Asked what he’d say today to the coach who shaped his life, Jim Reinebach didn’t hesitate: “I’d probably say thank you. He treated us well.”
Reinebach, a 1969 Galesburg High School graduate and Galesburg Athletic Hall of Famer, joined Galesburg’s Morning News live in studio on Friday, July 31, 2026, while back in Galesburg for his class reunion — his first trip back since 2012. He played under legendary coach John Thiel during the Silver Streaks’ basketball glory years of the 1960s, helping lead Galesburg to the 1968 state finals and a historic upset of eventual state champion Proviso East in 1969, before playing college basketball at Iowa State and spending most of his life as a pastor.
They talked about:
- What it was like moving to Galesburg in 1964, right into the peak of its basketball fever
- Coach John Thiel’s “businesslike,” no-profanity approach, and what he meant to Reinebach’s life
- The Quincy supersectional overtime thriller that sent Galesburg to state in 1968
- The upset over eventual state champion Proviso East in 1969 — “probably the greatest win”
- His college recruitment, playing at Iowa State, and a near-upset of a Final Four Kansas team
- His decades-long path into ministry, and what he’d tell a young Galesburg athlete today
Related story: ‘I’d probably say thank you’: Reinebach on what he’d tell Coach Thiel today
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