Gardendale High School

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Gardendale High School is a public high school located in Gardendale, Alabama, United States, operated by the Jefferson County Board of Education. The school's first graduating class was in 1968. Gardendale High School was developed in the mid 1960's as a result of community growth in the area. Until this time, local students mostly attended Mortimer Jordan High School in nearby Morris.

The school mascot/nickname is "Rockets." The name was chosen by vote of the first student body in school history and was chosen to honor the U.S. Space and Rocket program, which at the time was actively pursuing the goal of placing a man on the moon. The school colors are maroon, gray, and white.

A merger was proposed in 2007 between Gardendale High School and nearby Fultondale High School. But the merger was abolished by Superintendent Phil Hammonds on March 29, 2007.^[1]

In the aftermath of the scuttled merger, the district announced plans for construction of a new $46 million school building that will include separate competition and practice gyms, a 600-seat auditorium and 100-seat lecture hall, with potential future expansion to add as many as 32 additional classrooms down the road. The expansion will allow the school's 960 student enrollment to be expanded to accommodate 1,200 students. Demolition of the old school has begun and construction of the new facility will commence sometime in 2008."Superintendent previews Gardendale school features", The Birmingham News, April 18, 2007.</ref>

1 Awards and recognition
2 Athletics
- 2.1 Facilities
- 2.2 Classification
3 State Championship Teams
4 Notable alumni
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Awards and recognition

Gardendale High School's program was recognized by the Alabama Department of Education as recipient of the "Outstanding Program of the Year Award" in 2003 for its Family and Consumer Sciences Education Program and the integrated efforts of the school's chapter of the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA).^[2]

[edit] Athletics

Football program recognized by the Birmingham News as one of the ten winningest programs in Alabama in the 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Facilities

The school's football stadium was originally called Rocket Stadium but the name was changed to Driver Stadium later to honor the man who was responsible for the stadium lighting (a former Alabama Power employee). During the 1970s, it was the largest capacity on-campus high school stadium in Jefferson County and second largest overall, only to Legion Field in Birmingham. The stadium hosted several Dental Clinic Charity football games as well as one Crippled Children's Classic charity football game during the 1970s.

[edit] Classification

Until the mid-1980s, the Alabama High School Athletic Asociation maintained a four classification system for high school athletics in Alabama. Since then, the AHSAA has maintained a six classification system. Gardendale High was mostly a 3A school (but did participate at class 4A for two years) in the four-class system. Since the advent of the six-class system, most years Gardendale High was a 5A participant, but has spent time in the 6A classification. The classification system is based on enrollment grades 9-12 and is re-evaluated every two years.

Gardendale High School has achieved success in track and field], both indoors and out. The boys' indoor track team has won the Alabama state indoor track championship, winning titles in 1978 (Class 1A/2A/3A), 1979 (Class 3A), 1980 (Class 3A), 1984 (Class 3A), 1988 (Class 4A/5A) and 1989 (Class 6A).^[3] The boys' cross-country running team has won the state Class 3A championship five times, including four consecutive years from 1976 through 1979, and again in 1982.^[4]

Gardendale's first state championship in any sport was in wrestling in 1974. The school has produced multiple wrestling state champions. Steve Mordecai was a four time state champion from 1974 - 1977. ^[5]Tripp Otis was named Most Outstanding Wrestler in Class 5A for 2007, and completed his senior season by winning the Class 5A state championship in the 189-pound weight class, losing only one match all season long.^[6] Fellow wrestler Chad Bearden won the 2007 Class 5A heavyweight championship^[7], winning the Class 5A state championship for the third time in his career.^[8]

[edit] State Championship Teams

Cross Country 1976 Class 3A 1977 Class 3A 1978 Class 3A 1979 Class 3A 1982 Class 3A

Track & Field 1989 Class 6A

Wrestling 1974 Class 3A 1975 Class 3A

[edit] Notable alumni

Curt Jarvis - 1983 graduate, University of Alabama football (1983-1986), Tampa Bay Buccaneers-NFL 1987
Alan Ogg, former NBA basketball player.^[9]
Willie Wyatt - 1986 graduate, University of Alabama football (1986-1989), Tampa Bay Buccaneers-NFL 1990.^[10]
Jerry Hairston-1971 graduate, former Major League Baseball player, most notably with the Chicago White Sox.