Central High School is a public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

( grades 9-12) in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

, United States. Since it was founded in the early 1900s and is considered the first high school in Memphis; Central is often called "THE" High School. It is a part of the Shelby County Optional School system where it is recognized as a school specializing in college preparatory programs. The principal is Gregory McCullough. Central's mascot is the Warrior and the school colors are green and gold. For recognition as the successor to Memphis High School, the first high school in Memphis, Central High's football team, rather than having artwork denoting the "Warrior" mascot, simply has a capital "H", for THE High School

History

Central High was built in 1911 by the Memphis Board of Education, when the current building was erected on Raleigh Avenue, now called Bellevue Blvd. It is in the Jacobean Revival architecture style, with corner pavilions on the west facade, and rusticated surrounds on the upper story windows. Though there have been additions, the school retains is architectural integrity. . Central High's building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on September 17, 1982.

Academics

Central High School offers a traditional program of academics as well as an Optional College Preparatory Program. Honors and Advanced Placement courses are offered.

Demographics

In 2014, 405 students received diplomas. ACT composite scores for the 2014-2015 school year were 18.1 vs 19.8 for the state and 21.1 national.

Extra-curricular activities, clubs and organizations

Central High School has clubs in foreign language, volunteer service, and honor societies. Central's extracurricular activities include: *Concert Choir *Mixed Chorale *Warrior Band *

Jazz Band A jazz band (jazz ensemble or jazz combo) is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a h ...

Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

*Color Guard (Flag Girls) *

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

Dance Team
*

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

* Swim Team *

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

*Girls' Soccer *Boys' Soccer *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

*Boys' Cross Country *Girls' Cross Country *Boys' Track *Girls' Track *Lady Warriors Basketball *Warriors Basketball *

Student Council A student council (also known as a student union, associated student body or student parliament) is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research or ...

Future Business Leaders of America The Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an American career and technical student organization headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Established in 1940, FBLA is a non-profit organization of high school ("FBLA"), Middle Level ("FBLA ...

*Youth Crusaders Club *Newspaper Staff *Yearbook Staff *Broadcasting/Media Concepts *French Club *Spanish Club *Latin Club * DECA *Bowling *

JROTC The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") is a Federal government of the United States, federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools acr ...

Mu Alpha Theta Mu Alpha Theta () is the United States mathematics honor society for high school and two-year college students. In June 2015, it served over 108,000 student members in over 2,200 chapters in the United States and in 20 foreign countries. Its ma ...

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic achi ...

*International Club *National English Honor Society *Mock Trial Team *Key Club *Knowledge Bowl Team *

Chess Club A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs often provide for both informal and tournament games and sometimes offer league play. Traditionally clubs host over the board, face to face chess more ...

* GSA (Gender Sexuality Alliance) *

Debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

Team *E warriors(Gaming club)

Notable alumni

Avron Fogelman Avron B. Fogelman (born March 1, 1940) is an American businessman and real estate developer. He was a former part owner of the Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals as well as several Memphis-based sports teams.Jim MasilaFogelman boxes up spe ...

- Memphis businessman *

Alex Chilton William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s ...

- musician of the Box Tops – “The Letter” - would have been CHS '69, but dropped out when The Letter became a hit *

Art Tait Arthur William Tait (February 8, 1929 – February 14, 2012) was an American football defensive end who played two seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Yanks and Dallas Texans. He played college football at Mississipp ...

- American football player in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL) * Bette Greene - CHS ’52; author “Summer of My German Soldier” *

Kemmons Wilson Charles Kemmons Wilson (January 5, 1913 – February 12, 2003) was an American hotelier. He is best known for founding the hotel chain Holiday Inn in the 1950s. Personal life He was born in Osceola, Arkansas, the only child of Kemmons and Ru ...

- founder of

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...

* Charles W. Burson - CHS '62; legal counsel and chief of staff to Vice-President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic ...

* George Barnes alias

Machine Gun Kelly George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thom ...

Terry Manning Terry Manning is an American photographer, composer, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, audio engineer, and visual artist. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he has worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ...

- music producer, photographer *

William Sanderson William Sanderson (born January 10, 1944) is an American retired actor. He played J. F. Sebastian in the feature film ''Blade Runner'' (1982), and had regular roles on several television series such as Larry on '' Newhart'' (1982–1990), E. ...

- CHS ’62; "Larry" on the Newhart show *

John Farris John Lee Farris (born July 26, 1936) is an American writer, known largely for his work in the southern Gothic genre. Life Farris was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, to parents John Linder Farris (1909–1982) and Eleanor Carter Farris (190 ...

- CHS ’55; author “Harrison High”, a fictional account of Central High * John S. Bull - CHS '52, NASA Astronaut Group 5 selected in 1966. * William G. Leftwich, Jr. - Marine killed in Vietnam *

William F. Barnes William F. Barnes (October 20, 1917 – April 23, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1958 to 1964. Barnes guided his teams to a record, including two ...

- football coach at UCLA *

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politi ...

- short-story writer and novelist * Lester Hudson - professional basketball player *

William Poduska John William Poduska Sr. is an American engineer and entrepreneur. He was a founder of Prime Computer, Apollo Computer, and Stardent Inc., Stellar Computer. Prior to that he headed the Electronics Research Lab at NASA's Cambridge, Massachusetts, f ...

- CHS '55; electrical engineer, businessman, and professor * Edward L. Stanton III -

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

& federal judicial nominee * Margaret Valiant - musician, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and activist *Jon Wells - CHS '76; alias "Thunder Paws", former drummer for

Black Oak Arkansas Black Oak Arkansas is an American Southern rock band named after the band's hometown of Black Oak, Arkansas. The band reached the height of its fame in the 1970charting ten albums according to Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Their style is punctuated ...

(recorded on Ready As Hell) *

Key Glock Markeyvius LaShun Cathey (born August 3, 1997), better known by his stage name Key Glock, is an American rapper and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. A protégé of Young Dolph, he rose to fame in 2017 with his mixtape ''Glock Season''. He is s ...

- CHS '15; music artist and rapper signed to Paper Route Empire *

Pooh Shiesty Lontrell Donell Williams Jr. (born November 8, 1999), better known by his stage name Pooh Shiesty, is an American rapper. He is signed to Gucci Mane's 1017 Records and Atlantic Records. He rose to fame in 2020 from his collaborations with the ra ...

- CHS '18; rapper and music artist *Natalie Jackson - CHS '78; (a.k.a. Kudisan Kai) background vocalist for Elton John, Natalie Cole, and others

References

External links

CHS History
{{authority control Public high schools in Tennessee School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Schools in Memphis, Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Memphis, Tennessee 1909 establishments in Tennessee