Saint Laurence High School
Encyclopedia
St. Laurence High School is a private, all-male Catholic
college preparatory high school
founded in 1961. Located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
, the school is conducted by the Congregation of Christian Brothers
and is named for the Irish saint, St Laurence O'Toole
. It is located in the southwest Chicago
suburb of Burbank, Illinois
, across the street from Queen of Peace
, a private all-female Catholic high school.
building, Queen of Peace High School
classes were held in the D and E-Wings of the St. Laurence building for one school year while construction on Queen of Peace High School
was completed. While teaching at St. Laurence that first year, the nuns from Queen of Peace High School
were offended by the urinals in the restroom of the wing being used for the girls' school, so they asked that the urinals be removed. The urinals were instead covered by a large wooden boxes. The anchors and bolt holes where the boxes were attached can still be seen today.
(CCL) and the Illinois High School Association
(IHSA).
St. Laurence sponsors interscholastic teams in baseball
, basketball
, bowling
, cross country, football
, golf
, soccer, tennis
, lacrosse
, track and field
, volleyball
, and wrestling
, which compete in IHSA sponsored state championship tournaments. The school also sponsors an ice hockey
team.
The following teams have finished in the top four of their respective class' state tournament, sponsored by the IHSA.
The ice hockey team finished second in state in 1981, and reached the state semifinals in 2000. The now defunct water polo team finished third in state in 1986, and won a state championship in 1987.
In 2004 the Varsity Hockey team won the AHAI White Division State Championship.
The cross-country
and track teams are coached by Terry Murphy. Murphy is also a St. Laurence alum. Both teams have had success at instilling a hard work-ethic in their participants.
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
college preparatory high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
founded in 1961. Located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
The Archdiocese of Chicago was established as a diocese in 1843 and as an Archdiocese in 1880. It serves more than 2.3 million Catholics in Cook and Lake counties in Northeastern Illinois, a geographic area of 1,411 square miles. The Archdiocese is divided into six vicariates and 31 deaneries...
, the school is conducted by the Congregation of Christian Brothers
Congregation of Christian Brothers
The Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. The Christian Brothers, as they are commonly known, chiefly work for the evangelisation and education of youth, but are involved in many ministries, especially with...
and is named for the Irish saint, St Laurence O'Toole
Lorcán Ua Tuathail
Lorcán Ua Tuathail, also known as St Laurence O'Toole, was born at Castledermot, Kildare, Ireland, in 1128, and died at Eu, Normandy, France, on 14 November 1180; he was canonized in 1225 by Pope Honorius III.-Early life:...
. It is located in the southwest Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
suburb of Burbank, Illinois
Burbank, Illinois
Burbank is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,902 at the 2000 census. It is located at the southwest edge of the city of Chicago; the Chicago city limit – specifically that of the Ashburn neighborhood – is in common with Burbank's eastern city limit...
, across the street from Queen of Peace
Queen of Peace High School (Illinois)
Queen of Peace High School is a Roman Catholic high school for girls located in Burbank, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.Queen of Peace was established in 1962 by the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. It used St...
, a private all-female Catholic high school.
History
Due to construction delays on the Queen of Peace High SchoolQueen of Peace High School (Illinois)
Queen of Peace High School is a Roman Catholic high school for girls located in Burbank, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.Queen of Peace was established in 1962 by the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. It used St...
building, Queen of Peace High School
Queen of Peace High School (Illinois)
Queen of Peace High School is a Roman Catholic high school for girls located in Burbank, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.Queen of Peace was established in 1962 by the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. It used St...
classes were held in the D and E-Wings of the St. Laurence building for one school year while construction on Queen of Peace High School
Queen of Peace High School (Illinois)
Queen of Peace High School is a Roman Catholic high school for girls located in Burbank, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.Queen of Peace was established in 1962 by the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. It used St...
was completed. While teaching at St. Laurence that first year, the nuns from Queen of Peace High School
Queen of Peace High School (Illinois)
Queen of Peace High School is a Roman Catholic high school for girls located in Burbank, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.Queen of Peace was established in 1962 by the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. It used St...
were offended by the urinals in the restroom of the wing being used for the girls' school, so they asked that the urinals be removed. The urinals were instead covered by a large wooden boxes. The anchors and bolt holes where the boxes were attached can still be seen today.
Classes
Classes are divided into three levels: B Track, A Track, and Honors. The majority of the students are in A Track classes. The students enrolled in the Honors level are given an extra .5 added to their GPA and additional schoolwork. A 2005/06 Helm article complained that the differences between the A Track and Honors track are growing and that students believe that it wasn't fair that you can get all "A"s in an A Track class and have a 4.0 GPA whereas all "B"s in an Honors class would only yield a 3.5 GPA. There continues to be a discussion over these issues.Athletics
St. Laurence is a member of the Chicago Catholic LeagueChicago Catholic League
The Chicago Catholic League is a high school athletic conference based in Chicago, Illinois, USA. All of the schools are currently part of the Illinois High School Association, the governing body for Illinois scholastic sports...
(CCL) and the Illinois High School Association
Illinois High School Association
The Illinois High School Association is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High...
(IHSA).
St. Laurence sponsors interscholastic teams in baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
, cross country, football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, soccer, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, and wrestling
Scholastic wrestling
Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
, which compete in IHSA sponsored state championship tournaments. The school also sponsors an ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team.
The following teams have finished in the top four of their respective class' state tournament, sponsored by the IHSA.
- Baseball: 3rd place (1992–93)
- Basketball: 4th place (1976–77)
- Football: Champions (1976–77); Runner-Up (1979–80)
- Wrestling: Champions (1989–90)
The ice hockey team finished second in state in 1981, and reached the state semifinals in 2000. The now defunct water polo team finished third in state in 1986, and won a state championship in 1987.
In 2004 the Varsity Hockey team won the AHAI White Division State Championship.
The cross-country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
and track teams are coached by Terry Murphy. Murphy is also a St. Laurence alum. Both teams have had success at instilling a hard work-ethic in their participants.
Notable alumni
- Kevin Bracken competed for the United States in Greco-Roman wrestlingGreco-Roman wrestlingGreco-Roman wrestling is a style of wrestling that is practised worldwide. It was contested at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been included in every edition of the summer Olympics held since 1908. Two wrestlers are scored for their performance in three two-minute periods, which can...
at the 2000 Summer Olympics. - Jim DwyerJim Dwyer (baseball)James Edward Dwyer is a former outfielder who enjoyed an eighteen year major league career for seven different teams between and . Listed at 5' 10", 165 lb., he batted and threw left-handed.-MLB career:...
is a former Major League outfielder and member of the 1983 World Series1983 World Series-Game 1:Tuesday, October 11, 1983 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, MarylandJohn Denver, whose Thank God I'm a Country Boy was played at the seventh-inning stretch of each Orioles home game, sang the National Anthem prior to this game....
champion Baltimore OriolesBaltimore OriolesThe Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
. - Tim GrunhardTim GrunhardTimothy Gerard Grunhard is a former American football center in the National Football League. A second-round draft choice in the 1990 NFL Draft for the Kansas City Chiefs, Grunhard went on to play 169 games in all with Kansas City, the fourth most ever by a Chiefs offensive lineman, and was...
is a former All-Pro NFLNational Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
centerCenter (American football)Center is a position in American football and Canadian football . The center is the innermost lineman of the offensive line on a football team's offense...
with the Kansas City ChiefsKansas City ChiefsThe Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
. - Col. James HickeyJames Hickey (soldier)Colonel James Hickey was the US Army leader of Operation Red Dawn which captured Saddam Hussein near Tikrit, Iraq.-Early life & Military Career:...
is one of the men involved in the capture of former Iraqi dictator Saddam HusseinSaddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
in December 2003 - Bishop Daniel Robert JenkyDaniel Robert JenkyDaniel Robert Jenky, CSC is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who currently serves as Bishop of Peoria.-Life and career:...
, csc, is the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of PeoriaRoman Catholic Diocese of PeoriaThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the central Illinois region of the United States.-Territory:...
; former rector of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, IndianaBasilica of the Sacred Heart, IndianaThe Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Notre Dame, Indiana, is a Catholic Church on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, also serving as the mother church of the Congregation of Holy Cross in the United States. The neo-gothic church features 44 large stained glass windows and murals completed...
at Notre Dame UniversityUniversity of Notre DameThe University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
as well as chaplain of Notre Dame's last football team to win a national championship. - Paul LadewskiPaul LadewskiPaul Ladewski is an American sportswriter and columnist for the SouthtownStar in the southern suburbs of Chicago...
is the Chicago Baseball Museum communications director and Web writer-editor. He is a former Daily SouthtownDaily SouthtownThe SouthtownStar is a newspaper of the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area that covers the south suburbs of Chicago and the South Side neighborhoods of the city - a wide region known as the Chicago Southland. Its popular slogan is "People Up North Just Don't Get It"...
award winning sportswriter. - Kevin J. O'Connor is a film and TV actor (The MummyThe Mummy (1999 film)The Mummy is a 1999 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Kevin J. O'Connor, with Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. The film features substantial dialogue in ancient Egyptian language, spoken...
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, Steel MagnoliasSteel MagnoliasSteel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....
, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, There Will Be BloodThere Will Be BloodThere Will Be Blood is a 2007 drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!. It tells the story of a silver miner-turned-oilman on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and...
) - Jeff VintarJeff VintarJeff Vintar is an American screenwriter. He is best known for his original screenplay, Hardwired, which became the basis for I, Robot. He attended the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop where he completed his thesis of short stories, including The Big Oops, Opportunity Community Goes to the...
is a screenwriterScreenwriterScreenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
(I, RobotI, Robot (film)I, Robot is a 2004 science-fiction action film directed by Alex Proyas. The screenplay was written by Jeff Vintar, Akiva Goldsman and Hillary Seitz, and is very loosely based on Isaac Asimov's short-story collection of the same name. Will Smith stars in the lead role of the film as Detective Del...
)
External links
- St. Laurence High School | Official Website
- SouthtownStar: "A happy state of mind in Burbank" - article on 2007 football resurgence of St. Laurence and Reavis
- IHSA: annual athletic records