Brooke High School

Brooke High School

Brooke High School is a public high school located in Wellsburg, West Virginia. It is the only public high school in Brooke County. The school teaches grades 9-12.

History

Brooke High School was established in 1969 under the leadership of Homer S. Bodley after being formed from the consolidation of Follansbee High School, Wellsburg High School, and Bethany High School.^[1]

Brooke High School is somewhat notorious for its extremely poor mechanical engineering design. At its inception in 1969, air conditioning occurred underneath the one-story building. Also, the design included water pooling on top of the school's flat roof (for natural insulation). Unfortunately, naturally-occurring radon gas was discovered and BHS needed to have a complete HVAC system installed. Also, the water damage throughout the building caused by pooling water on the roof required extensive repair and a new roof. Both repairs cost millions of dollars and were primarily funded through the WV School Building Authority.

Famous Graduates

Letitia Neese Chafin unsuccessfully ran for West Virginia Supreme Court Justice in 2012.

Brooke High School had a wealth of stellar graduates in the early 1990s, including Brian Householder (1990), Andy Kaminski (1990), Jill Graf (1992), Tom Townsend (1993), Frank Benham (1993), and Todd DeCollo (1993), as well as Amber Fillinger (1991), Beau Fillinger (1994), and Amanda Fillinger (1997), who often toured as The Amazing Fillingers with Hansen during the late 90s. The Musician's musician, guitarist/singer Brett Cain, is also a mid-90s graduate of Brooke High School.

The large number of talented Brooke graduates from Weirton, WV caused both long-time Brooke coach Kevin McCormick and former WV Governor Arch Moore to call Weirton's Marland Heights neighborhood the "fertile crescent of Brooke High talent."

Cheerleading

Perhaps the signature of the school is the Brooke High School Cheerleading program. Through the years, the various varsity squads have earned the school 13 state titles and numerous regional championships.

Band

The Brooke High Marching band is often referred to as the "pride of Brooke County" ^[1] and have many trophies on display in the music department.

Basketball

The Bruins have five basketball teams. Both boys and girls. Boys play Freshman, JV and Varsity while Girls compete in JV and Varsity.

The most infamous play in Brooke basketball history came in 1983, when Brooke lost at home to Weir High School during the state tournament sectionals. Current BHS principal Tim Pannett made a last-second, game-winning bucket that was waived-off by an official who called Pannett for an offensive foul.

The Boys Varsity Basketball team won the WV AAA championship in 1987, led by Bobby "Honey" Hoenig, "Razzle Dazzle" Charlie Basil, head coach Dave "Easy" Reitter, and statistician John Townsend.

In the mid-90s, the boys basketball team were led by the twin towers, Joe Bowman (aka "The Human Smokestack") and George "the Flying Buttress" Cole. Both Bowman and Cole were 6'8" tall.

Football

Brooke High School won the WV AAA championship in 1985, 1987, and 1990, under the leadership of head coach Paul "Bud" Billiard and assistant coaches Perry West, Harry Alward, Randy Weppler, Bill Ewusiak, Dave Reitter, and Hurricane Ed Wahnhas.

Collective amnesia has prevented fans of Brooke football from remembering any football played at the school since 1990, with the possible exception of the Tom Bruney years. 1994 BHS grad Mac McLean was hired as head football coach in July 2014 to help restart the Bruin program after decades of dormancy.

References