| Clanton King at Purdue University |
 |
| Courtesy of Bill Menard |
BASEBALL
As mentioned above, the Gaels did compete in the Cook County League as one of the few private schools to be associated with public school members such as Evanston, Oak Park, North Division, West Division, South Division, Phillips, Crane, Englewood, and Lindblom.
St. Philip’s association with the CCL was only for one year from 1911-12 as it won the baseball title. In the previous year, the title was vacated due to the use of players that were also professionals. The Cook County League was broken up in 1913 when the Public League, Catholic League, and Suburban League were all formed.
Baseball did continue at St. Philip until the time the school closed, winning the junior division in 1914 (see photos of trophy below) and it captured the Catholic League title in 1969 under Coach Dan Rusk (see team photo below). Coaches’ name and win-loss records would be greatly appreciated by anyone who may these pieces of information.
| 1911 Gaels baseball team |
|
|
| courtesy of Robert Pruter |
| St. Philip 1969 baseball–Catholic League Champs |
 |
| courtesy of Jim O’Brien and Lisa Goodwin |
| 1914 St. Philip Jr. League Baseball Champs |
 |
| Trophy from Chicago Catholic League Jr. Division (courtesy of Thomas Patrice) |
| 1914 St. Philip Catholic League Jr, Division Champ |
 |
| courtesy of Thomas Patrice |
BASKETBALL
The Gaels had a competitive hoops program in Catholic League play during the latter part of the 1920’s and into the mid-1930’s, taking home three titles in lightweight and heavyweight play. The following information on the St. Philip High School basketball program comes to us from Thomas Geraci:
“The Catholic League consisted of two (2) teams from each school (in basketball). They were distinguished as “Lights” and “Heavies.” The Lights were for guys under 5′ 8″ tall and the Heavies for over 5′ 8″. The basketball program was in existence for quite some time. I do not know when the League started, but each Catholic high school was a member. I played for the Lights from 1960-1964.
(NOTE: Historian Robert Pruter tells us that basketball was divided into senior and junior classes based on height, not weight.)
In the 1960-61 season, we played St. Rita for the City Championship at De Paul University. St. Rita won by less than 5 points.”
1927-28 Chicago Catholic League Hwt. Champions
Chicago Catholic League Lwt. Champions
1933-34 Chicago Catholic League Hwt. Champions
1944-45 Chicago City Champions Coach Clem Naughton
Catholic League Hwt. Champions
Catholic League North Lwt. Champions
| Chicago St. Philips City Champs 1944-45 |
|
|
| courtesy of Marty Joyce (grandson on #56, Michael Joyce) |
| Chicago St Philips Basketball Action Photo |
 |
| Courtesy of Marty Joyce (grandson of #56, Michael Joyce) |
| Chicago St. Philips City Champs Newspaper Article |
 |
| Courtesy of Marty Joyce |
1958-59 Catholic League Lwt. Division 2nd Place Coach Clem Naughton
1960-61 Catholic League Lwt. Division 2nd Place Coach William Doherty
1962-63 Heavyweights were 6-6 Coach Clem Naughton
1964-65 Heavyweight record was 12-8 Coach Clem Naughton
1965-66 Heavyweight record was 11-13 Coach Clem Naughton
1966-67 Coach Joe Gubbins
1967-68 Coach Joe Gubbins
1968-69 Catholic League North Hwt. Champions Coach Otis Williams
1969-70 Last team Coach Otis Williams
| 1968-69 Catholic League North Champs |
 |
| courtesy of Jim O’Brien and Lisa Goodwin |
| St. Philip Coach Clem Naughton |
 |
| courtesy of Jim O’Brien & Lisa Goodwin |
| 1957-58 Gaels Lightweight Basketball team |
 |
| courtesy of Frank Pearson (son of #85, Johnny Pearson) |
| 1960-61 St. Philip Swim Team |
 |
| courtesy of Jim O’Brien & Lisa Goodwin |
SOFTBALL
In an experiment attempted by the Catholic League, St. Philip was one of seven schools that competed in the sport during the spring of 1943, along with St. George, DePaul Academy, Mt. Carmel, St. Rita, De La Salle, and Loyola. The Gaels were host to tripleheaders with all league contests at their own stadium, but the inclement weather held down the number of games that each team played and as a result, the experiment was not continued beyond that spring.
BOXING
The Catholic League also sponsored boxing (briefly in the 1930’s). St. Philip won the league’s boxing title in 1933, winning nine out of ten final matches. The following year, St. Philip competed for the “state” boxing title against St. George and Peru St. Bede, but the results are unknown, although St. Philip was dominating the preliminary matches. Here’s a couple of photos from that sport, submitted by Mike Stubley (a relative of student Charles Carey).
 
BOWLING
The Chicago Catholic League held an annual tournament to determine a conference title, and the Gaels won the championship during the 1958-59 school year, according to historian Robert Pruter. We have been able to find more information through yearbooks from 1960-70 that were shared by Lisa Goodwin and former principal Jim O’Brien.
1958-59 Catholic League Champs coach unknown
1960-61 4-1 Fr. Patrick Donovan
1961-62 Fr. Patrick Donovan
1962-63 Fr. Patrick Donovan
1963-64 Fr. Philip Scherer
1964-65 Fr. Philip Scherer
1965-66 3-1-2 Fr. Philip Scherer
1966-67 Fr. Philip Scherer
1967-68 Fr. Philip Scherer
1968-69 Fr. Philip Scherer
1969-70 Fr. Philip Scherer
SWIMMING
The school also had a swim team (see photo above), started by Tony Paris and later coached by one of his athletes, Tom Kehoe as well as Fr. Kevin Fitzpatrick. The latter also coached the school’s water polo team for the final three years of the school’ existence, and we certainly would like to know more about that program.
1960-61 Finished 4th of 11 schools at CCL Meet Coach Tony Paris
1962-63 Coach Tom Kehoe
1963-64 Coach Tom Kehoe
1964-65 Fr. Kevin Fitzpatrick
1965-66 Fr. Kevin Fitzpatrick
1966-67 Fr. Kevin Fitzpatrick
1967-68 Fr. Kevin Fitzpatrick
1968-69 Fr. Kevin Fitzpatrick
1969-70 Fr. Kevin Fitzpatrick
HOCKEY
The Gaels started a hockey program in the 1960s’ and had some success on the ice. From information that was gathered, the team was funded by the players themselves. Here’s a look at their history:
1962-63 First year Fr. Patrick Donovan
1963-64 6- 7-2 Fr. Patrick Donovan
1964-65 1-11-2 Fr. Brendan LaFave
1965-66 3- 7-3 Fr. Brendan LaFave
1966-67 Coach Bill Bright
1968-69 Fr. Tim Kremen
1969-70 Fr. Tim Kremen
MEMORIES
from Tony Salerno:
“My name is Tony Salerno and my Father, Joe Salerno, went to St. Philip’s 1944-48. He played football and basketball. He received a football scholarship to Xavier University. Dad tells me about the great football games against Fenwick and Johnny Lattner all the time.”
from Jack Hogan (class of 1948):
“I played on the heavyweight basketball team from 1944 to 1948. I’m surprised you didn’t know that the 1944-45 heavyweight team won the Chicago City Championship title (defeating Senn, the Public League champs at Chicago Stadium) and the lightweights won the Catholic League North Division Championship that same year.
“The heavyweight team probably would have won the state championship but could not compete because the Catholic League, at that time, did not comply with the state rule as to how many coaches a school could employ. That team was coached by Clem Naughton and had two great players named Ralph Hinger and Dick Kluck who both won scholarships to Notre Dame and played for The Fighting Irish. I may have some old photos and if I can find them I’ll send them to you.”
From George Lustrea:
“I remember the school very well. We lived on Lexington St. near Kedzie..I was a very good friend with Arthur Di Bouno..Me and him graduated Gregory grammar school in 1955…Being that I was not Catholic, I went to Austin and Arthur went to St.Philip’s..I remember him telling me what a great school St Philip’s was…..I still remember the sign “Home of the Fighting Gaels”….Thanks for letting me share this with you.”
From Dan Leo (class of 1948):
“This may be a bit of interesting history of the school.
“There was a concern in the early 40’s that there would be insufficient schools/classrooms available for children born of returning GIs. A program was initiated which selected students from various Catholic elementary schools to participate in an “experimental” program in which 6th grade students were placed as freshmen at St. Philip.
“We were segregated for the first year. The next year, we went into the general population. My class was 4CS. After four years, very few of us graduated. The experiment was not considered a success and was not repeated. I graduated just after my 15th birthday. I believe that I was the youngest graduate of the school.
“Those were good years and believe that I received an excellent education.
“I would absolutely advise against rapid promotions. In addition to social issues, I was “privileged” to work an additional three years.”
from Frank Adams:
“I recall Bill Minor as a pretty good basketball and football player in 1961. He went on to play football at Illinois and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the eleventh round in 1965. I am not sure of his longevity as a pro player.”
from Anthony Coleman (class of 1968):
“I was a little disappointed that some really great athletes were not included in the article. Greg Jackson was an all-state basketball player who played at the U of I for four years (he was in the class of 1967). Mike Mihalich (not sure of the spelling) was all-state center and linebacker 1962 & 1963 when most of our football players were playing on both sides of the ball. Thanks for your attending to this matter.”
from George Gfroerer IV (grandson of graduate):
“I have had this picture of my grandfather for some time now. His name was George Gfroerer and I believe he graduated from St. Philip’s in 1916. It might be 1917, but we believe 1916. He is the third from the left on the top row.
“For a long time, we thought it was his graduation picture from Northwestern Law. However, my mother though it was St. Philip’s, so I went to your website and picture at the top matches this picture perfectly with the columns and windows. I saw you were looking for pictures, so I scanned this in for you. I hope you enjoy.”
from Charles Pierce:
Ed Kelly and Bob Luksta were part of the ’45 city champs and a life of coaching (DePaul U., Loyola of New Orleans, etc).
from Tony Rende (dated December 2, 2019):
“I actually went to Weber High School, but my cousin went to St. Philip’s, and I got to wondering if it had suffered the same fate (closure) as my school, and most ot the other Catholic high schools in Chicago.
“I found the website and went on to read the other information, which I found very interesting. But when I got the part about the swim team, it stated that the swim team was started in 1960. I swam for Weber from 1955-59, and clearly remember swimming against St. Philip’s during that time. I think I may have even swum against Tom Kehoe, who is shown as a coach later. I have no knowledge of when the team started, but must have been before 1960.
“Also in that timeframe, St. Philip’s had a standout basketball player, who would shoot from the outside with a very unconventional two-handed shot, but was uncannily accurate. Sorry to say, I don’t remember his name, but he was well-known and one of the top player in the league at the time. If you have access to some old-timers, they would probably remember him.”
From Ken Lippe (dated 12/22/2024):
“Hello, I have a stack of the same high school newspaper from May 29, 1946, the twenty third anniversary issue (see below).”
WE NEED ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET!!!!
If you or someone you know has information regarding the history of St. Philip High School, whether if be expanding on our listing of details or submitting a photo of one of its teams, please let us know. To send us your information, please email us at dr.veeman@gmail.com, or send via USPS to:
IHSGD Website
6439 North Neva
Chicago, IL 60631 |
