Mazon High School “Red Devils”

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Mazon High School Building 1912 – 1955
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Submitted by Kerry Gonnam
Mazon School History
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Submitted by Kerry Gonnam (left click on photo for larger view)

The History of Mazon High School

Mazon (population 904) is located on Il. Route 47 approximately 8 miles south of Morris.  This places Mazon in the south-center of Grundy County.  “Johnny Run” creek runs through town as does the famous railroad of song, the Atchison, Topeka, & Sante Fe.

The origin of Mazon dates back to the 1830s. The town was given its name due to an abundance of a plant called nettle which grew in the area. Mazon is the Algonquin Native American name for nettle. The plant was used by Native Americans to make a form of rope. Mazon was officially recognized as a town in 1895.

Mazon residents began an education system for the children very early on in its settlement. In 1855 a school was built specifically for this purpose. In 1875 an addition to this school was needed to house the numerous students attending due to the growing population. The photo below depicts this building.

Mazon School 1855 – 1888
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Submitted by Kerry Gonnam (left click on photo for larger view)

In the late 1880s, either 1888 or 1889, a brick school building was constructed in Mazon. This building housed a 2-year high school. The first graduating class from this school earned their diplomas in 1893. In 1906 the course of study was increased to a 4-year high school. This building continued to serve the town in this capacity until 1912. A new brick building replaced it and the 1888 building eventually became an apartment house. See photo below.

Mazon HS Building 1888 – 1912
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Submitted by Kerry Gonnam (left click on photo for larger view)

In 1912 a new brick high school building was erected in Mazon. This building was a 3-story structure. In 1919 a gymnasium was added to the grounds. The 1912 building served as Mazon High School until 1955 when a new high school building was constructed. This 1912 high school building was demolished to make way for a new grade school building. The gymnasium, however, remained and is still in use today as the grade school gym. A photo of the gym is available further down on this page. A photo of the 1912 building is available below.

Mazon HS Building 1912 – 1955
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Submitted by Kerry Gonnam (left click on photo for larger view)

The school was known as Mazon Community and later Mazon Township High School through the 1972-73 school year. In 1973 the communities of Kinsman and Verona, each of whom were operating a K-8 grade school and sending their kids to Mazon for high school, voted to consolidate their efforts completely with Mazon. The Mazon High School then became officially known as Mazon-Verona-Kinsman High School, though most people in the area had been referring to the high school in this manner since the 1955 building was constructed.

Mazon-Verona-Kinsman High School Bldg. 1955-1990
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Submitted by Kerry Gonnam (left click on photo for larger view)

The Mazon-Verona-Kinsman High School  district lasted through the 1990 school year.  In 1990 M-V-K was deactivated and the school district was annexed into the Seneca School System.

There continues to operate an elementary school and a middle school that between them serve grades K – 8 for the kids of Mazon, Verona, and Kinsman.

Mazon High School Quick Facts

Year opened:                    late 1800s

Year became M-V-K HS: 1973

School nickname:             the “Red Devils”

School colors:                   Red & White

School Fight Song:         “Mazon High, We’re True to You”

                                      Mazon High, we’re true to you,

                                      Our Alma Mater ever dear.

                                      Mazon High, we’re true to you,

                                      That we are loyal, never fear.

                                      Mazon High, we’re true to you,

                                      We greet you now with cheer and song,

                                      With deeds of worth and tested courage strong,

                                      Mazon High, we’re true to you.

                                                                  Cheer

                                      Mazon High!  Mazon High!  Mazon High! GO!

                                             The Team!  The Team!  The Team!
Mazon High School Gymnasium 1919 – 1955
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Submitted by Kerry Gonnam, Still in use as Grade School Gym Today
Grade School Gym Building 2011
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Former High School Gym, Built in 1919

Athletics

Two sports are cited on the IHSA web site as winning IHSA hardware; Boys Basketball and Boys Track & Field.  It is thought that Mazon High School also offered baseball and possibly football.  We know they excelled in Track as you will read below.

Kerry Gonnam advises that Mazon HS competed in football in the 1940s and possibly in the 1950s. The school competed in baseball in the 1960s for certain and offered wrestling in the 1960s as well.

If you have any information on Mazon HS please e-mail us at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net .

Boys Track & Field

The boys track team of 1916 brought home some real IHSA hardware.  The team finished 3rd in the “B” Meet, topping such schools as Aurora West and Normal University HS.  The results and individual winners in the meet are listed below. Excellent job Mazon Tracksters!!

1915-16      H. Newport       Discus                 2nd Place

                 H. Newport       Shot Put              2nd Place

                 Drake               220 Yard Run       4th Place

                                         880 Yard Relay    2nd Place

                             Final Team Standings – 1916 “B” Meet

                             1.)   Harrisburg       –      20 points

2.)   Jacksonville    –      13

3.)   MAZON          –      10

3.)   Oregon           –      10

3.)   Pawnee          –      10

6.)   Georgetown    –        9

7.)   Normal U-High         8

7.)   Aurora West   –        8

7.)   Byron             –        8

7.)   Manteno         –        8

1960-61              Coach Keith Houchin

1961-62              Coach Keith Houchin

1962-63              Coach Tom Kroll

1963-64              Coach Tom Kroll

Boys Cross Country

The Mazon High School Cross Country team had one athletes who medaled at the state meet TWICE!

1956-57                 Bill Mellon                   5th Place State Meet       

1957-58                                                     4th Place State Meet

Boys Basketball

The Mazon High School “Red Devils” enjoyed many great seasons on the hardwood court. Included in this was the magical season during the 1967-68 school year. The boys of this year won the Coal Valley Conference Championship, were Plano Holiday Tournament Champs and Odell District Champions.  The team was coached by Mr. Keith Houchin with a record of 24 – 5 for the year.  Members of that team included.

Rick Beeler – senior, Nicholas Walsh – sophomore, Robert Plott – junior, Dennis Jackson – senior, Daniel Arnold – sophomore, James Prindiville – junior, William Frizzell – senior, Douglas Lowery – senior,Gregory Finch – junior, Roy Ryan – junior, and David Roe – senior.

Several scores involving Mazon High School playing in the IHSA State Tourney were located on a website titled “Illinois Postseason Basketball Scores.” These scores are included below.

1919-20   (Record Needed)        Coach Reuben Hultgren

From Eric Hultgren:  “Reuben H. Hultgren, my grandfather, taught and coached at Mazon High School after serving in the Navy during WWI.  I’m not sure what he taught that early in his career but he was the athletics coach during that time.”

Mazon HS Basketball Coach Reuben H. Hultgren 1920
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Submitted by Eric Hultgren
Mazon HS B-ball Team/Coach Reuben Hultgren 1919-20
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Submitted by Eric Hultgren

1921-22                     Joliet District Tournament              Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd Beat Marseilles 21-16

2nd Rd Score Needed

Joliet beat Gardner in title game

1922-23 through 1931-32  Postseason scores, records, and coaches’ names needed

1932-33                     Dwight District Tournament           Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Reddick 29-25

Reddick lost to Pontiac in 2nd Rd.

Pontiac beat Morris in title game

1933-34                     Dwight District Runner-Up         Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd Beat Forrest 26-22

                                  2nd Rd Beat Morris 23-21

                                  Semi-final Beat Fairbury 26-23 (O/T)

Title Game lost to Dwight 28-17

*The site lists Mazon as advancing to the Joliet Sectional, however this is not confirmed. Here are the results of that tournament for Mazon as listed:

Joliet Sectional Tournament

                                  1st Rd Beat LaGrange 26-21

                                  Semi-final lost to Joliet 33-14

Joliet lost to Thornton in title game

Thornton lost to Quincy in IHSA Title game

1934-35                     Dwight District Tournament           Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Cullom 19-18

Cullom lost to Gardner in title game

1935-36                     Mazon District Runner-Up          Coach’s name & record needed

Semi-final Beat Serena 25-24

                                  Title Game lost to Braidwood 29-18

1936-37                     Morris Regional Tournament         Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Serena 33-23

Serena lost to Coal City in semi-final

Coal City beat Braidwood in title game

1937-38  Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.

1938-39                     Dwight Regional Tournament        Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Dwight 32-25

Dwight beat Coal City in title game

Dwight won Sectional also.

Dwight lost to Champaign in Sweet 16

1939-40                     Dwight Regional Runner-Up      Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd Beat Chatsworth 33-32

                                  Semi-final Beat Coal City

Title Game lost to Dwight 41-37

1940-41                     Marseilles Regional Tournament  Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Streator 51-24

Streator beat Marseilles in title game

Streator lost in Sweet 16 Rd to Canton

Canton placed 4th in IHSA Tourney

1941-42                     Streator Regional Tournament      Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Streator 59-40

Streator beat Morris in title game

Streator lost in Elite 8 Rd to Paris

Paris lost in State Championship game

1942-43  Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.

1943-44                     Dwight Regional Tournament        Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Pontiac 79-37

Gardner beat Pontiac in title game

1944-45                     Dwight Regional Tournament        Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Pontiac 71-42

Coal City beat Pontiac in semi-final

Coal City beat Gardner in title game

1945-46                     Dwight Regional Tournament        Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Gardner 37-33

Gardner lost to Pontiac in semi-final

Pontiac beat Cullom in title game

1946-47                     Dwight Regional Tournament        Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Forrest 70-43

Forrest beat Coal City in title game

1947-48                     Dwight Regional Tournament        Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Pontiac 52-31

Coal City beat Pontiac in semi-final

Forrest beat Coal City in title game

1948-49                     Dwight Regional Tournament        Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Coal City 54-36

Forrest beat Coal City in title game

1949-50                     Piper City District Tournament       Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Cullom 54-32

Cullom lost to Odell St. Paul in title game

1950-51                     Chatsworth District Tournament    Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Cullom 42-24

Cullom lost to Odell St. Paul in title game

1951-52                     Earlville District Tournament          Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Earlville 91-27

Earlville lost to Minooka in title game

1952-53                     Gardner Regional Tournament      Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Gardner 46-44

Gardner lost to Braidwood in semi-final

Braidwood lost to Pontiac in title game

1953-54                     Pontiac Regional Tournament        Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Dwight 56-40

Dwight lost to Braidwood in semi-final

Pontiac beat Braidwood in title game

1954-55  Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.

1955-56                     Gardner Regional Tournament       Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Pontiac 96-75

Pontiac beat Coal City in title game

1956-57                     Mazon Regional Tournament        Coach’s name &record needed

     1st Rd Beat 54-41

Semi-final lost to Pontiac 63-57

Pontiac beat Coal City in title game

1957-58                     Wilmington Regional Tourney        Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Coal City 63-62 (O/T)

Coal City lost to Wilmington in semi-final

Wilmington beat Pontiac in title game

1958-59                     Dwight Regional Tournament        Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd Beat Coal City 61-57

Semi-final lost to Pontiac 61-46

Pontiac beat Kempton in title game

1959-60                     Gardner Regional Tournament      Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Braidwood 58-41

Braidwood beat Wilmington in title game

1960-61                    Mazon Regional Tournament         Coach Keith Houchin

                   1st Rd lost to Wilmington 59-49

Wilmington lost to Odell St Paul in semi-final

St. Paul beat Braidwood in title game

Mazon HS Basketball 1960-61
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Submitted by Kerry Gonnam

1961-62   20 – 6        Coal Valley Conference Champions       Coach Keith Houchin

 Pontiac Regional Scores

1st Rd Beat Dwight 77-58

Semi-final lost to Pontiac 78-63

Pontiac beat St. Paul in title game

Article Regarding Regional Tourn. – 1961-62 Season
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Submitted by Kerry Gonnam

1962-63                    Dwight Regional Tournament          Coach Keith Houchin

                   1st Rd lost to Braidwood 79-40

Braidwood beat Pontiac in title game

1963-64                    Gardner Regional Tournament        Coach Keith Houchin

                   1st Rd lost to Reddick 68-35

Reddick lost to Pontiac in semi-final

Pontiac beat Coal City in title game

1964-65                     Pontiac Regional  Tournament       Coach Keith Houchin

1st Rd Beat Dwight 71-65

Semi-final lost to Pontiac 64-59 (O/T)

Coal City beat Pontiac in title game

1965-66                    Dwight Regional Tournament          Coach Keith Houchin

                   1st Rd lost to Coal City 57-49

Braidwood beat Coal City in title game

1966-67                     Pontiac Regional  Tournament       Coach Keith Houchin

1st Rd Beat Wilmington 58-45

Semi-final lost to Dwight 56-48

Dwight beat Pontiac in title game

1967-68        24 – 5    Odell District Champions            Coach Keith Houchin

                                    Coal Valley Conf. Champs

                                    Plano Christmas Classic Champs

                                    (Beat Lisle Sr. HS, a much larger school)

                                  Odell District Scores

                                  1st Rd Beat Cullom 54-40

                                  Semi-final Beat Flanagan 57-47

                                  Title Game Beat Reddick 48-42 (O/T)

                                  Dwight Regional Tournament

1st Rd Beat Herscher 85-53

Semi-final lost to Pontiac 75-50

Pontiac beat Dwight in title game

1968-69                     Pontiac Regional Tournament        Coach’s name &record needed

1st Rd lost to Pontiac 105-63

Pontiac beat Reddick in title game

1969-70                     Cullom District Tournament            Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Cornell 68-59

Cornell lost to Redick in title game                   

 

1970-71                     Mazon District Tournament            Coach Lawrence Ahern

1st Rd lost to Odell 69-49

Odell lost to Reddick in title game

1971-72                     Marseilles Class ‘A’ Regional         Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Marseilles 70-55

Marseilles beat Minooka in title game

*1972-73                    Mazon Class ‘A’ Regional              Coach’s name & record needed

1st Rd lost to Minooka 67-50

Minooka lost to Wilmington in title game

*School became officially known as Mazon-Verona-Kinsman in the summer of 1973.

Girls Basketball

Mazon High School organized a Girls Basketball team before the days of Title IX and competed in unofficial IHSA state tournaments before actual Tournament play started in 1977. The earliest recorded team played for Mazon High School in the 1919-20 school year. An article from the Mazon HS yearbook of 1920 is available as provided by Catherine Sidwell. Catherine’s grandmother, Thelma McClellan, played on this team. There are a couple of other schools on this site that had these teams as well. MHS’s teams excelled in the early 1940’s as they took second place in the Tournament three straight years in a row from 1941 to 1943! On top of that, they had a third-place finish in 1944.

Mazon HS Girls Basketball – 1919-20
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Submitted by Catherine Sidwell (From 1920 Mazon HS Yearbook)

Wrestling

Wrestling was a part of the athletic program in the early 1960s for certain. If you have any further information please contact us.

1962-63                Coach Tom Kroll

1963-64                Coach Tom Kroll

1965-66                Coach Roger Krause

    

Baseball

 

The Red Devils participated in baseball in the 1960s as well. It is likely the school fielded a team from the 1920s through the 1970s, possibly into the final year the school was open (1989-90). If you have any information regarding the Red Devil baseball program, please contact us.

1960-61            Coach Keith Houchin

1961-62            Coach Keith Houchin

1962-63            Coach Keith Houchin

1963-64            Coach Keith Houchin

1964-65            Coach Keith Houchin

1965-66            Coach Kent Alderson

Football

  

Football was offered at Mazon High School for several years from 1947-51 before it was discontinued. Thanks to our good friend and conference historian Tom Sikorski, we have been able to locate information about the school’s football program:

1947  0-2        Coach unknown (only two games found)

1948  0-7        Coach unknown

1949  3-5        Coach George Walker

1950  3-4-1     Coach unknown

1951  0-6-1     Coach unknown (missing one game)

Memories & Information

**From Kerry Gonnam:

“I am a member of the class of 1964 which I believe might be the largest class to graduate in the history of the school, 50 students.  My wife graduated in 1965.  During the time we were in school MVK belonged to the Coal Valley Conference which included Coal City, Wilmington, Reed Custer, Dwight, Seneca, Woodland, and Mazon.  At that time our most popular sport was boys basketball and was a major social activity for the town when we played.

Mazon had a Sesquicentennial in 1976 which we attended and they created a marvelous history of the town and printed it.  We have a copy and when I looked there was this whole section on Mazon Schools.  Pg 1 is all text, Pg 2 contains a good picture of the High School built in 1912, Pg 3 is mostly text, Pg 4 has a picture of the old Grade School/High School that sat on the East side of Rte 47, and Pg 5 I am sending for the caption which gives a history of the dates things were built and says at that time it was a two year high school.

In the early 20th Century Mazon was the crossing point of the Kankakee & Seneca RR. and the Santa Fe RR. This crossing occurred as both rr’s crossed Rte 47. This was even written up in Ripley’s Believe It or Not.  The school on 47 was only about a block north of this intersection.  My mother grew up on a farm about 1.5 miles east of Mazon along the K&S and walked the right of way to get to and from the school.  Sometimes, if things worked out, she would hitch a ride on the train.  Try doing that now! I hope all this is of some interest to you.”

Need More Information 

If you have information you would like to share with us regarding Mazon High School please complete a Guest Commentary Form. We would especially like a photo of the original High School building and great sports teams of MHS history. You can e-mail this information to us at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net or write to us at:

Illinois HS Glory Days

6439 N. Neva St.

Chicago, Il.   60631

Mazon High School Class of 1918
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Submitted by Dixie Stitt
Mazon HS Freshman Class of 1920
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Submitted by Catherine Sidwell (From 1920 Mazon HS Yearbook)
Mazon HS Photo Montage – 1920
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Submitted by Catherine Sidwell (From 1920 Mazon HS Yearbook)
Mazon HS Photo Montage – 1920
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Submitted by Catherine Sidwell (From 1920 Mazon HS Yearbook)
Mazon HS Freshman Class Officers – 1920
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Submitted by Catherine Sidwell (From 1920 Mazon HS Yearbook)
Mazon HS Basketball Players – 1920
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Submitted by Catherine Sidwell (From 1920 Mazon HS Yearbook)

The photos above were submitted by Catherine Sigwell. Catherine’s grandmother and uncle were Fred McClellan (photo to the left) and Thelma McClellan, pictured in the photo to the right.

Mazon Township High School
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1912 – 1955
 


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