- Mesa High School (Mesa, Arizona)
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Mesa High School 
Location 1630 East Southern Avenue
Mesa, Arizona, USAInformation Type Public secondary (U.S.) Motto Carry On Established 1898 Oversight Mesa Public Schools Principal James Souder Grades 9–12 Enrollment 3,334 students, including 9th graders in feeder junior highs (Oct. 1, 2010) Campus Suburban Color(s) Purple & Gold Mascot Jackrabbit Newspaper The Jackrabbit Yearbook Superstition Website http://www.mpsaz.org/mesa Mesa High School is a public high school in Mesa, Arizona, United States. Mesa High School currently accommodates grades 9-12 as part of Mesa Public Schools.
Contents
History
The first high school classes in Mesa began in September 1899 on the second floor of the red brick north elementary school, later rebuilt and known as Irving School. The first Mesa Union High School district was organized on December 26, 1907, with John D. Loper as superintendent. The Town Council had leased all of Block 20 to the University of Arizona for 99 years to use as an experimental farm. This was the land bounded by Center and Macdonald, Second and Third Avenues. It didn't take long to discover that the block was not large enough, and so, on January 4, 1908, they sold it to the school district for $75. Construction began immediately on the building known as "Old Main". The 1909 graduating class graduated from that original twelve room building. The school had a main floor auditorium with a swimming pool in the basement. The auditorium was used for assemblies, with folding chairs for the early comers and standing room only for the rest. Ten years later, eight more rooms were added plus a small auditorium-gymnasium. During basketball games, spectators sat in the balcony (above the freshman section) or on the stage because the gym was not wide enough for sideline bleachers.[citation needed]
Entrance to the school, adorned by a sign donated by the class of 1998
In September 1932, a football player named Zedo Ishikawa was accidentally killed by a shotgun blast to the chest. As he neared death he said, "Tell Coach Coutchie and the boys to carry on." As time went on, students began repeating the theme "Carry On" to one another. Eventually it became the school's official motto.
In 1936, the WPA and PWA provided funds for new construction, and the New Building was constructed west of the Main Building with an arcade in between. The land for this was purchased from Harvey Bush, for $4000. A new gymnasium building, which included an agriculture shop and auto shop, was also built south of the Main Building — the new site for school dances and basketball games.[citation needed]
In 1967, Mesa won their homecoming football game against rival Westwood High. Then, on Sunday night, October 1, 1967, a disastrous fire started in the science lab, completely destroying the sixty-year-old "Old Main".[1] Classes continued to graduate from the old campus until 1972 when the new Mesa High was built.[citation needed]
Academics
AIMS test scores for MHS were below the state average in reading, math, and writing for 2002 through 2004, but they improved to substantially above average for 2005.[citation needed] The average number of students per teacher is 23.[citation needed]
Athletics
The school won 5A state championships in 2004 for boys basketball,[citation needed] and three straight 5A-I titles in wrestling from 2006 to 2008.[citation needed] Anthony Robles, who was born without a right leg, won individual state championships in 2005 and 2006. He later went on to win the 2006 Senior Nationals' and wrestled at Arizona State University on a full scholarship. Robles finished fourth at the 2009 NCAA Division I Championships at 125 pounds, seventh at the 2010 tournament, and was national champion in 2011.[citation needed]
State Champions Sport Years Baseball (5)[2] 1927, 1947, 1953, 1957, 1958 Boys Basketball (13)[3] 1917, 1918, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1933, 1936, 1946, 1950, 1951, 1988, 2004 Football (11)*[4][5][6][7] 1928, 1933, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1963, 1990, 1992 Boys Golf (2)[8] 1957, 1979 Boys Soccer (1)*[9][10] 1981 Softball (1)[11] 1988 Boys Tennis (4)[12] 1937, 1950, 1951, 1952 Boys Track & Field (5)[13] 1950, 1952, 1962, 1982, 1988 Wrestling (4)[14] 1977, 2006, 2007, 2008 State Runners-Up Sport Years Baseball (5) 1914, 1928, 1945, 1950, 1959 Boys Basketball (3) 1944, 1952, 1953 Girls Basketball (1)[15] 1987 Girls Cross Country (1)[16] 1988 Football (16)* 1924, 1925, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1979, 2009 Boys Tennis (1) 1949 Girls Tennis (6)[17] 1945, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955 Boys Track & Field (8) 1926, 1936, 1945, 1956, 1972, 1974, 1985, 1989 Wrestling (5) 1983, 1988, 1991, 2009, 2010 *The Arizona Interscholastic Association recognized these sports and the regular season games thereof as official during these years, but did not conduct playoffs to determine AIA state champions for them until 1959 for football and 1983 for soccer. In such times, the press declared state champions (and state runners-up), similar to how the Associated Press independently crowns national champions for some sports at the college level.
Feeder schools
Elementary
- Holmes
- Irving
- Johnson
- Keller
- Lincoln
- Lindbergh
- Longfellow
- Lowell
- Madison
- Porter
- Robson
- Wilson
Junior High Schools
- The junior high schools that feed into Mesa High School include:[20]
- Brimhall
- Mesa
- Taylor
Notable alumni
- Jeremy Accardo - MLB Baltimore Orioles
- Rusty Bowers - Arizona Senate President
- Danny Boyle - NCAA pole vault champion
- Rudy Campbell - Tempe Mayor
- Jim Carter - NCAA golf champion & PGA Tour
- Eldon W. Cooley - Mesa Mayor & LDS Regional Rep
- Lee Cummard - NBA D-League Utah Flash
- Jeff Groscost - Arizona House Speaker
- Mickey Hatcher - 2-time World Series champion
- Robert Holcombe - Super Bowl champion
- Miles Jenkins - recording artist
- Jack Lind - MLB Milwaukee Brewers
- Andy Livingston - NFL Pro Bowler
- Warren Livingston - NFL Dallas Cowboys
- Deuce Lutui - NCAA football champion & NFL Arizona Cardinals
- Mike MacDougal - MLB All-Star
- Orlando McKay - NFL Green Bay Packers
- Bill Mettler - US Olympic swimming gold medalist
- Phil Ortega - MLB Washington Senators
- Gary Pierce - Arizona Corporation Commission
- E. Earl Pomeroy - NCAA football All-American
- Wayne Pomeroy - Mesa Mayor
- Anthony Robles - NCAA wrestling champion & ESPY winner
- Keith Russell - NCAA diving champion & US Olympian
- Matt Salmon - United States Congressman
- Vai Sikahema - NCAA football champion & 2-time NFL Pro Bowler
- Owen D. Skousen - NCAA 3-sport athlete & MLB Red Sox
- Delbert L. Stapley - LDS Apostle
- Norris Steverson - NFL Cincinnati Reds
- Wilford "Whizzer" White - ASU football legend & NFL Pro Bowler
- Patsy Willard - US Olympic diving bronze medalist
- Yuridia - Diamond-certified recording artist
References
- ^ "Which high school holds title of state's oldest." Arizona Republic 25 September 2011: B3.
- ^ "AIA Baseball State Champions Archive". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=212.
- ^ "AIA Boys Basketball State Champions Archive". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=213.
- ^ Sollenberger, Barry, ed (2001). Super All-State, Arizona High School Football Record Book (8th ed.). p. 61.
- ^ Mesa Jackrabbits football program. 2002. p. 31.
- ^ "azcentral.com High School State Champions Archive". The Arizona Republic. http://www.azcentral.com/sports/preps/history/Champions.php?sportID=1&classID=0&schoolID=99&startyear=1910&endyear=2009&numresults=25&image.x=10&image.y=8.
- ^ "AIA Football State Champions Archive, beg. 1959". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=217.
- ^ "AIA Boys Golf Team State Champions Archive". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=218.
- ^ "Mesa to Honor a Pioneer in AZ Soccer". The Arizona Republic. http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/JoseEGarcia/115572.
- ^ "Mesa to Honor its Inaugural Soccer Team". East Valley Tribune. http://blogs.evtrib.com/varsityxtra/2011/01/24/mesa-to-honor-its-inaugural-soccer-team-on-tuesday/.
- ^ "AIA Softball State Champions Archive". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=224.
- ^ "AIA Boys Tennis Team State Champions Archive". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=229.
- ^ "AIA Boys Track & Field Team State Champions Archive". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=233.
- ^ "AIA Wrestling Team State Champions Archive". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=236.
- ^ "AIA Girls Basketball State Champions Archive". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=214.
- ^ "AIA Girls Cross Country State Champions Archive". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=216.
- ^ "AIA Girls Tennis Team State Champions Archive". http://www.aiaonline.org/story?id=232.
- ^ http://www.mpsaz.org/research/maps_sr_hi/index.html
- ^ http://www.mpsaz.org/research/map_elem/index_2.html
- ^ http://www.mpsaz.org/research/maps_jr_hi/index.html
External links
- Jackrabbit Web - official site
- GreatSchools.net - school evaluation and statistics
- Mesa Football - official Football site
- Mesa Basketball - official Boys Basketball site
Coordinates: 33°23′45″N 111°47′45″W / 33.395789°N 111.795931°W
Categories:- Educational institutions established in 1898
- High schools in Mesa, Arizona
- Public high schools in Arizona
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