Denomination Catholic Average ACT scores 27 Colors White, Blue | Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic,Jesuit Phone +1 816-363-2036 Endowment 4.5 million USD | |
Motto Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam(For the Greater Glory of God) Established 1910; 107 years ago (1910) Founder Rev. Michael P. Dowling, S.J. Similar Rockhurst University, Notre Dame de Sion, Bishop Miege High School, Saint Thomas Aquinas, The Pembroke Hill Scho Profiles | ||
Rockhurst High School, typically referred to as Rockhurst, is a private, Roman Catholic, Jesuit, preparatory school for boys located in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States, on the Missouri-Kansas border along State Line Road.
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Rockhurst is accredited by the North Central Education Association and is a member of the North Central Education Association of Independent College Preparatory Schools, the Jesuit Secondary Education Association, and the National Association for College Admission Counseling (and its regional affiliates).
Early years
In 1908, Rev. Michael P. Dowling, S.J., selected a site for a Jesuit school at 52nd and Troost St. in Kansas City. The name "Rockhurst" was chosen because large rocks found on the school new grounds resembled those at Stonyhurst, a Jesuit-owned plot of land in Lancashire, England. Rockhurst was established by the Society of Jesus and chartered by the State of Missouri as part of Rockhurst College in August 1910. Classes began in the fall of 1914 In 1917, Luke J. Bryne Jr became the first graduate of the school. It changed its name to "Rockhurst High School" in 1923. The high school shared a campus and corporate umbrella with the college until 1962, when it moved to the Greenlease Campus—named for its principal benefactor, Robert C. Greenlease.
Athletics
Rockhurst is classified as a Class 6A school by the Missouri State High School Activities Association, meaning that it competes against the largest high schools in Missouri during state competition. MSHSAA's classification nomenclature has changed over time and often has varied by sport, so many of the titles listed below were won in divisions known by different names, i.e. Class 3, Class 5A, etc.; however, each title falls under the Class 6A designation either by name or by the criteria outlined by MSHSAA at the time the title was won.
Rockhurst won 35 state championships in the decade beginning in 2005, and six state championships in 2008-2009 alone. Its record for placings in a single year is 2007, with seven. Also, in 1987 Rockhurst became the only institution in the history of Missouri high school athletics to win football and basketball state championship in the same year. In recent years, Rockhurst's athletics department has repeatedly been named by Sports Illustrated as being in the top-ten nationally.
Rockhurst is not affiliated with any local high school athletic conferences, and because it is not a public school its student make-up is not geographically restricted. Its biggest rivals in the Kansas City area are Blue Springs High School and Blue Springs South High School.
Football
Rockhurst is the only school to win a championship in each major state championship venue: Busch Stadium, Arrowhead Stadium, the University of Missouri's Faurot Field, and the Edward Jones Dome. It also won a championship in a "non-championship" venue: its first championship, in 1971, at William Chrisman High School, against St. Louis (MO) Beaumont. Its nine football championships is ranked fourth in Missouri history, behind Jefferson City High School which has 10, Valle Catholic High School, and Webb City High School which both have 12. The team has been to more state championships (14) than any other school, and it is the all-time leader in state playoff appearances and state playoff wins. Five Rockhurst teams have won the state championship with perfect records: 1971, 2000, 2002, 2007, and 2010. The 2000, 2002, 2007, and 2010 teams finished the season nationally ranked 14th, 6th, 20th and 19th respectively (after finishing 14–0, 13–0, 13–0, and 14–0). The back-to-back state championship teams of 1986 and 1987 also finished nationally ranked, 14th and 13th respectively (after finishing 11–1 and 12–1).
Additionally, the last three head coaches of Rockhurst's football team, Al Davis, Jr., Jerry Culver, and Tony Severino, are all members of Missouri's High School Coaches Hall of Fame, and all won state championships. Davis was a two-time recipient of the Knute Rockne Award, and Severino was named USA Today's National Coach of the Year in 2000.
Varsity letters
The school awards varsity letters for both athletic and academic endeavors, including music, choir, band, theater, debate, and chess. The letter is a blue "R", with white trim. One letter is awarded per activity per individual, along with its corresponding pin and/or bar for years on varsity. State championship winners receive a special white "R" with blue trim. The symbol representing the activity in which the student earned the "white letter" is sewn onto the top portion of the "R" (i.e. a football for football, a winged shoe for track, etc.). Unlike the "blue letters", there is no limit to the number of "white letters" an individual may receive in a given activity.