Did You Know? Illinois’ 100 greatest high-school basketball players

It could be the cheering of the crowd, the wild mascots energizing the crowd or the mounting tension in the last few seconds of a close game, but no matter the reason, high school basketball serves as a focal point for many people. The Prairie State is home to many amazing high school basketball players. The stars of the team are remembered, and the trophies they win are fixtures in high schools around the state as a sign of their success. Not all players go on to play professionally, but they still deserve to be recognized for their contributions to basketball.With the state finals approaching, the Chicago Tribune created a 100 greatest players ever list that spans the course of Illinois’ 118-year-old high school basketball history.  

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Polish Americans celebrate Casimir Pulaski Day

• In the News

For many children around the country, March 6 was just another day of the week growing up. For many Illinois children, however, it was Casimir Pulaski Day, which celebrates the life and legacy of Polish Gen. Casimir Pulaski.

Pulaski fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and became known as one of the “Founding Fathers of the American Cavalry”.

Pulaski Day is a particularly important holiday in Chicago, where almost 200,000 Chicagoans are of Polish decent, one of the largest Polish communities in America. Additionally, Polish is the third most commonly spoken language in Chicago behind English and Spanish.

For more information about Casimir Pulaski and the other contributions Chicago’s Polish community has made, visit the Polish Museum of America’s website.

Illinois Park of the Month: Crab Orchard Lake National Wildlife Refuge

• National Park Service
• Equestrian
• Fishing
• southern illinois

It is March in southern Illinois and there is no better time to fish at Crab Orchard Lake and National Wildlife Refuge just outside of Carbondale. At Crab Orchard Lake, mid-to-late March is crappie season as the fish travel through the lake for their yearly spawning frenzy.

But fishing is not the only point of interest in Crab Orchard Lake, just as Crab Orchard Lake is not the only point of interest in the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Preserve. Vacationers also go boating, swimming, picnicking, and camping along the lake, which sits on the northern edge of a national wildlife preserve.

Crab Orchard National Wildlife Preserve is home to a wide array of wildlife that call Illinois home. March is an ideal month to visit, because it is between winter, when bald eagles build massive nests in the trees, and spring, when wild turkeys strut through the park displaying their plumage.

In addition to a national wildlife preserve, the grounds also include a national wilderness area, one of just 750 in the United States. National wilderness areas are the most stringently-protected pieces of land as classified by the federal government. Because of its protected status, Crab Orchard National Wilderness Area may only be entered on foot, by canoe, or on horseback to preserve the land.

Crab Orchard National Wildlife Preserve shares its southern border with Shawnee National Forest, the only national forest in Illinois. Shawnee National Forest has approximately 280,000 acres of federally managed land with ample room for hunting, camping, hiking, fishing, horseback riding and much more.

Warm weather is fast approaching in Illinois, and the southern portion of the state is the place to be for anyone who appreciates the outdoors.

TBT: University of Illinois first opened its doors in 1868

On this day in 1868, University of Illinois first opened its doors for classes. Then called the Illinois Industrial College, it was the first publicly-funded institution of higher education and the only land grant college in the state. Initially , the school offered mainly agricultural courses. The college had only two faculty members and 77 students enrolled on its first day of classes, but quickly grew. Later that year, the College of Fine and Applied Arts and the College of Engineering were established.

In 1871, The Daily Illini printed its first campus newspaper.
Today it is the longest-running college paper in the country.

It wasn’t until 1885 that the state of Illinois began investing in the college and the school’s name was changed to University of Illinois. With state funding, the school began offering a wider range of courses. Since then, the University of Illinois has produced more than ten Nobel Prize winners and sixteen Pulitzer Prize winners.

Today, the University of Illinois has more than 40,000 students and 18 colleges. It boasts the second-largest college library in the country, after Harvard University, and the College of Engineering is consistently ranked among the top five in the world.

Happy 149th birthday, University of Illinois!