Crane High School (Chicago)

Richard T. Crane Medical Prep High School (formerly known as Crane Tech Prep or Crane Tech High School) is a public 4–year medical prep high school located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The school is operated by the Chicago Public Schools district. Crane is named for businessman Richard T. Crane. For the 2012–13 school year, the school became a medical preparatory high school; Partnering with Rush Hospital, City Colleges Of Chicago, and University of Illinois at Chicago.

History

Crane was founded as a males-only school at 12th Street and Michigan Avenue in 1890. It was originally known as the English High and Manual Training School.^[5] In 1903, the school moved to its present location and was renamed in honor of businessman Richard T. Crane.^[6] When the school went co-ed in 1954, it began to de-emphasize its "technical" label, though it continued to offer courses like auto shop and drafting.^[5] Between 1911 and 1969, the school shared its building with Crane College, the first junior college in Chicago. The college moved out in 1969 and is now known as Malcolm X College.^[7] On November 30, 2011, Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard announced that Crane, along with several other schools, would either be closed or phased out. Under this plan, Crane would remain open but no longer accept freshman students, who would be routed instead to either Wells, Manley, Marshall, or Farragut.^[8] In April 2012, however, Brizard announced that Crane would be retained and redeveloped into a health sciences high school.^[9]

Athletics

Crane became a charter member of the Chicago Public League in 1913.^[5] Since then, it has won eleven city titles in boys' basketball (1921, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1940, 1957, 1964, 1968, 1972, 2003).^[10][11] The school has produced a number of professional basketball players (see below).

Notable alumni

• PsydeFX is a Chicago hip-hop musician and member of the group Psychodrama.^[12]
• Berle Adams was a music executive and founder of Mercury Records
• Tony Allen is an NBA player^[13]
• Cory Blackwell is a former NBA player (1984–85), who played for the Seattle SuperSonics^[14]
• Milt Bocek was an MLB player (Chicago White Sox)^[15]
• Will Bynum is an NBA player^[16]
• Sherron Collins played basketball for the University of Kansas^[17]
• Milt Galatzer was an MLB player (Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds)^[18]
• George Halas was a professional football player, professional baseball player, coach, executive, and pioneer of the NFL. He led the Chicago Bears to six NFL championships, and was a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.^[19]
• J. Allen Hynek was a professor of astronomy at Northwestern University. He was considered an expert on the subject of UFO phenomena. A former investigator for Project Blue Book, he invented the close encounter scale (first kind, second kind, third kind).^[20]
• Shirley M. Jones (1939-2016), Illinois state legislator^[21]
• John Kenerson was a professional football player
• Ken Norman is a former NBA forward (1987–97) who starred for the University of Illinois. He played most of his career with the Los Angeles Clippers, who drafted him in the first round of the 1987 NBA Draft.^[19]
• Chris Pelekoudas was a Major League Baseball umpire
• Joe Reiff was a three-time All-American basketball player at Northwestern^[22]
• Wally Ris was a swimmer who won two gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics
• Lou Skizas is a former MLB player (New York Yankees, Kansas City Athletics, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox)
• Andre Wakefield is a former NBA player (1978–80)^[23]

References

External links

• Chicago Public Schools directory listing