Martin Luther King High School (Detroit)

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 Lafayette Park, the Martin Luther King Apartments and Riverfront Condominiums. The Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects were zoned to MLK prior to their demolition.^[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. Senior 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. Eastern High was always a contender in football, but it was only in 1953 when they outright won the championship and went on to play the West Side in the Goodfellow Game. 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 September 1967, Eastern High School relocated to 3200 East Lafayette Boulevard; bordering historic Elmwood Cemetery, within walking distance of Detroit's central business district. In September 1968, Eastern was renamed as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior 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.

One of the largest components of the 2009 Detroit Public Schools' $500.5 million-dollar bond construction program was the MLK Project. At a cost of $46.4 million, the redeveloped Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School re-opened in September 2011. The school emphasizes a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Curriculum.

In 2012 Kettering High School closed, and some students were rezoned to King. As 2010 King is marked as low performing and has been marked for closure in 2018.^[8]

Distinguished alumni

• Coleman A Young (1934) first served in the State House of Representatives, later becoming a Michigan State Senator. He served as a popular Mayor of Detroit, the first African-American. An outspoken person who lobbied at all levels for the City of Detroit.
• 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.^[9]
• 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.^[10][11]
• Harold Dukes (1953) All-city football and basketball star, who later played for the Michigan State University Spartans and then the San Francisco Forty-Niners.
• Edward Deeb (1954) is a business and community leader who was CEO,Chairman and Founder of Michigan Business and Professional Association and Michigan Food and Beverage Association the largest trade associations in Michigan. He was also founder of Metro Detroit Youth Day which hosts more than 35,000 youngsters each year on Belle Isle's athletic field. He was also the founder of the Eastern Market Merchants Association and the Eastern Market Corporation.
• Joe Girard is an author, speaker, and "The World's Greatest Salesman" as recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.
• 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.^[12][13]
• Dr. Arthur Carter III (1962) became active in politics at an early age. He received his BA, MA, and PhD from Wayne State, a member of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, a former Dean at Wayne County Community College, and deputy superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools.
• 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.^[14][15][16]
• Emanuel Steward (1962) Boxing legend who trained world champions such as Tommy (Hitman) Hearns, Hilmer Kenty and others. He was dedicated to changing the lives of young men and women through the sport of boxing.
• Bill Yearby (1962) won the shot put event at the 1962 MHSAA Track and Field Finals.^[17] 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.^[18]
• 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.^[19]
• 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.^[20]
• 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.^[21]
• 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.^[22]
• Ron LeFlore, major league baseball player, did not play baseball for the school or graduate.^[23][24]
• 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^[25][26][27]
• 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.^[28]
• Kerwin Moore (1989) former MLB player (Oakland Athletics)
• 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.^[29][30][31]
• 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)^[32][33]

References and notes