C. Leon King High School is a

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

public high school named in honor of C. Leon King, a member of the Hillsborough County Board of Public Instruction for 18 years. It opened in 1960 with 58 faculty members and 960 students. It is located at 6815 North 56th Street in Tampa, Florida 33610. King High School, a part of

Hillsborough County Public Schools Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) is a school district that runs the public school system of Hillsborough County in west central Florida and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is frequently referred to as the School D ...

, is a traditional/hybrid

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...

. It has one of five

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

programs in

Hillsborough County, Florida Hillsborough County is located in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. In the 2020 census, the population was 1,459,762, making it the fourth-most populous county in Florida and the most populous county outside the Miami metro ...

. The IB program of King began in July 1994. Ninety eight percent of IB seniors earned the IB Diploma in 2014—one of the highest rates in the United States. For the 2010–2011 school year, King High School received an A grade in education overall. , King High has been rated a "B". Its student population was 1,889 in 2014–15 and the attendance rate was 92% in 2005.

History

The school was built on the site of Ridgewood Cemetery, a municipal cemetery for poor African-Americans established in 1942. Hillsborough County Public Schools acquired of land for the school from a private company in 1959, and that company bought the site from the City of Tampa in 1957; the cemetery is in that plot and became used for agricultural classes. In 2019, officials discovered graves of 145 people.

Academics

King High School hosts an International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, which began in 1994. King High also offers advanced placement courses (KAPS). The school has various academic clubs. The speech and debate team competes at various statewide and national NSDA events. The math club

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

has won the county math bowl 22 times and competes at regional and statewide events. The science bowl team competes at science bowl and

Science Olympiad Science Olympiad, sometimes abbreviated as SciOly, is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various fields of science. The subjects include earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. O ...

. The math and science clubs administer the qualifying examinations for the various

international science olympiads The International Science Olympiads are a group of worldwide annual competitions in various areas of the formal sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences. The competitions are designed for the 4-6 best high school students from each partici ...

. Other academic clubs include HOSA and

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

. The IB Program offers various standard level (SL) and higher level (HL) IB courses in subjects such as English, history, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology.

Sports

Fall: * Football * Boys Golf * Girls Golf * Boys Cross Country * Girls Cross Country * Swimming * Volleyball Winter: * Boys Basketball * Girls Basketball * Wrestling * Boys Soccer * Girls Soccer Spring: * Baseball * Softball * Flag Football * Track * Tennis

Music programs

King High School's musical programs are a Marching Band (Marching Lions), Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band (Jazzalonies), and a Chamber and Symphonic Orchestra. The Marching Band received Superior ratings at the annual FBA competition for 45 consecutive years and has been invited to perform in the State's band events. The dance team (Lionettes) have one of the most talented and culturally diverse teams in the county. The Lion’s Pride Marching Festival was established in 1997 and is hosted by the King High School Marching Lions annually, where bands have the opportunity to be judged before their FBA Marching Festival.

Notable alumni

* Musa Abdul-Aleem, professional basketball player *

Mike Awesome Michael Lee Alfonso (January 24, 1965 – February 17, 2007) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances with the American professional wrestling promotions Extreme Championship Wrestling ...

, 1984, former WWF Champion * Addison Barger, professional baseball player * Derek Bell, former professional baseball player *

Pam Bondi Pamela Jo Bondi ( ; born November 17, 1965) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who has served as the 87th United States attorney general since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the 37th attorney general of Fl ...

, 1984, Florida Attorney General, US Attorney General *

Tim Crews Stanley Timothy Crews (April 3, 1961 – March 23, 1993) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who played six seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers from to . Crews was part of the Dodgers team that won the 1988 World Series. At the end o ...

, former professional baseball player *

Ty Griffin Tyrone Vontrace Griffin (born September 5, 1967) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played in minor league baseball and in international competition for the United States national team. Career Griffin attended C. Le ...

, former professional baseball player *

Eric Hayes Major General Eric Charles Hayes, CB (19 June 1896 – 25 August 1951) was a senior British Army officer who served in both of the world wars. Early life and First World War Born the son of Charles Frederick Hayes on 19 June 1896, Eric Hayes ...

, former NFL football player *

Pam Iorio Pamela Dorothy Iorio (born April 27, 1959) is an American politician and author, who served as mayor of Tampa, Florida from 2003 to 2011. Early life, education, and family Iorio moved with her family to Temple Terrace as an infant and attended ...

, 1977, former mayor of Tampa *

Gary Koch Gary D. Koch (born November 21, 1952) is an American professional golfer, sportscaster and golf course designer, who formerly played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour. Early years Koch was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana ...

, 1970, former professional golfer and ESPN sportscaster *

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive vo ...

, former professional baseball player * Edmund Nelson, 1978, former professional football player, graduated in 1978 * Audrey O'Brien Nelson, 1973, director of VISN 8 at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and prominent research scientist *

Reena Ninan Reena Ninan (born April 18, 1979) is an Indian American television journalist who has been an award-winning news anchor for the national mainstream media, including ABC News and CBS News. She is also the founder of the news media company G ...

, 1997, National

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large Mass media, mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Noam Chomsky, Choms ...

news anchorKing High grads say poignant goodbye

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

, June 5th 1997, by Linda Chion-kenney * Henry Paul, musician formerly with the Outlaws * George Peoples, 1978, former professional football player * Calvin Pickering, 1995, former professional baseball player

References

External links

Official website

SDHC website

International Baccalaureate website

Great Schools
{{DEFAULTSORT:King High School Educational institutions established in 1960 High schools in Tampa, Florida Public high schools in Florida 1960 establishments in Florida