I thought the book's message was sincere but I struggled to follow the story lines. It's a nice pat on the back to Leo Alumni who were not traumatized by the experience but nostalgic enough to still want to contribute to this Catholic institution known as Leo HS.

Thematically the book relates that Leo HS is now an inner-city learning institution attended by Blacks, <African-Americans> who are non-Catholic/non-Christian. The school is primarily supported by donations of former "White-flight" Leo HS Alumni.

Not many linear thoughts to be had here. Felt like it was reading a mish-mash of repetitious diary entries & newspaper clippings from the past 76 years, since 1926, all amalgamated into one long rambling article, punctuated with non-sequitur pictures of anybody who ever had anything to do with Leo HS.

I wanted a story line I could be attracted to that would make me want to learn more. Disappointing in this book,is the lack of real story-telling & background insights of those days and the climate of quasi-military discipline instilled by the Christian Brother Teachers.

Ok, It seems like a bad cliche as "walking 10 miles in the snow" - type story. However,I do need to comment that as Leo HS students of that era, we received no recognition for the daily struggles endured just attending Leo HS and coping with the Christian Brothers brand of discipline, then entering/leaving that 79th & Sangamon racially charged powder-keg of a neighborhood everyday.

I felt the descriptions in the book of the racially changing neighborhood was sanizitized with a politically correct filter. One needs to discern the real message regarding the racial/social /political backdrop of the times. Including the lack of public/Archdiocese support & eventual financial abandonment Leo HS suffered.

Unexplored is candid discussion of the high crime plagued Black populations flooding into the area which prompted withdrawal by working/middle class white families based on personal safety concerns.

The 'abandonment' Leo HS subsequently experienced is causally connected to the resentment of families being fearful of entering the 79th Street neighborhood. Subsequently families transplanted themselves to safer neighborhoods. It was an embittering intensely personal experience for those who experienced it, one that will never be superseded by "political correctness" fads of today.

Conspicuous by its absence is this books' failure to mention
"in locis parentis",< in place of the parents >, standard of student discipline. By virtue of 'in locis parentis' any real or perceived disrepect by students towards teachers could be met with the same corporal punishment that a parent could exact against a child of their own family. Act they did, without hesitation against any transgression.

We experienced frequent acts of torment & physical confrontation at the hands of the Teachers.
My immediate peers & I just missed by a few years, the occasions when a recalcitrant student would be taken down to the gym, given a pair of boxing gloves and offered to go 'boxing-rounds' with one of the former-golden gloves/handball champion Christian Brothers.

In my time, in addition to after school detention assignments 'jug', every single Christian Brother & Lay Teacher had a strap, paddle or other instrument improvised for public 'spanking' in the classroom.

Yes I had more than one experience being 'paddled' in front of my classmates for offenses like: not having my tie and top button affixed properly upon entering the building,hair too long or unkempt, talking during class or not having homework assignments.

Incidentally I was a 'good kid': Honor Student, In A+B Level class rankings & taking all College-Prep classes. I was also highly active in after school sports & extra-curricular activities.

"Attitude" coupled with a smart-alec remark, so popularized by todays' media was not an asset in the Leo HS of my era. Lack of respect was high-risk behavior that could invite serious physical jeopardy. Our Teachers' authority was challenged only at your personal peril.

Today these acts would be characterized as: "intentional infliction of emotional distress" , "creating a hostile environment" & "physical/emotional abuse" thus inviting a flurry of lawsuits in today's politically correct civil-rights saturated social arena.

Unacknowledged is the solid college preparatory education experience that puts most contemporary Chicago high school educational programs to shame.

Further lack of recognition extends to the high quality character of alums who received an academically rigorous AND a 'school of hard knocks' education from this gritty South Side Institution.

Amazingly they are regarded even today as somehow inferior to their peer Brother Rice/St. Laurence Christian Brother Schools' alumni.

This self-proclaimed " Greatest Story Never Told " still leaves much left unsaid...I believe there is a larger story to be told.

I admire the passion for the subject matter so clearly held by the author.
I further appreciate the goodhearted Alumni who have contributed so generously of their resources & time to the institution which is the current Leo HS.

Respectfully, I felt the message was disjointed and was confused by frequent story repetitions.

I loved this book! My father grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Leo in the 1940's. I've been writing my Dad's story for the last six months, learning about his family, his childhood--whatever shaped him to be the man he is today. Dad played basketball and football in the glorious 40's before crowds in the tens of thousands. He talks about his Leo days as if they just happened, though his memory of everything else is fading. I always knew something important happened behind those walls on 79th St. I pored over his year books,reading about the Christian Brothers, about Catholic devotion, about pride in country. While researching, I came across this book and ordered it quickly. It is an inspiring story about inspiring men--like my Dad. This is a story that made me smile, made me feel alive, made me want to know more about those glorious, selfless "Leonites". The world is a better place with them, and poorer as their ranks diminish. Their mottos, surely words to live by--Deeds not Words; Every Heart and Hand. Amen! I pray with all my heart that every hand, both black and white, come to work together and keep this school alive.

As an alum, brought back many memories . Also enjoyed the history of catholicism in the area

A truly great story about people giving back. Hope that students care enough to continue tradition and support amazing school.

This is an interesting book that is both a nostalgic exercise and an informal, anecdotal history of Leo High School. It is also a testimonial to faith and endurance.

Pat Hickey details the growth of the Auburn Gresham neighborhood and the plan to promote a Catholic boys high school to serve the community. Established in 1926, Leo High School developed a reputation for sponsoring terrific athletic teams and graduating classes that brought great credit to the alma mater. It was a working district filled with bungalows and families that followed the Chicago Cardinals and White Sox.

Racial tensions and changing demographics should have spelled the demise of this venerable institution. The Chicago Archidiocese canceled its subsidy to the school and shuttered numerous Catholic parishes that formerly served to provide entering freshmen students to the high school; the religious order (the Irish Christian Brothers) which had conducted Leo High severed its ties to the institution and lay administrators took over a school that had shaky finances and an aging physical plant; the student population was increasingly African American and non-Catholic; the surrounding neighborhood was in decline and viewed as unsafe, gang dominated turf. The future looked bleak and closing the high school seemed to be the obvious and imminent solution.

As Hickey relates, Leo Men would not support a losing cause, but they would accept a challenge when there was a prospect of winning. The alumni rallied to save the high school. Although Leo High is no longer serving the same Irish Catholic population as it did in former decades, its alumni donors have maintained the school to educate the impoverished African Americans residing in the immediate community. To quote the author, this may be "the greatest story never told." Oprah can support a school in South Africa and reap unlimited publicity from this worthy endeavor, but when the same thing occurs in the Chicago based television celebrity's own backyard the story is not newsworthy. Don't you know how bigoted the Southsiders are?

This unjust stereotype is unwarranted at Leo. These same bigots are providing a high quality education to young men who are exceeding expectations and breaking out of the vicious circle of gangs, drugs, poverty and despair and succeeding at many of the preeminent colleges and universities in the USA. Why would the alumni support a school that no longer serves their children and grandchildren? One of the mottos of the Leo Lions is inscribed on the cornerstone: "Pro Deo et Patria" (for God and Country). What else is there to say? Another guiding principle at the school is "Facta Non Verba" (Deeds Not Words). Case closed.

My only complaint with the book is a simple one: I wish that there were more pages and more stories recounted in the book. Nonetheless, this slim volume is recommended for those with an interest in Chicago's South Side.

Interesting and insightful history of the near demise of a great institution. I was given this book for Christmas and found it to be thought provoking, albeit he reiterates his points a bit. As an alum I have many many good memories of the school, faculty and traditions. Can't help but wonder what the future holds for this institution. It obviously fills a great need. Hopefully the community will step up to help keep it around for a long time to come.