By Pat Hickey

November 6^th, 2026

John Kass and I were at crossed swords back in the day. That was at the turn of the Century, when Mayor Richard M. Daley was shedding old friends, like a snake’s skin, Ameritech still mattered, and I continued to believe that everything was on the square. Young Mayor Richie Daley was in his second and third terms, I was widowed and raising three young kids and had the honor to work for the great Robert W. Foster, President of Leo High School.

Bob Foster hired me to be Director of Development for Leo and he expected results, loyalty and dedication, He was a Lion and only wanted to hear about what could help kids from Englewood, Gresham and Chicago Lawn to be solid men and dedicated American citizens. Most of all he wanted me to report that Dr. Scholl Foundation, the Cashel Foundation, the Arthur J. Schmidt Foundation, and scores of individuals outside of the Leo High School Alumni were penning checks of four figures or more to the great old school. On top of that.

He dragooned my modest literary talents in the aid of Leo men and their families. When legendary basketball coach and alumnus Jack Fitzgerald’s wife Patti Nolan Fitzgerald was removed as principal of Queen of Peace High School, Bob suggested, ” Hey, Numbnuts! Don’t you think a strong letter challenging Cardinal Goerge to intervene might help?”

I was moved to pen a strong OP-ED piece in the Southtown Economist. Cardinal George responded and helped smooth the situation,

Mayor Daley was saddled with several scandala, especially the Hired Truck Scandal and a principal player happened to be Angelo Torres, a Leo guy. John Kass, a young and insightful writer who replaced Mike Royko as the Chicago Conscience, had peeled many layers from the Daley Onion and this layer was particularly odiferous. Mr. Foster suggested and I wrote several pieces in defense of a Leo Man contra Mister Kass in ILLINOISE, published by Chicago Sun Times’s own Rich Miller. ILLINOISE was supported by Democrat lobbyists all over Illinois. I thought I was tilting at a giant! I was.

John Kass was correct. The Leo Man was tossed to the Feds by Daley and did time like a man, Daley had no problem tossing anyone away, as he had practice doing so to life-long friends (Pat Huels, Terry Teele and Tim Degnan – ho-hum), so long as he trundled along to sell off Chicago’s assets (Skyway and every free parking spot in Chicago), get his kid some Russian collusion and turn the keys of City Hall over to the clowns like Rahm, Triple-Threat and Mayor Pinhead.

I met John Kass through the magnificent work of Michael “Pickle” Joyce, Leo Boxing Coach, and the smartest human being that I have ever met, next to Steve Allen (DO Google him youngsters).

John Kass was battling Daley and the Duff Family, over a golden janitorial contact with the City of Chicago. So powerful was John Kass’s work that these sanctioned weasels threatened Kass’s children. John Kass exposed my inner-Chumbolone!

We compared notes. We shared experiences. I was dead-wrong defending Daley and the “compelling narrative.”

John Kass woke me up!

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Born November 8, 1952 in Englewood Hospital, Chicago Illinois, Pat Hickey attended Chicago Catholic grammar and high schools, received a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Loyola University in 1974, began teaching English and coaching sports at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, IL in 1975, married Mary Cleary in 1983, received a Master of Arts in English Literature from Loyola in 1987, taught at La Lumiere School in Indiana from 1988-1994, took a position as Director of Development with Bishop Noll

 Institute in Hammond, IN and then Leo High School in Chicago in 1996.  His wife Mary died in 1998 and Hickey returned with his three children to Chicago’s south side. From 1998 until 2019, it became obvious that Illinois and Chicago turned like Stilton cheese on a humid countertop. In that time, he wrote a couple of books and many columns for Irish American News. When the kids became independent and vital adults, he moved to Michigan City, Indiana, Hickey substitute teaches K-12 for Westville, Indiana schools and works as a tour guide/deckhand on the Emita II tour boat. He walks to the Michigan City Lighthouse every chance he gets.