High School Days

At one time, early in my childhood, kids who lived in the 800 and 900 blocks of Maplewood could go to either Manual or Peoria High School. However, by the time I was in high school—1975 for anyone who’s counting—kids on the Field House side of Maplewood, the south side, were in the Manual district. Those who lived on Maplewood but on the other side of Main Street—the north side—were in Peoria High’s district.

Of course, the other choice in high schools then were the two Catholic schools, Academy/Spalding and Bergan. Most of the kids in our neighborhood—the Boesen’s, Keister’s, the younger Mallow kids, the Koperski’s—went to Manual.

My siblings and I went to Academy/Spalding. We lived almost exactly two miles from the downtown campus. During my junior and senior years, on nice days, I would walk to school, often with Bernadette Dries, who lived on Moss. But usually, I caught a city bus that went down Main Street, specifically for the purpose of picking up AOL/SI students. It was called the Special and you would think the time it arrived on the corner of Main and Maplewood to pick us up would be engraved in my mind; I think it was 7:30, but I’m not positive.

There would be anywhere from three to eight kids waiting for the bus. More than a few times, I had to break into a sprint down Maplewood, alerted by those who were already on the corner of bus’s imminent arrival. And also a few times, I would be barely out the front door, only to see the bus pulling away from the corner.

Most of the kids waiting on that corner were from the other side of Maplewood—Cindy Brissette, the Moore’s, the Potts, the Kenny’s—while most of the kids on our side of Maplewood went to Manual. We were used to attending different schools than our neighbors, as we had gone to St. Mark’s and most of our neighbors had gone to Whittier. As we grew older, this difference in schools made more of a difference in our friendships with these kids, not because of any bad feelings, but mainly because we were spending more time now with different people.

I remember the good-natured rivalry that ensued between Kevin Boesen, who lived next door, and me in 1976. Kevin was the middle of the three Boeson boys. I was a sophomore at Spalding and Kevin, a really bright guy, who is now a minister in Hudson, Illinois, was a junior at Manual.

Late in the season, both Spalding and Manual’s football teams were undefeated. Spalding had been blowing out their opponents, and in the second to last game of the year, their record stood at 7-0. Manual was having an equally impressive season and the excitement before this big game was the talk of the school. At our pep rally, all the players sauntered out on the gym floor looking cool and full of confidence—Dave Mischler, John Venegoni, John Girardi, Jim Ardis, Joe Slyman, Don Crusen, Tom George, Ron Mischler, all of whom, I think, were all conference.

A few days before the big game, Kevin was doing dishes in their kitchen. Their kitchen windows were directly opposite ours. He began gesturing through the window at his Manual t-shirt and holding up his finger to indicate #1. I responded in kind, as we pantomimed our messages of school football superiority through the windows. Many of the windows in our house—the landing, some of the bedrooms—matched up with the windows in the Boeson house.

Well, I don’t remember Kevin rubbing it in after the game, and he could have because Manual spanked Spalding 28-0. Ouch! Manual didn't lose until the second round of the state play offs when they were defeated by Danville. Oh well, at least Spalding ended the season by beating our archrival, Bergan.

The 1976 Spalding team plays Peoria High School.