EDITOR’S NOTE:
Four selections have been made for the Mahomet-Seymour Education Foundation Hall of Fame. This is the third of the four who will be profiled in upcoming days.
The inductees, who will be recognized on Friday, Sept. 23 before the M-S homecoming football game, are:
Paul Blue (Class of 1937)
Kendra Donley Free (Class of 2005)
Larry Gnagey (Class of 1948)
Cully Welter (Class of 1987)
By FRED KRONER
Larry Gnagey was a master at quick entrances and equally quick impacts.
His family moved from Lena (Illinois) to Mahomet in the summer of 1947 when his father, Lelo, was hired as the superintendent of the Mahomet school district.
By the time the football season started in September – it was the first year for six-man football in the district – Gnagey had been selected as a team co-captain.
In the season’s first game, Gnagey scored a touchdown on a 60-yard run, the longest play in the game. Less than a month later, he followed that up with a three-touchdown performance at St. Joseph.
Also around that time, when students gathered to pick their class officers, the school’s newcomer was voted in as Senior Class President.
Gnagey also caught the eye of one of the school’s attractive young female students, sophomore cheerleader Regina Roberts.
Nevin Gnagey, Larry Gnagey’s son, picked up the story.
“Mom says he visited her at the house of her grandmother’s (Myrtle Foster) and they went (downtown on Main Street) to Carson’s Drug Store for a fudge sundae,” Nevin Gnagey related. “She says, ‘We held hands on the way home, and that was it.’”
Larry and Regina were married in 1950 with their friends, Virgil and Darlene (Manuel) Mahin, standing up with them.
Gnagey’s Mahomet connections weren’t limited to the one year he attended school – and lettered in three sports. He was the third leading scorer on the basketball team and was the conference champion in track at the 100-yard dash.
More than a decade later, he returned (in 1961) – by this time consolidation had occurred and it was the Mahomet-Seymour school district – and Gnagey was the band director from grade school through high school.
“I remember in a time of transition in music, he made music relevant to those growing up in the ‘70s,” said Tammy Hooser Bronkema. “He would talk about groups like the Beatles and their impact on music. Who did that back then?
“I still remember one of the songs we marched onto the field to was ‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder, and ‘Free Ride’ by the Edgar Winter Group. No one else was doing this at the time. We were a true show band.”
For many years, Gnagey also directed the high school musical, which featured such classics as ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ‘The Sound of Music,’ ‘Oklahoma,’ and ‘Bye-Bye Birdie,’ among others.
“I sure loved that man and I know ANYONE that had him as a teacher or band director loved him, too,” Bronkema said. “He was the example of a man that didn’t demand respect, he just received it.
“He always seemed to have an aura of positivity around him, and he was ALWAYS smiling. He had a great sense of humor, too. I believe each of us that passed through the band room or took Music Appreciation class was loved by him as well.”
Gnagey’s reach annually extended to audiences outside the village of Mahomet.
“Christmas-time we would go to all the local Christmas parades – actually requested – and we would play March of the Tin Soldiers with rosy cheeks and noses,” Bronkema added. “I am 60 years old, and I still remember that routine and have occasionally showed our grandchildren.
“They think Grandma has lost it.”
Gnagey was a University of Illinois graduate, where he majored in music and played the tuba in the Marching Band. His influence at his high school alma mater soon began to reach an even larger group of students beyond just the ones involved with the M-S music program.
Gnagey was hired as the principal at the fifth-grade center and, in the fall of 1977, took over at Sangamon School as the principal of the kindergarten through second-grade building.
He retired in 1991.
It didn’t take long for him to make a huge – and lasting – impact as the elementary school principal.
Brian King remembers to this day an incident that occurred nearly 45 years ago.
“It was Larry Gnagey who first taught me the true meaning of mercy and grace,” said King, who for the past 25 years has served as an ELCA Lutheran pastor.
“I was a second-grader at Mahomet’s Sangamon Elementary School when Larry Gnagey became our new principal, to the delight of all,” King continued. “Unfortunately, I already had a reputation as a precocious child prone to mischief.
“As a first-grader who had frequently found himself in timeouts and made several personal visits to the Principal the year before, I was well aware that a trip to the Principal’s office in the days of corporal punishment did not tend to end well for the offending student.
“But in second grade I was about to discover there was ‘a new sheriff in town,’ a new principal around, and his name was Mr. Gnagey.”
King said an unintentional incident at recess prompted an official introduction to Mr. Gnagey.
“We were playing tag on the playground and as I chased after a classmate who was running away from me, she managed to leave a clump of her long brown hair in my hand, though I hasten to add, not by her choice or mine,” King said. “Intent didn’t matter, and accident or not, her hair was in my hand and the damage was done.
“I was guilty and promptly sent to the Principal’s office where I fully expected the normal and – in this case – the deserved punishment.”
After King was escorted into the office, he was given a chance to speak.
“I was met by Mr. Gnagey, who invited me to share my version of what happened,” King said. “After listening to my explanation of what I deemed to be an accident, he asked whether I thought I deserved a swat for it.
“This seemed to be a trick question to my second-grade brain, but I did concede that regardless of my intent, what I had done was wrong, and I deserved to be punished.”
As he waited in anticipation of what he expected was the inevitable outcome, King was greeted by a surprise.
“What happened next was the most memorable teachable moment of my second-grade year, a two-fold lesson on mercy and grace,” King said. “Classic theology tells us ‘mercy’ is not receiving what is deserved while ‘grace’ is receiving better than what is deserved.”
First up, the lesson on mercy.
“Mr. Gnagey understood I had not intended to harm my classmate and informed me I would not receive a swat,” King related. “Instead, I would apologize to the other student and to her mother when she came to pick her up.
“His words to me before I left his office? ‘Brian, I know you are capable of so much better and I believe you will do better. I know I won’t see you back in my office again.’
“Clearly, I didn’t receive what I deserved.”
That was soon followed by a lesson in grace.
“Not long after my trip to his office, I was blessed and surprised to receive a ‘Good Citizen Award’ from Mr. Gnagey for some act of kindness I had done, and to this day I have no idea what it was,” King said. “Clearly, I received better than what I deserved.”
The sequence of events proved to be a blessing for the youngster.
“While I was by no means perfectly behaved (thereafter), I did not want to disappoint Mr. Gnagey and I did everything I possibly could to live up to his good opinion of me,” King said. “I didn’t HAVE to be good, I WANTED to be good, and I was not in his office again.
“I believe this story encapsulates so much of what made Mr. Gnagey such a beloved member of our community.
“Whether the lesson he taught me was intended or simply the natural outpouring of who he genuinely was, I have never forgotten that mercy and grace are ultimately better motivators than fear or coercion, and even though I still don’t know what it was for, I kept my ‘Good Citizenship Award’ because I knew who it was from.”
More than three decades after he graduated from Mahomet-Seymour High School (Class of 1988), King is still sharing what he learned from Gnagey.
Earlier this week, King was addressing a confirmation class of nearly 60 junior high students at Nazareth Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and he made references to his former principal.
It started with a comment about his own appearance before he related the story about the never-forgotten playground incident.
“I started wearing, and still do sport, a flat-top haircut because of Mr. Gnagey (who maintained that style throughout his tenure at M-S) and while teaching a seventh- and eighth-grade confirmation class the other night on ‘Confession and Absolution,’ I recalled and shared this story from my childhood involving him,” King said.
“Our students are always entertained by the fact that I got into a decent amount of trouble during my school years, and I have found that students really resonate with this story.
“Through this story, people seem to be able to understand the difference of motivation between law and gospel; duty and obligation versus a loving response to a gift. I behaved better not because I had to earn Mr. Gnagey’s respect, but because I already had it. It’s a good life lesson for all of us.”
Jane Williamson Sapp became acquainted with Gnagey from a variety of perspectives. She first met him because a childhood friend of hers – Anne Harner – lived in the same neighborhood. Sapp later had him as a band instructor and the connection came full circle when her own children, Joe and Tyler, also came under his tutelage once they entered grade school.
“I have early memories of Mr. Gnagey from the time I was about 6,” Sapp said. “My best friend, Anne Harner, lived in the same neighborhood as the Gnageys.
“I was always at Anne’s, so we spent lots of time hanging out at their house. His sense of humor and love for life impacted me at that age.
“I also remember him from church (Mahomet United Methodist, where he directed the choir for a time). Of course, he was always involved with the music, and he was the best at getting all of us kids to do something presentable for our parents.”
By the time she had him in the classroom, she knew what to expect.
“I was in band and by then I was so familiar with him that it didn’t take much to keep me involved,” Sapp said. “My last memories are of him are with my kids. Our two sons had him as an elementary principal. I knew from my childhood that he would be great, and he was.”
Long-time Sangamon Elementary teacher Barb Barker was both a colleague and a friend of Gnagey.
“I recall Larry in Halloween costumes, and as a storyteller at gatherings,” Barker said. “I remember his humor, his sensitivity, his ability to bring out the musical talents in those who played in the band.
“At halftime of a football game, band kids came out to play in the band (while in their football gear) and then went directly back to play in the game.”
Barker said Gnagey possessed many endearing traits that made him an exemplary role model.
“My memories are of his character, his understanding of young adults and children, and the ability to direct and guide students,” Barker said. “I remember Larry Gnagey as one who led by example. He was a friend.
“When he became principal at Sangamon, he entered a new phase where he demonstrated compassion to young students and became a beloved leader for his staff.
“We were very sad when he and Regina moved away, but always we held him in our heart. When I look at Nevin now, I see Larry Gnagey still lives in his son.”
Gnagey will be one of the four headliners enshrined in the Mahomet Education Foundation Hall of Fame on Friday (Sept 23) prior to the homecoming football game.
He will be honored posthumously and will be represented by his son Nevin, his daughter-in-law, Cheryl, and his grandchildren Andrew, Emily and Sarah, as well as his widow, Regina.
Larry Gnagey, 91, passed away on July 2, 2021, in Jonesboro, Ark. He and Regina had been married for nearly 71 years.
He taught music for three years in Fairbury and for three years in Champaign before relocating to Mahomet in 1961 to start a 29-year stint at his alma mater.
“He absolutely loved teaching and he always said he had the best job in the world,” said Regina Gnagey, who could only recall her husband missing one day of school once he started his teaching career. “He loved every minute of it.”
Added Nevin Gnagey: “My dad often said he never had a bad day at school. He really loved the school and the kids.”
He was enamored to the younger generation by his creative and entertaining storytelling. Gnagey wrote and published four sets of children’s books, each with four separate stories.
“Storytelling was dad’s passion,” Nevin Gnagey said. “He often told lunch-hour stories at school, and he wrote several stories.
“The stories were often whimsical, but they always had a moral and ethical bent. Often the moral was centered around love, kindness, and the Golden Rule.”
Gnagey was also a regular storyteller at Mahomet’s Early American Museum (now Museum of the Grand Prairie).
“I kept in touch with him and Regina over the years and when I would bring our family back home to visit, it ALWAYS included a call and visit with the Gnageys,” said Bronkema, who lives in Texas. “I remember one time taking my children to visit when they were in grade school and he gave them one of his stories he had written about a little ghost.
“I still have that draft filed away in the original folder he had it in. He had such an impact on the communities in Central Illinois, he had an impact on the students, the band members and long-term, an effect on all of us as parents and grandparents.
“He gave us a love for music and a love for him. He respected us and it showed in his actions. This man was pure GOLD.”
King said that Gnagey is not someone whose contributions can be summed up by a word or even a phrase.
“Beloved band leader; gifted musician and storyteller; inspiring colleague; teacher and principal; consummate neighbor and community member; man of faith and friend to all.” King said.
There is one final word that is appropriate: Amen.
