Corgan, who grew much faster than his fellow students, was a strong athlete in elementary school. In addition to being a member of his baseball team at Marquardt Middle School, he amassed over 10,000 baseball cards and listened to every Chicago Cubs game on the radio. However, by the time he began attending Glenbard North High School, his athletic prowess had greatly diminished. He decided to start playing guitar after seeing a Flying V when he went over to a friend's house. Corgan gave his savings to his father, who bought him a used Les Paul knock-off. His father encouraged him to listen to Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix, but offered little other support. So he taught himself to play the instrument. His musical interests in his formative years included hard rock like "Guts"-era John Cale, heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath, and mainstream rock like Van Halen, Queen, Boston, ELO, Rush, and Cheap Trick. In high school, Corgan discovered alternative rock through Bauhaus and The Cure. He performed in a string of bands in high school and graduated as an honor student. Despite grant and scholarship offers from a number of schools, and a tuition fund left by his grandmother, Corgan decided to pursue music full-time.