Athletics
John Swaney High School offered basketball for sure. This is evidenced by the four District titles won by the Pirate boys’ basketball teams. The Pirates also saw one of its boys bring home two medals from the Illinois State Track Meet under the old one class system. Baseball was offered throughout the existence of SHS. Short runs in wrestling and football are touched upon later.Tennis courts were built on the school grounds; however, tennis was never offered as a competitive sport. The successes of the school in athletics are listed below.
Boys Basketball
The Swaney High School Pirates took home a total of four District titles. Two of the titles were won as Swaney High School and two were won as Magnolia-Swaney High School.
As (McNabb) Swaney High School:
1919-20 LaSalle District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd Beat DePue 35-21
2nd Rd Beat Tonica 25-11
Semi-Final lost to Streator 30-16
Streator Beat LaSalle in title game
1920-21 LaSalle District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Mendota 18-10
1921-22 Ottawa District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd Beat Bureau Township 30-16
2nd Rd lost (Score Needed)
1922-23 thru 1926-27 Postseason scores, record, and coaches’ names needed.
1927-28 IHSA District Champions Coach’s name & record needed
District Scores Needed.
Peoria Sectional Tournament
1st Rd lost to Manito 23-11
1929-30 IHSA District Champions Coach’s name & record needed
Tri-County Tourney Runner-Up
District Scores Needed.
Peoria Sectional Tournament
1st Rd lost to Peoria Manual 22-13
Manual Beat Seneca in title game.
1930-31 Tri-County Tourney Runner-Ups Coach’s name & record needed
District Scores Needed.
1931-32 Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.
1932-33 Wenona District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd Beat Lostant 30-22
2nd Rd Beat Rutland 19-13
Semi-Final lost to Long Point 26-24
Long Point Beat Henry in title game
1933-34 Wenona District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Sparland 27-11
1934-35 Streator District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Grand Ridge 40-13
1935-36 Wenona District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd Beat Varna 41-33
Semi-final lost to Dana 35-20
Dana beat Lostant in title game
1936-37 Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.
1937-38 Wenona District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd Beat Magnolia 30-23
2nd Rd lost to Tonica 19-16
Rutland Beat Varna in title game
1938-39 Wenona District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Varna 36-30
1939-40 Record & District Scores Needed Coach A.I. Bolton
1940-41 Wenona District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Sparland 21-19
1941-42 Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.
1942-43 Varna District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd Beat Magnolia 26-21
2nd Rd Beat Tonica 25-24
Semi-Final lost to Lostant 45-24
Lostant beat Dana in title game
1943-44 Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.
1944-45 Varna District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Varna 50-18
1945-46 Varna District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Magnolia 27-21
1946-47 Wenona Regional Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
(Not assigned to a District this season.)
1st Rd lost to Wenona 54-41
1947-48 Wenona Regional Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
(Not assigned to a District this season.)
1st Rd lost to Cornell 44-43
As Magnolia-Swaney High School:
1948-49 Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.
1949-50 Varna District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Sparland 50-31
1950-51 Varna District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Sparland 53-26
1951-52 Varna District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Toluca 39-28
1952-53 Hennepin District Champions Coach’s name & record needed
Semi-Final Beat Long Point 71-57
Title Game Beat Sparland
Henry Regional Tournament
1st Rd Beat Granville Hopkins 60-42
Semi-Final lost to Henry 71-55
1953-54 Hennepin District Champions Coach’s name & record needed
Semi-Final Score Needed
Title Game Beat Cornell 65-59
Granville Regional Tournament
1st Rd lost to Tonica 65-46
1954-55 Tonica District Runner-Up Coach’s name & record needed
Semi-final score needed
Title Game lost to Tonica 62-54
1955-56 Tonica District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd Beat Hennepin 66-64
Semi-final lost to Tonica 69-50
1956-57 Lostant District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd Beat Lostant 76-60
Semi-final lost to Sparland 66-61
1957-58 Wenona District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Wenona 71-37
1958-59 Wenona District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Wenona 55-36
1959-60 Toluca District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Sparland 78-39
1960-61 Lostant District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Lostant 87-39
1961-62 Lostant District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Lostant 76-36
1962-63 Lostant District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Tonica 62-52
1963-64 Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.
1964-65 Lostant District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd lost to Cornell 74-58
1965-66 Tonica District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
*1st Rd lost to Cornell 61-54
*Final varsity basketball game played by the Magnolia-Swaney High School “Pirates.”
One of the best players to grace the hardwood of McNabb-Magnolia-Swaney High School was Jim Kinney. He had a couple of huge perforamances in the 1956-57 Basketball season. In a December 14, 1956 game against Neponset, he scored 56 points to lead his team to victory. A few games later, he broke his own record by putting up 61 points in a January 15 game against Hennepin. He was 23-for-45 from the field in that game.
Boys Track & Field
One athlete excelled in track on a State Meet level at Swaney High School. Thomas Quinney brought back two medals in two different years for the Pirates. The skipped year is not a misprint. We are not sure as to why Thomas Quinney did not place in the 1932-33 meet.
1931-32 Thomas Quinney 1 Mile Run 4th Place
1933-34 Thomas Quinney 880 Yard Run 3rd Place
Wrestling
Wrestling was also offered at Swaney High School. In fact, the boys there excelled at the sport. It was before the 1933 school year started when a teacher named Paul Benbow was hired to teach Chemistry and Agriculture. Mr. Benbow was also a former wrestler at the University of Illinois. He received permission to start a wrestling program for the boys of Swaney HS. What a great Coach he would prove to be, leading the boys to incredible heights from 1933 to 1936.
The Swaney boys teams had to travel far in some cases just to find another team to compete with as there were very few wrestling programs in the area at the time. A State Wrestling Tournament (wrestling was not officially recognized by the IHSA until the 1936-37 school year) was held by the schools who had programs. The Swaney boys were winners of the tournament in 1934! Imagine, State Champions for such a small school who competed against much bigger schools such as Champaign! One of the rewards for winning the tournament was that Swaney High School was able to host the State-wide tournament the very next year.
Two of the boys from Swaney were recognized as Individual Champions for the school. Thomas Quinney and Gwynne Peterson both earned multiple individual championships for their respective weight classes.
Mr. Benbow left the school after the spring of 1936 and the wrestling program came to end.
Football
Though very brief, the football “program” at Swaney High was not without a great story. The school started a team in 1922. The Henry News Republican reported that the football team played its first game on October 7th, 1922. They were matched against a much larger school in Chillicothe. A much larger school meant much larger players and the result was none too pretty. The Swaney boys worked to the bitter end but came up on the short end of a 101-0 score. Their second game against Wenona resulted in a lopsided defeat, too. It also ended in many injuries for the boys on the team and football was discontinued then and there. The football program ended with a record of 0-2 and was never restarted.
Need More Information
We have received a great amount of information from local historian Lonna Nauman and will post more later. If you have any other information you would like to share regarding Swaney High School please complete a or a Guest Commentary Form. We always are looking for photos of the school building and great teams and coaches of note. You can also reach us via e-mail at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net or write us at:
Illinois HS Glory Days
6439 N. Neva St.
Chicago, Il. 60631
Swaney School Cheers |
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Wrestling Champs – Thomas Quinney and Gwynne Peterson |
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