Mendel Gym Floor Pieces Available

Commerative pieces of the Mendel gym floor will be ready for distribution on Saturday, October 24th, 2009. The best process I can come up with for getting the pieces to you is the following:

I am located in Calumet Park, Illinois
Its just east of 127th st and I-57
My address is 12441 South Elizabeth
Calumet Park, Illinois 60827
Phone: 708-698-3111

If you are near me then you are welcome to come by and pick up a few pieces for yourself. If you are not near me then we can arrange for me to mail you a piece of the gym floor or we can put our heads together and come up with the best way to get you a piece of the Mendel Gym Floor.

Because of the demand you will probably be limited to only 2 pieces of the floor. But this should no be a problem for you because the pieces are of all sizes and lengths. You can cut them or for example take a long board and cut it down to 3 or 4 pieces.

These are pieces of the original Mendel gym floor that was constructed back in 1950 when they built the Mendel gym. As you know Mendel officially opened in September, 1951. The original gym floor was wood slats nailed and glued together. It help up for over 50 years.

I travel for my job so I am in and out of town a lot so I prefer that you contact me by email and let me know if you will come by on the 24th of October.

A large section of the original gym floor was cut for us so that it can be encased in an acryllic case and placed in the Mendel Hall of Fame & Museum that is being planned.

For those of you who do not know me I am a Mendel graduate of 1979. I have been a member of the Mendel Alumni Association since its inception in 2001. I work very close with Jack Vlazny, Class of 1961, and President of the Alumni Association, and I am also on the Hall of Fame Committee. that is chaired by Bob Napoli, Class of 1958, who is the mayor of Willowbrook, Illinois and will be recognized as the Men of Tolentine "man of the year" on October 15th.

The Men of Tolentine was started by Father Seary who opened Mendel back in 1951 with eight Augustinian Priests.

Looking forward to hearing from all of you to pick of your pieces of Mendel History.

Tony Johnson
Mendel 79
mendelalumni@comcast.net

Hoilday Event 1 - Friday December 11

From the www.mendelchs.com website

Put December 11th on your calendar for our Annual Alumni Christmas Gathering.
Once again held at Mama Vesuvios Friday Dec 11th 2009.
Cocktails and Pizza througout the evening starting around 5PM. Please donate what you can to defray the cost.
Mama Vesuvios is located about 75 yards (a sand wedge) east of Ridgeland Ave and Rt 83 (college drive) in Palos Heights Il. Email ronhawks@aol.com to say your coming so if others ask I can relate your plans to attend.
Friends of Mendel always welcome too!