Martin Luther King High School (Detroit, Michigan)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. High School is located at 3200 East Lafayette Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan; the building is operated by the Detroit Board of Education. King's district encompasses Downtown and Midtown Detroit; it also includes the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects, the Martin Luther King Apartments and Riverfront Condominiums.^[1] In addition it includes the three Wayne State University housing complexes that permit families with children (Chatsworth Tower, DeRoy, and University Tower).^[1][2][3]

History: 1901-1969

The facility that came to be known as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. High School was originally constructed as Eastern High School. EHS opened in 1901, with three teachers and 300 students, at the intersection of Mack Avenue and East Grand Boulevard.

Throughout its history, Eastern High was an interscholastic sports juggernaut - particularly during the 1960s. In addition to producing several outstanding athletes in track and swimming, the Eastern Indians won four consecutive Detroit City League men's basketball titles (1959–62).^[4]

In 1968, Eastern High School relocated to 3200 East Lafayette Boulevard; bordering historic Elmwood Cemetery, within walking distance of Detroit's central business district. In 1969, Eastern was renamed as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. High School; the official school colors were changed from orange and black, to gold and black; the school logo/mascot was changed from an American Indian, to the Crusaders.^[5]

History: Since 1969

The Crusader women's basketball program has enjoyed tremendous success. Over the past twenty-six seasons, King High School - coached by William Winfield - has appeared in eleven Michigan High School Athletic Association championship finals - winning on five occasions; in 1985, 90, 91, 2003 and 2006.^[6]

In 2006, ML King Jr. High School won the Detroit City League championship trophy in men's swimming and diving.

In 2007, the King Crusaders, coached by Jim Reynolds, became the first team from the Detroit Public Secondary Schools Athletic League to win a MHSAA Football Championship.^[7]

During 2008, King High School's marching band raised over 300,000 dollars (including sponsorship from U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton) to perform at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. DETROIT - Demolition of the former Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School has begun, with excavators on site today, tearing down the administration and science lab wings in the first phase of demolition. It will take about four weeks to raze the 230,000-square-foot (21,000 m²) school that was built in 1963.

One of the largest projects in the Detroit Public Schools' $500.5 million bond construction program voters approved in 2009, the MLK project includes razing the 48-year-old building facing Lafayette Street. The auditorium of the former school will remain in use. The new school, complete with a new athletic complex and cyber café, will connect to the auditorium that is receiving upgrades that include interior finishes and systems.

The new $46.4 million facility will face Larned and McDougall streets with the focal point being the glass façade of the MLK Center which will house the cafeteria and a small amphitheater for student assemblies. More than 1,000 square feet (93 m²) of 4 ft (1.2 m) by 8 ft (2.4 m) Vision glass panels have been installed to the commons area to capture the largest amount of natural light and make the LEED Gold-certified building more energy efficient.

Jenkins/Granger, a 49% Detroit-headquartered firm, is the design builder for the MLK project. TMP Architecture is the architect.

Construction of the new MLK school began in Summer 2010 and will be open for students in September.

Detroit voters approved Proposal S in Nov. 2009 which enabled the district to access $500.5 million for school capital improvement projects. DPS received the sixth largest allocation in the nation.

The improvement program also includes technology upgrades and security initiatives being funded with Proposal S dollars. To comply with federal guidelines, all bond dollars must be spent within three years and all projects must be completed by Sept. 2012.

Since work began just over a year ago in one of the city's largest construction projects that will build and renovate 18 Detroit Public Schools facilities, nearly 500,000 hours have been logged by workers employed by Detroit-headquartered companies at 14 active job sites. Four school projects are 100 percent complete where students spent their last weeks of this school year in modernized classrooms, gymnasiums and theater rooms.

By the start of school in the fall, nine more schools will open for the city's schoolchildren, and demolition of the nearly 90-year-old Cass Technical High School will be complete, for a combined total of $325 million in construction-related spending funded by $500.5 million Proposal S dollars voters approved in 2009.

Distinguished alumni

• Bernard Lucas (1935) was one of the nation’s best interscholastic high jumpers during the 1930s; Lucas won three events for Eastern at the 1934 Detroit (DPSSAL) Championships: the high jump (6-4.75); long jump (21-8), and 120-yard high hurdles (:16.0). Bernard Lucas was also the 1934 Michigan High School Track and Field Athlete of the Year.^[8]

• Joe Altobelli (1950) versatile, All-City basketball, football and baseball player for the Eastern Indians; Altobelli enjoyed several successful seasons of Major League Baseball, as a player and as manager of the 1983 World Series champion Baltimore Orioles.^[9][10]

• Reggie Harding (1961) First-team Parade Magazine All-American in 1961; Harding led Eastern to three-consecutive Detroit Public School League basketball championships. A three-time all-state selection, Harding was drafted out of high school by the Detroit Pistons; he played a total of four seasons in the NBA.^[11][12]

• James MacMillan (1962) was one of the fastest high school swimmers in the United States during the early 1960s. At the 1962 MHSAA Championships, MacMillan took first place for Eastern High in both the 50 and 100 yard freestyle; his winning times still stand as DPSSAL records. On the collegiate scene, James MacMillan was a nine-time NCAA All-American for Michigan State University (1964–66); during the summer of 1968, MacMillan competed in the 100 and 200 meter freestyle at the US Olympic Trials.^[13][14][15]

• Bill Yearby (1962) won the shot put event at the 1962 MHSAA Track and Field Finals.^[16] Upon graduation from EHS, Yearby became an All-American football player at the University of Michigan; he also performed professionally with the New York Jets.^[17]

• Lou Scott (1963) was one of America's top distance runners during the 1960s; Scott won Michigan Track and Field Athlete of the Year honors in 1962 and 1963. Scott competed collegiately for Arizona State University; in 1967 he won a silver medal in the 5000 meter run at the Pan American Games. The following year, by virtue of his third place finish at the Olympic Trials, Lou Scott competed in the 5000 at the 1968 Summer Olympics.^[18]

• Stanley Allen (1965) was another of Eastern's state track and field champions; Allen took first place in the high jump, at the 1965 MHSAA finals.^[19]

• John "Frenchy" Fuqua (1965) matriculated from Eastern High School to collegiate football stardom, as a running back for Morgan State University. Fuqua later played eight rewarding seasons with the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, of the National Football League. While with the Steelers, Fuqua become part of NFL lore as the intended receiver for quarterback Terry Bradshaw's pass that sports historians refer to as the Immaculate Reception.^[20]

• Walter Davis (1967) was twice city champion in the pole vault event; his winning height of 13-7, at the 1967 DPSSAL Track & Field Championships, still stands as the public school league record.^[21]

• George Gervin (1970) a.k.a. "The Iceman" is a former professional basketball player and esteemed member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1997, Gervin was voted one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players^[22][23][24]

• Rod Hill (1977) was another in a long line of gridiron greats at King High; Hill played collegiate football for Kentucky State University. In 1983, Rod Hill was selected in the first-round of the NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys. Rod Hill played a total of eleven professional seasons; six in the NFL and five with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.^[25]

• Kelton Graham (1993) ended a seventeen year drought for DPSSAL male athletes, when he swam in the finals at the 1993 MHSAA championships; Graham placed sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke. More recently, Kelton Graham coached the Ann Arbor-Huron High School Boys' Swimming and Diving program to a MHSAA team title in 2008; under Graham's tutelage, Huron High was also 2009 MHSAA team runner-up. Kelton Graham was the 2008 Michigan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Coaches Association Coach of the Year.^[26][27][28]

• Kevin B. Jackson (2008), MHSAA silver medalist (men's high jump); DPSSAL Championship record holder (2.03 m); 2008 MHSAA top-ranked performer (2.08 m)^{[29] [30]}

References and notes