Abilene High School (Abilene, Texas)

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Abilene High School
Location
Abilene, Texas
USA
Information
School district Abilene Independent School District
Principal Mr. Terry Bull
Type Public, co-educational
Grades 9th - 12th
Athletics conference District 3-5A
Motto “Enter to learn, go forth to serve.”
Mascot Bald Eagle
Color(s) Black and Gold
Nickname Warbirds
Homepage http://www.ahseagles.com/

Abilene High School is a public high school located in Abilene, Texas and is part of the Abilene Independent School District. Abilene High School is the name given to three different schools in the past 150 years. The first Abilene High was an old warehouse. Not long after that, the school was moved to what is now Lincoln Middle School. In 1955, Abilene High was moved to its current location. Its main rival in sports is Cooper High School. Abilene High's mascot is the bald eagle. The Abilene High Marching Band is accepted to be the oldest marching band in Texas.

Contents

[edit] Athletics

Abilene High has one of the most tradition-rich football programs in the state of Texas. Coached by P. E. Shotwell, whom the Shotwell Stadium is named for, Abilene won its first state championship in 1923, beating Waco 3-0 (Waco had held opponents scoreless since 1921; they had beaten Abilene 13-0 the previous year). Besides Dallas Oak Cliff, Abilene High was the only school able to beat Paul Tyson's Waco dynasty during the 1920s.

Shotwell left Abilene High following that title run in 1923, taking over at Hardin-Simmons University. In 1927, Dewey Mayhew became the Eagles head coach. He guided them to their second state title in 1928, and a third one in 1931. Mayhew left as the school's winningest coach in 1941 to coach at Texas A&I (now Texas A&M University–Kingsville). His successor, Vernon Hilliard, only coached five seasons before Pete Shotwell returned for a second stint in 1946.

During the 1950s, the city of Abilene nearly doubled its size because of the Texas Oil Boom. While the school's enrollment reached new heights, the Eagles football program also reached its peak. Under Shotwell's successor Chuck Moser Abilene won three consecutive state titles (1954-'56) and 49 consecutive games, which stood as a national record back in 1957.[1]

Moser left Abilene in 1959, his successors Wally Bullington (1960-65) and David McWilliams (1966-69) were not able to keep Abilene High football on that high level, especially since Abilene Cooper High School opened in 1960 and afterwards drew a lot of students away from Abilene High. By 1970, Abilene Eagles football fell into a drought for almost three decades. For 1988 to '95, the Eagles had 8 consecutive losing seasons, most in school history.

However, things started to turn around when Steve Warren arrived in 1996. His teams went unbeaten in 2004 and 2005, but lost to Southlake Carroll in the 5A Division II Regionals both years. In the 2007 season, the Abilene Eagles faced Southlake Carroll again in the Regional semifinals, this time beating them 22-21 to end their run of consecutive state championship appearances and their 58-game winning streak against Texas teams.[2] In the next week of the playoffs, the Eagles defeated Lewisville Hebron 20-10. The Eagles advanced to the state semi-finals for the first time in over 50 years.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ West, Gary. "West Texas storm: Long before Southlake Carroll, another dynasty blew through the state. Abilene won 49 consecutive games in the 1950s", Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2007-09-12. 
  2. ^ Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Dragons' season is finished in a snap

[edit] Further reading

  • Pickett, Al (2004). Team Of The Century: The Greatest High School Football Team In Texas. Abilene: State House Press. ISBN 1880510871.