Lakeland High School (Lakeland, Florida)
Encyclopedia
Lakeland Senior High School is the oldest public high school in Lakeland, Florida
, United States
. Lakeland Senior High School belongs to the Polk County School Board and is a member of Polk District Schools. Lakeland High School was the original high school in the city. It also shares its campus with The Lois Cowles Harrison School For The Arts. Harrison students attend academic classes at Lakeland Senior High School. In 2001 Lakeland Senior High underwent a massive renovation. The school's athletics teams are known as the Lakeland Dreadnaughts.
Lakeland Senior High School B D 500 50 78 78 45
All band classes and activities at Lakeland High School are governed by the Polk County Fine Arts curriculum, and also by the Sunshine State Standards for secondary music classes.
Excitement, vitality, and spirit were the words used to describe the Dreadnaught Band of the 1960s. The Spirit of the old "Orange and Black" was reflected in the enduring perseverance of the band members themselves. During the marching season this superlative group was found practicing its precise drill formations in the school parking lot many mornings before the school day began. Excellence of the band was evident by their invitations to march in the Cherry Blossom Festival, the Gasparilla Parade, and the Citrus Festival.
During the 1970s the band continued performing and receiving superior ratings. The band marched in the Cherry Blossom Festival, at Walt Disney World, and at a Miami Dolphins football game. During the late 1970s the band performed at the National Band Association Convention in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The 1980s began in new uniforms. The Pride of Kathleen Marching Competition and St. Petersburg's Tournament of Bands found the Dreadnaught Band marching away with 2nd and 3rd place respectively. In 1982, the Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. In 1983, the band won Grand Champion at the Tournament of Bands and in 1984 the marching band was featured on the Miss Teen U.S.A. CBS nationally televised special. The mid 1980s brought participation in many events including Tri state Tropicana Field Competition, the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, FSU Tri-State Music Festival; and a second trip to the National Band Association Convention. The most highly anticipated event of the 1986–87 school year was a return appearance at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic.
In 1987, the Wind Ensemble earned the John Philip Sousa Foundation's Sudler Flag of Honor, which is awarded to a high school band for outstanding achievement in concert performances and also must present evidence of outstanding achievement in every area of musicianship. 1987 also saw a new uniform. The band received the Grand Champion award at the Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Virginia in the spring of 1988. The Wind Ensemble performed for the American Bandmasters Association Convention and the American School Band Directors Association Convention in 1989. The marching band performed its half-time show at the 1989 Florida State University Band Day and participated in the Boardwalk and Baseball Marching Festival in 1988 and 1989.
In 1991, our Dreadnaught Band led the inaugural parade of Governor Lawton Chiles (an LHS alumnus) in Tallahassee. The early 1990s found the Symphony Band (formerly Wind Ensemble) invited to perform at the Midwest National Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago for an unprecedented third time. In 1994 the Symphony Band once again received the prestigious Sudler Flag of Honor. Receiving this award for the second time allowing the Symphony Band to once again make history as it was the first high school band to ever receive the award twice. The Symphony Band was one of only two high school bands selected throughout the nation and Japan to receive this award in 1994.
Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing through the present, the Dreadnaught Band has seen a record breaking number of students receive superior ratings at the District and State level of solo and ensemble festivals traveling to Jacksonville, Ft. Myers, Daytona Beach, and the Miami area. LHS band students remain active participants in the Festival of Winds hosted by the University of South Florida each year as well as Florida State University's Tri-State Festival; Selected students have also participated in the International Disney Honor Band in Orlando.
would be played by the school's band after football games, the football team, student section, and alumni would all join in and sing along the following words with their fingers pointing in the air while swaying side to side.
We hail thee alma mater!
Our hearts are filled with pride
With voices strong we raise this song
As we march with victorious stride
We'll always stand together
And Fight to do or die
Sincere and true, this toast to you
Our own Lakeland High
Follis first created the helmet cart in 1993 and led the Dreadnaughts to its first ever 10–0 season. At first the cart was only decked out with an intercom system, tape player and some small speakers. Since then, the helmet cart has been retrofitted with police lights which were later traded out for a booming sound system that can be heard from for quite a distance. The helmet cart has become an icon for Lakeland Dreadnaught football just as the Bell has. Other schools such as Auburndale, Lake Gibson, and Kathleen have tried to imitate some sort of cart but theirs just doesn't have the flair and style like the Dreadanughts' helmet cart.
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By: Don Murray – Fall of 1996
"Mister, what's a Dreadnaught?" I've been asked that question any number of times in places like West Palm Beach, Tampa, Sarasota, Kissimmee, and even Winter Haven. It's probably happened to you if you're the Lakeland High School football fan we hope you are. As a matter of fact the first Dreadnaught wasn't a Dreadnaught at all, it was the Dreadnought, a British ship of the line which fought against the French forces at Trafalgar under the British Admiral Lord Nelson.
A century later a whole class of fighting ships were dubbed Dreadnoughts and were, at the time, the most massive pieces of fighting machinery the world had yet seen. How then did this ponderous sea machine come to lend its name to a small mid-Florida school (and town) in the early 1920s? Well, once upon a time, just 73 years ago in 1923, Lakeland High School had quite a football team. They breezed through the season with a 10–0 demolishing such foes as Orlando (34–6), Gainesville (3–0), Clearwater (19–0), Summerlin–Bartow (27–0), and Hillsborough (14–6). Blessed with a great football team, the school also sported a legendary principal. The late I.G. McKay was quite a man. Short, stocky, with a bristling mustache and penetrating eyes, McKay was a disciplinarian in the most literal sense of the word.
Some of you old timers are likely stealing a smile as you read this, remembering that no matter how big or tough you were, you didn't cross paths with that ex-British soldier and come out a winner. Anyway, after the defeat of arch-rival Hillsborough, the principal called the student body to assembly. As usual, when McKay approached the lectern and raised his hand, complete silence fell over the assembled students; and he spoke. He recounted the exploits of the team and spoke for the players, C. T. Butler, fullback; Ernest (Goof) Bowyer, quarterback; Sloppy Murrell, center, and all the others who had contributed to the undefeated season. Then, in the oratorical style of the day, he compared the team to a mighty Dreadnaught, rolling over the opponents as just a massive ship steams through stormy seas. At the close of his speech, McKay suggested that from that day on the team be known as "The Dreadnaught," and the name has stuck for 73 years. And I'll bet you one thing, you never heard of another team with our name. If you're like me, you wouldn't have it any other way.
Ship and Bell
By Lennie Ruff – The Bagpipe – September 12, 1978
Last year [1977] at the football jamboree in Winter Haven, Mr. [John] Ward,* Mr. [Elmer] Banks, and Mr. [Jim] Booth were sitting there watching the proceedings when they realized that every school except Lakeland had some sort of mascot or token that they could pull around on the field.
Upon deciding that the folks at Lakeland needed something, too, they then had to figure out what it should be. Since it's slightly difficult to pull a real Dreadnaught around, they hit upon the idea of something that every good ship has, a bell.
Next question: Where to get a bell? The logical place to ask would be a senator (or so it is said). So a letter was sent to Senator Lawton Chiles through his aide Charles Canady. A few weeks later, Mr. Ward received a letter from the Department of the Navy saying that if the school would pay the shipping charges, they would send the bell here. That is how the school actually got the bell. But, where did it originally come from? When was it made? What was its history?
To find the answers to these questions, the school sent an inquiry to the National Archives. The Archives sent back a bundle full of letters and other documents.
It turns out, that in December 1909, after the government had dredged out the Cape Porpoise Harbor in Maine, the harbor was still dangerous to enter in foggy or bad weather. To help remedy the situation, a total of 86 people related to the harbor, including the port warden of Maine, signed a petition asking that a fog bell, of suitable weight and size, struck by machinery during foggy weather, be established at the Goat Island Light Station. Off went the petition to Washington, followed by a year of circulating letters. Letters to the Department of the Commerce and Labor, to the Corps of Engineers, back to the people in Maine, again to the engineers, and so forth. Finally, in early 1911, the government approved the project and opened bidding for the job. The Meenly Company received the task of installing the 1200 pound bell and all of its equipment. The estimated cost of the bell was around 28 to 38 cents per pound.
So there it was, at the Goat Island Light Station for years, ringing once every 20 seconds, warning sailors of the rocky hazards.*John Ward was principal at LHS from 1971–1983; Elmer Banks and Jim Booth were assistant principals.
And Then There Was Football
As reported by Mike Cobb of the Lakeland Ledger:
Over one hundred years ago, a group of Lakeland High students boarded a train for Bartow. They were taking up a challenge from Bartow Summerlin Institute in a relatively new sport that's now an integral part of American culture. That was the beginning in Polk County of what is now a Friday night tradition across America – high school football. On Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1907, Summerlin routed Lakeland 53–0, though Lakeland disputed the score for years, saying it was only 47–0.
The Florida High School Activities Association this year is celebrating 100 years of high school football in the state, noting that five schools organized teams in 1907 – Bartow Summerlin, Tampa Hillsborough, Ocala High, Orlando High and Jacksonville Duval. Lakeland's 1907 team was put together by future state Rep. Thomas W. Bryant, who was then a student, to take up Bartow's challenge. Lakeland would officially organize its team for the 1908 season.
In 1923, Lakeland High School Principal I.G. McKay lauded the school's football team in a student address and coined a little history. McKay compared the team to a mighty Dreadnaught "rolling over the opponents just as a massive ship steams through stormy seas."The team became known as "the Dreadnaught" for the next few years. The letter "s" was added by the end of the decade. It was a sign of the times.
In the roaring '20s, high school football became an integral part of American culture, and Lakeland replaced Summerlin Institute in Bartow as the powerhouse in Polk County.
Led by quarterback Ernest "Goof" Bowyer, who would later play quarterback at the University of Florida, the team posted a 6–1 record in 1923 and was declared champion of South Florida. Its lone loss was a 7–0 setback against Gainesville.
Among their victories was a 27–0 win over traditional powerhouse Bartow. It was Lakeland's second traight win over Bartow. A year earlier, the school's 20–6 win was big enough to earn a full-page photo spread in the school's yearbook, The Highlander.
Lakeland High began playing its games on Friday nights in the right field portion of Henley Field. Ralph Carter, who played for the Dreadnaughts in 1943–44, remembers watching Lakeland games as a kid at Henley Field. "We used to sneak into the games. We'd climb the fence," said Carter, who is now retired and living in Georgia. "The field went east to west. They had four light poles and put up temporary bleachers." Carter, who attended John Cox Elementary at Memorial Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue, remembers the elementary schools having teams as well. That's where Carter remembers getting to know the Dreadnaught players.
"We'd play with no pads and barefooted," he recalled. "The Dreadnaught players would come out and coach us." One of those teams that he watched was the 1935 Lakeland squad that finished 12–0–1 and was named state champions. The only non-victory was a 0–0 tie against Orlando in the season finale. The Dreadnaughts then added two charity postseason games to their schedule. In the first, played in Lakeland, the Dreadnaughts defeated Athens (Georgia), 19–7, in a game that drew a crowd of 1,500 and raised $200 for the Salvation Army. Among the 1,500 spectators was Florida Gov. Dave Sholtz.
A week later, the Dreadnaughts boarded the train in Auburndale for a three-day trip to Miami to play an all-star team of Miami high school stars in a fundraiser for the Miami Kiwanis Club. Among the all-stars was halfback Knute Rockne Jr., son of the famous Notre Dame head coach. Fullback John Sargent scored three touchdowns, leading Lakeland to a 26–0 win.
In the 1930s, as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration, Bryant sought funding to build a new football stadium for the city of Lakeland. The funding was first approved in 1936 but later canceled. After several years of disappointing trips to Washington, Bryant finally secured $65,000 in federal funds, the stadium was built next to Henley Field, and on Sept. 26, it was dedicated and named in his honor. Florida Gov. Spessard Holland, a graduate of Summerlin Institute in Bartow who went on to play football at Emory University and the University of Florida, made the dedication speech at halftime. Eight members of Lakeland's original 1907 team, including Bryant, were among the honored guests.
Lakeland defeated Florida Military Academy of St. Petersburg that night, 33–0. Lakeland halfback Raymond Bowden kicked the first extra point in Bryant Stadium history and threw two touchdown passes. His son, David Bowden, would later set a national record by throwing 91 career touchdown passes as Kathleen's quarterback from 1968 to 1970.
The opening of Bryant Stadium turned out to be good news for Mulberry fans as well. No longer needing bleachers for Dreadnaught games at Henley Field, the city of Lakeland sent four sets of bleachers to Mulberry to provide seating for about 500 people.
It was a job that Castle did not actively seek. In a 2006 interview with The Ledger, Castle said he had planned on going to Bartow with Quinn, but a group of Lakeland boosters changed those plans when they visited him at his apartment. "Bottom line, when they left, they asked me would I take (the Lakeland head coaching job) if it was offered to me," Castle said. " I said, 'Yes I would, but I wasn't going to apply for it.' "I came in the next day and found out that I had the job." He's kept the job for 31 years, winning six state titles. Castle didn't win his first state championship until 1986, but he had the Dreadnaughts among the state's top programs long before that. The 1979 team, quarterbacked by Wayne Peace, finished 11–2, losing in the Class 4A state semifinals to a physically bigger Pensacola Pine Forest, 26–14. The focal point of that game was the battle of the quarterbacks – Peace vs. Pine Forest's Mark Massey. Among the crowd that night were University of Florida coach Charley Pell and Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. They were recruiting both quarterbacks. Both players eventually signed with Florida, and Peace became the Gators' starter midway through the 1980 season and finished his career with 7,206 career passing yards. That was the first of five playoff appearances in a six-year period for the Dreadnaughts before they broke through and won a state title in 1986.
The Old Lakeland High School is located at 400 North Florida Avenue in Lakeland and in 1993 was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Over the years the building has housed several different schools including the Polk Opportunity Center and Lakeland Middle Academy renamed the Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in 1999.
Lois Cowles Harrison, of Lakeland, has garnered a statewide reputation as arts advocate due to her many years of notable contributions to the arts. Her outstanding presence in the arts community is attributed to her selfless service while serving as a member of the Florida Arts Council from 1972–1980. She led the drive for Legislative and School Board funding for construction of the Polk Museum of Art and the Harrison School buildings. Additional credits include president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, president and member of the Board of Governors of the Polk Museum of Art, president of Planned Parenthood of Central Florida, and the Board of Directors of the Florida Endowment of the Humanities.
Mrs. Harrison is married to Homer Hooks. Mr. Hooks, a former president of the Florida Phosphate Council and former Executive Director of the Florida Department of Citrus, is past president of the Polk Museum of Art and former chairman of the Florida Arts Council. In 1994, Secretary of State Jim Smith honored Hooks and Harrison with the Florida Arts Recognition Award.
Florida°N date=December 2010°W
Lakeland, Florida
Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States, located approximately midway between Tampa and Orlando along Interstate 4. According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, the city had a population of 94,406...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Lakeland Senior High School belongs to the Polk County School Board and is a member of Polk District Schools. Lakeland High School was the original high school in the city. It also shares its campus with The Lois Cowles Harrison School For The Arts. Harrison students attend academic classes at Lakeland Senior High School. In 2001 Lakeland Senior High underwent a massive renovation. The school's athletics teams are known as the Lakeland Dreadnaughts.
Departments
- Art
- Agriculture
- Business/Marketing Education
- English
- APE English Page
- Foreign Language
- French
- Guidance
- Family/Consumer Science
- JROTC
- Mathematics
- Media
- Music
- Physical Education
- Science
- Social Studies
- Exceptional Student Education
- Technology Education
State School Grades
08–09 Grade 07–08 Grade 08–09 Points 08–09 Reading 08–09 Math 08–09 Writing 08–09 ScienceLakeland Senior High School B D 500 50 78 78 45
AADT(Academy of Art, Design and Technology)
The Lakeland High School Career Academy of Art, Design and Technology is committed to provide a rigorous and relevant curriculum to teach students the necessary skills to pursue post-secondary education in the academy areas as well as direct entry into the workforce.Veterinary Science Academy
Students can gain insightful knowledge into careers revolving around the field of Veterinarian services.IT Academy
The IT Academy at Lakeland High School. It is the goal of this academy to prepare its students for the business world of today with tomorrow in mind. Upon graduating from Lakeland High School while taking classes through the IT Academy, students will not only acquire a high school diploma, but industry certification that makes them highly employable. College credit can also be earned which in turn will save time and money if a post secondary education is on the horizon, Of course through all of this real world experiences will take place which could not have been acquired otherwise.2009–2010 Ensembles
The Lakeland High School Band is made up of several ensembles that collectively form the band program as a whole. The Florida School Music Association forbids any student with a cumulative GPA below 2.0 from performing in any type of Music Performance Assessment, including marching, concert, and solo & ensemble festivals. All students are therefore expected to successfully maintain this minimum GPA in order to be productive members of the band program.Dreadnaught Marching Band
All members of the Lakeland band are also members of the Dreadnaught Marching Band. This group meets after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the fall semester from 6:00 to 8:30 PM every week. Additional rehearsals may possibly be scheduled as needed, with two weeks advance notice. Performance requirements include all parades, pep rallies, football games, and marching festivals. The only individuals excused from participation in the marching band are those who are active participants in varsity football, or varsity cheerleading. All other members are expected to participate in all aspects of the marching program.Wind Symphony
The Wind Symphony is the most advanced performing ensemble in the band program, and is designed for any student who can musically qualify for membership. This ensemble focuses on advanced qualities of performance musicianship, and beginning concepts of music theory. After school rehearsals, sectionals, and performances are mandatory. Frequent evening sectionals and rehearsals will be scheduled to prepare for festival performances after marching season is over.Symphonic Band
The Symphonic Band is an intermediate performing ensemble, designed for any student who can musically qualify for membership. This ensemble focuses on building musical repertoire, and enhancement of musical performance skills. After school rehearsals and performances are mandatory.Jazz Band
The Jazz Band is a performing ensemble, designed for any student who can musically qualify for membership. This ensemble will focus on expanding students’ exposure to jazz literature, and will also address jazz theory and improvisational skills. After school rehearsals and performances are mandatory. Auditions will be held early in the fall semester for interested students.Percussion Ensemble
The Percussion Ensemble is a curricular extension of the Percussion Class designed for any student who can musically qualify for membership. This ensemble will focus on developing fundamental techniques and skills necessary to play a variety of percussion instruments in an ensemble setting. This ensemble will focus on both marching and concert aspects of percussion performance. After school rehearsal and performances are mandatory.Auxiliaries – Color Guard & Majorettes
The auxiliary units perform in the fall semester with the Dreadnaught Marching Band. The color guard meets as a class during the school day. The majorette squad is strictly an extra-curricular activity. All regulations and requirements of membership in the band program will otherwise apply to all members of the color guard and the majorettes. Members of these units are directly responsible to their sponsor and instructor for all activities, including rehearsals, performances, and extra activities such as fundraisers. Auxiliary rehearsals and contests in the spring are at the discretion and arrangement of the sponsor for each unit.All band classes and activities at Lakeland High School are governed by the Polk County Fine Arts curriculum, and also by the Sunshine State Standards for secondary music classes.
History of the Dreadnaught Band
The band began in 1924 as an 18 piece orchestra. The first uniforms were purchased in 1924 with money earned from Sunday concerts performed during the winter season. In 1945, the band performed at U.S.O.'s, U.S. Army Camps, and government defense plants. A seven piece "German" band was established during the fifties and majorettes and new band uniforms were soon to follow. During the 1950s, the band performed at various festivals including Gasparilla and the Orange Festival. In 1959 the LHS band began its tradition of superior ratings at district contests.Excitement, vitality, and spirit were the words used to describe the Dreadnaught Band of the 1960s. The Spirit of the old "Orange and Black" was reflected in the enduring perseverance of the band members themselves. During the marching season this superlative group was found practicing its precise drill formations in the school parking lot many mornings before the school day began. Excellence of the band was evident by their invitations to march in the Cherry Blossom Festival, the Gasparilla Parade, and the Citrus Festival.
During the 1970s the band continued performing and receiving superior ratings. The band marched in the Cherry Blossom Festival, at Walt Disney World, and at a Miami Dolphins football game. During the late 1970s the band performed at the National Band Association Convention in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The 1980s began in new uniforms. The Pride of Kathleen Marching Competition and St. Petersburg's Tournament of Bands found the Dreadnaught Band marching away with 2nd and 3rd place respectively. In 1982, the Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. In 1983, the band won Grand Champion at the Tournament of Bands and in 1984 the marching band was featured on the Miss Teen U.S.A. CBS nationally televised special. The mid 1980s brought participation in many events including Tri state Tropicana Field Competition, the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, FSU Tri-State Music Festival; and a second trip to the National Band Association Convention. The most highly anticipated event of the 1986–87 school year was a return appearance at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic.
In 1987, the Wind Ensemble earned the John Philip Sousa Foundation's Sudler Flag of Honor, which is awarded to a high school band for outstanding achievement in concert performances and also must present evidence of outstanding achievement in every area of musicianship. 1987 also saw a new uniform. The band received the Grand Champion award at the Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Virginia in the spring of 1988. The Wind Ensemble performed for the American Bandmasters Association Convention and the American School Band Directors Association Convention in 1989. The marching band performed its half-time show at the 1989 Florida State University Band Day and participated in the Boardwalk and Baseball Marching Festival in 1988 and 1989.
In 1991, our Dreadnaught Band led the inaugural parade of Governor Lawton Chiles (an LHS alumnus) in Tallahassee. The early 1990s found the Symphony Band (formerly Wind Ensemble) invited to perform at the Midwest National Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago for an unprecedented third time. In 1994 the Symphony Band once again received the prestigious Sudler Flag of Honor. Receiving this award for the second time allowing the Symphony Band to once again make history as it was the first high school band to ever receive the award twice. The Symphony Band was one of only two high school bands selected throughout the nation and Japan to receive this award in 1994.
Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing through the present, the Dreadnaught Band has seen a record breaking number of students receive superior ratings at the District and State level of solo and ensemble festivals traveling to Jacksonville, Ft. Myers, Daytona Beach, and the Miami area. LHS band students remain active participants in the Festival of Winds hosted by the University of South Florida each year as well as Florida State University's Tri-State Festival; Selected students have also participated in the International Disney Honor Band in Orlando.
Alma mater
Tradition has it where the alma materAlma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
would be played by the school's band after football games, the football team, student section, and alumni would all join in and sing along the following words with their fingers pointing in the air while swaying side to side.
We hail thee alma mater!
Our hearts are filled with pride
With voices strong we raise this song
As we march with victorious stride
We'll always stand together
And Fight to do or die
Sincere and true, this toast to you
Our own Lakeland High
Helmet cart
As the team loads the buses and heads to its destination of play there is an escort of police cars, fire trucks and the bell. Leading this escort is Jerry Follis and Lakeland's helmet cart. Not only does the cart lead the way to each home and away game, it also leads the Dreadnaughts onto their sideline with a stream of smoke laying the path for the Dreadnaughts to follow.Follis first created the helmet cart in 1993 and led the Dreadnaughts to its first ever 10–0 season. At first the cart was only decked out with an intercom system, tape player and some small speakers. Since then, the helmet cart has been retrofitted with police lights which were later traded out for a booming sound system that can be heard from for quite a distance. The helmet cart has become an icon for Lakeland Dreadnaught football just as the Bell has. Other schools such as Auburndale, Lake Gibson, and Kathleen have tried to imitate some sort of cart but theirs just doesn't have the flair and style like the Dreadanughts' helmet cart.
District football champions
1979 1980 1982 19831984 1986 1993 1994
1995 1996 1997 1998
1999 2000 2001 2004
2005 2006 2008 2009
2010
Runway to Victory
For the past ten plus years Major McCoy and his Lakeland High School Army JROTC cadets have been forming the " Runway to Victory " to lead the Dreadnaughts onto Bryant Stadium. The Runway has become apart of Lakeland High School's tradition as much as winning has. It brings a special feeling to the players when the student body joins in and sends them off to battle. "It gets me so pumped up," Senior QB #13 Billy L. says, "When you come out of the tunnel and see all of the fans in the stadium, there is just no feeling like it." Each year Major McCoy adds a little something better to the "Runway". At first it only consisted of pvc pipe and stringers. That was over ten years ago. Now before the Dreadnaughts take the field you see a tunnel with orange lights lining each side, streamers, balloons, strobe lights, and to top it off is a curtain with a lighted football attached. "It definitely adds to the pageantry of LHS football." Running Backs Coach Frank Webster says, "It just wouldn't be the same with out the Runway to Victory" Click here for more information on Lakeland High School's JROTC.Mascot
What's A Dreadnaught?By: Don Murray – Fall of 1996
"Mister, what's a Dreadnaught?" I've been asked that question any number of times in places like West Palm Beach, Tampa, Sarasota, Kissimmee, and even Winter Haven. It's probably happened to you if you're the Lakeland High School football fan we hope you are. As a matter of fact the first Dreadnaught wasn't a Dreadnaught at all, it was the Dreadnought, a British ship of the line which fought against the French forces at Trafalgar under the British Admiral Lord Nelson.
A century later a whole class of fighting ships were dubbed Dreadnoughts and were, at the time, the most massive pieces of fighting machinery the world had yet seen. How then did this ponderous sea machine come to lend its name to a small mid-Florida school (and town) in the early 1920s? Well, once upon a time, just 73 years ago in 1923, Lakeland High School had quite a football team. They breezed through the season with a 10–0 demolishing such foes as Orlando (34–6), Gainesville (3–0), Clearwater (19–0), Summerlin–Bartow (27–0), and Hillsborough (14–6). Blessed with a great football team, the school also sported a legendary principal. The late I.G. McKay was quite a man. Short, stocky, with a bristling mustache and penetrating eyes, McKay was a disciplinarian in the most literal sense of the word.
Some of you old timers are likely stealing a smile as you read this, remembering that no matter how big or tough you were, you didn't cross paths with that ex-British soldier and come out a winner. Anyway, after the defeat of arch-rival Hillsborough, the principal called the student body to assembly. As usual, when McKay approached the lectern and raised his hand, complete silence fell over the assembled students; and he spoke. He recounted the exploits of the team and spoke for the players, C. T. Butler, fullback; Ernest (Goof) Bowyer, quarterback; Sloppy Murrell, center, and all the others who had contributed to the undefeated season. Then, in the oratorical style of the day, he compared the team to a mighty Dreadnaught, rolling over the opponents as just a massive ship steams through stormy seas. At the close of his speech, McKay suggested that from that day on the team be known as "The Dreadnaught," and the name has stuck for 73 years. And I'll bet you one thing, you never heard of another team with our name. If you're like me, you wouldn't have it any other way.
Ship and Bell
By Lennie Ruff – The Bagpipe – September 12, 1978
Last year [1977] at the football jamboree in Winter Haven, Mr. [John] Ward,* Mr. [Elmer] Banks, and Mr. [Jim] Booth were sitting there watching the proceedings when they realized that every school except Lakeland had some sort of mascot or token that they could pull around on the field.
Upon deciding that the folks at Lakeland needed something, too, they then had to figure out what it should be. Since it's slightly difficult to pull a real Dreadnaught around, they hit upon the idea of something that every good ship has, a bell.
Next question: Where to get a bell? The logical place to ask would be a senator (or so it is said). So a letter was sent to Senator Lawton Chiles through his aide Charles Canady. A few weeks later, Mr. Ward received a letter from the Department of the Navy saying that if the school would pay the shipping charges, they would send the bell here. That is how the school actually got the bell. But, where did it originally come from? When was it made? What was its history?
To find the answers to these questions, the school sent an inquiry to the National Archives. The Archives sent back a bundle full of letters and other documents.
It turns out, that in December 1909, after the government had dredged out the Cape Porpoise Harbor in Maine, the harbor was still dangerous to enter in foggy or bad weather. To help remedy the situation, a total of 86 people related to the harbor, including the port warden of Maine, signed a petition asking that a fog bell, of suitable weight and size, struck by machinery during foggy weather, be established at the Goat Island Light Station. Off went the petition to Washington, followed by a year of circulating letters. Letters to the Department of the Commerce and Labor, to the Corps of Engineers, back to the people in Maine, again to the engineers, and so forth. Finally, in early 1911, the government approved the project and opened bidding for the job. The Meenly Company received the task of installing the 1200 pound bell and all of its equipment. The estimated cost of the bell was around 28 to 38 cents per pound.
So there it was, at the Goat Island Light Station for years, ringing once every 20 seconds, warning sailors of the rocky hazards.*John Ward was principal at LHS from 1971–1983; Elmer Banks and Jim Booth were assistant principals.
And Then There Was Football
As reported by Mike Cobb of the Lakeland Ledger:
Over one hundred years ago, a group of Lakeland High students boarded a train for Bartow. They were taking up a challenge from Bartow Summerlin Institute in a relatively new sport that's now an integral part of American culture. That was the beginning in Polk County of what is now a Friday night tradition across America – high school football. On Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1907, Summerlin routed Lakeland 53–0, though Lakeland disputed the score for years, saying it was only 47–0.
The Florida High School Activities Association this year is celebrating 100 years of high school football in the state, noting that five schools organized teams in 1907 – Bartow Summerlin, Tampa Hillsborough, Ocala High, Orlando High and Jacksonville Duval. Lakeland's 1907 team was put together by future state Rep. Thomas W. Bryant, who was then a student, to take up Bartow's challenge. Lakeland would officially organize its team for the 1908 season.
In 1923, Lakeland High School Principal I.G. McKay lauded the school's football team in a student address and coined a little history. McKay compared the team to a mighty Dreadnaught "rolling over the opponents just as a massive ship steams through stormy seas."The team became known as "the Dreadnaught" for the next few years. The letter "s" was added by the end of the decade. It was a sign of the times.
In the roaring '20s, high school football became an integral part of American culture, and Lakeland replaced Summerlin Institute in Bartow as the powerhouse in Polk County.
Led by quarterback Ernest "Goof" Bowyer, who would later play quarterback at the University of Florida, the team posted a 6–1 record in 1923 and was declared champion of South Florida. Its lone loss was a 7–0 setback against Gainesville.
Among their victories was a 27–0 win over traditional powerhouse Bartow. It was Lakeland's second traight win over Bartow. A year earlier, the school's 20–6 win was big enough to earn a full-page photo spread in the school's yearbook, The Highlander.
Lakeland High began playing its games on Friday nights in the right field portion of Henley Field. Ralph Carter, who played for the Dreadnaughts in 1943–44, remembers watching Lakeland games as a kid at Henley Field. "We used to sneak into the games. We'd climb the fence," said Carter, who is now retired and living in Georgia. "The field went east to west. They had four light poles and put up temporary bleachers." Carter, who attended John Cox Elementary at Memorial Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue, remembers the elementary schools having teams as well. That's where Carter remembers getting to know the Dreadnaught players.
"We'd play with no pads and barefooted," he recalled. "The Dreadnaught players would come out and coach us." One of those teams that he watched was the 1935 Lakeland squad that finished 12–0–1 and was named state champions. The only non-victory was a 0–0 tie against Orlando in the season finale. The Dreadnaughts then added two charity postseason games to their schedule. In the first, played in Lakeland, the Dreadnaughts defeated Athens (Georgia), 19–7, in a game that drew a crowd of 1,500 and raised $200 for the Salvation Army. Among the 1,500 spectators was Florida Gov. Dave Sholtz.
A week later, the Dreadnaughts boarded the train in Auburndale for a three-day trip to Miami to play an all-star team of Miami high school stars in a fundraiser for the Miami Kiwanis Club. Among the all-stars was halfback Knute Rockne Jr., son of the famous Notre Dame head coach. Fullback John Sargent scored three touchdowns, leading Lakeland to a 26–0 win.
Enter Bryant Stadium
On a September night early in the 1940s, some of the same men who started Polk's football tradition as kids in 1907 gathered in Lakeland to open a new era. They were there to dedicate Thomas W. Bryant Stadium, home of the Dreadnaughts. Bryant, who started Lakeland High's program in 1907 and was a 1909 graduate, went on to become a lawyer, serve three terms in the state Legislature and spend another 14 years on the Board of Control, which would later become the Board of Regents overseeing the state university system.In the 1930s, as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration, Bryant sought funding to build a new football stadium for the city of Lakeland. The funding was first approved in 1936 but later canceled. After several years of disappointing trips to Washington, Bryant finally secured $65,000 in federal funds, the stadium was built next to Henley Field, and on Sept. 26, it was dedicated and named in his honor. Florida Gov. Spessard Holland, a graduate of Summerlin Institute in Bartow who went on to play football at Emory University and the University of Florida, made the dedication speech at halftime. Eight members of Lakeland's original 1907 team, including Bryant, were among the honored guests.
Lakeland defeated Florida Military Academy of St. Petersburg that night, 33–0. Lakeland halfback Raymond Bowden kicked the first extra point in Bryant Stadium history and threw two touchdown passes. His son, David Bowden, would later set a national record by throwing 91 career touchdown passes as Kathleen's quarterback from 1968 to 1970.
The opening of Bryant Stadium turned out to be good news for Mulberry fans as well. No longer needing bleachers for Dreadnaught games at Henley Field, the city of Lakeland sent four sets of bleachers to Mulberry to provide seating for about 500 people.
A New Era
One of the most significant events of the 1970s came in 1971 when Lakeland High enticed Paul Quinn to move to Lakeland to become the school's head coach. Quinn had won a state title in 1967 at Lake City, defeating Auburndale in the championship game. Quinn brought with him a young assistant coach named Bill Castle. After five seasons at Lakeland that produced a 30–19 record, Quinn decided to leave for Bartow. The Dreadnaughts didn't have to go very far to find his successor, elevating Castle to the head coaching job.It was a job that Castle did not actively seek. In a 2006 interview with The Ledger, Castle said he had planned on going to Bartow with Quinn, but a group of Lakeland boosters changed those plans when they visited him at his apartment. "Bottom line, when they left, they asked me would I take (the Lakeland head coaching job) if it was offered to me," Castle said. " I said, 'Yes I would, but I wasn't going to apply for it.' "I came in the next day and found out that I had the job." He's kept the job for 31 years, winning six state titles. Castle didn't win his first state championship until 1986, but he had the Dreadnaughts among the state's top programs long before that. The 1979 team, quarterbacked by Wayne Peace, finished 11–2, losing in the Class 4A state semifinals to a physically bigger Pensacola Pine Forest, 26–14. The focal point of that game was the battle of the quarterbacks – Peace vs. Pine Forest's Mark Massey. Among the crowd that night were University of Florida coach Charley Pell and Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. They were recruiting both quarterbacks. Both players eventually signed with Florida, and Peace became the Gators' starter midway through the 1980 season and finished his career with 7,206 career passing yards. That was the first of five playoff appearances in a six-year period for the Dreadnaughts before they broke through and won a state title in 1986.
National stage
The past two decades have seen high school football move to the national level with national rankings and games televised across the country. And Polk County has had its moments in the national spotlight. Lakeland has been a regular member of national Top 25 rankings with the Dreadnaughts finishing the 2005 season ranked by USA Today as the No. 1 team in the nation. In 2006, after beating St. Thomas Aquinas in the state title game for a third straight year, the Dreadnaughts again ranked No. 1 in two national polls. Beginning in 2004, Lakeland put together a state-record string of 53 straight wins that was broken in 2008.Notable alumni
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Old Lakeland High School
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The Old Lakeland High School is located at 400 North Florida Avenue in Lakeland and in 1993 was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Over the years the building has housed several different schools including the Polk Opportunity Center and Lakeland Middle Academy renamed the Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in 1999.
Harrison School for the Arts
Celebrating our 20th Anniversary in 2009, the Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts was founded in 1989. Harrison School for the Arts opened with an enrollment of 154. The students are from communities throughout Polk County.Lois Cowles Harrison, of Lakeland, has garnered a statewide reputation as arts advocate due to her many years of notable contributions to the arts. Her outstanding presence in the arts community is attributed to her selfless service while serving as a member of the Florida Arts Council from 1972–1980. She led the drive for Legislative and School Board funding for construction of the Polk Museum of Art and the Harrison School buildings. Additional credits include president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, president and member of the Board of Governors of the Polk Museum of Art, president of Planned Parenthood of Central Florida, and the Board of Directors of the Florida Endowment of the Humanities.
Mrs. Harrison is married to Homer Hooks. Mr. Hooks, a former president of the Florida Phosphate Council and former Executive Director of the Florida Department of Citrus, is past president of the Polk Museum of Art and former chairman of the Florida Arts Council. In 1994, Secretary of State Jim Smith honored Hooks and Harrison with the Florida Arts Recognition Award.
External links
Florida°N date=December 2010°W