Chico High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in

Chico, California Chico ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 United Sta ...

, United States. , Chico High School has 2,083 students. Founded in 1902, it predominantly serves as the public school for graduates of Chico Junior High School. In 1966, Chico High School became a

California Distinguished School California Distinguished School is an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs. Approximately 5-10% of California schools are awarde ...

recognized by the

California Department of Education The California Department of Education is an agency within the government of California that oversees public education. The department oversees funding and testing, and holds local educational agencies accountable for student achievement. Its s ...

. In 1998 and 1999, it was given the National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, in 2001 it received the National Service-Learning Leader School, and in 2003–2005 it received National Smaller Learning Communities School award. In 2008, for the first time, Chico High ended off-campus lunch privileges for freshman students. Since 1967, the school has competed with cross-town rival Pleasant Valley High School at the annual Almond Bowl in junior varsity and varsity football. The game was unnamed in the schools' first three meetings, but local businessmen led by KPAY-AM radio executive Frank Mertz named the contest the "Almond Bowl" before the 1970 clash, when the schools were members of the newly formed Eastern Athletic League. The freshman game is unofficially referred to as the Peanut Bowl; Chico Junior High School played Bidwell Junior High School from the time of Bidwell's establishment in 1958 until 1992, after which freshmen were incorporated into the high schools. The school hosts its graduation ceremony at its stadium. Before it was built, it was hosted at

California State University, Chico California State University, Chico (Chico State) is a public university in Chico, California. It was founded in 1887 as one of about 180 "normal schools" founded by state governments in the 19th century to train teachers for the rapidly growing ...

. During the graduation ceremony for the Class of 1987, held on June 4, a sprinkler sprayed water on the graduates unexpectedly. Principal Roger Williams scrambled to cover the sprinkler with a garbage can. A video of the incident appears in episodes of ''

America's Funniest Home Videos ''America's Funniest Home Videos'', also called ''America's Funniest Videos'' (abbreviated as ''AFV''), is an American video clip television series on ABC, based on a recurring segment on the Japanese variety show '' Fun TV with Kato-chan and ...

,'' first appearing in Season 9, Episode 3.

Notable alumni

* Emily Azevedo, Olympic bobsledder (Vancouver 2010), Class of 2001 *

Alden G. Barber Alden G. Barber (March 1, 1919 – January 17, 2003, in Sacramento, California) was a long-serving professional Scouter for the Boy Scouts of America, and served as the fifth Chief Scout Executive of the BSA from 1967 to 1976. He served during ...

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

leader *

Nelson Briles Nelson Kelley Briles (August 5, 1943 – February 13, 2005) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. A hard thrower whose best pitch was a slider, he exhibited excellent control. Briles batted and threw right-handed. He was a starting pitch ...

, former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

, Texas Rangers and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

, Class of 1961 * Eddie Butts, former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

player with the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

, Class of 1922 *

Gerry Conlee Gerald Russell Conlee (August 22, 1914 – July 15, 2005) was an American football center. Conlee was born in Porterville, California, in 1914 and attended Chico High School in Chico, California. He played college football at St. Mary's fro ...

, former

player with the

Cleveland Rams The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team that played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937 to ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

Haley Cope Haley Cope (born April 11, 1979), also known by her married name Haley Clark, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. She won a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, eight world champions ...

, Olympic Swimmer *

Clay Dalrymple Clayton Errol Dalrymple (born December 3, 1936) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies (–) and Baltimore Orioles (–). Dalrymple was known for his stron ...

, former

player with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

and

, Class of 1954 *

Amanda Detmer Amanda Detmer (born 1971/1972) is an American actress. She made her big screen debut playing Miss Minneapolis in 1999 comedy film ''Drop Dead Gorgeous (film), Drop Dead Gorgeous'', and later had a supporting role in ''Final Destination (film), F ...

, television and film actress, Class of 1989 * Thomas C. Fleming, influential African American journalist, Class of 1926 *

Nahshon Garrett Nahshon Aaron Garrett (born August 21, 1993) is an American freestyle and graduated folkstyle wrestler, who currently competes at 57 kilograms. In the international style, Garrett was originally the United States representative for the 2018 W ...

Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

wrestler currently competing with Team USA, Class of 2011 * Brian Keyser, former

player with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

, Class of 1985 *

Kurt Kitayama Kurt Shun Kitayama (born January 14, 1993) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. On the European Tour, he won the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in December 2018 and the Oman Open in March 2019. In March 2023, he won the Arno ...

, professional golfer currently competing on the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

, Class of 2011 *

Matt Lucena Matt Lucena (born August 4, 1969) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He won the mixed doubles title at the 1995 US Open. College years Lucena played tennis for UC Berkeley from 1988 to 1992. He and Doug Eisenman were ...

, 1995 U.S. Open Tennis Mixed Doubles champion with

Meredith McGrath Meredith McGrath (born April 28, 1971) is a former professional tennis player. She was born in Midland, Michigan, and made her debut on the WTA Tour in 1988. In her eight-year professional career, Meredith achieved career-high world rankings ...

, and NCAA men's tennis doubles champion at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

in 1990 with

Doug Eisenman Doug Eisenman (born October 2, 1968) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Biography Eisenman, a doubles specialist, comes from Santa Ana, California. He attended Foothill High School, where in 1986 he was ''Los Angeles ...

and with

Bent-Ove Pedersen Bent-Ove Pedersen (born 11 July 1967, in Oslo) is a former tennis player from Norway, who turned professional in 1992. Biography He spent several years playing tennis at Berkeley in California. The right-hander represented his native country in ...

in 1991, Class of 1988 * George Maderos, former

player with the

, Class of 1951 *

Vance McHenry Vance Loren McHenry (born July 10, 1956) is a former Major League Baseball shortstop for the Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (ML ...

, former professional baseball player with the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

Jake McLaughlin Jacob Adam McLaughlin (born October 7, 1982) is an American actor and former soldier. Following his military service, including action in the Iraq War, he came to attention for his role as Specialist Gordon Bonner in the 2007 film ''In the Valle ...

, actor, '' Quantico'' (2015-2018), ''Believe'' (2014) *

Brett Ratliff Brett Ratliff (born August 8, 1985) is an American former professional football quarterback. He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football at Butte College and Utah. He has also been a member of ...

player with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

and

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

, Class of 2003 * Jason Ross, seven-time

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-winning comedic writer formerly of ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...

''; currently with ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

'' * Roque Santos, Olympic swimmer (Barcelona 1992), Class of 1986 *

Donovan Scott Donovan Scott (born September 29, 1947) is an American character actor best known for his role as cadet Leslie Barbara in the 1984 film ''Police Academy'', in which he was part of an ensemble cast. Biography Scott studied for two and a half ye ...

, television and film actor, Class of 1966 *

Mike Sherrard Michael Watson Sherrard (born June 21, 1963) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, and Denver Broncos. He p ...

, former

player with the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

and

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 ...

, Class of 1981 *

Gentry Stein Gentry Stein is a yo-yo world champion. Stein won the 1A Division of the World Yo-Yo Contest in 2014 and 2019, and received third place in 2011 and 2017. Stein won the 1A division title of the U.S. National Yo-Yo Contest in 2013, 2015, 2016 an ...

, Yoyo World Champion * Bill Striegel, former

player with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

Boston Patriots Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

, Class of 1954

References

External links

Chico Senior High School
ndash; official website
Chico Unified School District
ndash; official website

{{authority control Public high schools in California Educational institutions established in 1902 Buildings and structures in Chico, California High schools in Butte County, California Education in Chico, California 1902 establishments in California