| Bishop Luers High School | |
|---|---|
| Bishop Luers High School in 2008.
"We Are the Light of the World"
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| Address | |
| 333 East Paulding Road Fort Wayne, Indiana, (Allen County), 46819 United States |
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| Information | |
| Type | Private, Coeducational |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend |
| Established | 1958 |
| Principal | Mary Keefer |
| Asst. Principal | Tiffany Albertson |
| Faculty | 41 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | 567 (2010–2011) |
| Student to teacher ratio | 18:1 |
| Color(s) | Red and black |
| Athletics conference | Summit Athletic Conference |
| Team name | Knights |
| Rival | Bishop Dwenger High School |
| Accreditation(s) | North Central Association of Colleges and Schools[1] |
| Newspaper | 'KnightTimes' |
| Yearbook | 'Accolade' |
| Tuition | $4,175 |
| Admissions Director | Jenny Andorfer |
| Athletic Director | Matt Lindsay |
| Show Choir Director | Karlene Krouse |
| Website | http://www.bishopluers.org |
Bishop Luers High School is a Catholic high school located on the south side of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Bishop Luers is owned and operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.[2] The school was founded in 1958 by the Franciscan Fathers of the Saint John the Baptist Province in Cincinnati, Ohio, along with the Sisters of Saint Francis Province in Mishawaka, Indiana. The first bishop of the diocese, John Henry Luers, is the namesake of the school.[2]
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As of the 2009–2010 school year, Bishop Luers High School had an enrollment of 540 students; 156 freshmen, 134 sophomores, 137 juniors, and 113 seniors.[3]
Bishop Luers' education departments consist of art, business, religion, English, foreign language, mathematics, and social studies.[4] In 2004 and in 2005, Bishop Luers was placed on the Catholic High School Honor Roll Top 50 Secondary Schools in America.[5][6]
Bishop Luers offers an array of activities for students. Activities include Academic Super Bowl, National Honor Society (NHS), Key Club, Student Council, Drama Club, The Bishop Luers Minstrels Show Choir, Pep Band, Speech and Debate, Newspaper, Yearbook, World Culture Club, Students Against Destructive Decisions or S.A.D.D., Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda, Freshmen Mentoring, and Student Ambassadors.[7]
Bishop Luers' Minstrels Show Choir holds the distinction as the first show choir to have a competition in America.[8] In 1975, The Minstrels, directed by Father Fred Link, hosted the first competitive show choir invitational, with seven show choirs competing. The following year more than 15 show choirs competed. From 1979 to 1982 local PBS television network WFWA broadcast the competition, and in 1983, PBS aired the show choir competition nationally. Today, there are over 250 invitations sent out across the country.[8] The Minstrels have been named Grand Champions at Findlay Fest, Charisma Classique, and Mooresville Spotlighter Show Choir Invitationals in addition to many other notable awards, and they frequently make the trip to Orlando, Florida to compete with other high school show choirs from around the nation.
Bishop Luers has a wide range of sports for students to participate in, including Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) sanctioned sports of baseball, boys and girls basketball, cross country, football, boys and girls golf, boys and girls soccer, softball, swimming and diving, boys and girls tennis, track and field, volleyball, and wrestling. Bishop Luers is a member of the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA),[9] and the Summit Athletic Conference (SAC). Luers' main rival is Bishop Dwenger High School, a Catholic school on the north side of Fort Wayne. Luers also has a spirited neighborhood rivalry with South Side High School, which is often termed "The Battle for Calhoun Street."
Bishop Luers has a storied football program that has been coached by Matt Lindsay since 1987. Luers has won seven SAC Championships as well as four championships in the Fort Wayne City Series that preceded the SAC. Bishop Luers has also been to the Indiana state finals for football thirteen times, including 4 consecutive years 1999–2002. Ten of those fourteen trips have resulted in football championships, mostly in Class 2A, including current back-to-back-to-back wins in 2009, 2010, and 2011.[10][11] The fourteen championship appearances are the most of any team in Indiana football history, and the ten championships are also just one victory short of tying the state record. [12]
Indiana High School Football Championships
Indiana High School Football Championship Runners-Up
SAC Football Championships
Fort Wayne City Series Football Championships
Coinciding with the 2004 hiring of head coach James Blackmon, Sr., recent seasons have seen championship success for the boys basketball team. For the four seasons 2006/07 – 2009/10, the Knights roster featured Deshaun Thomas, one of the all-time greatest players in Indiana high school history and recipient of the 2010 Indiana Mr. Basketball award.[13] The Knights won two consecutive boys basketball Class 2A state championships, 2008 and 2009, and they followed those with a sectional win in 2010. They won the SAC Holiday Basketball Tournament the three seasons, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Prior to Thomas, the Knights had never won a Summit Athletic Conference Holiday Basketball Tournament, and their overall history in the tournament still stands as the worst record of all-time.[14]
On May 21, 2010, in a ceremony at Bishop Luers, Thomas' jersey (#1) was retired by the school. This was the first time in school history a jersey of any of its athletes had been retired.[15]
The 2010/11 Knights achieved another milestone when the team won the SAC regular season basketball championship for the first time in the school's history.
In May 2011, Blackmon resigned to take the head coaching position at his high school alma mater, Marion High School. Later in the same month, Blackmon reversed that decision and announced he would be remaining as the head coach at Luers.[16][17][18]
Indiana High School Boys Basketball Class 2A Championships
SAC Boys Basketball Championships
SAC Holiday Tournament Boys Basketball Championship
Bishop Luers also has a very strong girls basketball tradition. Past coach, Gary Andrews, took the girls to three consecutive Indiana State Class 2A Championship games, winning all three in the 1998/99, 1999/2000, and 2000/01 seasons. Andrews then left to coach the University of Saint Francis. Andrews was replaced by Teri Rosinski (winner of Indiana's 1977 Miss Basketball) who carried on the girls basketball tradition, winning a fourth consecutive state title, in Class 3A, in 2001/02. Rosinski also led the Knights to the 2005/06 Class 3A championship and a runner-up finish in 2003/04. Their seven state championships currently stand as the most all-time by one school in Indiana girls basketball history, as do the eight championship game appearances.[19]
After six seasons, Rosinski resigned and moved to southern California to spend more time with her family.[20] Greg Friend took over as the girls basketball coach for two seasons,[21] followed by current head coach Denny Renier.[22]
Under first-year coach Renier, a long time assistant at the school, the 2009/10 Knights girls team once again reached the Class 2A state championship game. The game was historic because it was the first time the state finals were played in Fort Wayne. A one-year change of venues from Indianapolis was necessary because the two normally-used sites there were both unavailable. In a hard fought game, the Knights finished as state runner-up, losing the championship game in overtime, 70–65. They returned in 2011 to win the 2A state championship, also played in their home town of Fort Wayne, over a feisty Brownstown Central Braves ballclub. The final score was 59–46.[23]
Indiana High School Girls Basketball Championships
Indiana High School Girls Basketball Championship Runners-Up
Bishop Luers also has a variety of club sports including bowling, cheerleading, dance, lacrosse, rifle, and boys volleyball. The lacrosse team is a member of the Indiana High School Lacrosse Association.[24]
Along with the school's 2007 state football title, the boys basketball team competed for the first time in school history in the state basketball championship in 2008. The Knights won the game, 69–67, becoming Indiana High School Boys Basketball Class 2A Champions.[25] Later in 2008, the boys baseball team competed for the first time in the state baseball championship, also winning that 2A title. Thus Bishop Luers became the first team in Indiana high school athletic history to win and hold the three major male sports titles in one year since 1973, the first year all three were recognized by the Indiana High School Athletic Association.[26]
Sports Illustrated ranked Bishop Luers 24th amongst high schools nationwide in the publication's "Top 25 athletic programs for 2007–08" article, released in May, 2008.[27]
Knights Victory Song
Red and black our colors proudly flying,
We are the knights, we’ll conquer, never fear.
Deep in our hearts our love for Bishop Luers,
Makes us feel we want to shout and cheer,
Rah! Rah!
Every time they ask us who the Knights are,
We’ll be proud to show our loyalty.
We will sing a fighting song,
We will sing it loud and strong,
Bishop Luers march to victory!
V-I-C-T-O-R-Y,
Victory, victory Bishop Luers High!
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