaving his country, loathing his old acquaintance, thought either by wit to obtain some conquest, or by shame to abide some conflict, and leaving the rule of reason, rashly ran unto destruction. Who preferring fancy before friends, and his present humor, before honor to come, laid reason in water being too salt for his taste, and followed unbridled affection, most pleasant for his tooth. When parents have more care how to leave their children wealthy than wise, and are more desirous to have them maintain the name, than the nature of a gentleman: when they put gold into the hands of youth, where they should put a rod under their girdle, when instead of awe they make them past grace, and leave them rich executors of goods, and poor executors of godliness, then it is no marvel, that the son being left rich by his father's will, become retchless by his own will. John Lyly:1579 

1578

I had occasion to quaff coffee with men of wit once again.  Nowhere on earth, it seems to me anyway, is there a habitat of the humanities so plush in periphrase, euphuistic circumanbages, prolixities, and piles of pleonasms as my south side Chicago neighborhood.  There be no terse Terrences on these Elysian urban arteries.

This is no home to thin and tight lip-ed cut-to-the-chasing merchant-pettifogers and gowned charlatans, who see time as money and words get in the way of both.  Hyde Park and Evanston stamp worth with coin in thy purse Puritanism and unitarian ambiguity of sound and sense.  Our rhetorical umbilical chords extend to Hibernian, Caledonian, Carpathian and Parnassan springs of generously honey'd word-waters.


In short, the guys can gab.

Of this breed of wags, none stands taller than a Leo High School Alumnus.  I say this with all requisite due diligence as to my attachment vocational to this academy of Faith, Scholarship and Deeds. Though I am an employee of this brainery of brawny stalwarts, I am not one myself.  I graduated from the now only remembered Little Flower High School.

I coffee at Dunkin Donuts operated by Moroccan born Kareem and attended by alumni of every Catholic parish and high school south of Madison Avenue with the odd sprinkling of Los Nortenos de Chicago, with an august parliament of worthies.  I was asked about enrollment for the coming school year and happily reported on the swelled ranks of young Lions, including seven young men from St. Gabriel's parish in Canaryville.

This segue'd to the looming Chicago Public Schools job action -voted on and set for strike.  I was told that marketing opportunities abound and all we needed was a snappy slogan.  A shower of shibboleths followed, all identifying rich niche tags; thus, Leo High School -Expect to Succeed & etc.


A Leo Man, Mike Regan '70,  stood tall and voiced the truth honeyed with periphrase, genius, wisdom and truth.


Leo High School - A success story from one end of the bar to the other!


Mike Regan, Citizens!  Un homme qui offre toujours le meilleur mot sur ​​n'importe quel objet donner!


Hey, that Motts Juice is mighty tasty!

Leo Men, Leukemia & Every Heart and Hand

Leo High School thrives because of Hearts and Hands.   Since the late 1960s, I have heard rumors from people who had it on very good authority that Leo was "on its last legs."  Leo does not exist because of legs -  The June Taylor Dancers did.

Leo High School lives on Hearts and Hands operating according to the dictate - Deeds Not Words/Facta Non Verba. There is plenty Factae.  Last Friday night almost 700 Lions attended the annual Alumni Banquet at the Lexington House representing classes of alumni from the 1930s to the Class of 2004.  One of themes of the evening that seemed to table hop began with Dr. Tim Wollner as a challenge to the Lions.

It is call to help.  Leo Alumni pump support into this great school like a heart the size of Texas.  More so Leo Men jump in to help people in need.

Here is Dr. Tim Wollner, MD.

For those of you who do not know me, I am Dr. Tim Wollner, Leo High School graduate, class of 1975. I am a busy family physician who has had the added privilege of being the Leo High School team physician ever since the amazing Dr Tom Driscoll came into my office and asked me to take over for him, some fifteen years ago.



There is a specific reason I want to tell you one chapter of my Leo story. It involves Leukemia and “WE WILL FIGHT AS ONE STRONG BAND FOR THE HONOR OF THE ORANGE AND BLACK.” We have all learned many lessons from our experiences as Leo Men. There are a few that have been profound for me, and have served me well. The first was actually first verbalized by my mom, “Everyone has a story to tell.” The second was the most important Leo High School Theology class exercise I ever had. The message was, “Be sensitive to the needs of others.” As a person and a physician that has been a great lesson to try to live up to.



Another lesson happened about ten years ago while on the poorly lit sidelines of a Saturday night Leo football game. A linemen showed me some bruises on his arms. I didn’t think there was much to them, no different than the numerous bruises I always had as a small middle guard / middle linebacker in my playing days, wearing number 56 at Leo High School. The following week I found out the young man had acute Leukemia. I visited him in the hospital as he started his chemotherapy toward a full recovery. I will never forget the game against De La Salle that he came back and played in a year or so later.



Fast forward ten years. By now I have seen dozens and dozens of children and adults over the years with concerns of bruising. Of course, they were all fine. Then one day a special family member of one of the Leo Alumni Honorees at the April 27, 2012 Spring Banquet saw me at the office for bruising. Thankfully, I recalled the lessons from the Leo football sideline. This prompted me to help in a small way to enable this special young girl to get a quick diagnosis and treatment for acute Leukemia. She is now progressing very well toward recovery.



Sadly the last paragraph of this Leo story is not working out well right now. I would not be a Leo man and probably not a physician if not for my childhood friend, best man at my wedding and Leo man, from the class of 1974, Scott Fulwiler. Scott’s son-in-law Paul Ziemniarski, is a great guy, and a great big guy. Unfortunately, this big man is being hit extremely hard by his treatment for Leukemia right now. Paul is at Rush Medical Center as I write this plea to you; fighting to beat this tough cancer. Anyone familiar with recent Leo football knows of a former Leo student athlete, named Carlos. Carlos was surely the biggest player in all time Leo football history! Well our fellow Leo man, Scott Fulfiller’s son-in-law, Paul has got Carlos beat in stature, but he needs our help in beating his Leukemia.



There is a benefit Friday, May 18th, 2012 at Bourbon Street, Merrionette Park, IL at 6:00 P.M. Tickets are $30.00 in advance, or $35.00 at the door. If you cannot make the benefit, but can make a donation, please send your gift to any Archer Bank or Scott Fulwiler, 82 Iliad Drive, Tinley Park, IL 60477. Checks should be made payable to Benefit for Paul Ziemniarski or you can go online at benefitforpaulz.bbnow.org. For more information go to benefitforpaulz@yahoo.com.



Let’s give a strong Leo hand to Scott and Paul!



Thank you,



Tim Wollner, D.O., A.B.F.P., Leo High School Class of 1975

Count on it, Doc!

Gale Sayers - Discipline, Dress, Self Esteem, Health and Happiness at Leo High School: A Studied Carelessness Requires Great Care

Gale Sayers # 40 1965
Gale Sayers Citizen in 2011 with Mrs. Townsend Miss Adams and Miss Hamp of Leo High School

A cravat was the forerunner of the modern necktie. It consisted of a strip of immaculately white starched linen about 12" by 60" that was wound around the throat several times and tied. To achieve the "studied carelessness" of the creases in his cravat, Brummell reclined in his chair as if he were being shaved and wound a cravat around his neck. Then lowered his chin, ever so slowly, until the starched linen wrinkled to perfection. If one wrinkle was too deep or too shallow, the cloth was thrown aside. Once, when a visitor saw Brummell's valet carrying an armload of lengths of tumbled white clothes as he descended from his master's dressing room, he asked what the man was taking away and was informed, "These are our failures, sir." Cravat knots could be simple and casual like the Mailcoach or complicated. Brummell was famous for his cravat worn in a waterfall.

Georgian Men's Fashion

NFL legend Gale Sayers* of the Chicago Bears never did a touchdown dance. In one game, he scored six touchdowns and after each courteously handed the ball to the Referee. " I wanted them to know that I had been here before. . .and that I was coming back."

Today our dred locked and Viking maned mesomorphs are indistinguishably the same with antic finger points upon a tackle, or frantic dancing in the endzone. They play to the camera alone.

Gale Sayers never made near the salary of a taxi squad NFL player today. However, he is and remains a legend.

Mr. Sayers has no drug, gun or assault charges against him, nor doe she have creditors pounding his doors. He and his bride of many decades Ardi conduct charitable work in the inner-city as a well as employ people in business. Mr. Sayers dresses with the simple dignity and singular virtue that marked his career on the football field. Through the Gale Sayers Foundation, Gale Sayers mentors the young men at Leo High School, as well as the many younger boys and girls on the West and South Side of Chicago.

Gale Sayers continues to look remarkably like he did when he signed with George Halas. We want our young men to model themselves on a man like Gale Sayers, who happens to reflect the very same image cast by Leo Legends -Bob Foster, Jimmy Arneberg, Jack Fitzgerald, Tony Parker, Dr. Stafford Hood, and Mike Holmes.

We have a dress code and code of discipline. They are ideal and tight. Daily life is anything but that - life is prosaic, messy and quotidian. Too many of our students come from tough family and economic circumstances. In fact, many of our young men arrive here at Leo High School shortly after I get my broad manly rump into the chair. More so, we have a tough time getting some of them to get home for the day's end. Believe it or not, and this is something we try to impress upon our hard-working teachers, for most students the happiest hours of their day are spent within the walls of this old Catholic high school.

Our discipline problems are very few and they become the Molehill Mountain for us -"Tuck in that Shirt! Where's Your Belt? Take off that Hoodie! Those Aren't Uniform Shoes! Your Hair is Extreme."

Now, this being Leo, with its rich history of manly manly miscreance ( think Bill Nelligan, or the late Tom Foy)there are the odd crap games and the occasional Marlboro Light incidents, some tardiness and a bit of back-sass. Nothing in the way of a public school, or Leo circa 1968.

Dress Code and general comportment are standards that this school holds up with its rock-solid Catholic orthodoxy as ideals and expectations the student is obliged to meet - to the very best of his ability.

Many times, home life impacts with this. Last November, President Dan McGrath (Leo 1968) explained to our Alumni at a meeting that one of our young men was receiving amny detentions for being out of uniform. Dan also remarked that this young guy wore the same shirt and pants for the last three weeks. Upon some delicate investigation, President McGrath learned that the family was in dire financial trouble, the Dad out of full time work taking handyman jobs and the Mom working at two minimum wage stores and only getting the hours available. Their lights were turned off, hence the unlaundered attire.

Our guys immediately raised about $400 in cash to help get the young man some new clothes and to help the family get the lights back on - several volunteered to find the Dad some meaningful employment.

That is one kid out of scores more.

Leo High School is working on a plan to combine neat, simple and manly dress with a code of virtuous conduct that reflects the individual packaged within.

Do clothes make the man; no, but that speak loudly of he is all about.

I'll try and report more articulately on this topic in the weeks to come. It is an easy thing to set-out a dress, or disciplinary code; it is another thing altogether to make it attractive given our goofy culture. Gale Sayers worked himself without mercy in order to present a 'studied carelessness' on and off the field - he made it look so easy.

Taking a hard look at the life of Gale Sayers and how he presents himself is a damn good start.




*

Halfback >>> 6-0, 198
(Kansas)
1965-1971 Chicago Bears
Gale Eugene Sayers. . .Kansas All-America. . .Exceptional break-away runner. . .Scored rookie record 22 TDs, 132 points, 1965. . .Led NFL rushers, 1966, 1969. . .Named all-time NFL halfback, 1969. . . All-NFL five straight years. . .Player of Game in three Pro Bowls. . .Career totals: 9,435 combined net yards, 4,956 yards rushing, 336 points. . . NFL lifetime kickoff return leader. . .Born May 30, 1943, in Wichita, Kansas

http://www.georgianindex.net/tailors/tailor.html

The Town of Chicago and the Beauty of Waiting

Father John P. Smyth
"No person stands so tall, as one who stoops to help a child."

My job requires a great deal of waiting - waiting for that magic moment in fund-raising, when the mission and operation of Leo High School matches a prospective donor's history of giving to a school like Leo with that person's capacity to make a gift; waiting to pull together current achievements and activities at the school to make a compelling presentation to that person; waiting to get an opportunity or appointment and waiting for the magic moment when that person asks, "How can I help."

Waiting is beautiful. In that gap between need identification and the gift, I get to again get knocked over by the capacity of people to look beyond themselves. Here in Chicago, the wait is never all that long.

Yesterday, before I went home to clean up for the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame Induction Dinner at Hawthorne Race Course, I had the opportunity to teach a few seniors about the job interview process. The teacher is a wonderful young lady who won her teaching spurs and the universal respect of the often times challenging 17 and 18 year olds in her many Math classes. As part of a business math unit, this innovative and thoughtful young lady has called a number of Leo Alumni professionals to serve as a mock interview panel next week. I was the stalking horse.

I am a teacher and a teacher, or a coach is a salesman. This morning when I get into work, I will sit down with one of our senior athletes in this class for a lesson on preparing for the up-coming interview and to go over his practice resume. From those lines on the paper, I will attempt to articulate the core worth of this splendid, thoughtful, tough, and centered young man in a letter of recommendation for this fictional job. I will also use this opportunity to begin drafting a letter from me that will be used in his college application. This is fund-raising.

This teacher's impact on her students is the core of what I do. This lesson in the steps necessary for securing employment is what it is all about. The young man has learned that many people are in his corner - his teacher, volunteers who went to Leo years ago, and a splendid old chap who works in the Development Office. I'll be waiting for this senior.

I always arrive early. I had a ticket for a guest of the Leo Advisory Board's table, a beautiful woman who has helped the kids at Leo for a number of years. I waited outside the entrance for her.

Haythorne Race Course was packed with giants.

Father John Smyth the legendary priest/athlete who dedicated his life to Christ's children, no matter what religion, race, or circumsatnce they walk in the world. Father Smyth walks along side them.

Gale Sayers, the Kansas Comet and arguably the gold standard for NFL running backs, who uses his modest fortune to help inner city kids learn to speak in public, develop computer skills and more importantly learn that they do not walk alone.

Rocky Bleier of Notre Dame and NFL fame, whose career was interrupted by service in Vietnam where he was horribly wounded, but fought back his wounds to not only play professional football, but pace the great Franco Harris of Pittsburg Steelers.

Three Time National College Basketball Championship coach Jim Calhoun of University of Connecticut.

Mr. Calhoun reminded all of us of the quality that makes Chicago great - "Chicago is a Town," he told us, " You all know each other and care for one another."

Chicago is a town. I waited outside for a woman of great fortune. While waiting, I met one of Honorees for the evening Barry Sanders. He was followed by Heisman Trophy winner and Fenwick legend Johnny Lattner and a gentleman by the name of Pat Kelly. We talked while they waited for elevator operated by beautiful girl with a new set braces from Hubbard High School. Barry Sanders, Pat Kelly and Johnny Lattner turned all of their attentions to the little girl tasked with taking them up to the second floor.

The dinner began at 7 P.M. and Leo's guest was fighting traffic on the Stevenson Expresway, no matter I waited. Retired Cook County Sherrif Mike Sheahan, Hall of Fame Father and Daughter Jerry and Katie Schumacher with Katie's gorgeous Mom Kathy, Chicago Firefighting hero Jim Corbett and others treated the elevator operator like she was the most important person on earth as well. It is good to wait.

At 7:35 P.M. our table mate arrived and immediately was swarmed by the parking lot attendants. This wealthy and prminent lady greated the older attendent,"Hey, how's your wife Albert?" I waited while she caught up with her friends. When our elevator doors opened the Hubbard Greyhound in braces was on break, but when we arrived on the second floor Gold Cup Room, Leo's beautiful philanthropist chatted with each and every waiter, waitress, bartender and manager after hailing them by name. The wait was worth it.

Later in the evening, Jim Calhoun reminded all of us that what makes Chicago great is not, plants, Silver Beans, or World Class tinsel.Chicago was, is and should remain a Town of Wait-ers. Waiting is beautiful. Chicagoans are neighbors and they are patient, generous, friendly, helpful and present. They wait in the long lines at Wakes. The greatest people are never disdainful of people and treat every person Oprah or a janitor like a neighbor.

Pikers are pushy and never wait.

We joined the throng of Leo Men waiting for this gracious woman's arrival. Presidnet Dan McGrath held out her chair and the brawny stalwarts stood in welcome: Jack Fitzgerald, Bob Sheehy, John Linehan, Bill Holland and Rich Finn - Mike Joyce a Hall of Fame Director and his expectantly radiant wife greeted us from the directors table. We were waiting for Leo football coach and Board Member Mike Holmes, who arrived before Grace was said. Our table included Tamara Holder, attorney, journalist and Fox Television News legal analyst, who joined the Advisory Board in January. The brawny stalwarts now include a stunning young lady. Father John Smyth led us all in prayer and he noted while many in crowd had not waited for Grace to said, somethings should not wait. Our guest handed President Dan McGrath a gift for the boys at Leo. Waiting is exquisite in this great town.

I better launch off my ass, I do not want to keep a young man waiting.

My Irish Tan and Leo High School Culture

Irish tan
An Irish tan occurs when a very pale-skinned Irish person gets too much sun, causing their skin to become even more red and uneven. An Irish tan is not a sunburn; turning red and splotchy is just how some very fair Irish-Americans tan. Urban Dictionary

The day off at Leo High School, and yet I rose before Phoebus as is my habit. The Busy old sun who bothers lovers' locked arms and bids farmers to hie to the fields of corn and soy bean and the daily assessment about God and the Government in league to cheat a man, as well as that bastard Cotter over to the grain elevator in Herscher . . .; the Sun who bakes and breeds.

I showered and did not shave. I eschewed my nattier work day wear, for Chicago Yeomanry togs - a Leo High School polo and my white-guy hillbilly denim shorts and play shoes. Looking good,Hombre! Out into misting morning air.

I needed my morning amble for coffee and took the long route east so I could swing by CVS on Western at 111th Street and pick up some stuff that I forgot to get yesterday and County Fair opens at 8AM.

At 109th & Western next to the Dubliner Pub a crowd of maybe thirty folks, mostly African American, were lined up for jobs at the Security Guard Company. Folks would wait another hour or so in order to beat back the waves of economic mayhem, God Bless Them.

CVS was emptier than a politician's words and I picked my items discounted by the handy red Extra Care Pays You Back card. I reflected on my tasks today.

Leo High School is hosting a Comedy Night on the Friday after Thanksgiving at the Beverly Fine Arts Center just parallel to my morning's manly amble.

I needed to call back Leo Man, Comedian and Green Activist Paul Kelly about the performers - Leo Lions all and Kings of Comedy: John Caponera, Soups Campbell, Paul Kelly, and Kenny Howell.

Leo Men are rock-ribbed givers - not philanthropists, Philanthropists generally make more from their charity giving than they actually dispense. Witness Oprah, Bill Gates, Michael Jordan and the robber barons of old Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt. No, Leo Men, like people and foundations of good will, give. Huge difference.

Leo Men also will say exactly what is on their minds. I noted this fact in 1995 when I attended my first Leo Banquet at the now vanished Martinique/Drury Lane Theater. I was carrying three big boxes of Leo Sweatshirts for sale, through a throng of Brawny Stalwarts from the 1930's -1980's.

A tall gentleman from the Class of 1932 was making his way at his top speed through the beefy likes of Tom Hopkins, Joe Ramos, Moose Gilmartin, Barney Bulfin, Jack McNamara, Bill Holland and the saintly Jack Howard. At some point, I rather shyly asked the gentleman's pardon, in order to make a detour around the thick Alumni throng.

"You didn't go Leo, did you Kid." The well dressed gentleman who looked like he might have been the retired CEO of General Motors -Thomas Aquinas Murphy stated a fact and not a question.

"No sir. I went to Little Flower High School and . . ." I word- weaseled out.

" No kidding. You'd gone to Leo; you'd a told me to haul my #$%^ing old ass out of the way." concluded this Captain of American Industry Emeritus.

On this poignant encounter, I had good cause to connect - The Beverly Arts Center is run by a Leo Man -Mike Nix - who had run the Martinique. I was passing the Arts Center in my westward jaunt for coffee at Kean Gas - operated by Jimmy and Rolly Kean relatives of Leo President Dan McGrath and home to Leo Alumni patrons.

I bought my coffee, said hello to Kean Pumps Man and hero Ray and took my path homeward north on Talman. The white pick up truck of Leo Class of 1970 Man and plumber Mike Regan pulled in the drive before I hit the sidewalk. 'Hi, Hick!'

Leo men! Givers and Diogenes' Sons - the lamp of honest assessment and cant free courtesy.


At 109th Street Mike Regan's white pick-up slowed portending hearty fellowship and salutations of good-will.

" Next time you're at the beach, Hickey, try getting out of your car!"

This is but one of the rough hewn granite blocks of human experience that forms the pyramid to God's All-Seeing Eye!

Lo, He is With Us Always - Authority at Kean Gas on 111th & Talman in Morgan Park

NB - Gas Prices are are now $ 4.39 for regular - that was last year's photo.

Matthew 28: 16 - 20
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
17 And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

I heard this gospel twice in the last two days. It is a reassuring and commanding nostrum from the Risen Christ, to the eleven of the Apostle line-up. Judas did the Dutch Act, after selling the Boss out, remember.

Yesterday, I listened to this gospel during Tom Roeser's magnificent send-off at St. John Cantius Catholic Church on Chicago Ave. and Sangamon on the north side of Chicago. The place was packed and con-celebrated by seven priests. The liturgical music was transcendentally beautiful, unlike the more pop culture ditties embraced by licensed liturgists at too many parishes.

The gospel matched the music. You have been chosen by Christ to use His authority to make disciples of all nations.

Authority comes from the Latin word auctoritas
derived from the word auctor - "planter-cultivator". The word meant to augment or making greater by adding on to something.

I raise money at Leo High School, because I have been give the authority to do so via the Archdiocese,the Mission of Leo High School, the President for Institutional Advancement, the Alumni of Leo High School and the 501(c)3 standing of the high school with the Office of Catholic Schools. The money I raise, by that collective authority, adds on to Leo High School supplementing tuition costs, new programs, meeting utility increases, adding to the campus.

Our authority comes from a greater authority. We are told to do something with that authority. Tom Roeser defended the unborn, the canon of Catholic doctrine, the Bill of Rights, and the canons of taste and wit. God rest this merry gentleman. Tom's spirit and soul will not rest long be assured.

Today, after Mass and hearing this same gospel, I hiked my way to Kean Gas on 111th & Talman for a 20 oz. Dark Roast. Kean Gas is one of the very last family owned, full service gas stations in Chicago. Jimmy and Roli Kean have managed to preserve something of value in this Blackberry world. They hire young guys to check the antifreese, wiper fluid, oil, tires, wash windscreens and windows as well as pump gas.

This allows drivers an opportunity to pop in for coffee and pastries from Wolf's Bakery on 95th Street, chat and pick-up items forgotten on the last visit to County Fair Foods. Kean Brothers Gas helps keep us human in a small but vital way. Kean Gas is an urban Salon.

This morning, I bragged up the Leo Track team with young Jack Leiser, who's old man Tom is contemporary of mine and a rock-ribbed Leo Man. Jack jumps out to service people at the pumps. " Man six State Titles and with only six kids." You may say.

We were joined in short-order by Joe Murphy, another Leo Man and member of St. Cajetan Parish, whose sister teaches at St. Walter's Parish. Joe and I talked near his truck, from which he services air-conditioners. Joe works with many of the CPS schools. We talked about the Leo banquet last April and the impressive turn-out of young African American Alumni shepherded to the event by Mike Holmes, Mike Anderson, Mark Lee, Curtis Cooper, Ken Mason and Noah Cannon. These Lions have helped make the biggest increase in freshman enrollment at Leo in years.

While we were gabbing, Bill Letz another Leo Alumnus, teacher, coach/referee and soon to be retired pipe-fitter stopped at the air-pump with his ten speed. He spotted the knot of coffee fueled gabbers, " The Old Kean Country Store . . .!" Spot on, William! Human contact, communication and following the commands of the gospel . . .with colorful language and the occasional sexist trope, mind you.

Which brings me back to authority.

Murph asked me to have Mike Holmes, Leo football coach and director of admissions, give him a call to set up a parent meet and greet to let parents at St. Walter's know about the success and value of Leo High School. I assured Joe that Holmes would call him Tuesday night at the latest, as I have jury duty on Monday. In mid-chat a very old gentleman approached us.

" I started my car after church, but now the engine will not shut off. Can any of you gentlemen help me?"

This guy had a serious auto-problem and it is a Sunday. No auto shops are open.


Jack Leiser only checks fluids and pumps gas. Joe is a skilled building engineer. Bill Letz a pipe-fitter. I read books and shoot off my mouth for a living.

Jesus, we're sorry sir.

Joe Murphy whipped out his cell-phone and tried to call a guy who fixes cars in Merrionette Park. Murph reached the guy, but he was at his place in Michigan. Then, Joe remembered, "Pep Boys! They are open seven days a week, sir. They do a great job and will give you fair shake. They are on about 130th & Cicero."
The poor man needed a higher authority than a gas pump, engineer, pipefitter, flannel mouth educator, but he came to the right place. Joe Murphy knew.

The old gentleman thanked us and took his still running old Ford west on 111th Street.

It believe the Gospel authority message was fulfilled. It was as easy as getting coffee at Kean with good people.

R.I.P. Leo Man and Loyola Professor Dick Maher PhD.

Great Leo Man and constant backer of this great old school's mission Prof. Dick Maher went home to Christ.

Richard J. Maher


Maher, Dr. Richard "Dick" J. PhD 67, passed away in the comfort and presence of family at Evanston North Shore Hospice on September 14, 2010 after a brief but heroic battle with cancer. Dr. Maher was a husband to his wife Karen of 43 years; father to his sons, Daniel (Karen) and Patrick; grandfather to two wonderful grandchildren, Ryan and Senna. In his life, Richard was known as trusted husband, father, uncle, grandfather, educator, mentor and friend. He was looked upon as the 'Godfather' of his Wilmette neighborhood as being known as a level headed person who could settle any dispute or listen to neighbors who just needed to vent. Richard was the valedictorian of Leo High School class of 1961, graduated from Notre Dame in 1965 and received his Doctorate from Northwestern University in 1971. Dr. Maher was an accomplished academic author of several textbooks, peer reviewer of several projects and editor. He was a Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Loyola University Chicago for over 40 years and was preparing to retire to spend his golden years with his darling Karen. As his first days of courtship to his last days of life were, all about making sure his darling Karen would be looked after and taken care of. Visitation will be Friday, September 17th, 3 to 9 p.m. at Wm. H. Scott Funeral Home, 1100 Greenleaf Ave., Wilmette. A Memorial Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church in Wilmette will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Francis Xavier Parish, 524 9th St., Wilmette, IL 60091 would be appreciated. Share a tribute at www.mem.com. Info 847-251-8200.

Mount Carmel's Ted Cachey - Lights up a Night of Stars!

Last night's Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame at Hawthorne Race track was a lesson in courage, conviction and commitment. Leo High School had several tables purchased by Leo and Purdue football great Bob Sheehy and Boxing Coach and one of the Directors of the Sports Hall of Fame Mike Joyce. Patti Bidwill, of the Bidwill Family Foundation and daughter of Sports Legend Stormy Bidwill was Bob Sheehy's guest.

There were iconic names honored - Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Franbk Thomas, John Hannah and Gerry Sullivan, but it was the words from the lesser known names that had the most spiritual impact with their acceptance speeches.

Linda Mastandrea, Paralympic Gold Medal Champion, spoke of path that heroes take with so many other people - we never accomplish things on our own. Blue Island High School Olympian and mentor to so many young athletes Willie May, All American, Indiana University continued on the theme.

However it was Mount Carmel's Ted Cachey who was most poignant. Cachey captained every team he played for from grammar school through University of Michigan. However, Mr. Cachey talked about academics.

A Latin instructor at Mount Carmel understood the young freshman, Cachey's deficencies with English composition and instructed the boy to write - something- every night. The next day, Cachey was to place the essay or pargraph under the priest's office door.

The Carmelite would correct Cachey's grammar, punctuation, spelling and rhetoric, but never assign a grade.

Cachey kept those written lessons and read one last night. It was about Guts- intestinal fortitude - which had been the rubric of athletic education. Guts is a four letter word that must pertain to so much more than a football field, the hardwood, the track, the pool, or the ice. GUTS is perseverence. Cachey told a roomful of great athletes and me about Guts. Work at what you must work at every day, correct your mistakes, do not expect praise for what you are obliged to do and lead a happy life.

Here are the happy people of whom Ted Cachey spoke so well decades ago as a kid at Mount Carmel High School - with a lot of guts.

CHICAGOLAND SPORTS HALL OF FAME

WithTHE NATIONAL MS SOCIETY-ILLINOIS CHAPTERand THE STANDING TALL CHARITABLE FOUNDATION present:

THE 14th ANNUAL INDUCTION AWARDS DINNER-THE HONORABLE RICHARD M. DALEY, Honorary Chairman

HONOREES

Mike Krzyzewski
Ray Meyer College Coach of Year Award
NCAA Champion, Duke University

John Hannah
New England Patriots Lengend will recieve the George Connor Lifetime Achievement Award for invaluable Contributions to the game of football

Doc Rivers (upon availability)
Marquette University, Coach of NBA Boston Celtics 2010

Rocky Wirtz, Chairman, Chicago Blackhawks
Bill Madlock, Chicago Cubs
Ted Cachey, University of Michigan
Ed Maracich, Big Ten Official
Simeon Rice, Univeristy of Illinois, NFL
Jim Corno, Comcast SportsNet
Jerry Vanisi, Chicago Bears & NFL Executive
Emmett Bryant, DePaul University, NBA
Jeremy Roenick, Chicago Blackhawks
Matt Senffner, Providence Catholic HS
Larry Wert, NBCU Chicago
Richard Hazelton, Legendary Thoroughbred Trainer
Nick Rassas, Notre Dame All American
Linda Mastandrea, Paralympic Gold Medal Champion
Frank Thomas, Chicago White Sox
Gerry Sullivan, University of Illinois, NFL
Willie May, All American, Indiana University

A few of the Leo High School Halle of Fame Inductees-
John Collins - boxing
Johnny Galvin -football
Babe Baranowski-football
Andy McKenna -Sports Owner
Whitey Cronin- Coaching

Leo Lion of the Illinois Supreme Court - Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald Retires in October

Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court Thomas Fitzgerald will retire. Chie Justice Fitzgerald is the most respected justice in Illinois - Supreme and otherwise.

A 1959 Leo High School graduate and Leo Hall of Fame Inductee, Thomas Fitzgerald is an exemplary Christian gentleman and first-rate legal scholar.

Fitzgerald was one of four Supreme Court justices on the Nov. 2 ballot seeking retention to 10-year terms. The others are Justice Robert R. Thomas, a suburban Republican; Justice Thomas L. Kilbride, a Quad Cities-area Democrat; and Justice Charles E. Freeman, a Chicago Democrat.

"I just think he's a man of integrity, wisdom and professionalism," said Thomas, a former chief justice. "I was blessed to have him as a colleague the last 10 years. I was doubly blessed to be able to call him a good friend."

Fitzgerald began his law career in the Cook County state's attorney's office. He was first elected to the bench in 1976 — at the time the youngest elected circuit judge in the county. He was elected to the Supreme Court in 2000. He became chief justice in 2008.

Even before he went to the high court, Illinois Supreme Court justices had made him co-chairman of a commission reviewing the death penalty in Illinois. Fitzgerald set out pioneering recommendations calling for defense lawyers to be well-experienced and for judges to be well-trained.

Fitzgerald also played a significant role in cleaning up the Cook County traffic court after the Operation Greylord scandal. For years, he was a fixture on the county bench, where he was known for running his courtrooms with a cool hand and civility.

The chief justice also won strong reviews for his role as the presiding officer in the Illinois Senate overseeing the trial of Blagojevich, who was ousted from the governor's office in January 2009 on a 59-0 vote.

Fitzgerald's resignation is effective Oct. 25. Theis will enter the position the next day, giving up her seat on the appellate court.

Ray Long

Tax Cuts Help Everyone - Right Here in Chicago, Too. Save the Rhetoric and Kill the Debt!

I was in Java Express about twenty minutes ago, I talked to eight well-dressed gentlemen from my neighborhood who were waiting to board the Metra for another day of job search in downtown Chicago. One guy helps identify boiler plant problems for Quill engineering and recently did an insurance assessment for two of the boilers that heat Leo High School. He has been laid off since 2009 and pick up part time work for Quill. Another was a senior accountant for one of the big firms. Another man had worked for the State of Illinois and so on.

They shell out $3.50 each way to walk the Loop for work.

All of them were talking about the lousy state of the American economy and all of them had voted for Barack Obama.

" This mess will not turn around for years or longer. They will get worse if they eliminate the Bush Tax Cuts. No one will hire and no new work will get off the ground."

One guy explained that the Building Trades have completely atrophied out of fear that more taxes to small businesses are on the way.

I raise money for Leo High School and I know that when taxes are low Charitable Giving increases. Every foundation took severe hits to income, when the economy collapsed and unless new revenue off-sets those losses, it will be much tougher to scare up donations. Take look here and see what is planned -



The estate taxes will gut Chariatble Planned Giving! Money that would have been set-aside to help inner-city schools like Leo will evaporate. Not only that, we do two mailings a year and the Leo Alumni are wildly generous, but if taxes cut into disposable income more than they are doing now hold the phone.

A guy in his late sixties or early seventies is living off of the income that he and his bride managed to sock away, as well as his shrinking IRA and dollops from Social Security. These older gents and their wives also have children in their thirties and forties who are out of work and they are sending them a few dollars. When the dollars get fewer for these generous people, Leo High School gets less income to off-set tuitions for the families Leo helps. Even Congressman Barney Frank screamed like a Banshee when he could not produce Identification to qualify for a $1.00 Ferry Ride to Fire Island, last Friday.

The Bush Tax Cuts are the latest in Straw Dog that the out of ideas DNC and the corporate Media stake out to scare and divide people.

Tax Cuts work for everyone - especially the poor black kids trying to get an education here at Leo.

The reality is that the increase in the top marginal income tax rate to higher than 41% will hit the most profitable small businesses especially hard. That's because millions of business owners pay individual rates under Subchapter S of the tax code. Today, this means they pay the same top rate as the Fortune 500: 35%. But if the 2003 tax rates expire, they'll suddenly pay more than Goldman Sachs.

New data from, of all places, the Democratic-run Joint Committee on Taxation show that in 2011 roughly 750,000 taxpayers with net business income will pay the highest marginal rate of 39.6% or the next highest bracket of 36% (up from 33%). About half of the roughly $1 trillion of total net business income will also be reported on those returns. In a stroke, that will make tens of billions of dollars unavailable to invest or to hire new workers.

Wall Street Journal

Save the Rhetoric and that 'Show America The Will to Eliminate Taxes for the Rich' that the idiots of MSNBC, CNN and the DNC are tossing around.

Tax cuts help everyone. Debt kills everyone. This I know, because the eight guys boarding the Metra at 107th Street are dying without work.

Rick Morrissey on Leo High School President Dan McGrath - 'Bricks,Mortar and Truth'

(Photo by Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)


Yesterday, I drove out to far suburban( well, it is far -what with truck traffic on 79th Street, Rt. 83 and all that) Naperville to meet with Leo Man Bill Koloseike (Leo '45)-Chicagoland's Bill Kay the Car King.

Bill has just come back from Kenya where he built and helped dedicate a Catholic school, as a Jesuit volunteer. Bill Koloseike was great Leo football star who traded a college career for a hitch in the United States Marines at the end of World War II. After his service, Bill took a business degree from Loyola and began his career as a Chrysler Dealer - the biggest. Bill retired from the day-to-day work and learned Spanish to teach Mexican kids in Aurora and work as a Jesuit volunteer and build schools out of his own wallet in Africa. Bill wrote me a check that had a numeral and six zeroes and asked about Dan McGrath, Leo's new President. Bill met with Dan and Leo Principal Phil Mesina at Ken's Restaurant on Western Ave. a few weeks ago.

I let Bill know that Dan had already hit the ground at a dead sprint, even though his contract does not kick in until August. We agreed that things look good for our school.

This morning, I went on line and found that Rick Morrissey had written a superb piece on Dan McGrath and Leo High School. I stopped at Beverly's Java Express and met Larry Lynch, recently retired from the U.S. Secret Service. "Hickey, you see The Times? It's great!" Larry, was on his way to Loop and asked about the Alumni Golf Outing. I assured him that I would be there and would not hold up the progress by playing myself. " You are a good man, Hickey, . . .some days." True, in so many ways. I got my coffee and headed to Leo with the paper. It is wonderful.

Here is the meat for your breakfast!

. . .A few months ago, McGrath, the former sports editor of the Tribune, told me he was considering a job as president of Leo High School on the South Side. I laughed. He was kidding, right? Or perhaps misinformed again? His entire professional life had been devoted to journalism, either as a writer or an editor. How could this be?

And then I thought, of course. Some things are true and right, and this is one of them. He's a 1968 Leo graduate, and he has given time and effort to the school. He has served on the school's advisory board. He loves the place, as much as a man can love bricks and mortar and ideas.

And that's the truth.

The new president of Leo will start work next month, proving there is life after a newspaper career and that the concept of giving back is still alive and well.

''I don't want to sound all 'Field of Dreams,' but it felt like a calling,'' he said. "It felt like at this time of my life, this is something I could do and maybe I should do.''

Leo is a struggling, all-boys Catholic high school at 79th and Sangamon streets in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Even though its enrollment is below 200, it has been very successful in basketball and track. Ninety-four percent of the students continue their education after high school, yet a challenging economy has Leo fighting for its life.

It's a comeback story McGrath would love to write.

Click my post title for Rick Morrisey's superb story about a wonderful man and the great school he will guide. God Bless All Leo Men and People Who Help Us!