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1 month ago | 
heartlandnewsfeed.com | Tom Emery |Jake Leonard
AD The South Central Conference is gearing up for a special anniversary. The 2025-26 season will mark the 100th year of competition for the South Central, one of the oldest high school sports conferences in the state of Illinois. Founded in 1926, the SCC has spawned countless star players and coaches, as well as a myriad of state-level highlights.
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
shawlocal.com | Tom Emery
Winter in Illinois can bring fast, sharp drops in temperature. None, though, were ever like the “sudden change” of 1836. On Dec. 20 of that year, central Illinois was hammered by a monster cold front that dropped temperatures 40 degrees in a matter of minutes and left settlers awestruck. The freakish event killed at least five people in Illinois, as well as thousands of stock and game.
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Jan 8, 2025 | 
news.illinoisstate.edu | Tom Emery
From playing for a national football championship to remembering a beloved campus collie, historian Tom Emery explores this month in Illinois State University history. On this date in 2015, the Illinois State football team played in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) national title game, losing in the last minute to powerhouse North Dakota State, 29-27.
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Jan 5, 2025 | 
pantagraph.com | Tom Emery
The Missouri Valley Football Conference has flexed its muscle once again. For the 14th straight season, the conference, which includes Illinois State and Southern Illinois, will be represented in the Football Championship Subdivision title game. Missouri Valley schools have won 11 of the last 13 FCS titles. North Dakota State (13-2), which has captured nine of those championships, will face Montana State (15-0) in the final at Frisco, Texas, at 6 p.m., Monday.
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Dec 31, 2024 | 
spiritofjefferson.com | Tom Emery
He won the Heisman Trophy despite playing on a mediocre team. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft, but turned it down to sell foam rubber. His Heisman was later used as a doorstop. It was part of the unique story of Jay Berwanger, the first recipient of the Heisman Trophy, whose victory in 1935 demonstrated how far the award has come. Though Berwanger was an established gridiron star, his laurels, and the trophy itself, pale in comparison to the hype of today.
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Dec 20, 2024 | 
madisondailyleader.com | Tom Emery
Some say it just isn’t Christmas without the poinsettia, a colorful addition to the holiday season. Outside of his native state, the flower’s namesake has been lost to history. The plant is named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first American ambassador to Mexico, who distributed cuttings of the flower he found during a diplomatic excursion. Botany was one of many interests for Poinsett, a renaissance man ahead of his time.
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Dec 20, 2024 | 
madisondailyleader.com | Tom Emery
Reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" has become a ritual for millions. Who actually wrote the poem, however, is the question. The beloved poem was first published on Dec. 23, 1823, as an anonymous submission to the Sentinel newspaper in Troy, New York. Though authorship is commonly attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, a seminary professor from New York City, an increasing number of scholars think the actual author was Henry Livingston, a self-styled poet and farmer from upstate New York.
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Dec 18, 2024 | 
spiritofjefferson.com | Tom Emery
It was an otherworldly postscript—literally and figuratively—on a tumultuous year. The reading of Genesis by the astronauts of Apollo 8 while orbiting the moon was a moment that thrilled and inspired hundreds of millions around the world. The exhilarating event on Christmas Eve 1968 is considered one of the hallmarks of America’s race to the moon. “Everyone was just in awe of it,” said Karen Beach, 73, who was a high school junior in Virginia at the time.
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Dec 16, 2024 | 
madisondailyleader.com | Tom Emery
The men who fought, and won, World War II are part of the Greatest Generation. But during the war, their Christmases were not so great. Half a world away from home at holiday time, American troops were usually in the field, fighting in some of the war’s biggest battles. Though they made the best of Christmas, it was a lonely time both on the front and at home. kAmr9C:DE>2D :? `hc` 42>6 ;FDE 6:89E66? 52JD 27E6C !62C= w2C3@C[ D@ E96 7:CDE *F=6E:56 5FC:?8 >2;@C p>6C:42?
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Dec 9, 2024 | 
shawlocal.com | Tom Emery
On this day, millions of Americans are nervous, and some will even stay home. Others will laugh it off. It’s just another day on the calendar – or is it? This Friday is Friday the 13th, the best-known superstition of all, which evokes a range of emotions. Commonly associated with bad luck, the day drives many to distraction – if they notice it at all. “I pay absolutely no attention to it, whatsoever,” said Lynn Armstrong, 71, a library worker and volunteer. “I don’t believe in any of that stuff.
