Saint Francis High School (Mountain View)
Encyclopedia
Saint Francis High School, founded in 1954 by the Brothers of Holy Cross
, is a Roman Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory secondary school
located in Mountain View, CA. The Brothers of Holy Cross serve both on the faculty and on the Board of Directors. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California
.
opened Saint Francis High School as an all-boys school in September 1955. The original teaching facility was a small frame building, renovated from a grammar school and named Grant Hall after Harry Grant, the first student to enroll. Other buildings included a former residence, Andre House, and some peripheral structures. The grounds were largely orchards. Four Brothers comprised the first-year faculty. The first principal was Brother Donatus Schmitz. He was soon replaced by Brother Fisher Iwasko, who remained several years and is considered the principal founder.
Soon afterwards, the Brothers of Holy Cross
invested $210,000 of their own funds and $225,000 of borrowed funds to build Holy Cross Hall. The building contained eight classrooms, three science laboratories, and administrative offices, and was completed in December 1956.
In 1959, Raskob Memorial Gymnasium was built on land donated from Ira and Elise Higgins. By 1962, the student body had grown to 685 males. In 1972, Saint Francis merged with Holy Cross High School, necessitating additional facilities for a student body of almost 1600 students, both male and female.
Congregation of Holy Cross
The Congregation of Holy Cross or Congregatio a Sancta Cruce is a Catholic congregation of priests and brothers founded in 1837 by Blessed Father Basil Anthony-Marie Moreau, CSC, in Le Mans, France....
, is a Roman Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
located in Mountain View, CA. The Brothers of Holy Cross serve both on the faculty and on the Board of Directors. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California
Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San José; in California is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States. It comprises Santa Clara County, and is led by a bishop. Its patron saints are Saint Joseph and Saint Clare of...
.
History
The Brothers of Holy CrossCongregation of Holy Cross
The Congregation of Holy Cross or Congregatio a Sancta Cruce is a Catholic congregation of priests and brothers founded in 1837 by Blessed Father Basil Anthony-Marie Moreau, CSC, in Le Mans, France....
opened Saint Francis High School as an all-boys school in September 1955. The original teaching facility was a small frame building, renovated from a grammar school and named Grant Hall after Harry Grant, the first student to enroll. Other buildings included a former residence, Andre House, and some peripheral structures. The grounds were largely orchards. Four Brothers comprised the first-year faculty. The first principal was Brother Donatus Schmitz. He was soon replaced by Brother Fisher Iwasko, who remained several years and is considered the principal founder.
Soon afterwards, the Brothers of Holy Cross
Congregation of Holy Cross
The Congregation of Holy Cross or Congregatio a Sancta Cruce is a Catholic congregation of priests and brothers founded in 1837 by Blessed Father Basil Anthony-Marie Moreau, CSC, in Le Mans, France....
invested $210,000 of their own funds and $225,000 of borrowed funds to build Holy Cross Hall. The building contained eight classrooms, three science laboratories, and administrative offices, and was completed in December 1956.
In 1959, Raskob Memorial Gymnasium was built on land donated from Ira and Elise Higgins. By 1962, the student body had grown to 685 males. In 1972, Saint Francis merged with Holy Cross High School, necessitating additional facilities for a student body of almost 1600 students, both male and female.
Athletics
Saint Francis has over a 50-year history of athletics. Most of the student-athletes play in the WCAL (Western Catholic Athletic League). As of June 2009, the school has accumulated 13 State Team Championships, 3 Individual State Championships, 21 Northern California Championships, 124 CCS (Section) Championships, and over 200 League Championships. The following sports are offered at Saint Francis:- BaseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
- BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- Field HockeyField hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
- FootballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
- GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- GymnasticsGymnasticsGymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
- LacrosseLacrosseLacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
- Soccer
- SoftballSoftballSoftball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
- Swimming & DivingSwimming (sport)Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
- TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- Track and FieldTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
- VolleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
- Water PoloWater poloWater polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
- WrestlingScholastic wrestlingScholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
Alma Mater
- O Lancers hail the Brown and White
- Raise it to the sky;
- Stand loyal to our Alma Mater
- Praise her name on high.
- Let the mountains echo back our loud acclaim:
- Saint Francis High we pledge to you
- All honor, love, and fame!
Notable alumni
- Troy BienemannTroy BienemannTroy Michael Bienemann is a free agent American football tight end. He was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2006 out of Washington State....
, former tight end for the Arizona CardinalsArizona CardinalsThe Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... - Joseph BramlettJoseph BramlettJoseph Eugene Bramlett is an American professional golfer.Bramlett attended Stanford University for four years, and he earned his PGA Tour card at the 2010 Qualifying School...
, '06 Professional Golfer on the PGA Tour - Eric ByrnesEric ByrnesEric James Byrnes , is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. He has played for the Oakland Athletics, the Colorado Rockies, the Baltimore Orioles, the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the Seattle Mariners...
, '94 former outfielder for the Oakland AthleticsOakland AthleticsThe Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
and Arizona DiamondbacksArizona DiamondbacksThe Arizona Diamondbacks are a professional baseball team based in Phoenix. They play in the West Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From 1998 to the present, they have played in Chase Field... - Eddie Calvo, '79 Governor of GuamGuamGuam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
- Linda CardelliniLinda CardelliniLinda Edna Cardellini is an American television and film actress. She is best known for her roles as high school student Lindsay Weir on Freaks and Geeks, as Velma Dinkley in the live-action Scooby-Doo films, and as Samantha Taggart on ER.- Early life :Cardellini was born in Redwood City,...
, '93 actress featured in such movies as Scooby-DooScooby-Doo (film)Scooby-Doo is a 2002 American comedy film based on the Hanna-Barbera television cartoon series Scooby-Doo about a group of young detectives and their talking dog. It is the first installment in the Scooby-Doo live action film series...
and Brokeback MountainBrokeback MountainBrokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry... - Doug CosbieDoug CosbieDouglas Durant Cosbie is a former professional American football player in the National Football League who was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round of the 1979 NFL Draft. A 6'6", 236-lb. tight end from Santa Clara University, Cosbie played his entire NFL career for the Cowboys from...
, '74 former tight end and pro bowl player for the Dallas CowboysDallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas... - Daniel DescalsoDaniel DescalsoDaniel William Descalso is an American professional baseball infielder with the St. Louis Cardinals.-Early and personal life:...
, '04, infielder for the St. Louis CardinalsSt. Louis CardinalsThe St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to... - John Gall, '96 Florida Marlins Outfielder and 2008 Olympian
- Chase LymanChase LymanChase Lyman is a former American football wide receiver. Lyman was raised in Los Altos Hills, CA and is the son of former NFL player Brad Lyman. He attended Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California where he played football, basketball and ran track...
, '00, former wide receiver for the New Orleans SaintsNew Orleans SaintsThe New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League .... - Megan McArthur, '89, NASA astronaut
- Daniel NavaDaniel NavaDaniel James Nava is a professional baseball outfielder in the Boston Red Sox organization. He plays for the Pawtucket Red Sox of the International League....
, '01, outfielder for the Boston Red SoxBoston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"... - Nick Owen, '06 NHL analyst for ESPN, columnist of the Morgan Hill Times, and motivational speaker
- Tim RossovichTim RossovichTimothy John "Tim" Rossovich is a retired American football linebacker and is currently an actor. He is the brother of actor Rick Rossovich....
, '64 former USCUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
football star and 1st round pick in 1968 NFL Draft - Zach WalzZach WalzZachary Christian "Zach" Walz is a former professional American football linebacker in the National Football League. He played four seasons for the Arizona Cardinals . He attended Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California and Dartmouth College. He currently resides in...
, '94 former Arizona CardinalsArizona CardinalsThe Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
(NFL) linebacker