Jim Reinebach has one thing he’d say to Coach John Thiel today, if he had the chance.
“I’d probably say thank you,” Reinebach said. “He treated us well.”
Reinebach, a 1969 Galesburg High School graduate and Galesburg Athletic Hall of Famer, is back in Galesburg this week for his class reunion — his first trip back since 2012. He joined Galesburg’s Morning News to talk about the coach who shaped his career, the win he still calls the biggest of his life, and the decades that followed.
Jim Reinebach joined Galesburg’s Morning News on Friday, July 31, 2026. Listen to the full interview below.
Moving into a basketball town
Reinebach moved to Galesburg in 1964, entering eighth grade at Churchill Junior High School, after his father’s job with the USDA’s Soil Conservation Service relocated the family from Mount Vernon, Illinois — itself a basketball-crazy town. Coaches Bill and Bob Morgan worked with him at Churchill, where he first crossed paths with Thiel’s summer program, a $7 commitment that put him on the path to the Silver Streaks.
“He was no-nsense and high demand, but in a good way,” Reinebach said of Thiel.
‘Probably the greatest win’
Reinebach’s junior year, the 1967-68 Silver Streaks reached the state finals, beating Quincy in an overtime supersectional thriller before losing the championship game to Evanston.
His senior season brought what he considers the program’s true signature moment. After an unexpected loss to Pekin, Galesburg came home and upset Proviso East — a team that went on to win the 1969 state championship.
“I do believe that is the only time a Galesburg team, in the same year, beat the team that was state champs,” Reinebach said. “Somebody could check that out.”
Reinebach credited teammate Zack Thiel — Coach Thiel’s son, then a sophomore coming off the bench — with keeping his composure late in that Quincy overtime win the year before, helping Galesburg protect the ball with the clock running out.
Iowa State, the pulpit, and one more thank you
Reinebach went on to play college basketball at Iowa State, his birthplace, where a Big Eight tournament upset of Oklahoma and a near-miss against a Final Four-bound Kansas team stood out as his “one shinning moment.” After college, he shifted from athletics into ministry, a path rooted in his family’s church in Quincy, and spent most of his life afterward as a pastor.
His senior year at Galesburg, Reinebach was named to the Chicago Daily News All-State team, with teammate Ruben Triplett receiving special mention — the second consecutive year Galesburg had multiple players earn all-state recognition.
Looking back, Reinebach said the modern game has changed dramatically — particularly the three-point shot, which he called “breathtaking” — but he still believes the disciplined, fundamentals-heavy style he grew up with “was probably better for kids.”
Reinebach shares much more from his career, his teammates, and his years in ministry in the full interview above.
🎧 Subscribe to Galesburg’s Morning News on Apple Podcasts
🎧 Subscribe to Galesburg’s Morning News on Spotify
