The stories of the huge Prep Bowl (known more popularly as "The City Championship") crowds are true, but require some analysis.
The game was the pride and joy of Chicago politicians, especially the Chicago Park District (which ran and runs Solder Field - along with the McCaskeys).
All Park district employees (and there were thousands and thousands) had to buy ten tickets to the game and were under severe pressure to insure that all tickets were actually used. It's likely that all vendors and anyone seeking favor bought blocks..
The game was very popular in its own right, but not as much as some believe.
I was at the 1960 game when Mt Carmel ran over the Taft team (with McFarlane and Grabowski). Taft had beaten Dick Butkus's CVS team the week before.
Grabowski, BTW, was all set to attend Weber, but was 5 minutes late for the entrance exam. Some brother wouldn't let him into the exam and he wound up at Taft. True story