Wilbur Cross High School is a four-year

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

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 ...

in the

East Rock East Rock of south-central Connecticut, United States, with a high point of , is a long trap rock ridge located primarily in the neighborhood of East Rock on the north side of the city of New Haven. A prominent landscape feature and a popula ...

neighborhood of

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, United States, serving ninth through twelfth grades. The school is named after Connecticut Governor

Wilbur Lucius Cross Wilbur Lucius Cross (April 10, 1862 – October 5, 1948) was an American literary critic who served as the 71st governor of Connecticut from 1931 to 1939. Biography Born in 1862 in Mansfield, Connecticut, Cross attended Natchaug School in Wil ...

and is the largest school in the New Haven Public Schools in the number of students as well as teachers. The school operates with two semesters and four marking periods.

History

The school was founded in 1920 as Commercial High School, taking over the vocational education components that had been included in Hillhouse High School. Commercial became a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is re ...

in 1949 and was renamed in memory of Governor Cross in 1950. In 1960 (1961?) Wilbur Cross and Hillhouse High School were both constructed using identical layouts, save one elevation change between wings. Cross had red external panels, while Hillhouse was blue. There were 3 different offerings: College Prep, Business, and General. There were only 3 grades. In 1963, the first graduating class that started there had 444 members, out of roughly 700 that had started as sophomores. There were roughly 2,000 students.

Academics

Wilbur Cross has four career-themed "academies": Business & Fine Arts, Health & Culinary Sciences, Law & Public Service, and the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. Wilbur Cross High School offers 15

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

(AP) Classes. Students are required to take the exams. The exam fee is covered by the school district.

Athletics

Wilbur Cross's mascot is the ''Governor'', in recognition of the school's namesake. They compete in the Oronoque Division of the

Southern Connecticut Conference The Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC) is a high school athletics conference in Connecticut. The conference comprises schools located along the Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. ...

. These sports are offered:

Fall

*Football *Boys' Soccer *Girls' Soccer *Girls' Volleyball *Boys' Cross Country *Girls' Cross Country *Boys' Swimming *Girls' Swimming (combined with East Haven) *Cheerleading

Winter

*Boys' Basketball *Girls' Basketball *Boys' Indoor Track *Girls' Indoor Track

Spring

*Baseball *Softball *Lacrosse *Coed Tennis *Golf *Boys' Outdoor Track *Girls' Outdoor Track

Basketball

The school has a long history on the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

court. At one time, Cross teams were regular participants in the New England Tournament, an event of up to 15,000 spectators at the

Boston Garden The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (la ...

. However, Connecticut withdrew from the tournament after a riot in 1958 during the tournament final between Wilbur Cross and a

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area ...

team. New Haven high schools were successful in the Connecticut high school basketball leagues through the 1960s. Cross High School and nearby rival Hillhouse High School won the state championship in nine of ten years of the decade. One of the stars of the late 1960s teams, John "Super John" Williamson, averaged nearly 40 points per game for the Governors in 1970 and went to play college ball at

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...

and star as a pro in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...

. In the 1973–1974 season ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' ranked Cross the No. 1 high school team in the nation and a headline in the ''

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'' proclaimed Cross "The Best High School Team in the World" after the Governors defeated New York City's

DeWitt Clinton High School , motto_translation = Without Work Nothing Is Accomplished , image = DeWitt Clinton High School front entrance IMG 7441 HLG.jpg , seal_image = File:Clinton News.JPG , seal_size = 124px , ...

team.Wilbur Cross hoops brings back the magic
by Kate Moran, Yale Herald, March 24, 2000 The 1999-2000 team was considered the state's best, with a 24–0 record, until being upset by Bridgeport Central High School in the quarterfinals of the state tournament. The 2007-2008 team had an undefeated regular season, going 20–0. The Governors won the division, the SCC tournament, and the BABC Holiday Classic, but lost to

Lyman Hall Lyman Hall (April 12, 1724 – October 19, 1790) was an American Founding Father, physician, clergyman, and statesman who signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia. Hall County is named after him. He ...

by three points in the quarter-finals of the state tournament.

Other sports

The boys'

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team won its division and advanced to the final 16 of the state championship in 2007. The boys' indoor track team finished second in Connecticut, also in the 2007-2008 year. The football team plays Hillhouse High School every year on Thanksgiving in the Elm City Bowl in an annual game that dates back to 1920.

Notable alumni

Ben Allison Ben Allison (born November 17, 1966) is an American double bassist, composer, producer, bandleader, educator. In addition to his work as a performer, he co-founded the non-profit Jazz Composers Collective and served as its Artistic Director for ...

(born 1966), jazz bassist and composer *

Lauren Ambrose Lauren Anne D'Ambruoso (born February 20, 1978), known professionally as Lauren Ambrose, is an American actress and singer. She performs in television, film, and on Broadway. Ambrose had television roles as Claire Fisher in ''Six Feet Under'' ...

(born 1978), actress and singer * Troy Bradford (born 1966, class of 1985), All-American basketball player at

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2017, the university had about 4,100 full-time undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students, including full-time a ...

Bob Clifford Robert "Bob" Frederick Clifford AO, (born in Tasmania, Australia), and now living in Surrey, England, is an Australian shipbuilder, entrepreneur, and businessman, best known for his success in building his Incat catamaran building company into ...

(c. 1913–2006), football player and coach, who served as the head football coach at

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the city where it resides. The donations of Christian philanth ...

and at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the Unite ...

* Lubbie Harper Jr. (class of 1961),

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in Hartford, a ...

judge *

Casimir Loxsom Casimir Loxsom (born March 17, 1991) is a retired American middle distance runner who specialized in the 800 metres. In addition to attending and running at Pennsylvania State University, Loxsom has represented the United States in international c ...

(born 1991), Olympic 800m specialistvia

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

"Casimir Loxsom breaks own American record in 600"
''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', March 1, 2015. Accessed January 2, 2019. "On Friday night at the Reggie Lewis Center, Loxsom stopped by to hand out medals at the New England Indoor Championships, the high school meet where he set a meet record in 2009 in winning a title for Wilbur Cross High School of New Haven, Connecticut." * Dom Perno, former basketball coach at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

* Richard Proto (class of 1958), cryptographer elected to the United States National Security Agency Hall of Honor * John Williamson (born 1951, class of 1970), basketball player in the

, 1973–1981"Connecticut's Best Of The Century"
''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

'', January 2, 2000. Accessed January 2, 2019. "No. 22: John Williamson CT history: Attended Wilbur Cross High-New Haven."

References

External links

*
New Haven School District website
{{authority control 1920 establishments in Connecticut Educational institutions established in 1920 Schools in New Haven, Connecticut Public high schools in Connecticut