Ballard High School (Louisville, Kentucky)
38°17′01″N 85°37′28″W / 38.28370°N 85.62440°W
| Ballard High School | |
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| Location | |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public Secondary |
| Motto | Home of Champions |
| Established | 1968 |
| School district | Jefferson County Public Schools |
| Principal | Dr. Jim Jury |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Number of students | 1,700 |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Color(s) | |
| Mascot | Bruins |
| Faculty | 200 |
| Campus size | 30 acres |
| Website | Ballard High School |
Ballard High School is a senior high school in the eastern suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky. The school opened in the fall of 1968. The first students were in grades 7-9, and a grade was added each year as the building was expanded. This kept the school system from having to transfer upper class students from other high schools. The first class (consisting of the original freshmen) graduated in 1972. Ballard has had an interesting tradition of long serving principals. From its founding until the mid 1980s the principal was Patrick Crawford. Sandy Allen served from the mid eighties to the 2003-2004 school year. The principal as of the 2004-2005 school year is Dr. Jim Jury. The school offers grades 9-12.
Ballard has a long-standing tradition of excellence in academics, athletics and the arts. Ballard's mission is to expose students to a solid liberal arts curriculum consisting of high-level courses and award-winning arts programs. Ballard offers a solid Advance Program curriculum which, according to their website, includes 19 College Board Advance Placement(AP) courses. Ballard consistently scores above the national mean on the ACT and SAT test, and has the highest CATS scores in Jefferson County of non-selective schools. Ballard offers French, Japanese, Latin and Spanish and has a world travel program, which gives students the opportunity to travel to Europe each year. Ballard continues to rank 2nd in the district and top 10 in the state for numbers of National Merit Scholars. Ballard High School was the first Jefferson County public high school recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an exemplary school.
Ballard is a good academic institution in the Louisville metropolitan area and consists of students from all across the city. Ballard was the first Jefferson County public high school recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. They were also the national high school academic quiz bowl champions in 1990 by winning the Panasonic Academic Challenge. In 1984 Sherleen S. Sisney, a teacher of History, Economics and Political Science, won the National Teacher of the Year award.
dr jury looks like peter giffen
Current student body
| Subset | Number of students | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| All | 1700 | 100% |
| White | 1140 | 67.1% |
| African American | 442 | 26.0% |
| Asian | 64 | 3.8% |
| Hispanic | 28 | 1.7% |
Choir, band, orchestra and speech
The Ballard choral program is one of the largest in the state of Kentucky's and has numerous students that are accepted to KMEA. The Choir received distinguished ratings at the regional KMEA Assessment in 2005 and has received National and International awards in the past. They have offered a tradition dating back at least since the early 1980s of having select choral students comprise a Madrigal singers group.
Ballard's Concert Band received distinguished ratings at regional and statewide concert band and solo/ensemble events. In 2006 the Marching Bruins won the prestigious Grand Champion Award at the Mid-States Band Association's championships. The Ballard High School marching band also was in state three times in a row, the only marching band in Louisville to make it three consecutive years. The marching band has proven themselves to be one of the top marching bands in Louisvile.
The Ballard Orchestra received distinguished ratings at the 2005 regional KMEA Large Ensemble Assessment. Ballard's quick recall team is ranked second in the county league while suffering only one defeat to duPont Manual High School.
Athletics
Athletics at Ballard are competitive and very successful, winning 57 team state championships and many other individual championships. Ballard is a Kentucky powerhouse in baseball, basketball, American football, lacrosse, track, softball, tennis and soccer. Ballard Baseball, Ballard Basketball, and Ballard Football have sent many athletes on to college and to the pro ranks. The head basketball coach is Chris Renner and the head baseball coach is Greg Gilbert. The basketball team was the state runner up in 1987, 2003, 2007, and 2010, and won the state championship in 1977, 1988 and 1999. The girls' Softball team is a perennial power and were the State runner's up in 2005. Several current Ballard basketball players are solid prospects such as Ra'von Lee and Antiquawn Beckham. Ballard's nine state Championships in soccer outnumber those of any other program in Kentucky (1976, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995 and 1999). The soccer team was also ranked number one in the nation in the championship season of 1999. Under the leadership of coach Damon Bootes they went 27-0 en route to a state championship. That same team sent 14 players on to play Division 1 soccer at the collegiate level.
Football
- Founded: 1970
- Conference: Class 6A
- Division: District 6-5
- Home field: Pat Crawford Stadium, seating capacity of 6,000.
- Uniform colors: Maroon, white, Black
- Helmet design: Maroon shell with Ballard B on one side and white numbers on the opposite side
- Athletic director: Chris Kinney
- Main Rivals: Eastern Eagles, Male Bulldogs, Trinity Shamrocks
- Coach: Mike Jackson
- Record: 8-4 (2009) - #5 in Ky. 6A
Basketball
- Founded: 1970
- Conference: Class 6A
- Division: 7th Region
- Home Court: Jim Reuther Gymnasium, seating capacity of 2,000.
- Uniform colors: Maroon, White, Black
- Main Rivals: Eastern High School, Louisville Male High School, Jeffersontown High School, Trinity High School, Scott County High School
- Head Coach: Chris Renner (most victorious coach of all time in Ballard's history: 258)
- Record: 2007-2008 season 13-8
Men's Lacrosse
- Founded: 2003
- Conference: Class 3A
- Division: 7th Region
- Home Field: Pat Crawford Stadium, seating capacity of 6,000.
- Uniform colors: Black, White Maroon, Baby Blue
- Main Rivals: Trinity High School, Louisville Collegiate School
- Head Coach: Tyler Montgomery
- Record: 2007-2008 season 11-4
Women's Lacrosse
- Home Field: Charles Musson Sports Complex/ Shelton Field
- Uniform Colors: Black and White
- Main Rivals: Kentucky Country Day School, Louisville Collegiate School
- Head Coach: Dane Brown
- Record: 2007-2008 season JV 10-0
Fight song
(Sung to the tune of the Notre Dame Victory March)
- Three cheers for our Ballard High
- Maroon and white our colors fly High
- Send a victory cheer on High
- Our spirit and pride will never Die!
- Whether the odds be great or be small
- Our Ballard High will win over all
- As our mighty team goes marching
- Onward to victory, VICTORY!
Trivia
Ballard has one of the highest graduation rates in the state of Kentucky, with 97.27% of seniors graduating.
Ballard is considered a 5 star school and is ranked 8th out of 213 schools for being one of Kentucky's best public high schools, according to a popular high school analyst called SchoolDigger.
The school has a history of senior-year pranks. Some of the more infamous ones was the 1974 release of three greased pigs into the school hallways; more recently, a pair of seniors vandalized the principal's office and the famed mural hallway with eggs and whitewash, which was reported on the next morning's television news.
In the 2005-2006 school year, a local news channel trespassed onto the school's property. They had a hidden camera and recorded their trespassing, and hallway routines in the school. Later that week, the story was on the nightly news and told viewers how easy it was to break into Ballard High School.
Notable alumni
- Jerry Eaves, NBA basketball player for the Utah Jazz, men's basketball coach at North Carolina A&T
- Earl Heyman, CFL football player, defensive lineman for the Edmonton Eskimos.
- Allan Houston, NBA basketball player, guard for the New York Knicks
- Jeremi Johnson, starting fullback for the Cincinnati Bengals.
- Shawn Kelley, Major League baseball player for the Seattle Mariners.
- James Kim, 1989, CNET editor and victim of hypothermia[1]
- Jeff Lamp, NBA basketball player
- Bill Plaschke, sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times and panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn
- Jeremy Sowers, baseball player for the Cleveland Indians
- Ben Thornewill, Lead singer and pianist of Jukebox The Ghost, has toured nationally and internationally with acts such as Ben Folds, Ra Ra Riot and Adam Green. Performed on David Letterman September 1, 2010.
- DeJuan Wheat, NBA basketball player
References
- ^ "Missing father graduated from high school in Louisville". Associated Press. December 6, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-11.