Edward Drummond Libbey High School was a
public high school
A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...
building located on the south side of
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...
which held classes from 1923 until 2010. It is part of
Toledo Public Schools
Toledo Public Schools, also known as Toledo City School District, is a public school district headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, in the United States. The district encompasses 70 square miles, serving students of the city of Toledo. Toledo Public ...
and contained the Smart Academy and Humanities Academy. Libbey was named after
Edward Drummond Libbey, the founder of the
Toledo Art Museum and
Libbey Glass
Libbey, Inc., (formerly Libbey Glass Company and New England Glass Company) is a glass production company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1818 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the ''New England Glass Company,'' before re ...
.
Edwin Gee was the building's architect.
The Libbey Cowboys were founding members of the
Toledo City League
The Toledo City League is an Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) high school athletic conference that was formed in 1926 and comprises the six high schools in Toledo, Ohio, Toledo that are from Toledo Public Schools, along with one high ...
from 1926 until the school closed. Their colors were royal blue and gold. The Cowboys were most famous for their boys basketball teams and had a strong basketball rivalry with
Scott High School in Toledo. Prior to the
Shoe Bowl championship for the City League football title, Libbey had an annual
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...
Day football game with
Woodward High School from 1923 to 1932, and with
DeVilbiss High School from 1933 to 1963.
Fate of Libbey
Libbey High School had been rumored to be potentially closing since the 1980s, but was recommended to stay open by the school district each time the issue was brought up. In 1991, TPS decided to close two high schools that were to be chosen from a list of Libbey,
DeVilbiss and
Macomber-
Whitney high schools. Libbey was spared while DeVilbiss and Macomber-Whitney were shuttered.
In April 2009, Libbey High School's Student Council President had strong words for administrators and school board members with regard to saving their school. The proposal to eventually send some Libbey neighborhood students to Scott,
Bowsher, and
Waite high schools is "segregation of different populations and is racist", they claimed. Libbey always had been the "unwanted stepchild" of Toledo Public Schools and 'their positive news is always overshadowed by the negative", students added. Libbey was left open for the 2009–10 school year, but the issue of closing the school was brought up again in March 2010. After a failed levy early in May, Toledo Public Schools ultimately voted 3–2 in favor of closing school at the end of the 2009–10 school year. The final class of 2010 graduated on June 3 in the fieldhouse. All remaining Libbey students were divided geographically, between Scott, Bowsher, Waite and especially
Rossford and
Central Catholic High Schools.
On July 15, 2011, Libbey High School was vetted by the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Board for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

The demolition of the building began in January 2012.
Organizations and clubs
*Afro Club
*Art Club
*Band
*Cheerleading
*Choir
*Debate Club
*DECA
*Deutsche Verein
*Drama
*FCCLA
*Flag Corp
*Future Teachers of America
*Jazz Band
*Libbey Legends Dance Team
*Newspaper
*Orchestra
*Quiz Bowl
*Spanish club
*Student Council
*Yearbook
Ohio High School Athletic Association State Championships
* Boys
Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
- 1935, 1939
* Boys
Track and Field
Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...
– 1972
* Girls
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 (appro ...
- 1981
Toledo City League Championships

*Baseball:
*Boys Basketball: 1930–31, 1939-40*, 1940–41, 1954–55, 1965–66, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1999–00, 2006–07, 2007–08
*Boys Cross Country: 1959, 1960, 1961, 1966, 1967
*Girls Cross Country:
*Football: 1928*, 1929*, 1930*, 1931, 1941, 1942, 1944*, 1946, 1947*, 1949*, 1951*, 1952*
*Golf:
*Boys Track & Field:
*Girls Track & Field:
*Volleyball:
(years marked with an asterisk (*) denote a shared title)
Notable alumni
*
Ramona Brooks (1969): singer and Broadway actress
*
William Buford
William Buford (born January 10, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for s.Oliver Würzburg of the Basketball Bundesliga. Buford played college basketball for the Ohio State Buckeyes. He has played professionally in the NBA G Leagu ...
(2008): basketball player for
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
.
*
D. Michael Collins
Dennis Michael Collins (June 30, 1944 – February 6, 2015) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Toledo, Ohio, from 2014 until his death in 2015. An Independent, he was a member of the Toledo City Council from District 2 (20 ...
, Mayor of Toledo
*
Joe Cooke, basketball player for
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
and the
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...
*
Robert Craig (1937) WWII Medal of Honor Recipient
*
Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies (born April 16, 1944, in Toledo, Ohio) is an American conductor and pianist. He is chief conductor of the Brno Philharmonic and of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Biography
Davies studied piano and conducting at ...
(1962) General Music Director of the Baden-Württemberg State Opera House from 1980 to 1987. Chief conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the Linz Opera from 2002 to 2017.Principal Conductor of the Brno Philharmonic 2018–2022.
*
Jack Hallett
Jack Price Hallett (November 13, 1914 – June 11, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played for the Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Giants of Major League Baseball between 1940 and 1948. He was a , right- ...
, Former
MLB
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 (
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
)
*
Linda Jefferson (1972): female professional
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
player in the 1970s
*
Tony Momsen (1945): football player for the
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...
and
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...
of the
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a 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 Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
and for the
Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...
of the
CFL
The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division and five in the West Division. The CFL is the highest pr ...
. Played college ball for the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
, where he scored the winning touchdown in the
1950 Snow Bowl.
*
Lee Pete: sports talk radio broadcaster
*
Bob Snyder (1932): played football for
Ohio University
Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...
and in the NFL for the
Pittsburgh Americans
The Pittsburgh Americans or Pittsburgh Amerks were a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1936 until 1937. The team was a member of the major-league American Football League and participated in the league's 1 ...
,
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 ...
, and
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
, winning NFL titles in 1938, 1939, and 1941. He later became a head coach in the NFL and
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
.
*
Ike Stubblefield
Isaac Larry Stubblefield (June 7, 1952 – June 20, 2021) was an American musician, who performed with a wide array of artists on Hammond B3 organ.
Musical career
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Stubblefield started his career in 1968 playing keyboar ...
: American musician
*
Dick Szymanski
Richard Frank Szymanski (Pronounced: Sa-MAN-skee) (October 7, 1932 – October 28, 2021) was an American professional football player, coach, and executive in the National Football League (NFL). As a player, Szymanski was a center and linebacke ...
: Former football player and executive with the
Baltimore Colts
The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...
where he won three NFL Championships as a player and later served as general manager.
*
Bill Thornton
William E. Thornton is an American politician who served as the mayor of San Antonio, Texas from 1995 to 1997. He succeeded Nelson Wolff and was himself followed by Howard Peak, after Thornton finished third in his bid for reelection. Thornton ...
(1959): Former football player for
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a 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 Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
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 ...
and
University of Nebraska
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
and football coach for
University of Nebraska
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
,
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 ...
, and
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...
.
*
Chet Trail (1962), baseball player and clergyman
Notes and references
External links
Libbey High School Alumni, Inc.District WebsiteLibbey High to be closed to save money, board rules in 3-2 vote, Toledo Blade 26 May, 2010Three sites to get Libbey students, Toledo Blade 27 May, 2010Libbey exterior pictures
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High schools in Toledo, Ohio
Public high schools in Ohio
Educational institutions established in 1923
1923 establishments in Ohio
Educational institutions disestablished in 2010
2010 disestablishments in Ohio
Defunct schools in Ohio