Bellarmine-Jefferson High School was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

. It was located in the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles The Archdiocese of Los Angeles (, ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the southern coastal portion of the U.S. state of California. The archdiocese's cathedra is in Los Angeles, and the arc ...

. The school was reopened in 2019 as St. John Paul II STEM Academy, which later closed in 2020.

Background

Bellarmine-Jefferson was a co-educational Catholic high school in

, that was founded by Monsignor Martin Cody Keating in 1944. Keating selected the school's name from

St. Robert Bellarmine Robert Bellarmine (; ; 4 October 1542 – 17 September 1621) was an Italian Jesuit and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was canonized a saint in 1930 and named Doctor of the Church, one of only 37. He was one of the most important figure ...

, a 17th-century Italian Jesuit priest, and

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

, the nation's third president. The school colors are Red, White, and Royal Blue. The school mascot was the Guard, named for the

Swiss Guard The Pontifical Swiss Guard,; ; ; ; , %5BCorps of the Pontifical Swiss Guard%5D. ''vatican.va'' (in Italian). Retrieved 19 July 2022. also known as the Papal Swiss Guard or simply Swiss Guard,Swiss Guards , History, Vatican, Uniform, Require ...

organization that has protected the pope since 1506. Bell-Jeff celebrated its first commencement ceremony with the class of 1948. The school's unofficial motto was "God helping me I will do my best today," a quote attributed to St. Robert Bellarmine. The school closed in Spring 2018.

Architecture

The school's main building is a replica of the old Pennsylvania State House, also known as

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were debated and adopted by the Founding Fathers of ...

, located in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania. Adjacent to the main building is St. Eleanor's Hall, a replica of the main library at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, designed by

. The main entry to St. Eleanor's Hall has 13 steps, representing the original

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...

in the order they became states by ratifying the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...

. The clock tower on the main building is frozen to honor the two famous documents written in Independence Hall. On the north side of the tower is July 4, 1776 @ 8:00 pm to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and on the south side is September 17, 1787 @ 4:00 pm to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution.

Academics

Bell-Jeff was a four-year college preparatory high school. As of the 2014-2015 school year the school offered eight Advanced Placement courses (Calculus, Chemistry, Chinese Language & Culture, English Literature, European History, Psychology, Spanish Language, and United States History), UC approved college prep courses, and a host of electives. In its later years, the school sent students to the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

Glendale Community College (California) Glendale Community College (GCC) is a Public college, public community college in Glendale, California. History The college was founded as Glendale Junior College in 1927, to serve the Glendale Union High School District which at the tim ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, St. John's University,

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Education In the United States * University of California system * University of Charleston, West Virginia * University of Chicago, Illinois * University of Cincinnati, Ohio * Upsala College, East Orange, New Jersey (''defunct ...

Los Angeles Valley College Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC, Valley College, or Valley) is a public community college in Los Angeles, California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, ...

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is ...

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

UC Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in ...

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

University of Nevada Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. I ...

, and Marymount California University and St Mary's College of

Moraga, California Moraga is a town in Contra Costa County, California, United States. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, the town is named in honor of Joaquín Moraga, member of the famed Californio family. As of 2020, Moraga had a total population of 16,870 ...

Athletics

Bell-Jeff offered 14 varsity sports. Girls competed in the Santa Fe League of the

CIF Southern Section The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation (CI ...

in six sports while boys competed in the Santa Fe League of CIF-SS in eight sports.Athletics Website
/ref> The school is part of the Freelance League.

Cross Country

The Cross Country teams were arguably the school's most successful sports program. The girls team won its league championship seven times since 2000, most recently in 2008, and was a consistent challenger in the CIF-SS Division V. Both teams hosted the annual Bellarmine-Jefferson Cross Country Invitational at Griffith Park. The Bell-Jeff Invitational was one of the largest and longest-running invitationals in Southern California. It was also the longest running event in Griffith Park.

Basketball

The most popular sport at Bell-Jeff has had it greatest success in the past two decades. The boys team has made the CIF-SS playoffs six consecutive years and had California's state leader in scoring in 1998 in Ruben Douglas. Douglas went on to lead the NCAA in scoring as a senior at the University of New Mexico and played professional basketball in Europe. The Guards last won the Santa Fe league title in 2011, ending a 14-year drought. The Lady Guards proudly own the school's only two sectional championships, winning the CIF-SS title during the 1996-1997 season and most recently during the 2008-2009 campaign. The 2008-2009 team went on to win the Southern California regional championship and then on March 20, 2009 defeated Pinewood Prep, 55-47, at Arco Arena in Sacramento to win the school's first California State Championship. The state championship was also the first ever for any Burbank area high school in a team sport. In addition, the team has appeared in the CIF-SS title game two times, losing both in 2003 and 2008. The Girls team also won the Nike Tournament of Champions in the Grey Division in 2008 and placed 3rd in 2009. After winning the CIF and State titles in 2009, the Lady Guards advanced to the CIF Semi-Finals for three consecutive seasons, 2010-2012. During the 2012 season Rishonda Napier was named the LA Daily News player of the year and was nominated as a McDonald's All-American. The Lady Guards basketball team won the 2017 CIF-SS Division 5A Championship and advanced to the CIF Semi-Finals in the State Tournament.

Football

The football team returned to play its 2012 home games at newly constructed Memorial Field on the campus of John Burroughs, after playing its 2011 home games at North Hollywood HS. Despite the school's small student population, the football team is consistently ranked in the top-ten of CIF-SS's Northeast Division. The team has won four league championships in its history - 1954, 2000, 2004, and most recently 2007. The 2008 team won the schools' 1st CIF playoff game since 1954, before falling in the CIF Quarterfinals. The Guards returned to the playoffs in 2012, and the future is bright as the Guards welcome new head coach and athletic director, Fred Martinez (Class of 1981) to the school for the 2014 season.

Volleyball

Both teams play their home games in Keating Memorial Gymnasium (nicknamed "The Guard House") on campus. The girls team won seven consecutive Santa Cruz league titles from 2006 to 2012. The girls had a 49-1 record during that time which included a winning streak of 46 matches. In 2009, the team advanced all the way to the CIF-SS Division IVA Championship game, the only title game appearance in school history. The Lady Guards had advanced to the CIF Quarterfinals in 1993 and 2008. In 2010 the girls reached the CIF Semi-Finals and then the Quarterfinals in 2011 - both years falling to the eventual division champion. The boys team also has fared well in recent years, qualifying for the CIF-SS Division V playoffs three consecutive years and having their finest season in 2007 when they advanced to the CIF Quarterfinals.

Baseball/Softball

The baseball team plays its home games at Burbank's Brace Park and competes in CIF-SS Division V. The team ended an almost twenty-year drought by winning the Santa Fe League Championship in 2005. The team qualified for the CIF-SS playoffs for nine consecutive years from 2003 to 2011. The softball team competes at Burbank's Gross Park and has qualified for the CIF-SS playoffs in each of the last nine seasons, winning its first playoff game since 1994 in 2008. The softball team has developed into one of the finest in the area. The Lady Guards have won five consecutive Santa Cruz League Championships from 2010 to 2014 (losing only one game during that time - by forfeit) and advanced to three consecutive CIF-SS Championship games, losing to Pomona Catholic in 2011 and again in 2012, before finally breaking through and winning the school's first CIF-SS softball championship on June 1, 2013, 8-4 over Mary Star of the Sea.

Notable alumni

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- actor *

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- actress * Philip McKeon - actor * James Morris - bassist of

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* Tim Doyle - television writer and producer

Notes and references

External links

School Website
{{authority control Roman Catholic secondary schools in Los Angeles County, California High schools in the San Fernando Valley Educational institutions established in 1944 1944 establishments in California Schools in Burbank, California Catholic secondary schools in California Educational institutions disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in California

Background

Architecture

Academics

Athletics

Cross Country

Basketball

Football

Volleyball

Baseball/Softball

Notable alumni

See also

Notes and references

External links