Abilene High School is a

public secondary school State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

Abilene, Kansas Abilene (pronounced ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 6,460. It is home of The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum and the G ...

, United States, serving grades 9–12. The school is operated by Abilene USD 435 school district. The current building serves students from the city itself as well as outlying areas covered by the nearby Chapman district. Abilene is a member of the

Kansas State High School Activities Association The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the U.S. state of Kansas at the high school, high-school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, ...

and offers a variety of sports programs. Athletic teams compete in class 4A. Extracurricular activities are also offered in the form of performing arts, school publications, and clubs.

Extracurricular activities

The Cowboys compete as the dominant member the North Central Kansas League and are classified as a 4A Div. 1 school, the third-largest classification in Kansas according to the

. Throughout its history, Abilene has won many state championships in various sports. Graduates have gone on to participate in Division I, Division II, and

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

athletics. The High School also offers music programs, such as band and choir. A majority of the students go on to state competitions and ensambles, generally receiving high ratings.

Athletics

Abilene High School participates in multiple sports for both boys and girls in the Fall, Winter, and Spring sports seasons. The boys teams are collectively referred to as the Cowboys while the girls are referred to as the Cowgirls. The Cowboys\Cowgirls

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

was chosen as a direct reflection of the history of Abilene as a cattle stop at the end of the

Chisholm Trail The Chisholm Trail was a trail used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas railheads. The trail was established by Black Beaver, a Lenape guide and rancher, and his friend Jesse Chisholm, a Cheroke ...

, and the men who braved the long journey of the old days, and the women who welcomed them at the end of the trail.

Football

Since 1966, when AHS joined the North Central Kansas League (NCKL), the football team has won or shared a total of 11 league championships. The team also won two state championships in 1978 and again in 1987. The Cowboys football team and

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Chapman High School share a unique part of

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

history. The two teams first began playing each other competitively in 1892. According to sports records, this makes the rivalry one of the oldest west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. It is the 8th oldest in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

State championships

The Abilene Cowboys and Cowgirls have won a total of 30 recognized State Championshipshttp://nexus.abileneschools.org/~abilenesports/AHS/Powerlifting/Powerlifting/Powerlifting.html (*) Indicates sport and its associated championship is not officially sanctioned by

KSHSAA The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the U.S. state of Kansas at the high-school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors ...

(**) Total number of team championships is 29 if the powerlifting championships are included.

Sports offered

*Fall ** Football ** Volleyball ** Boys Cross Country ** Girls Cross Country ** Girls Tennis *Winter ** Boys Basketball ** Girls Basketball ** Wrestling *Spring ** Baseball ** Boys Golf ** Boys Tennis ** Softball ** Boys Track and Field ** Girls Track and Field

Notable alumni

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, 34th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Milton S. Eisenhower Milton Stover Eisenhower (September 15, 1899 – May 2, 1985) was an American academic administrator. He served as president of three major American universities: Kansas State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Johns Hopkins Universit ...

, younger brother of Dwight D. Eisenhower. President of

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

, and

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

Marlin Fitzwater Max Marlin Fitzwater (born November 24, 1942) is an American writer-journalist who served as White House Press Secretary for six years under U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, making him one of the longest-serving press secreta ...

, former White House Press Secretary *

Ted Power Ted Henry Power (born January 31, 1955) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher and a minor league baseball coach. During a 13-year career in the major leagues, he pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1981–1982), Cincinnati Reds (1983� ...

, former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher, and current

AAA Baseball Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...

pitching coach for the

Louisville Bats The Louisville Bats are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Louisville, Kentucky, and are named in dual reference to the bat, win ...

organization * Oscar Stauffer, founder of

Stauffer Communications Stauffer Communications was a privately held media corporation based in Topeka, Kansas, that owned many publications and broadcast outlets, including the ''Topeka Capital-Journal'' and WIBW, WIBW-FM, and WIBW-TV. The company operated from 1930 to ...

and namesake of the

yearly award for Sportscaster and Sportswriter of the Year * Frank Wattelet, former NFL football player for the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

and

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

Cody Whitehair Cody Michael Whitehair (born July 11, 1992) is an American football offensive guard for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Kansas State. High school career A native of Abilene, Kansas, Whiteh ...

, NFL center and guard for

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

* Mike Racy, Former NCAA VP, Current Commissioner of the

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Its fourteen me ...

Notable faculty

* Frank Parent, athletics coach, 1905–1909

References

External links

*
USD 435 School District Boundary Map
KDOT {{Authority control Public high schools in Kansas Schools in Dickinson County, Kansas History of education in the United States