Manual Academy (formerly Manual Training High School and later Manual High School) is a public high school located in the south end of

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

. It is the southernmost of the three city

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

s operated by the Peoria Public Schools.

History

Manual opened as Manual Training High School in 1909, and moved from its Lincoln avenue site to a new building located at 811 S. Griswold in January 1963.

Academics

In recent years, Manual is increasing student enrollment, which has been as low as 450 students and as high as 1200 students. After failing to meet the federal requirements of the

No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a 2002 United States Act of Congress promoted by the presidential administration of George W. Bush. It reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and included Title I provisio ...

, Manual went through a mandated restructuring in 2008. Manual High School improved its tests scores during the 2009–2010 school year to meet federal safe harbor.

Athletics

Manual's nickname is the Rams and the school colors are orange and black. In the 1950s and early 1960s Manual was a central

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

powerhouse. Manual was undefeated in 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1962 in the mid-state eight conference. The culmination of the season was the traditional "Turkey Day" Thanksgiving game against Peoria High School, often drawing 10,000 to Peoria Stadium (where all Peoria high school home games were played). During those years there was no state football playoffs. Ken Hinrichs was the football coach and is in the Illinois coaches hall of fame. His won-lost record at Manual over 17 years was 121-40-7 (.752). This record is the strongest ever compiled by an area coach with a tenure of more than ten years. Manual won the IHSA state boys basketball title in 1930 and four straight Class 2A titles in 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997. The 1994 team was coached by Dick Van Scyoc. The 1995-97 teams were coached by Wayne McClain.

Alumni

Manual alumni number in the many thousands and are involved in all walks of life in Peoria and elsewhere. A 100-year Centennial All Class Reunion Weekend celebration was held Friday – Sunday September 11–13, 2009.

Notable alumni

* Montana of 300 — American rapper, singer and songwriter * Rita Ali — 47th Mayor of Peoria * Jack Brickhouse — Hall of Fame sports announcer * Mark Clark —

Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...

who was killed alongside

Fred Hampton Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an American activist and revolutionary socialist. He came to prominence in his late teens and early 20s in Chicago as deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party and c ...

* Linda Hollis — historian * Sergio McClain — former head basketball coach at Parkland College and University of Illinois basketball player * Adam Miller; college basketball player * Howard Nathan — former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player * Louis Skidmore (1915) — co-founder of

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

(1965) — basketball player: ABA and NBA (1971–74 Denver Rockets; 1974–76 Utah Stars; 3803 points) * Frank Williams — former

player

References

External links

Manual Academy
{{authority control Public high schools in Illinois Education in Peoria, Illinois Schools in Peoria County, Illinois 1909 establishments in Illinois Educational institutions established in 1909