FACTS ABOUT CHICAGO CORPUS CHRISTI HIGH SCHOOL
Year opened: 1945
First graduating class: 1950
Last graduated class: 1962 (28 members)
Open today as: Hales Franciscan High School
CCHS colors: Maroon &
Gold
CCHS nickname: the "Spartans"
School song: unknown
ATHLETICS
Basketball and track were definitely offered at Corpus Christi High School.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Corpus Christi High School won the conference varsity basketball championships in 1956, 1958, 1960,
and 1962 under coach Joe Buckhalter.
1949-54
Coach Lawrence Bingley
1954-55 Coach
Joe Buckhalter
1955-56 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
1957-58 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
1959-60 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
1961-62 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
**Notable all-city basketball greats from Corpus Christi include:
Jesse Green
Ronald Gamble
Mac Williams
Fernando DeVries
Donald Perkins
Raymond Nelson
BOYS TRACK & FIELD
The Spartans won ten straight varsity conference track titles from 1950 to 1960 under
Coach Joe Buckhalter. They also won that title in 1962.
1950-51 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Lawrence Bingley
1951-52 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Lawrence Bingley
1952-53 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Lawrence Bingley
1953-54 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Lawrence Bingley
1954-55 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
1955-56 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
1956-57 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
1957-58 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
1958-59 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
1959-60 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
TEN CONSECUTIVE TITLES!!
1961-62 Catholic Parish League Champions Coach
Joe Buckhalter
NOTABLE ALUMNI
Memories from Mr. Saunders regarding his coach, Lawrence Bingley, and
Coach Bingley's successor, Joe Buckhalter:
"My basketball and track coach at Corpus Christi was Lawrence Bingley. He died
in my sophomore year (1954) in college. Bingley was part of the Xavier basketball players out of Chicago
during the 30's. They had great teams at XU. Most of the players returned to Chicago and coached at CCHS and/or St. Elizabeth.
I was greatly influenced by Coach Bingley. Joe Buckhalter, also a wonderful
man and great coach, came along after Bingley's death."
(from Yolande Robbins) "Yes indeed! That was Corpus Christi High School the years
I attended there, '54 through '57. It was wonderful! The move to make it single-gender (boys only) had begun before 1957
as I recall because the girls in my class had to transfer before we graduated in 1958. Several of us transferred to St. Thomas The Apostle in Hyde Park for our senior year.
Corpus Christi Parish on 49th and South Parkway was pastored then by
Fr. Maurice, and still happily exists. It was also the site and origin of the "Living Stations Of The Cross," begun, I think,
by Fr. Joseph Eckelcamp (sp). And this was the parent church of Corpus Christi High School.
Some of the wonderful teachers
that I remember include Fr. Fabian Merz, our principal; Brother Paul, who was school secretary and later ordained a priest;
Fr. Roy Hassett; Fr. John Bosco Haas; twins Fr. Michael and Fr. Raphael; Fr. Eric; Fr. Odo, Fr. Daniel, and Fr. Theophane.
Sister Auxilia was our librarian and English teacher, too, I think. She was the most patient and generous soul on earth.
I
remember Coach Bingley too. He died suddenly my freshman year.
Some of my classmates were Juanita Towns who may
be a Carmelite nun now, but was our Prom Queen sophomore or junior year; Jackie Jackson; Liz Miles; and Diane Samuels. I remember
Juanita reading "A Right To Be Merry" and "The Seven Story Mountain" in Fr. Roy's geometry class sophomore year.
We
had yearbooks. We published a school newspaper; We had Mass in the chapel everyday, around noon, I think. Our teachers walked
every morning from their rectory and convent residences to our school; then back to their residences at night.
The
building to the south in your photo was our actual school site. The building to its immediate north was something like an
auditorium where movies were shown each month to the grammar school students from three blocks away who trekked their way
there for this treat, and where end-of-the-year honors assemblies took place. It had been a Jewish synogogue I think.
Our
cafeteria, with some very good food, was in the basement of the school building, cater-corner from Fr. Odo's small laboratory.
Our students came from as far south as Altgeld Gardens. But most of us lived in and around 47th and
43rd Streets, Oakwood Blvd., and Pershing Road. I lived with my grandparents in Ida B. Wells. "South Center" and
the "Regal Theater" were just a little to the south of us; the Metropolitan Theater, next door. Elevated lines ran just to
our west, and the buses, up and down the Parkway.
Even before Central High in Little Rock, Fr. Daniel had us actively
involved with the Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago, an organization barely ten years old when we first heard of it.
We hosted interracial meetings of Catholic youth from elsewhere in the city. We had a debate team and routinely took part
in student tournaments throughout the city. We were good too and we won a lot.
Somewhere here at home, in Mississippi,
I have a copy of our '54-'55 yearbook. It was dedicated to Coach Bingley. I know it's here, but I'm going to have
to look for it. And when I find it, I'll share it with you.
Thank you for all your effort. This truly was a place and
a time worth remembering!"
