Two legendary figures in Galesburg basketball history — one its all-time leading scorer who led his team to a state-runner up finish, and the other a successful coach who guided several of his teams near the top of the state rankings — have been elected to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
All-time Silver Streaks scorer Joey Range, Class of 1998, will enter the IBCA Hall of Fame as a player, while Barry Swanson will be enshrined in the Career Coaches category.
Joining Range and Swanson in the 2025 Hall of Fame Class is Todd Olinger, an official from East Galesburg.
The IBCA Hall of Fame induction banquet is scheduled for May 3 at CEFCU Arena on the Illinois State University campus in Normal.
Joey Range
Range finished his career with 2,390 points, the most for any player in Silver Streaks history. And at the time he graduated in 1998, he ranked 25th on the state’s all-time scoring list.
He averaged 21 points per game during his career, missing only one out of 114 games in his career. His 698 points as a senior rank second on Galesburg’s single-season scoring list to Dale Kelley (1966) 813.
Range was an all-stater on the 1997-98 team that went 30-3 en route to a second-place finish in the state.
“It’s very exciting,” Range tells WGIL. “It’s right up there as far as honors go.”
Barry Swanson
Swanson was a key player and the second-leading scorer on legendary Coach John Thiel’s 1966 Silver Streaks team that brought home the 2nd-place trophy from the IHSA state tournament in Champaign, but it’s his coaching prowess that earned him a spot in the IBCA Hall of Fame.
He served two stints as Streaks varsity basketball coach, finishing his career as the third-winningest coach in Galesburg boys basketball history behind legends Thiel and Gerald Phillip, themselves members of the IBCA Hall of Fame.
Six of Swanson’s teams were ranked among the Top 10 teams in the state, topped by the 1982-83 team that finished the regular season ranked second in the state.
The Streaks won five regional titles and four Illinois State Classic championships during Swanson’s run.
Between his time as Streaks head coach, Swanson took over as the head men’s basketball coach at Carl Sandburg College during the 1984-1985 season, leading the Chargers to a 31-4 record.
“The way I look at it, it’s not just an honor for me, it’s an honor for all of my players, assistant coaches, all the people who supported us, and my family, who sacrificed a lot during all of my years coaching,” Swanson said. “To be honest, it’s very humbling, because I didn’t see this coming at all. It truly brought me to tears when I opened the letter.
“We played against a lot of great teams, players and coaches who are in the hall of fame. It’s a really nice nod to our program and our players, and what we accomplished. We ran a good program. We left our mark.”
Todd Olinger
Olinger has officiated basketball for more than 30 years. He has been selected to officiate the boys basketball state finals during his career.
