Joliet Central High School

Joliet Central High School
Address
201 East Jefferson Street Joliet, Illinois, 60432 USA
Information
School type	public secondary
Opened	1901
School district	Joliet Twp. HS 204
Superintendent	Dr. Cheryl McCarthy [1]
Principal	Shad Hallihan [2]
Grades	9–12
Gender	coed
Enrollment	2,762[3]
Average class size	18.8[3]
Campus type	urban
Color(s)	royal blue      gold [4]
Athletics conference	Southwest Suburban Conference
Team name	Steelmen/Steelwomen[4]
Average ACT scores	18.1[3]
Newspaper	JTC Journal
Website	www.jths.org/central
Joliet Township High School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	201 E. Jefferson St., Joliet, Illinois
Coordinates	41°31′31″N 88°04′29″W / 41.5254°N 88.0747°WCoordinates: 41°31′31″N 88°04′29″W / 41.5254°N 88.0747°W
Area	3.6 acres (1.5 ha)
Built	1901
Architectural style	Other, collegiate Gothic
NRHP Reference #	82002604[5]
Added to NRHP	August 12, 1982

Joliet Central High School is a public secondary school located in Joliet, Illinois. Central is part of Joliet Township High Schools, along with Joliet West and Joliet East (now defunct). Before the opening of Joliet East and West, the school was called Joliet Township High School. In 1993, when Joliet Central and Joliet West combined many of their athletic and other competitive extracurricular programs, the combined program took the old "Joliet Township" name.

In 1982, the school building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was designed by Frank Shaver Allen.

The school's notable alumni have gone on to careers in fields from arts and letters to science and technology.

Building

The school is four stories tall, two city blocks long, and includes four separate buildings. The campus underwent a moderate expansion during 2005 when the old shop building was knocked down and a new building was erected in its place. A catwalk connects the main building to the T&I building and allows students to cross unencumbered during inclement weather. The facilities include a daycare center (on the ground floor of the Little Theater building), a planetarium, six tennis courts, one soccer field, four baseball fields, a 1/16-mile indoor track and a 1/4-mile track across the street to the east.

There is an historical display on the second floor near the South Entrance that is maintained by the Joliet Central Historical Society. Many archived items are kept in a vault; the display includes the original Steelman sculpture and conceptual models of it from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. The Steelman was sculpted by Louise Lentz Woodruff and is positioned with its hands behind a male and female, symbolizing technology advancing humans. It is surrounded by the original relief panels representing the basic sciences: astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, medicine, and geology. It has long been considered good luck to rub the right knee of the male before any test or sporting events; therefore, the knee has been worn away and reconstituted over the years.

After finishing a new parking lot in 2007, Central began constructing a Field House over the parking lot. In October 2008, the Field House was completed.

Athletics

In sports, the district had combined teams between Joliet West and Joliet Central that was collectively known as "Joliet Township." However, the schools separated and now have two athletics. The program is a member of the Southwest Suburban Conference (SWSC) and the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). In this combined form the Steelmen/Steelwomen name which continues to be used by Joliet Central when it competes alone, is used for the combined teams. Joliet Central is the headquarters for the combined athletic program.

The athletic department sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.^[6] Young men may compete in baseball, football, and wrestling, while young women may compete in badminton, cheerleading, and softball.^[6] While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school sponsors a poms team.^[6]

The following teams finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state championship tournament:^[7]

• Baseball: 2nd place (1974–75)
• Basketball (boys): 4th place (1994–95); 3rd place (1969–70); State Champions (1936–37)
• Golf (boys): 2nd place (1951–52)
• Softball: State Champions (1999–2000)
• Track & Field (boys): 4th place (1905–06, 14–15); 2nd place (1931–32); State Champions (1915–16)
• Track & Field (girls): 4th place (1993–94)
• Wrestling: 4th place (1946–47, 47–48); 2nd place (1985–86); State Champions (1984–85)
• Football: State Champions (1961–62) ; (1962–63)

During the 2008–2009 school year, Central and West began to separate their football programs, causing the West mascot to become the Tiger again, leaving Central as the Steelmen. The split began with Joliet's freshmen football team dividing. By the 2010–2011 school year, Joliet Central and Joliet West will have their own football teams. All of the other sports have divided too.

Notable alumni

Katherine Dunham

John Houbolt

Robert Novak

• Jesse Barfield (1977) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder (1981–92), playing most of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays. He won two Gold Gloves and one Silver Slugger.^[8][9]
• Garland Buckeye, former MLB player (Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, New York Giants)
• Lois Delander (1931) was, while a student at the school, the first woman to win the Miss Illinois pageant. She then became Miss America 1927.^[10]
• Katherine Dunham (1926) was a dancer, choreographer, civil rights activist, teacher, and anthropologist who was a pioneer in African-American modern dance, dance ethnology. In 1983, she was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor.^[11][12]
• Merritt Giffin (1908) was an athlete who won a silver medal in the men's discus throw at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
• John D. Goeken is a telecommunications entrepreneur who founded MCI Inc., FTD Mercury Network, Airfone, and In-Flight Phone Corporation. His lawsuit against AT&T eventually led to its divestiture of its Bell company holdings.^[13]
• Kathryn Hays (1952) is an actress, perhaps best known for her role as Kim Sullivan Hughes on the soap opera As the World Turns (1972–2010).^[14]
• John Houbolt (1936) is a former aerospace engineer who fought for and developed the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) plan for transporting astronauts to and from the moon.^[15][16]
• Mort Kondracke (1956) is a political journalist who has written independently, and for such periodicals as Roll Call. He is also known for his long running appearance as a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group.^[17]
• Harry Daniel Leinenweber is a U.S. federal judge (1985–present) serving on the bench of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.^[18]
• Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1951) is an award winning author of children's and young adult literature (Shiloh, the Alice series, The Witch Saga).^[19][20]
• Robert Novak (1948) was a political journalist, writer, and television personality. He was known for his long writing and television relationship with Rowland Evans (Evans, Novak, Hunt & Shields).^[21][22]
• Lionel Richie (attended) is an award winning singer, songwriter, and record producer who was a member of the Commodores before starting a solo career. (All Night Long (All Night), Say You, Say Me, Hello); he graduated from Joliet East in 1967.
• Larry Parks (1932) was an Academy Award nominated actor (The Jolson Story). He testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and was blacklisted in Hollywood as a consequence.^[23]
• Roger Powell, Jr. was a University of Illinois basketball player whose team reached the 2005 NCAA tournament championship game. His father Roger Powell was a Joliet Central star who played basketball for Illinois State.
• George E. Sangmeister was a U.S. Representative (1989–95).^[24]
• Trina Shoemaker (1983) is a 3–time Grammy Award winning record producer and sound engineer.
• James J. Stukel (1955) was the 15th president of the University of Illinois.^[25]
• Bill Sudakis is a former MLB player (Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, California Angels, Cleveland Indians)
• Edwin Way Teale (1918) was a naturalist, journalist, and writer. He won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for the book Wandering Through Winter.^[26]
• Lynne Thigpen (1966) was an actress with credits on film (Bicentennial Man), television (Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?), and stage. She won a Tony Award in 1997 for her role in the play An American Daughter.^[27][28]
• Jermaine Stegall (1995) is an award winning movie/television composer.^[29]
• Audrey Totter (1936), actress

References

1. "Superintendent's Office". Joliet Township High School District 204. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
2. "Principal's Office". Joliet Central High School. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
3. "Illinois School Report Card" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
4. "Joliet (Twp.)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). December 25, 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
5. Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
6. "Athletics". Joliet Township High School District 204. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
7. "IHSA Season Summaries". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). November 16, 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
8. "Jesse Barfield". statistics and biographic information. The Baseball Cube. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
9. Goss, Dick (May 19, 2005), "Barfield statue event set Saturday", Joliet Herald News, Joliet Township High School graduate Jesse Barfield played major league baseball in an era when 40 home runs in a season meant a lot.
10. Schabinger, Daryl. "Miss Illinois Through the Years". Miss Illinois. Retrieved January 10, 2010. Lois Delander (Miss Joliet) was selected as the very first Miss Illinois on August 7 at the Oriental Theater in Chicago ... Illinois was honored for the first time when Lois was crowned Miss America 1927. The 16-year-old Joliet High School student was deluged with offers from motion picture and stage producers.
11. Huebner, Jeff (2001), Murals : the great walls of Joliet, Champaign, IL, USA: University of Illinois Press, ISBN 978-0-252-06957-4, (p. 90) Dunham first studied dance at Joliet Township High School and Joliet Junior College.
12. Rajala, Hope (July–August 2003). "Katherine Dunham, Controversial Pioneer". Illinois Heritage (Springfield, IL, USA: Illinois State Historical Society) 6 (4): 17–18. ISSN 1094-0596. Retrieved December 28, 2009. At Joliet Township High School (JTHS) back in 1926, Katherine Dunham was known as "Kitten." Sixty years later, the New York Times called her a "Controversial Pioneer."
13. "John D. "Jack" Goeken". Hall of Fame profile. City of Joliet Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 28, 2009. Born and raised in Joliet, Illinois, Goeken was introduced to telecommunications at an early age. He began a radio repair business in the back his friend George McCabe's Kirby vacuum cleaner shop while still attending Joliet Township High School.
14. Alleman, Annie (June 30, 2002), "Kay Hays remembers JTHS days fondly", Joliet Herald News, Kathryn Hays loved her time at Joliet Township High School, and was thrilled to be a part of the alumni choir. Hays, who has starred as Kim Hughes on the CBS soap opera As The World Turns for 30 years, was back in her hometown to participate in her 50th high school class reunion.
15. "Table of Contents: John C. Houbolt Papers (1932-2000)" (PDF). Collection of Personal Papers. University of Illinois Library. Retrieved December 24, 2009. (p. 33) Diplomas and Certificates - Joliet Township High School: Diploma, 1936
16. Richie, Jason (2002), Space Flight: Crossing the Last Frontier, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA: the Oliver Press, ISBN 1-881508-77-3, (p. 66) John Cornelius Houbolt was born in Altoona ... In spring 1936, John graduated from Joliet Township High School ...
17. "Morton M. Kondracke". biographic sketch. City of Joliet Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 24, 2009. Morton Kondracke is a graduate of Joliet Township High School and got his first newspaper job at the Herald News as assistant to the sports editor, covering JT and JJC sports. He remembers Ansel Gray, his journalism teacher at JTHS, as being his most influential teacher.
18. "Judge Harry D. Leinenweber". biographical information. United States District Court Northern District of Illinois. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
19. "Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Revealed". biographic information. Simon & Schuster. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
20. "Phyllis Reynolds Naylor". biographic sketch. City of Joliet Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 24, 2009. When her family moved to Joliet, Phyllis started 7th grade at Washington school, then graduated from both Joliet Township High School and Joliet Junior College.
21. Fabbre, Alicia (August 21, 2009), "Robert Novak: Joliet Township high school officials weigh tribute to famous grad: Journalism room at Novak’s alma mater could be renamed after him", Chicago Tribune, Joliet Township High School officials are considering honoring longtime syndicated columnist and TV commentator Robert Novak where he got his start – in the journalism room at what is now Joliet Central High School.
22. Novak, Robert D. (2007), The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington (first paperback ed.), New York, New York, USA: Crown Publishing Group, ISBN 978-1-4000-5200-4, (p. 21) In my sophomore year at Joliet Township High School, I became a manager on the varsity track team.
23. "Joliet native's stardom crashed", The Herald-News (Joliet, IL, USA), March 23, 2002, retrieved December 28, 2009, Parks graduated with the Class of '32 at Joliet Township High School.
24. Michaels, Laura (October 14, 2007), "'A true statesman' dies at 76: Respected Will County politician, attorney George E. Sangmeister known for integrity", Frankfort Station (Frankfort, IL, USA), retrieved December 28, 2009, A Frankfort native, Sangmeister was born Feb. 16, 1931, and attended the public schools of Joliet Township.
25. "2 MAJOR UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS ONCE SAT IN SAME JTHS HOMEROOM", The Herald-News, February 7, 1999, retrieved December 28, 2009, When James Stukel and Andrew Sorensen sat next to each other in homeroom at Joliet Township High School in 1955, they never realized they would be sitting next to each other at national higher education meetings 43 years later. Stukel and Sorensen went on to become presidents of two major universities, the University of Illinois and the University of Alabama, respectively.
26. "Edwin Way Teale Papers - Series X: Memorabilia" (index of Memorabilia). Personal papers collection. Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center; University of Connecticut. 2005. Retrieved January 10, 2010. 251:5510 Cufflinks presented to EWT from Joliet Township Highschool, 1955; 254:5552 Joliet Township High School Yearbook, 1918 horizontal tab character in |quote= at position 9 (help)
27. "APPLAUSE FOR LYNNE THIGPEN", The Herald-News (Joliet, IL, USA), June 3, 1997, retrieved December 28, 2009, Where in the world is Lynne Thigpen? She's in New York and she's a star ... She has been in our hearts and before our eyes in a large number of roles since she graduated from Joliet Central High School in 1966.
28. "Lynne Thigpen 1948 - 2003", The Herald-News (Joliet, IL, USA), March 20, 2003, retrieved December 28, 2009, When Lynne Thigpen was a student at JT Central, she was a standout ...
29. "Jermaine Stegall". IMDB Move Database. IMDB.com. Retrieved January 11, 2010.

External links

• Official website