Guest Jody Posted February 24, 2006 Report Posted February 24, 2006 Until the 80's, there was a school calld Hebert High which produced MANY top players who advanced on to be very sucessful. When this school was disolved, what schools were formed and how did all that pan out to leave these 4-A and various 5-A schools?
Guest airitout123 Posted February 24, 2006 Report Posted February 24, 2006 Jody, I am going to give your question a shot. Note that 4-A would be a 5-A now and so on... In 1982, Westbrook was formed by combining South Park (3A) Hebert(3A) and Forest Park (4A). Westbrook in now at the old Forest Park High School. Central was formed by combibg Beaumont Charlton Pollard (4A) and Beaumont French (4A). Central is now at the old BCP High School. I may not be 100% on this, but I believe I am close.
WOS87 Posted February 25, 2006 Report Posted February 25, 2006 The history of the openings, closings and merging of Beaumont High Schools is a bit convoluted but as far as the history of schools that fielded varsity teams in the UIL it essentially goes like this: Originally Beaumont had two school districts: South Park ISD and Beaumont ISD with 1 high school in each district, South Park (Greenies) and Beaumont High (Royal Purples). Beaumont High fielded football teams at least as early as 1910 and South Park at least as early as 1912. On the north side of town a 3rd school district slowly was growing (French ISD) and in 1926 French High School (Buffaloes) joined in. French ISD consolidated with Beaumont ISD in 1948. In 1953 a new French High School campus was built which is currently the Central 9th Grade Campus building. South Park ISD also had a segregated school for blacks that can trace it's history back to the 1800's, but in 1922 the school got a brand new building which became Hebert High School (Panthers) and which remained officially segregated for 45 years. Hebert competed in the PVIL (Prairie View Interscholastic League) which was the segregated equivalent of the UIL until federal law forced all PVIL schools be admitted to the UIL in the late 1960's. South Park ISD grew in population over the years and in the early 1960's opened a 3rd high school - Forest Park High School (Trojans), which fielded it's first varsity UIL teams in 1962. It was located where the current West Brook High School is. Hebert joined the UIL in 1967 but remained pretty much completely segregated due to the demographics of the area until a federal court forced predominantly black Hebert to merge with predominantly white Forest Park and form West Brook High School (Bruins) in 1982. Over in BISD, there was a 2nd segregated all-black school - Charlton-Pollard High School (Bulldogs) of which I'm not clear on the history but I do know it had it's first graduating class in 1901 and at some point they also competed in the PVIL until they joined the UIL in 1967. In 1975 there was a merger that most people seem to forget because the lack of a major name change was confusing, but the original old Beaumont High merged with Charlton-Pollard High to form Beaumont-Charlton-Pollard High (Cougars). After the opening of West Brook the next major change was in 1984 when South Park ISD was absorbed into BISD and in 1986 South Park High School closed (it's now South Park Middle School) and the student body merged with West Brook with no change in name or mascot. The same year, French High School merged with Beaumont-Charlton-Pollard High and the new Central High School (Jaguars) was opened. The most recent change was in 1998 when Ozen High School (Panthers) opened drawing students from both West Brook and Central. A simple timeline of active UIL schools in Beaumont over the years would look like this: 1910's-1925 Beaumont High, South Park 1926-1961 Beaumont High, South Park, French 1962-1966 Beaumont High, South Park, French, Forest Park 1967-1974 Beaumont High, South Park, French, Forest Park, Charlton-Pollard, Hebert 1975-1981 South Park, French, Forest Park, Hebert, Beaumont-Charlton-Pollard 1982-1985 South Park, French, West Brook, Beaumont-Charlton-Pollard 1986-1997 West Brook, Central 1998-present West Brook, Central, Ozen
Guest airitout123 Posted February 25, 2006 Report Posted February 25, 2006 Good info. I forgot that South Park was not a part of the Westbrook merger.
Guest Jody Posted February 27, 2006 Report Posted February 27, 2006 That is an interesting history. I did a photo job for the Hebert High Mass-Class reuinion about 4-5 years ago. Their was a woman there that graduated from the first class at Hebert High. I think she graduated in 1926 if I recall correctly. When i took the job I had no idea Hebert High was a segregated school, so it was quite amazing to find out they were that way for so long. You know why the schools over there are always changing and stay so screwed up? All those dang Lawyers.
bigred75 Posted February 27, 2006 Report Posted February 27, 2006 That was pretty awesome wos87, thanks for the history lesson. In my many years of living down here I might have heard of half of that.
BHFAN Posted February 28, 2006 Report Posted February 28, 2006 87 where do you get all of these stats that you have put together? You give all of us stat junkies the fix we need Thanks!!!
Guest bigred99 Posted February 28, 2006 Report Posted February 28, 2006 87, wish you were my history teacher back in high school, great work.
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