OT Did any of you attend South Bend Clay High School?

[VanPastorMan]

I read a few months ago that SBC is closing. If you went there what are your thoughts? When I lived around the Fort I really enjoyed sports there and also watching sports around South Bend. It will be interesting to see where all the students end up and perhaps sports will get better for some schools.

 

[IUINSB]

I read a few months ago that SBC is closing. If you went there what are your thoughts? When I lived around the Fort I really enjoyed sports there and also watching sports around South Bend. It will be interesting to see where all the students end up and perhaps sports will get better for some schools.

Student who wish to remain in S. Bend public schools will mainly go to Riley or Washington. Adams is at 95%+ capacity.
Others will probably enroll in St. Joe, Marian, Penn, New Prairie, and possibly Niles up in Michigan.

If I'm not mistaken S. B. Clay was the last single class basketball champ.<<< Edit: Nope, I've been corrected.

 

[Shuski]

I read a few months ago that SBC is closing. If you went there what are your thoughts? When I lived around the Fort I really enjoyed sports there and also watching sports around South Bend. It will be interesting to see where all the students end up and perhaps sports will get better for some schools.

My wife graduated from Clay in 1974 and I graduated from SBR in 1976. We both still have family in South Bend, and it has been going downhill since those years. South Bend schools are horrible and the management of it has not been good at all.

I ended up graduating from South Bend Riley after attending South Bend Jackson for three years. That change was to improve the racial diversity balance to secure more federal funding by having better diversity. Jackson was only 10 years old at that time and is still the middle school that feeds Riley. There was a sister school South Bend Lasalle that was the exact same design as Jackson, and it has been closed or repurposed I forget without asking family.

Penn was a country school like Jackson and now they are more like a Center Grove or Carmel with over a 1000 per graduating class. Penn and Jackson were considered the country or farm schools in the 70's.

Closing Clay is just another step in the disintegration of the South Bend schools. There was some discussion of closing Riley also and just having Adams and Washington but for now Riley survives.

We are both disappointed in what has happened to South Bend in general and the school corporation in particular. My bother in law pitched Clay to a state baseball championship in 1970.

 

[Vern Pain]

Student who wish to remain in S. Bend public schools will mainly go to Riley or Washington. Adams is at 95%+ capacity.
Others will probably enroll in St. Joe, Marian, Penn, New Prairie, and possibly Niles up in Michigan.

If I'm not mistaken S. B. Clay was the last single class basketball champ.

Yep. Clay had Jaraan Cornell, they beat Valpo and Bryce Drew on a last possession.

 

[Vern Pain]

Yep. Clay had Jaraan Cornell, they beat Valpo and Bryce Drew on a last possession.

My wife was a teacher at New Prairie prior to moving to Bloomington. There was a.point back then when they had to put the brakes in South Bend student migration. They've since expanded the high school so maybe they're taking more again.

 

[nugget_release_lever]

Closing Clay is just another step in the disintegration of the South Bend schools.

Is anyone surprised? This is stating the obvious but very few (if any) non-black families want to have their kids in predominantly black schools. Say whatever you want about diversity is good etc. etc. etc. but when it comes down to your children and what's best for them its not worth it.

 

[IUNorth]

Student who wish to remain in S. Bend public schools will mainly go to Riley or Washington. Adams is at 95%+ capacity.
Others will probably enroll in St. Joe, Marian, Penn, New Prairie, and possibly Niles up in Michigan.

If I'm not mistaken S. B. Clay was the last single class basketball champ.

The last singe class bball champ was Bloomington North, in 97'. It was kind of ironic, as Bloomington North wasn't one of the "monster" schools... And they beat Delta, currently a 3A school.

Ben Davis had won back to back state titles in 95 and 96...South Bend Clay was the year before them, in 94'.

 

[iubirdman]

Yep. Clay had Jaraan Cornell, they beat Valpo and Bryce Drew on a last possession.

They did win in 94, but the last single class tourney was in 97 when Bloomington North beat Delta in the finals. Clay did have Cornell as a soph, and Lee Nailon as their big who led the nation in scoring and rebounding at TCU his senior year and played in the league for about 6 years and many more overseas

 

[demunn]

John and Jay Gruden both went to Clay when their dad coached at ND I think (they are a little older than me). The Clay district used to be one of the more affluent geographies in the SB school district back in the day. Today, I think a lot of the neighborhoods there have either contracted or may have an aging population sans kids.

Clay was pretty good in the late 70s and mid 80s in many sports. I recall them having a very strong baseball program into the mid 80s. Although well intentioned and mandated, the way that the schools were desegregated created some very impractical ways that children were bussed across the district. That, valid resident prejudices and terrible administration began the downfall of and mass migration from the SB school system.

 

[VanPastorMan]

My wife graduated from Clay in 1974 and I graduated from SBR in 1976. We both still have family in South Bend, and it has been going downhill since those years. South Bend schools are horrible and the management of it has not been good at all.

I ended up graduating from South Bend Riley after attending South Bend Jackson for three years. That change was to improve the racial diversity balance to secure more federal funding by having better diversity. Jackson was only 10 years old at that time and is still the middle school that feeds Riley. There was a sister school South Bend Lasalle that was the exact same design as Jackson, and it has been closed or repurposed I forget without asking family.

Penn was a country school like Jackson and now they are more like a Center Grove or Carmel with over a 1000 per graduating class. Penn and Jackson were considered the country or farm schools in the 70's.

Closing Clay is just another step in the disintegration of the South Bend schools. There was some discussion of closing Riley also and just having Adams and Washington but for now Riley survives.

We are both disappointed in what has happened to South Bend in general and the school corporation in particular. My bother in law pitched Clay to a state baseball championship in 1970.

Thanks for the wonderful info. When I got to the area in 09 Penn was a perennial power. I suppose when a lot of people move to Mishawaka there are more opportunities to be good. I did notice a lot of negative news coming out of South Bend. Of course there was some of that in the Fort too. But I do think the schools are run better there than in South Bend.

 

[VanPastorMan]

Is anyone surprised? This is stating the obvious but very few (if any) non-black families want to have their kids in predominantly black schools. Say whatever you want about diversity is good etc. etc. etc. but when it comes down to your children and what's best for them its not worth it.

You would hope that white kids would be treated well in a predominately black school. In Washington IN where I grew up we had some black families and it sure seemed like they were treated as well as anyone else.

 

[IUNorth]

They did win in 94, but the last single class tourney was in 97 when Bloomington North beat Delta in the finals. Clay did have Cornell as a soph, and Lee Nailon as their big who led the nation in scoring and rebounding at TCU his senior year and played in the league for about 6 years and many more overseas

They had a number of college players on those Clay teams. Cornell got a lot of the publicity because of the shot he hit in the title game, and for going to Purdue. But Lee Nailon was a bad dude. And they had a lot of other small college guys on all 3 of those 94-96 teams. Good little run for them.

There's a pretty good 2026 kid from Clay. It'll be interesting where he goes. If he goes to Washington, and plays with Reynolds, that'd be a pretty darn talented 3A team.

 

[VanPastorMan]

They did win in 94, but the last single class tourney was in 97 when Bloomington North beat Delta in the finals. Clay did have Cornell as a soph, and Lee Nailon as their big who led the nation in scoring and rebounding at TCU his senior year and played in the league for about 6 years and many more overseas

I enjoyed watching Lee play basketball.

 

[Shuski]

Thanks for the wonderful info. When I got to the area in 09 Penn was a perennial power. I suppose when a lot of people move to Mishawaka there are more opportunities to be good. I did notice a lot of negative news coming out of South Bend. Of course there was some of that in the Fort too. But I do think the schools are run better there than in South Bend.

Ironically the other pitcher on that 1970 team was Andy Repogle who also was a sophomore that year and he ended up moving to Fort Wayne after the state championship. He was the ace and I believe made it to AAA. My brother-in-law ended up at Miami Dade for two years and then Florida Southern. He was part of four national championship teams in college. Two JC championships and two division 3 championships.

Jim Reinbold was the head coach at Clay and Ken Schreiber was at Laporte. They were the two powerhouse programs in the 70's and 80's in the area. Charles Finley the owner of the Oakland A's had a farm in the Laporte area and you could see the A's logo on the barn roof from 2 or 20.

I think it is Schreiber's son who was at Purdue and now at IUPFW who just beat IU baseball recently.

 

[kurt cloverdales]

You would hope that white kids would be treated well in a predominately black school. In Washington IN where I grew up we had some black families and it sure seemed like they were treated as well as anyone else.

black kids aren't treated well in predominately black schools. you ever listen to or watch today's hip hop or rap music. it's a gangsters paradise.

 

[Bucket Getter]

My wife graduated from Clay in 1974 and I graduated from SBR in 1976. We both still have family in South Bend, and it has been going downhill since those years. South Bend schools are horrible and the management of it has not been good at all.

I ended up graduating from South Bend Riley after attending South Bend Jackson for three years. That change was to improve the racial diversity balance to secure more federal funding by having better diversity. Jackson was only 10 years old at that time and is still the middle school that feeds Riley. There was a sister school South Bend Lasalle that was the exact same design as Jackson, and it has been closed or repurposed I forget without asking family.

Penn was a country school like Jackson and now they are more like a Center Grove or Carmel with over a 1000 per graduating class. Penn and Jackson were considered the country or farm schools in the 70's.

Closing Clay is just another step in the disintegration of the South Bend schools. There was some discussion of closing Riley also and just having Adams and Washington but for now Riley survives.

We are both disappointed in what has happened to South Bend in general and the school corporation in particular. My bother in law pitched Clay to a state baseball championship in 1970.

Nah. Carmel has 5,500 students. CG is still under 3,000 (but growing). That’s why it’s so much fun to punk them in football and the primary reason Carmel threw a hissy fit once CG finally got them in basketball.

 

[Shuski]

Nah. Carmel has 5,500 students. CG is still under 3,000 (but growing). That’s why it’s so much fun to punk them in football and the primary reason Carmel threw a hissy fit once CG finally got them in basketball.

Sounds like Penn is between Center Grove and Carmel then size wise. In the 70's they probably had 1200-1800 students. I have had a lot of family graduate from Penn since the 1960's. Jackson had 1200 when we merged with Riley for my senior year and then were around 1800 to 2000 at Riley.

 

[BradStevens]

My wife was a teacher at New Prairie prior to moving to Bloomington. There was a.point back then when they had to put the brakes in South Bend student migration. They've since expanded the high school so maybe they're taking more again.

What years did she teach at New Prairie? They were in our conference. Our eventual principal, Floyd Trosper, came from New Prairie in the mid 80s. Good guy.

 

[Vern Pain]

What years did she teach at New Prairie? They were in our conference. Our eventual principle, Floyd Trosper, came from New Prairie in the mid 80s. Good guy.

She was there from the mid 90's until 2016. I think the baseball field at NP is Floyd Trosper Field...

 

[Harry Hondo]

My wife graduated from Clay in 1974 and I graduated from SBR in 1976. We both still have family in South Bend, and it has been going downhill since those years. South Bend schools are horrible and the management of it has not been good at all.

I ended up graduating from South Bend Riley after attending South Bend Jackson for three years. That change was to improve the racial diversity balance to secure more federal funding by having better diversity. Jackson was only 10 years old at that time and is still the middle school that feeds Riley. There was a sister school South Bend Lasalle that was the exact same design as Jackson, and it has been closed or repurposed I forget without asking family.

Penn was a country school like Jackson and now they are more like a Center Grove or Carmel with over a 1000 per graduating class. Penn and Jackson were considered the country or farm schools in the 70's.

Closing Clay is just another step in the disintegration of the South Bend schools. There was some discussion of closing Riley also and just having Adams and Washington but for now Riley survives.

We are both disappointed in what has happened to South Bend in general and the school corporation in particular. My bother in law pitched Clay to a state baseball championship in 1970.

My sister was in your class and did the 3 years at Jackson, then graduated from Riley after just a year there. I’m an ‘82 grad of Riley. Where did you go for grade school? We all went to Marshall.

 

[demunn]

Sounds like Penn is between Center Grove and Carmel then size wise. In the 70's they probably had 1200-1800 students. I have had a lot of family graduate from Penn since the 1960's. Jackson had 1200 when we merged with Riley for my senior year and then were around 1800 to 2000 at Riley.

We had about ~500 in my graduating class at Penn in the mid 80s and at that time Freshmen were still at the middle schools. Won state in FB my junior year--year before it moved to the Hoosier Dome. Penn is around 3800 kids across 4 grades now. FB coach just retired and it'll be interesting to see who they hire to replace him.

 

[irish316]

We had about ~500 in my graduating class at Penn in the mid 80s and at that time Freshmen were still at the middle schools. Won state in FB my junior year--year before it moved to the Hoosier Dome. Penn is around 3800 kids across 4 grades now. FB coach just retired and it'll be interesting to see who they hire to replace him.

What years did she teach at New Prairie? They were in our conference. Our eventual principle, Floyd Trosper, came from New Prairie in the mid 80s. Good guy.

What a small world. My fraternity brother at IU is now New Prairie's superintendent. He was also a groomsman in my wedding. Before that, he was the principal at Washington, IN high school when Cody Zeller was being recruited by IU and many others. He told me some good stories about his recruitment. He actually predicted that Cody would go to Butler and not IU. I went to Penn and grew up in South Bend. Thankfully, on the south side of South Bend in a rural area. The Bend is an absolute sh**hole now. I would never go back and live in that area. If it wasn't for Notre Dame, I'm not sure many people would live in South Bend.

 

[BradStevens]

What a small world. My fraternity brother at IU is now New Prairie's superintendent. He was also a groomsman in my wedding. Before that, he was the principal at Washington, IN high school when Cody Zeller was being recruited by IU and many others. He told me some good stories about his recruitment. He actually predicted that Cody would go to Butler and not IU. I went to Penn and grew up in South Bend. Thankfully, on the south side of South Bend in a rural area. The Bend is an absolute sh**hole now. I would never go back and live in that area. If it wasn't for Notre Dame, I'm not sure many people would live in South Bend.

Elkhart is worse.

 

[DPUboiler]

My wife graduated from Clay in 1974 and I graduated from SBR in 1976. We both still have family in South Bend, and it has been going downhill since those years. South Bend schools are horrible and the management of it has not been good at all.

I ended up graduating from South Bend Riley after attending South Bend Jackson for three years. That change was to improve the racial diversity balance to secure more federal funding by having better diversity. Jackson was only 10 years old at that time and is still the middle school that feeds Riley. There was a sister school South Bend Lasalle that was the exact same design as Jackson, and it has been closed or repurposed I forget without asking family.

Penn was a country school like Jackson and now they are more like a Center Grove or Carmel with over a 1000 per graduating class. Penn and Jackson were considered the country or farm schools in the 70's.

Closing Clay is just another step in the disintegration of the South Bend schools. There was some discussion of closing Riley also and just having Adams and Washington but for now Riley survives.

We are both disappointed in what has happened to South Bend in general and the school corporation in particular. My bother in law pitched Clay to a state baseball championship in 1970.

Penn is at 3300 now, and they don't take out of district students in middle or high school now. (You can still get in elementary school via a lottery). Adams is the "better" school of the SB schools and is close to 100% capacity. I'd assume most of the Clay kids will go to Riley because it's closer and if they absorb Clay, they'll also be close to 100% capacity. Washington will be the challenge to close as it's out on the westside, but nowhere near capacity.

By the way, interesting discussions about school size in this thread. The 6A football classification schools are (largest schools):

1) Carmel 5,327
2) Ben Davis 4,557
3) Warren Central 3,845
4) North Central 3,709
5) Fishers 3,611
6) HSE 3,430
7) Pike 3,387
8) Penn 3,345
9) Elkhart 3,294
10) Avon 3,248
11) Noblesville 3,220
12) Lake Central 3,211
13) Franklin Central 3,206
14) Brownsburg 2,991
15) Crown Point 2,923
16) Lawrence North 2,833
17) Center Grove 2,754
18) Westfield 2,611
19) Homestead 2,502
20) FW Carroll 2,475
21) Southport 2,379
22) Perry Meridian 2,373
23) Portage 2,269
24) Lawrence Central 2,245
25) Zionsville 2,233
26) Lafayette Jeff 2,153
27) Columbus North 2,119
28) Tech 2,111
29) Jeffersonville 2,099
30) Warsaw 2,087
31) Northrop 2,080
32) Cathedral 1,073

Schools close to moving up to 6A in the next round of classifications (within 100 students):
WL Harrison 2,079
Valpo 2,063
Whiteland 2,012
Merrillville 2,003
Decatur Central 2,001
Chesterton 1,995
Goshen 1,980

 

[purdave]

My wife graduated from Clay in 1974 and I graduated from SBR in 1976. We both still have family in South Bend, and it has been going downhill since those years. South Bend schools are horrible and the management of it has not been good at all.

I ended up graduating from South Bend Riley after attending South Bend Jackson for three years. That change was to improve the racial diversity balance to secure more federal funding by having better diversity. Jackson was only 10 years old at that time and is still the middle school that feeds Riley. There was a sister school South Bend Lasalle that was the exact same design as Jackson, and it has been closed or repurposed I forget without asking family.

Penn was a country school like Jackson and now they are more like a Center Grove or Carmel with over a 1000 per graduating class. Penn and Jackson were considered the country or farm schools in the 70's.

Closing Clay is just another step in the disintegration of the South Bend schools. There was some discussion of closing Riley also and just having Adams and Washington but for now Riley survives.

We are both disappointed in what has happened to South Bend in general and the school corporation in particular. My bother in law pitched Clay to a state baseball championship in 1970.

My dad graduated from South Bend Central. His HS basketball coach was John Wooden.

 

[BradStevens]

She was there from the mid 90's until 2016. I think the baseball field at NP is Floyd Trosper Field...

Might be the football field?

 

[irish316]

Elkhart is worse.

Well, I won't disagree with you about that. 😄

 

[Bucket Getter]

Penn is at 3300 now, and they don't take out of district students in middle or high school now. (You can still get in elementary school via a lottery). Adams is the "better" school of the SB schools and is close to 100% capacity. I'd assume most of the Clay kids will go to Riley because it's closer and if they absorb Clay, they'll also be close to 100% capacity. Washington will be the challenge to close as it's out on the westside, but nowhere near capacity.

By the way, interesting discussions about school size in this thread. The 6A football classification schools are (largest schools):

1) Carmel 5,327
2) Ben Davis 4,557
3) Warren Central 3,845
4) North Central 3,709
5) Fishers 3,611
6) HSE 3,430
7) Pike 3,387
8) Penn 3,345
9) Elkhart 3,294
10) Avon 3,248
11) Noblesville 3,220
12) Lake Central 3,211
13) Franklin Central 3,206
14) Brownsburg 2,991
15) Crown Point 2,923
16) Lawrence North 2,833
17) Center Grove 2,754
18) Westfield 2,611
19) Homestead 2,502
20) FW Carroll 2,475
21) Southport 2,379
22) Perry Meridian 2,373
23) Portage 2,269
24) Lawrence Central 2,245
25) Zionsville 2,233
26) Lafayette Jeff 2,153
27) Columbus North 2,119
28) Tech 2,111
29) Jeffersonville 2,099
30) Warsaw 2,087
31) Northrop 2,080
32) Cathedral 1,073

Schools close to moving up to 6A in the next round of classifications (within 100 students):
WL Harrison 2,079
Valpo 2,063
Whiteland 2,012
Merrillville 2,003
Decatur Central 2,001
Chesterton 1,995
Goshen 1,980

Those schools about to grow into 6A status might want to think about kicking some kids out of school. Pretty sure Cathedral isn’t crazy about it.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

Ironically the other pitcher on that 1970 team was Andy Repogle who also was a sophomore that year and he ended up moving to Fort Wayne after the state championship. He was the ace and I believe made it to AAA. My brother-in-law ended up at Miami Dade for two years and then Florida Southern. He was part of four national championship teams in college. Two JC championships and two division 3 championships.

Jim Reinbold was the head coach at Clay and Ken Schreiber was at Laporte. They were the two powerhouse programs in the 70's and 80's in the area. Charles Finley the owner of the Oakland A's had a farm in the Laporte area and you could see the A's logo on the barn roof from 2 or 20.

I think it is Schreiber's son who was at Purdue and now at IUPFW who just beat IU baseball recently.

LaPorte was damn good also in the 60's.
The "A" could be seen from the Toll Road.

 

[Vern Pain]

LaPorte was damn good also in the 60's.
The "A" could be seen from the Toll Road.

60's, 70's, 80's, 90's,.... It's amazing what can happen to a program when a legendary coach departs.

 

[BradStevens]

60's, 70's, 80's, 90's,.... It's amazing what can happen to a program when a legendary coach departs.

Jimtown had one as a football coach in the 80s and 90s. Haven't been the same since.

 

[VanPastorMan]

Jimtown had one as a football coach in the 80s and 90s. Haven't been the same since.

Jimtown was decent when I lived in the area. I really enjoyed watching, "The Jimmies" on the field.

 

[brebelle3]

The first girl that I ever proposed to graduated from Clay. Her parents had cash, lotta cash. Home on the golf course, owned a business. Girl was tall, 5 10', her mom and dad were very tall. She played on an athletic scholarship at butler

I vucked that one up

 

[VanPastorMan]

What a small world. My fraternity brother at IU is now New Prairie's superintendent. He was also a groomsman in my wedding. Before that, he was the principal at Washington, IN high school when Cody Zeller was being recruited by IU and many others. He told me some good stories about his recruitment. He actually predicted that Cody would go to Butler and not IU. I went to Penn and grew up in South Bend. Thankfully, on the south side of South Bend in a rural area. The Bend is an absolute sh**hole now. I would never go back and live in that area. If it wasn't for Notre Dame, I'm not sure many people would live in South Bend.

I am a Hatchet alum. I always enjoy getting back to Washington IN to visit my Dad and sister. When I was in high school Paul Gossler was the Principle and the Assistant Principal was named Miller. When you got into trouble it was Mr. Miller who handled you. We used to call it, "Miller Time".

 

[Shuski]

My sister was in your class and did the 3 years at Jackson, then graduated from Riley after just a year there. I’m an ‘82 grad of Riley. Where did you go for grade school? We all went to Marshall.

Center now a church. Hay for kindergarten. I am sure I at least know of your sister. DM me and I will respond.

 

[Shuski]

My dad graduated from South Bend Central. His HS basketball coach was John Wooden.

Marvin Wood the real coach of Milan ended up as head coach at Mishawaka. Milan lost to South Bend Central in the semifinals the year before Milan beat Muncie Central for the state championship. Hoosiers is one of the few movies I will watch again.

 

[Shuski]

I went to elementary school with Lori Garbacz that played in the LPGA. Her father was the pro at Robinhood golf course on New Road. She played on the boy's golf team at Jackson and Riley. In elementary she was good enough basketball player that she was about 3rd pick at recess.

 

[DPUboiler]

Marvin Wood the real coach of Milan ended up as head coach at Mishawaka. Milan lost to South Bend Central in the semifinals the year before Milan beat Muncie Central for the state championship. Hoosiers is one of the few movies I will watch again.

With a brand new statue in Mishawaka of him measuring the goal at Hinkle.

 

[Vern Pain]

Jimtown had one as a football coach in the 80s and 90s. Haven't been the same since.

I was at the Jimtown / New Prairie game in something like 2005 that was The Jimmie's first conference loss in many years. NP was coached by Bart Curtis who went on to Mishawaka and made them competitive with Penn again.

 

[irish316]

I went to elementary school with Lori Garbacz that played in the LPGA. Her father was the pro at Robinhood golf course on New Road. She played on the boy's golf team at Jackson and Riley. In elementary she was good enough basketball player that she was about 3rd pick at recess.

Yep, my dad and I use to play golf there when I was a kid. We lived about 10 minutes from the golf course.