Ballard High School (Louisville)

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Ballard High School

Motto	Home of Champions
Established	1968
Type	Public Secondary
Principal	Dr. James Jury
Students	1,700
Grades	9–12
Location	Louisville, Kentucky ,United States
District	Jefferson County Public Schools
Campus	Suburban
Colors	Maroon █, White █, and Powder Blue █
Mascot	Bruins
Faculty	200
Campus size	30 acres
Website	Ballard High School

Ballard High School entrance

Ballard High School is a combined junior/senior high school in the eastern suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky. The school opened in the fall of 1968. The first students were in grades 7-9, and a grade was added each year as the building was expanded. This kept the school system from having to transfer upperclass students from other high schools after ties to another school had been established. The first class (consisting of the original freshmen) graduated in 1972. Ballard was led until the mid-1980s by principal Patrick Crawford. The school currently offers grades 9-12.

Ballard has a long-standing tradition of excellence in academics, athletics and the arts. Ballard's mission is to expose students to a solid liberal arts curriculum consisting of high-level courses and award-winning arts programs. Ballard offers a solid Advance Program curriculum which, according to their website, includes 19 College Board Advance Placement(AP) courses. Ballard consistently scores above the national mean on the ACT and SAT test, and has the highest CATS scores in Jefferson County of non-selective schools. Ballard offers French, Japanese, Latin, German and Spanish and has a world travel program, which gives students the opportunity to travel to Europe each year. Ballard continues to rank 2nd in the district and top 10 in the state for numbers of National Merit Scholars. Ballard High School was the first Jefferson County public high school recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an exemplary school.

Ballard is a good academic institution in the Louisville metropolitan area and consists of students from all across the city. Ballard was the first Jefferson County public high school recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. They were also the national high school academic quiz bowl champions in 1990 by winning the Panasonic Academic Challenge. In 1984 Sherleen S. Sisney, a teacher of History, Economics and Political Science, won the National Teacher of the Year award.

In Kentucky care must be taken not to confuse this school with Ballard Memorial High School, the public high school that serves Ballard County in the far-western Jackson Purchase.

1 Choir, Band, Orchestra and Speech
2 Athletics
- 2.1 Football
- 2.2 Fight song
3 Trivia
4 Notable alumni
5 External links

[edit] Choir, Band, Orchestra and Speech

The Ballard choral program is the largest in the state of Kentucky's and has the largest number of students accepted to KMEA. The Choir received distinguished ratings at the regional KMEA Assessment in 2005 and has received National and International awards in the past. They have offered a tradition dating back at least since the early 1980s of having select choral students comprise a Madrigal singers group.

Ballard's Concert Band received distinguished ratings at regional and statewide concert band and solo/ensemble events. In 2006 the Marching Bruins won the prestigious Grand Champion Award at the Mid-States Band Association's championships.

The Ballard Orchestra received distinguished ratings at the 2005 regional KMEA Large Ensemble Assessment. Ballard's Debate Team features three of the six of the policy debate teams in Jefferson County. Ballard's quick recall team is ranked second in the county league while suffering only one defeat to duPont Manual High School.

[edit] Athletics

Athletics at Ballard are competitive and very successful, winning 57 team state championships and many other individual championships. Ballard is a Kentucky powerhouse in baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse and soccer. Ballard Baseball, Ballard Basketball, and Ballard Football have sent many athletes on to college and to the pro ranks. Ballard has been run by longtime principal Sandy Allen who retired after the 2003-2004 school year. The principal as of the 2004-2005 school year is Dr. James Jury. The head basketball coach is Chris Renner and the head baseball coach is Greg Gilbert. The basketball team was the state runner up in 2003 and won the state championship in 1977, 1988 and 1999. The girls' Softball team is a perennial power and were the State runner's up in 2005. Several current Ballard basketball players are solid prospects such as Ra'von Lee and Antiquawn Beckham. Ballard simply has one of the top high school basketball programs in the nation year in and year out. Ballard's nine state Championships in soccer outnumber those of any other program in Kentucky (1976, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995 and 1999).

[edit] Football

Founded: 1970

Conference: Class 6A

Division: District 6-5

Home field: Pat Crawford Stadium, seating capacity of 6,000.

Uniform colors: Maroon, white, powder blue

Helmet design: Maroon shell with "BRUINS" written on side in white with underline

Athletic director: Chris Kinney

Main Rivals: Eastern Eagles, Male Bulldogs, Trinity Shamrocks

Coach: Mark Catlett

Record: 228-158-1

[edit] Fight song

(Sung to the tune of the Notre Dame Victory March)

Three cheers for our Ballard High

Maroon and white our colors fly High

Send a victory cheer on High

Our spirit and pride will never Die!

[edit] Trivia

The school has a history of senior-year pranks. Some of the more infamous ones was the 1980 release of a pig into the school hallways; more recently, a pair of seniors vandalized the principal's office and the famed mural hallway with eggs and whitewash, which was reported on the next morning's television news.

In the 2005-2006 school year, a local news channel wrongly trespassed onto the school's property. They had a hidden camera and recorded their trespassing, and hallway routines in the school. Later that week, the story was on the nightly news and told viewers how easy it was to break into Ballard High School.

[edit] Notable alumni

Jerry Eaves - former N.B.A Player with the Utah Jazz, currently Head Men's Basketball coach at North Carolina A&T
Colonel Walter M. Herd - commander of special operations in Afghanistan.
Jill Hertzman - Professional Woman's Tennis Player
John Hillerich - President & CEO of Hillerich & Bradsby, a company that makes sports equipment including the Louisville Slugger baseball bat.
Allan Houston – former guard for the New York Knicks
Jeremi Johnson – starting fullback for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Mark Jurich - former baseball star at the University of Louisville who currently plays for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in the Atlanta Braves farm system.
James Kim - 1989 graduate and technology analyst who worked for CNET as the Senior Editor. The Kim family became stranded on a rural road in Oregon and James left the family to find help. His family was rescued after days of being trapped in the snow and James' body was found on December 6, 2006.
Jeff Lamp - former N.B.A forward drafted in the first round in 1981 by the Portland Trail Blazers
Bill Plaschke - sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times and panelist on Around the Horn on ESPN
Jeremy Sowers - former pitcher at Vanderbilt University and 6th overall draft pick in the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft, who currently plays for the Cleveland Indians,
Josh Sowers - former pitcher at Yale University and a 10th round selection in the 2005 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays, and currently plays for the Lansing Lugnuts.
Jon Sonnheim - General Assignment Reporter, WYMT, Hazard, KY.
DeJuan Wheat - former N.B.A Player and University of Louisville basketball star drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1997.
Andy Weingarten - Meteorologist, WAVE-3, Louisville, KY