From the Archives: Bath Balyki High School

One of my hobbies is researching through old yearbooks and microfilm from newspapers looking at vintage high school athletics.  I am a contributor to the website, Illinois High School Glory Days.



This morning, as I wrote the Havana Ducks Baseball Preview, I noticed coach Kent Gray coached the Bath Balyki Thunderbirds.  Balyki is now a part of the Havana school district.  The school was one of my research projects for the Glory Days website, because I was always fascinated by the school due to its name, mascot, and the fact that former Major Leaguer (and Chicago Cubs pitcher) Mark Clark was a Balyki Thunderbird in the mid-1980's.

A few years ago, I traveled to the Havana Public Library, and had access to a number of old Balyki yearbooks.  I probably spent $15 just making copies of all of the athletics pages in those yearbooks.  One of my crowning moment in these quests to search out old high school buildings and yearbooks at the area libraries was when I discovered the origin of the name, Balyki.

The name Balyki always reminded me of the 1984 movie, Children of the Corn, because of the character Malachai.  When I drove around Mason County one Saturday afternoon in search of some pictures for the website, I drove down a country road south of Bath, Illinois.  I passed a sign reading that Kilbourne was just a few miles away, and the township sign read, Lynchburg.  The first two letters of Bath = BA, first two letters of Lynchburg = LY, and the first two letters of Kilbourne = KI....BALYKI.  Now, of course had I went to the library first, someone could have told me this information before racking my brain for several weeks mulling it over.

The 1981-82 Balyki Thunderbirds Junior High baseball team made a run to the state finals, beating Pittsfield (10-4) in the Sectional opener, and downing Williamsfield, (4-1) in the Sectional championship.  Balyki lost in their state finals game, (5-0), to Williamsville.  The team finished 14-5 on the season, and a member of that team....Mark Clark.  Other team members were; Jason Miller, Marcus Pratt, Alen Dearing, Troy Fletcher, Mike Ranson, Chuck Ranson, Scott Hofreiter, Rich Justice, Jeff Ray, Darrell Sheets, Tony Hardy, Don Heye, and Mike Willing.

Balyki High School formed for the 1953-54 school year, with the consolidation of Bath Lynchburg and Kilbourne High Schools.  High School students went to Bath, while elementary students would attend classes in Kilbourne.

Lynchburg, later Balyki High School in Bath, Illinois (circa 2005)