Aviston High School

Aviston School Building

The History of Aviston High School

Aviston (population 1,231) is located in southwestern Illinois in the west central portion of Clinton County. East St. Louis is about 30 miles due west of Aviston. The town is located on Russland Road just south of United States Route 50. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad runs through Aviston. The Sugar Creek flows to the west of Aviston.

According to the official town website page http://avistonil.org/History.htm Aviston was first settled in 1864. The town grew quickly and in 1884 was officially recognized by the state of Illinois as a city. In 1940 the town's population was 388. By 1980 the population began to grow rapidly reaching 846. Continuing this growth pattern in 1990 with a population of 924 it increased to over 1,200 by the year 2000. The growth spurt between 1990 and 2000 makes Aviston one of Illinois' fastest growing small towns.

The website also recognizes the school system in the town of Aviston. We believe there was a grade school in town by the late 1800s. It was not until 1923 however that a high school was officially recognized. In 1948 the school district incorporated several smaller districts and became, at that time, the second largest school district (land-wise) in Illinois! Aviston High School served the town and surrounding hamlets and country kids well until the late 1960s. It was then that consolidation talks arose between the folks of Aviston and Breese Communtiy High School. The talks became a reality in 1970 with the creation of Breese Central School District.

The following is some information about Aviston schools from Dan Imming (Class of 1969):

"The building shown on your site (above) is actually the Aviston Elementary School that was closed a few years ago after a new one was built. At one time, this building did hold both the high school (upstairs) and the grade school (downstairs), but when I attended Aviston High School from 1965-1969 we were in a building along Railroad Street that was formerly the Huber Shoe Factory. We had grades 9-12. This is a separate building to the one shown on your site.

By the way, my Aunt Victoria Imming is one of the 6 students shown in the photo of the class of 1930 (below)."

Aviston's school building pictured above, we believe, is now a parish center for a local church. If you can verify this information please write to us.

Aviston High School Quick Facts

Year opened: 1923

Year closed: 1970

Consolidated to: Breese Central Community School District

Aviston team nickname: the "Eagles"

Team colors: Blue & White

School Fight Song: unavailable

Athletics

Aviston High School definitely competed in baseball. This is evidenced by the District titles won by AHS on the IHSA website (www.ihsa.org). We are certain that basketball and track were also offered to the boys. The school closed before girls athletics were required. Conference affiliation, team nickname, colors, fight song, great records and stories are all being sought.

Boys Baseball

The boys baseball program had three excellent seasons in which District titles were won. This is the extent of the knowledge we have of the AHS hardballers. Team records and coach's names of these and other great Aviston teams are being sought.

1946-47 District Champions

1950-51 District Champions
1955-56 District Champions

Boys Basketball

The Aviston boys must have had some great success in its time as an Illinios High School. At least we know that one individual at Aviston was a great at putting the ball in the hole. Dan Imming, who starred at Aviston High in the late 1960s, is one of the top scorers in Illinois HIgh School history in the following categories according to the IHSA website address of http://www.ihsa.org/activity/bkb/records/aindiv.htm.

Highest Scoring Average, Career

[4.] 24.6, Dan Imming, Aviston, 1965-69 (97 games, 2,384 pts.)

Highest Scoring Average - One Season

[4.] 31.8, Dan Imming, Aviston, 1968-69 (797 pts., 25 games)

Most Consecutive Games, 20+ Points

[5.] 32, Dan Imming, Aviston, 1967-69

Most Free Throws Attempted, Game

*[5.] 30, Dan Imming, Aviston vs. Coulterville, Jan. 7, 1969 (23 of 30)

Most Free Throws Made, Game

[10.] 23, Dan Imming, Aviston vs. Coulterville, Jan. 7, 1969 (23 of 30)

Most Games, 10+ Points, Career

[29.] 87, Dan Imming, Aviston, 1965-69 (13-24-25-25; 87 of 97)

Most Points, Career

[37.] 2,384, Dan Imming, Aviston, 1965-69

Aviston HS vs. Venice HS 1959

Courtesy of Donn Hornberger (Left click on photo to view larger version)

MEMORIES

From Donn Hornberger (Venice HS):

"There were TWO other remarkable basketball players at Aviston in addition to Dan Imming. This was 6'9" Tom Book and 6'9" Bob Klosterman. Both Bob and Tom played on the same team in the mid-1950's. They both graduated Aviston about 1958 and went to NIT winning St. Louis University where they played all four years. At that time, StLU was consistently in the top ten USA basketball teams.

Both players led Aviston to conference winning seasons more than once. I don't know how the did in district. At Venice, my team faced off with the talented two many times while I was playing and we never won a single game against them. Our tallest guys, 6'3" Bill Ohlendorf, 6'1" Clarence Hand and me, 6'2" Donn Hornberger struggled against Tom and Bob and during the mid-1950's, they simply out talled us on the boards. I had to guard Tom Book one evening and we bet how many points he'd score. We thought of it as a victory because I hit 19 pts and Tom only hit 25 pts. Meanwhile, Bill Ohlendorf hit 29 points that night being able to get free of Tom. We still lost because the other Aviston tower hit 30 pts. On yet another evening on our home court, we could manage only 36 pts in four quarters as Book and Klosterman simple took the game away from us."

Searching For More Information

Aviston High School and those who worked hard to make it successful deserve to be remembered. If you have ANY information, especially a photo of the AHS school building, please share it with us via e-mail at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net. You can also write to us at:

Illinois HS Glory Days

6439 N. Neva Ave.

Chicago, Il. 60631

Aviston High School Class of 1930

Submitted by Susan Mandalke (Left Click on Photo for Enlarged View)