New Grade School in Foreground – Submitted by Douglas Combs
New Pocahontas Center Grade School
Pocahontas, Illinois
The History of Pocahontas High School
Pocahontas (population 727) is located on Interstate Highway 70 and U.S. Route 40 about 40 miles northeast of East St. Louis. This places Pocahontas in the southwest corner of Bond County. The Conrail Railroad and a branch of the Shoal Creek both run through town.
The history of the town and its school system are in need of research.
Roger Haberer provided the following memories and information on the Pocahontas school system:
“I grew up in Pocahontas but missed by 2 years in attending Pocahontas High School . I attended school in Pocahontas from the 1st thru 8th grades in the original school building and current gym. In 1958 I started high school in Greenville (Bond County Community Unit District #2 High School), graduating in 1962. Both of my parents graduated from PHS. My father, in fact, played basketball for Joe Lucco while he coached there. Joe Lucco’s home town was Pocahontas. As a child it was always exciting attending basketball games on Friday nights.
Pocahontas HS School Board – 1910
Submitted by Douglas Combs
Pocahontas HS Building Cornerstone – 1910
Now Base of School Bell – Courtesy of Douglas Combs
The last year for Pocahontas High School was 1956 when Bond County Community Unit District #2 was formed and the schools of Pocahontas, Sorento, and Greenville (and maybe Reno ) attended the new Bond County Community Unit District #2 High School (known of course as Greenville High School ).
The school building at Pocahontas was torn down and the grade school built on its location – I do not know the date. The high school gym (which at that time also consisted of the band room, ag room and cafeteria) was left intact and is now used by the grade school. Part of the new school was built in front of, and is connected to, the gym.”
Consolidated to: Bond County High School (Greenville)
School nickname: the “Indians”
School colors: Purple & Gold
School yearbook: the “Powhatan”
School Fight Song: unavailable
Pocahontas High School Trophy Case
Photo Taken by Douglas Combs
Pocahontas Gymnasium Half Court Logo
Photo Courtesy of Douglas Combs
Athletics
Pocahontas High School (c’mon, they HAD to be the “Indians”!) definately offered boys basketball. Track and baseball may have also been offered to the boys. We have VERY limited information available. We are hopeful a Pocahontas resident or former alumnus can help us out.
Boys Basketball
According to the IHSA web site (www.ihsa.org) the Pocahontas High School boys basketball team brought home two District titles during their existence. The team records and coach’s names were not available. If you have information on these two teams as well as other Pocahontas High School accomplishments please e-mail us the information so we can share it with others.
Roger Haberer added this information regarding the Pocahontas gymnasium:
“I haven’t been in the gym for several years but originally the benches and scoring table were located on the stage. The stage was on the west side of the court and was about 4’ above the floor. After timeouts, the substitute players always had to help their Coach get back to the bench on the stage. The wooded bleachers only on the east side began about 4’ above the floor and consisted of 8 to 10 rows. The floor was very near the walls with only about 1’ between the out of bounds line and the wall.”
What a great atmosphere it must have been to play at old PHS!
1955-56 Highland Regional Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
**1st Rd lost to Aviston 82-59
Aviston lost to Greenville in semi-final
Greenville lost to Highland in title game
**Final basketball game for Pocahontas High School.
One of the top 50 winningest coaches in the state of Illinois, Joe Lucco, started his coaching career at Pocahontas High School. After stints at Kincaid and Edwardsville, Lucco had a career record of 562-267.
Pocahontas versus Collinsville from research by Mark Jurenga:
Despite the obvious enrollment difference, Pocahontas took on many bigger schools, including:
Pocahontas High School Record vs. Collinsville
*Collinsville High sits at #2 behind Centralia as the winningest team in IHSA history with 1,939 wins after the 2006-2007 season.
The Series:
4 meetings
Collinsville won series: 4-0
At Collinsville: Collinsville led 3-0
At Pocahontas: NA
Neutral Site: Collinsville led 1-0
1938 State Fair Band Championship Trophy
Submitted by Douglas Combs
Band
The Pocahontas band of 1938 had a lot to toot their horns about. The trophy pictured to your right was won at the Illinois State Fair that year. The trophy reads:
Governor Hori(ver?) Trophy
Champion High School Band Group #1
1938 Illinois State Fair
Information from the 1953-54 Yearbook
Courtesy of Mark Jurenga
Principal: Mr. James Kesner. Principal/coach/History teacher/co-sponsor of Sr. class.
1954 Senior class history.
Frosh (23 enrolled)
President………………Delores Albert
Vice-Presdient………..Arnold Zobrist
Secretary……………..Eunice Miles
Treasurer……………..Karla Kuhn
Soph.
President……………..Edith Zobrist
Vice-President……….Delores Albert
Secretary…………….Shirley Weiss
Treasurer…………….Karla Kuhn
Junior
President…………….Clifford Gruner
Vice-President………Karla Kuhn
Treasurer……………Delores Albert
Reporter…………….Marlene Mettler
Sergeant-at-Arms….Elvin Zimmerman
*Delores Albert won the title as Pocahontas Queen that year.
Senior (20 enrolled)
President……………Lucille Farley
Vice-President……..Karla Kuhn
Secretary…………..Clifford Gruner
Treasurer…………..Edith Zobrist
Senior Play for Class of 1954 “Gown of Glory”
Senior “skip-hike” to Washington D. C., New York City and Niagara Falls.
Sports in the 1953-54 school year were boys baseball and basketball.
Clubs included FFA, FHA
NOTE: Despite showing a picture of the baseball team, no schedule or results were printed.
Teams on the basketball schedule included: Aviston, Breese, Coffeen, Highland, Highland (St. Paul), Livingston, Mulberry Grove, Troy, Trenton, Venice, Worden. They also played in something called the MBC Tourney at Trenton. (I’m assuming that was the Madison and Bond County Tourney, perhaps a conference tourney.)
Seeking Your In-Put
Pocahontas High School did exist due to the hard and heartfelt efforts of the folks who lived there during that time. Their efforts deserve to be remembered. If you can offer any infomation regarding the many accomplishments and successes made at PHS you can e-mail us at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net. . You can also write to us at:
