Central Union High School, also known as Central or CUHS, is a four-year public

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., ...

El Centro, California El Centro ( Spanish for "The Center") is a city and county seat of Imperial County, California, United States. El Centro is the most populous city in the Imperial Valley, the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

with a diverse student body of more than 1,910 students. It is one of three schools in the

Central Union High School District The Central Union High School District (CUHSD) is the district of the 3 high schools in El Centro, California — Central Union High School (El Centro, California), Central Union High School (CUHS), Southwest High School (El Centro, Californi ...

History

The school was established in 1908, and celebrated its centennial in 2008. Among the most well-known alumni are actor

Donal Logue Donal Francis Logue (born February 27, 1966) is a Canadian-American film and television actor. He played the starring role of Sean Finnerty on the sitcom '' Grounded for Life'' (2001–2005), and Detective Harvey Bullock on the DC Comics adapta ...

from the class of 1984, who starred in the Fox TV sitcom "

Grounded for Life ''Grounded for Life'' is an American television sitcom that debuted on January 10, 2001, as a mid-season replacement on Fox. Created by Mike Schiff and Bill Martin, it ran for two seasons on Fox until being canceled only two episodes into its th ...

" and was Central's ASB president his senior year; professional saxophonist

Walter Beasley Walter Beasley (born May 24, 1961) is an American saxophonist, a professor of music at the Berklee College of Music, and founder of Affable Publishing and Affable Records. Biography Beasley grew up in El Centro, California. By the age of 13 he ...

, a member of the school's Great Spartan Band in the 1970s under the late band director and local jazz legend Jimmie Cannon; Doug Harvey, an umpire in the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...

; former

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

linebacker

Glenn Cadrez Glenn E. Cadrez (born January 2, 1970) is an American former football player who was a linebacker for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), mainly for the Denver Broncos. He played for the Broncos from 1995 to 2000 and was a starter ...

and actress

Kyle Richards Kyle Egan Richards Umansky (; born January 11, 1969) is an American actress, socialite, and television personality. Since 2010, she has appeared as a main cast member on ''The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'', and as of 2025, is the last rema ...

of the class of 1987; and actor/artist H. Michael Wieben, class of 1962, who appeared on and off Broadway. Central's annual football game with the

Brawley Union High School Brawley Union High School (BUHS) is a high school in Brawley, California. Athletics The wrestling program has won 18 consecutive CIF San Diego Section titles (2001–2018) and 2 Southern Section titles (1969, 1970). The bell game, an annual ...

Wildcats of

Brawley, CA Brawley (formerly Braly) is a city in Imperial County, California, United States within the Imperial Valley. The population was 26,416 at the 2020 census, up from 24,953 at the 2010 census. Year-round agriculture is an important economic act ...

which is called the bell game is one of the oldest high school rivalries in the country.

Clubs

Academic Decathlon

Central's

Academic Decathlon The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual Student competition, high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective mult ...

team won the

Imperial County Imperial County is a county located on the southeast border of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 179,702, ranking as the least populous county in Southern California. The county seat and largest city is ...

Competition every year from 1981 until 2014; they have competed in the state competition in

Sacramento, CA Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

annually.

Mock Trial

Central's Mock Trial team participates in the Constitutional Rights Foundation's California Mock Trial Program, and has competed and won in the state championship in 1986 and 1998. In 2015, the team placed second in the state championship, the first time in the team's history.

Athletics

Central competes in the Imperial Valley League in the

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have s ...

San Diego Section. The school's teams are called the Spartans and its colors are blue and white. The Spartans' longtime archrivals are the Brawley Wildcats. The annual football game, known as the Bell Game, began in 1943 when the schools' associated student bodies bought the bell from a ship in San Diego for $50. But the Central-Brawley rivalry predates the Bell Game and began in 1921. Azucena Hernandez

Fall Sports

* Volleyball * Girls’ Flag Football * Cross Country * Girls' Volleyball * Girls' Golf * Girls' Tennis * Boys' Football * JV Cheer * Varsity Cheer

Winter Sports

* Boys' Basketball * Girls' Basketball * Boys' Soccer * Girls' Soccer * Wrestling

Spring Sports

* Boys' Tennis * Boys’ Volleyball * Swimming * Softball * Baseball * Boys' Golf * Track and Field *

The Great Spartan Band

The Great Spartan Band performs at all home football games and is known for its "Spartan Shuffle" as it enters the field during pre-game and as it exits the field after halftime. The band also performs in local events and parades in Imperial and

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

counties. In addition, Central has an award-winning jazz band and a wind ensemble. The band has performed across the country and received awards and honors from the Orange Coast College Jazz Festivals, El Centro Navy Base Jazz Festival, Southwestern College Jazz Festival, Imperial Valley College Jazz Festival,

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 * ...

Concert of the Bands,

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 ...

Band Festival,

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California. Operating since 1978, its current conference tie-ins are with the Pac-12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The bowl is held at Snapdragon S ...

Music Festivals, Columbus Day Parade, Mother Goose Parade, Hawaii memorial parades, and the Disneyland Parades and concerts in 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1987. Under the direction of Jimmie Cannon from 1966 to 1996, the Great Spartan Band began to travel extensively and in 1972 performed in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, where it was honored by the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

President

Luis Echeverría Luis Echeverría Álvarez (; 17 January 1922 – 8 July 2022) was a Mexican lawyer, academic, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 57th president of Mexico from 1970 to 1976. Previously, ...

. The band has a standing invitation to perform in the

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

parades in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, most recently in 2016. The band also traveled to

Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Walt Disney Company. ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in 1995, where it participated in the Magic Kingdom Easter Parade. The Great Spartan Band was invited by Congressman

Bob Filner Robert Earl Filner (September 4, 1942 – April 20, 2025) was an American politician who was the 35th mayor of San Diego from December 2012 through August 2013, when he resigned amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment. He later pleaded g ...

( California's 51st District) to participate in the 2010

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

Parade in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

References

{{Portalbar, Schools, California, Education 1908 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1908 High schools in Imperial County, California Public high schools in California