Friends of Basketball

George Berggren

Year Inducted: 1991

Category: Friends of Basketball

Schools / Organizations:
Quincy High School

Biography: Quincy HIgh School has produced many members of the IBCA Hall of Fame. None is more deserving than George Berggren, who served 31 seasons as official scorer at Quincy High School basketball games. A former basketball coach and football assistant at Galena High School, the Illinois Wesleyan graduate was head basketball coach at Gillespie High School before coming to Quincy as a biology and general science teacher. Sherril Hanks got Berggren to become the official scorer for the 1960-61 season, a year after Berggren came to Quincy. At the time of his inductioon, Berggren had presided as scorer at nearly 475 Quincy games. While Hanks was the coach, Berggren kept the Blue Devils’ book for road games. Berggren recalls the Quincy IHSA second place finishes in 1965 and 1972 along with the 1981 IHSA state basketball championship. He also remembers a game when Edwardsville made 110 substitutions. Berggren recalls coaching rivalries as much as he does heralded battles. Berggren feels the match-ups between Hanks and Galesburg’s John Thiel, along with more recent clashes between Jerry Leggett and Duncan Reid as virtual wars. Encouraged to talk when he started at the bench to avoid mistakes, Berggren has continued ever since, calling out the shooter, the person making the foul or shooting the free throw and considers it a great help in keeping things straight at the officials table.