PEORIA MAGAZINE March 2023

W O R D C O U N T

THE GOLDEN ERA OF PEORIA HOOPS For 15 years, Peoria went ‘eye to eye with any basketball town in America,’ says Chicago-area author

BY NICK VLAHOS

A bout 35 years have passed since the beginning of the greatest era of Peoria high school boys basketball, a period that extended into the mid 2000s. But time doesn’t appear to have dimmed the memories.

Author, Jeff Karzen

Chicago-based author Jeff Karzen discovered that as he spoke with more than 75 people for his latest book, which was released Feb. 7. Playgrounds to the Pros: Legends of Peoria Basketball tells the triumphs and tragedies that were part of an extraordinary period in Peoria sports history. Those who relayed their stories to Karzen – on the telephone and in person in Peoria and elsewhere — haven’t tired of telling them, apparently. “I didn’t get one moment of, ‘Oh, this is boring, why are we talking about this?’

98 MARCH 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE