Interview with Ken Lingner

By N. Wessely, V. Smith, K. Foston, and M. Pearce [TLCFG, Claudon, English 9H]

Background

On January 13, 2000, Ken Lingner had an interview with Mr. Claudons fourth period class. Lingner was a graduate of Rich East in 1962 and taught math there from 1969 until 1999. He played the trumpet in the band, was in the Spanish Club and the Spanish Honor Society, and participated in intramural sports.

Club and Athletic History

Rich East was in a small football conference, the south conference, when Lingner was a student there. Also in the south conference were Bloom, Eisenhower, Thornton, and Bremen high schools. The southeast conference included Kankakee, Crete-Monee, and Tinley Park.

The football record for the varsity team was 7-0-1. Varsity scored 137 points in the season and won conference. There was only one tie and the score was 0 to 0.

The Reveiller is Rich Easts school newspaper. It was about the same size as todays Reveiller, but it came out more often in the 1970s. The students also became more vocal in the 70s, according to Lingner. There was an attempt to censor the students articles by the administration, but they lost.

In addition, Lingner was a sponsor of the schools former radio station, WRHS. Lingner even says that the antenna used to broadcast is still on the roof of the building. Unfortunately, the radio station ended in the early 1980s due to the fact that the equipment was obsolete and in poor condition. It would have cost too much to buy new equipment and a new license. The sponsors job was to filter out inappropriate music and make sure students followed FCC regulations. Also, the sponsor had to be in the building during broadcast. WRHS aired from 4:00-10:00 p.m., two or three nights a week.

School History

The first year of Rich Township High School, that is what Rich East was called prior to the construction of Rich Central, was held in the Faith United Protestant Church until the school district attained the land for free from the developers of Park Forest, the American Community Builders. The land was free because the land was composed of very soft clay, making the houses sink. In fact, for several years, concrete had to be pumped under the large gym because it was sinking.

Another fact of Rich East history Lingner recalled was the ALPS program. It was an independent study type of class that was put together by four teachers: Dettbarn, Brown, Moore, and Kazootas. It took place on the first floor of the "Barn," the cluster of eight rooms, four on the first floor and four on the second floor, that were added on after the main construction of the building. The students got around the PE requirement by walking once around the parking lot, Lingner stated.

Society and Culture

Rich East and Park Forest were predominately white when Lingner was a student. There were some blacks, but the larger minority was Jewish. Teachers could not give tests or homework assignments on Jewish holidays.

Anecdotes

During the interview, Lingner told us three anecdotes. The first anecdote was a recollection of what would have happened if a male and female student were holding hands when he was a student at Rich East. A nice teacher would have tapped their shoulders to signal that they should let go, whereas a strict teacher would have chopped their hands apart.

Another anecdote involved the freshman football team. It was close to dusk and the coach told a teammate to run down to the end of the field and turn on the lights, which were said to be about seven feet above the goalpost. Of course there were no lights and the rest of the team was rolling in laughter.

Another anecdote that involved Mr. Hanson, who was also that freshman football coach, happened when he was teaching drivers education. Mr. Hanson was riding with a student who wasnt ready for Sauk Trail traffic, Sauk Trail is the street in front of the school, and he told the student to turn right at the road ahead. Accidentally, the student driver turned into someones lawn. A tow truck had to pull out the car because the soil was very muddy.

Ken Lingner, a graduate of Rich East in 1962 and a math teacher from 1969 until 1999, enjoyed his time at Rich East High School both as a student and teacher. He wouldnt have wanted go to another high school.

We learned much from our interview with Mr. Lingner.