Canaryville Roots

  Leo President Dan McGrath and four of the seven Canaryvillains at Leo High School with Joe's Mom and Coach Fogarty: from the left (Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell,)

“When I went to take the entrance exams, it was during the famous winter storms [of 1979]. We took the test that day. They had to make arrangements to get us back home. Jay Strandring drove the Canaryville guys back home. He dropped us off at one of the viaducts because he realized he wouldn’t be able to get back out if he went under the viaduct. We walked back in the neighborhood. I think that was my first time ever at the school. I must have shadowed with my brother there once or twice, I suppose. But the first day I went to Leo as a student, I had to ask the bus driver if that was the school. We stopped at 79th, and I asked if that was Leo, and he said, “You’re going to a school you don’t even know where it’s at.”
I said, “Yeah.” He said, “That’s it.”
“My two oldest brothers went to St. Ignatius. My brother right above me went to Leo. My mom didn’t really like St. Rita at the time because my uncle—her brother—had gone there. My brother [Michael] just didn’t like school. It didn’t matter where he went. A funny story about my first day at Leo, I’m walking past the doorway and I hear: ‘McFarlane.’ I backed up, until I was in the doorway, and it was one of the [football] coaches, Dave Mutter. He grabbed me by the shirt and said: ‘Are you anything like your brother?’ I looked at him and said, ‘Absolutely not.’ That kind of shocked him. He let me go and he said something like, ‘Good for you.’ My brother had a reputation by the time I got to Leo. During my time at Leo, my brother would stop me in the hallway and say, ‘We’re going to the beach. Do you wanna go?’ With his buddies, he would just disappear. I was always afraid to do something like that with my parents.
“I took the Halsted bus when I first started at Leo, and then we had a bus service that started to pick us up. It was close to my house, I had to walk down like five houses to the corner.”

Father William McFarlane '83

This summer it has been my pleasure and pride to pick-up and deliver incoming freshman to Leo High School -one very big lad from Bronzeville and seven gents from Canaryville -One huge black kids and seven hard-scrabble pale-faces from St. Gabe's.  I pick them up between 7-7:25 AM and they are never late and very rarely absent.  My task is merely a cog in a recruitment and marketing machine developed by Leo football coach, admissions director and Father Flanagan to hundreds of Leo Men, Mike Holmes and Leo President Dan McGrath.

Leo High School is a Catholic high school for young men situated in the Gresham neighborhood on 79th Street just west of Halsted ( 7910 S. Sangamon Street -60620).  This iconic lion of a building is home to thousands of men from Chicago's stockyard, industrial and railroad past. Leo was built at the command of George Cardinal Mundelein and under the supervision of Msgr. Peter Shewbridge, pastor of St. Leo Parish, now, closed but still serving veterans through Catholic Charities. The building designed by Joseph McCarthy, lieutenant and disciple of Daniel Burnham went up in 1921;  the school opened in 1926.

Catholics from all over the industrial south side of Chicago sent their sons to Leo High School. which competed huskily with older and more established Mount Carmel, St. Rita and De La Salle. One of the most powerful cadres of talent attended Leo from St. Gabriel Parish in Canaryville.  e.g. Basketball standout James "Bro" Farrell dominated the hardwood floors of local, state and national opponents. St. Gabe's, south of Bridgeport, is the incubator of south side Catholic Chicago.
That is because of a man and an institution - Msgr. Maurice Dorney* and the Chicago Stockyards.

The Chicago Stockyards, St. Gabe's, was home to workers - not the affluent scions of burger families from Lake or DuPage counties who Occupy Chicago with Visa and Mastercards in their wallets - workers who scratched out a living, contributed to their church, built schools and spent their free-time fighting for the eight-hour day.  These workers penned, drovered, killed, butchered, rendered and cleaned every thing on four legs for meat, teeth, bones, marrow hides, horns  to be transformed for America's tables, hairbrushes, buttons, wardrobes and footwear.  They made soap, gelatin, fertilizer and bacon for the Armour, Agar, Cudahy, Swift and Hammond families.  They lost fingers, lungs and lives in the act of building community.   Father Dorney protected their paychecks from gamblers, pimps and thugs and their dignity from Social Darwinism. There is no expressway named for Msgr. Dorney. Dorney was and remains the spirit of Canaryville, That spirit is reflected in the accomplishments past, present and to come by his spiritual children.

Muhammad Ali said that, in his opinion, the greatest boxer of all time was Canaryville boxer Packy McFarland; Chicago White Sox 1st baseman George Moriarty was Canaryville born and bred and would become a Cub and later move to a long career as Detroit Tiger, where he took root as a coach and American League umpire - his grandson ( here with Robert DeNiro)would become one of America's greatest actors and accomplished musician, composer and author Michael Moriarty. Canaryville is home to priests as well as  punchers of pigs and pedestrians.

The south side Catholic union family began in the blood, bones and hides of Canary.  Many of those families became wildly successful and moved from The 'Ville but never out of it. My maternal grandfather was a lather according to his union card, but moreso a Regans Colts shoulder-hitter and utility tough guy for the Cermak/Kelly/Kennelly and Daley Reg'lar Demacrats as well as occasional operative for Ralph Sheldon.  His brother became a priest and labor chaplain - he would give the last rites to Brady, McCarthy ( Leo '67) and Delahanty in Washington D.C. when Jodie Foster's stalker tried to kill President Reagan. Carnaryville seems to be everywhere.

Canaryville is physically and spiritually manifest at Leo High School once again. African American and white Catholic Alumni have worked with Mike Holmes and Dan McGrath for the last three years to give Leo some ethnic diversity - since 1991, Leo High School has been 100% African American. Black alumni behind Mike Holmes have pushed to recruit Hispanic and white students.  Black Alumni Mike Anderson and Mike Lee have teamed with Canaryvillains and Irish Catholic alums Brian Fogarty and Jack Farnan and impressed young white guys from St. Gabe's parish to be Leo Men. Last year Jeff "White Chocolate" X___________ added his see-through Irish pelt to the darker hued Lions.  This year, Leo welcomes seven more Canaryville gentlemen:Tommy, AJ, Brian F, Brian C, Joe C, CK, Mitch C are Leo Men!


My morning's route takes me to Bronzeville, where in the shadow of the Black Doughboy on Martin Luther King Drive at 35th Street, I wait for Daylon F - a mountain of sweetness and innocence packed into 6'3" and change. Daylon is the latest in the many Leo Men from Bronzeville, like Leo Akim Hunter (Leo 2004 & Northwestern University 2008).


 Daylon and I head west past De La Salle Institute and hang a left at Wentworth on the front porch of Comiskey Park ( it will never be The Cell) and head south with this daily admonition from my co-pilot Daylon -" Don't Turn on Root Street and get to swearin' Mr. Hickey."  Architect John Root, for whom the street is named, helped Maurice Dorney build St. Gabriel's Church, school, rectory and convent, as well as affordable housing for the working families - many of whom still call St. Gabe's home more than century later.  We maintain our course to 43rd Street and hang a right westward to Emerald Street and carefully wind around the cul-de-sac lite south to Graham Elementary School parking lot. 


We are usually greeted by this school's engineer Dean Fuller Leo '71 a resident of Canaryville. The red-heads and pale faces load the Ford Van with critiques of the Dunkin Donut selection, " No long-johns?  Don't get powdered, please it's as bad as the nut-sprinkles on them, Mr. Hickey. Just get frosted and we won't have a problem"  Likewise, I get informed about the upcoming Freshman football season, Miss Meany's math and Coach Ed Adams' reading classes.  All of the young men will play football, basketball, baseball and a few will box. They are good students and delightful companions who lack not a jot for self-esteem.  None of them have central air conditioning and universally accept heat.  They are tough kids from Bronzeville amd Canaryville. Daylon's only complaint is the obviously racist hornet who torments his daily drink of water at the public fountain west of the CPS school parking lot.  The Dunkin Donuts have a very short life-span - roughly 43rd Street to 79th Street.

*Saint Gabriel Parish & Elementary School are positioned in the heart of Canaryville, a small community of several third and fourth generation Irish immigrants. The neighborhood is extremely proud of its strong roots to Ireland with family ties running deep and strong in the parish and school. Saint Gabriel is a hidden gem, tucked away amid century old homes and secluded from the neighborhoods surrounding Canaryville.
As Saint Gabriel Parish celebrates its 130th Anniversary, we would like to share how the school and parish began. Many people know that Father Maurice Dorney was St. Gabriel’s first pastor, but did you know… • Father Dorney had the foresight to purchase 20 lots (from 45th to 46th and Lowe) for $500(!) to build the church, school, convent and rectory for Saint Gabriel’s • While pastor, Father Dorney graduated from law school • Also know as “The King of the Yards,” Father was friends to both workingman and company owner, procuring jobs and helping avert strikes • Father Dorney was gifted with a block of stock from the head of National Livestock Bank – after two decades the dividends grew to $68,000, and the money was spend “for the welfare of the church, and assisting in the school’s of Saint Gabriel” • Father Traveled to Ireland in 1887 and was instrumental in the exoneration of Charles Stewart Parnell (champion of home rule for Ireland) who was accused of complicity in a murder.

 http://www.leohighschool.org/
http://www.ottawalife.com/2012/07/moriartys-musings-my-french-symphony/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragen's_Colts
http://www.leohsalumniassoc.com/alumni%20stories/mcfarlane83/mcfarlane.html
http://www.connorcoyne.com/blog/2004/09/back-to-canaryville-blues/
http://saintgabes.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=56
http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/mcfarland.html

CPS May Very Well Strike; Leo High School Treats Kids Right!

Here is the Map of Success - 2011 Leo Grads are going to school all over America!

When asked by (WLS AM Bill)Cameron whether the conditions were ripe for a strike this year, she (Teachers Union President Karen Lewis)said: “I think it’s very high. Because people are very upset and people feel disrespected.”

Chicagoist 8/15/2011 ( parentheses my own)

Earlier in the piece we find this, "she (Lewis) did not predict that teachers will ultimately go on strike, only that the probability is high that members will call for a strike vote." What's the deal? Will teachers be going on strike any time soon?"

Leo High School opens this week, but we have on-going registration. Leo High School is a Catholic college preparatory high school, often called a "pay school" by families more familiar with public education. There is tuition. Tuition is a covenant between the school and the family of the student. Picking up a financial obligation the family is assured that their student will have an opportunity to succeed in academics, participate in a glorious athletic program, be treated with attention to the student's needs. To help families meet their end of the covenant, there are thousands of Leo Alumni and the Big Shoulders Fund - a Catholic foundation dedicated solely to helping inner city families get a great Catholic education.

Leo High School had a great year last year.

1. 100% college placement

2. Leo graduates received hundreds of thousands of dollars in college scholarships

3. Leo families were helped by Leo Alumni, private and corporate foundations and generous individuals to the tune of $ 840,000

4. Leo tested and registered the largest incoming class of freshmen in twelve years, including white and Hispanic students

5. Leo 2011 graduate Eder Cruz was named a Gates Millenium Scholar

6. Leo's Track team won its sixth IHSA State Championship - Leo is the only non-public high school to win the IHSA Track Title in its 115 year history and Leo Captured Titles in both Class A and Class AA

The probability is high that Chicago Teachers Union will vote for a strike. Leo High School and all other Catholic schools will open this month an get down to the business of helping students.

Enroll, now. If you think that tuition is costly, imagine what a morale challenged public school faculty might cost your child. Leo High School has not been disrupted by violence in the school. The police officers of Gresham Sixth District only have come to the school to correct problems outside of the school that might impact on the safety of our Leo Men. The business of Leo High School is all about the student.

In fact, all summer long students have popped in to visit and ask for summer reading ideas from President Dan McGrath, chat with Principal Phil Mesina and learn some great study skills from Leo's Vice president and Gunny Mr. Frank Wilson, USMC, lift weights, shoot hoops, box in the Leo facility run by Mike Joyce, snitch candy from the Ms. Adams and Ms. Hemp in the office and pay Mrs. Townsend parcels of tuition, while Mom and Dad were at work.

Mike Holmes, Leo Director of Admissions and Leo Alumnus Mike Anderson have brought in many families seeking help for their sons who having a difficult time at other schools, or are concerned about meeting the costs of tuition.

Here is a transcript of a message left on my voice mail -" This is Pat Nolan, Class of '51. It was great seeing you guys at the Leo Golf outing. I'm sending my 21st Century (Spring Mailing) with my gift. I was little late in getting it in the mail. I hope all is well at Leo."

Pat Nolan and hundreds of other Leo Men have the kids who were here all summer, even though school was out, on their minds and in their hearts.

The teachers have been back since last week. The Maintenance( Ron Reynolds, James Crawford and Derrick De Berry) men have the place looking great. These gentlemen are solid gentlemen and great role models who do as much teaching throughout the day than many people calling themselves educators that I have encountered. They teach pride by example and respect for every task.

No Strike - Leo Treats Families Right. Take a look at the Leo High School Website

Call Mr. Mike Holmes here at Leo ( 773) 224-9600 and arrange a sit-down with any or all of us. Pop in for a visit even when school starts. Our students are our best reflection of the Leo Brand.

Leo High School
7901 S.Sangamon Street
Chicago, IL 60620

Open for business every year since 1926 - business is good!

Facta Non Verba! Deeds not Words!

A Special Relationship(s) - The Heat's Dwayne Wade and Coach Jack Fitzgerald

Dwayne Wade is a Superstar athlete - one of the giants of the NBA. Jack Fitzgerald is a high school and small college basketball coach - a legendary journeyman mentor who graduated from Leo High School in 1969, returned his alma mater and learned the craft from Tom O'Malley. Tom O'Malley was one of Jimmy Arneberg's boys. Arne was coached by Brother Francis Finch and the great Vince Dowd.

This is a Leo chain of being.

Dwayne Wade never attended Leo High School but he was mentored and coached by Jack Fitzgerald at Richards High School.

Dwayne Wade understood that he was helped by a man who understands not only the game, but the reasons put everything, heart, mind and body into any effort.

Dan McGrath wrote another wonderful portrait of two men brought together by a spirit much larger than their ambitions and wants. Click my post title for the full New York Times story.

Any of us who have watched our children play sports or tiptoe through a dance recital or blow the fluegelhorn in a concert could empathize with Jack Fitzgerald on Tuesday.

He viewed the Game 4 telecast of the Bulls-Miami Heat Eastern Conference playoff finals from a quiet table in a South Side pub, and a nosy reporter tried to be unobtrusive as Fitzgerald agonized. Dwyane Wade is not his son, but Fitzgerald has paternalistic feelings for the Heat’s All-Star guard, the best player and one of the best kids he worked with during 27 years and 444 victories as a high school coach in the Chicago area.

“It’s hard to watch,” Fitzgerald said. “I get a little pit in my stomach, the same way I did when I was coaching.”

The pit felt like a bowling ball on this night as Wade struggled, missing seven straight shots at one point, including an uncontested breakaway dunk.

“He’s just not in the flow,” Fitzgerald said quietly, his stoic demeanor concealing his inner turmoil.

Jack Fitzgerald would never admit to being a great man and that is his greatness. Jack Fitzgerald helped Dwayne Wade become the fine young man he is, even though he is an NBA Superstar. The hands that help are guided by a spirit of very old and willing hands going back generations.

Eder Cruz - Leo High School 2011 - Gates Millenium Scholar

Eder Cruz Leo Man 2011 in the center - he's the Mexican American gent - Leo's Gates Millenium Scholar!


Eder Cruz came to Leo High School from Cristo Rey High School. He was the only Mexican (Hispanic) student at Leo, until this year. Eder was welcomed by his fellow Lions and mentored by Mrs. Aurora Latifi and Ms. Margerita Silva. Mrs. Latifi is an Albanian immigrant and Ms. Silva a proud Latina. Eder Cruz immediately established himself as a leader and a scholar.

Eder Cruz is also a Gates Millenium Scholar. Mrs. Latifi nominated the young man who has been accepted at Marquette University and many others. Eder may use this scholship at Valparaiso University, Marquette University, Iowa State, St. Louis University, Bradley University, University of Alcorn, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Hope College. President Dan McGrath will insist upon another Leo Man at his Alma Mater - Marquette University.

Click my post title for the Leo High School Oriole and more college success tales from the Lions.

But first Mr. Eder Cruz, Leo Class of 2011!

Mr. Eder Anibal Cruz Alvarado
5#$% South Campbell
Chicago, IL 606$%


Dear Eder,

Congratulations! We are very pleased to inform you of your selection as one of the 1,000 Gates Millennium Scholars for the GMS Class of 2011. We commend you on your strong leadership, community service and academic achievements that contributed to your selection as a Gates Millennium Scholar. Your accomplishment is especially notable in context of the more than 23,000 students who applied, making this year's the largest and most competitive group of candidates in the program's history. We are very excited to have you as a Gates Scholar and very pleased to confer this distinct honor that distinguishes you as a Leader for America's Future(tm).

As a Gates Millennium Scholar, GMS funds are available for you to attend any U.S. accredited* college or university of your choice. This is a renewable scholarship based on the GMS Program guidelines. The documents you will submit throughout your undergraduate career will guide GMS' review and determination of a new scholarship amount for each year you are eligible. In addition, if you pursue graduate studies in the fields of Computer Science, Education, Engineering, Library Science, Mathematics, Public Health or Science, you may be eligible for GMS fellowship funding for your education through the master's and doctoral levels.

In order to determine the amount of your 2011-2012 academic year GMS award, please send us the following documents:

* your admissions letter from the institution you will be attending (if you have chosen an institution other than the one previously submitted),
* the enclosed GMS Information Sheet completed by your financial aid counselor, and
* your financial aid award letter from the same institution as the admissions letter you submitted for the institution you will be attending.

Please send these documents as soon as possible, but no later than the June 20, 2011 priority due date. Remember, a scholarship award cannot be determined until you submit all the documents listed above from the institution you will attend during the 2011-2012 academic year.

In addition, for all Scholars who are currently high school seniors, we will request an official copy of your final transcript from your high school showing your final grades and graduation date. Your scholarship award will not be mailed to the college/university you will attend until we receive your final transcript.

The GMS program is much more than a scholarship. GMS' Leadership and Scholar Relations program offers Academic Empowerment services (ACE) to support your academic success and graduate education planning. In addition, we provide a wide range of resources including a GMS leadership conference specifically designed to orient and prepare you to maximize your GMS experience, a mentoring program and an online resource center that gives you access to internships, fellowships and other scholarships.

Please review the documents included with this letter as they will provide you with an overview of many of the GMS initiatives. Should you have any questions about GMS or your scholarship, please do not hesitate to contact us at 415-808-2410 or via e-mail at gmsinfo@hsf.net.

Again, congratulations on being selected for this distinguished award. Be sure to also thank your Nominator and Recommender for their support and confidence in your potential.

Sincerely,


Cathy Makunga
Vice President of Scholarship Programs, HSF
Gates Millennium Scholars Program

Thousands of Leo Men are Proud of You Eder! Fact Non Verba !