DeVilbiss High School (Toledo, Ohio) explained
Thomas A. DeVilbiss High School was a public high school in Toledo, Ohio from 1931 to June 1991. It was part of the Toledo Public Schools, serving students from the DeVeaux, Elmhurst, Grove Patterson, Longfellow, Mayfair, McKinley, Nathan Hale, Old Orchard, and Whittier elementary schools. The building still sits at 3301 Upton Avenue near the Central Avenue intersection.
History
DeVilbiss opened its doors in 1931 to serve Toledo's growing west side and was built to accommodate 2,400 students.[1] The DeVilbiss Tigers were members of the Toledo City League and donned the colors of orange and black for sporting events. On the contrary, the school colors were the colors of the rainbow, hence the yearbook being the Pot O' Gold, and the school newspaper/newsletter the Prism. Their main rivals were the Start Spartans, although rivalries existed with the St. Francis Knights and the Libbey Cowboys, whom they annually played football against on Thanksgiving day[2] from 1933–1963.
In 1974 DeVilbiss received an obscure salute when 1965 alumnus, and then budding satirist P. J. O'Rourke, along with fellow Ohioan Doug Kenney, used the Pot O’ Gold and DeVilbiss as templates for the National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody. That issue contains dozens of direct and indirect references to DeVilbiss and west Toledo. O’Rourke later said that they “… used DeVilbiss because Ohio and Toledo and DHS just seemed so perfectly 1964 American prelapsarian typical…” By “prelapsarian” he meant before the social and political unrest and violence that occurred in the intervening ten years.[3]
Due to a declining enrollment and low finances, DeVilbiss was closed along with Macomber and Whitney high schools by TPS at the end of the 1990–1991 school year. The DeVilbiss district was split up so students could attend Bowsher, Rogers, Scott, or Start high schools.[4]
The building has been renovated by Duket Architects and currently serves as Toledo Technology Academy,[5] which opened in 1997.[6]
DeVilbiss served as the home of Scott High School for two years while Scott's building underwent renovations from 2010–2012.[7]
DeVilbiss' Page Stadium was fully torn down at the end of May 2012.[8]
Ohio High School Athletic Association state championships
- Boys Cross Country: 1970 Class AAA
- Boys Golf: 1940, 1950
- Boys Track & Field: 1946 (Class A), 1987 (Class AAA)
Toledo City League Championships
- Baseball: 1935, 1936, 1937, 1940*, 1950, 1954*, 1957, 1962, 1964, 1980
- Boys Basketball: 1934–35, 1935–36, 1943–44*, 1949–50, 1951–52*
- Boys Cross Country: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1981
- Girls Basketball: 1983–84
- Girls Cross Country: 1984
- Football: 1938*, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961*, 1973, 1974, 1989
- Boys Track & Field: 1933, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1954, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1989
- Girls Track & Field: 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989
- Volleyball: 1977, 1984, 1986
- Chess: 1973, 1974, 1975
- Golf: 1967
- Tennis: 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967
(years marked with an asterisk (*) denote a shared title)
Notable alumni
minister, non-profit administrator, and hymnwriter[10]
R&B singer and songwriter
- Brett Leonard (1977): film director and producer of The Lawnmower Man and Virtuosity; virtual reality and sci-fi tech pioneer
- Jeremy Lincoln (1987): played football for the University of Tennessee and in the NFL for the Chicago Bears, St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants, and the Detroit Lions.
- Ron McDole (1957): played football for the University of Nebraska and in the NFL for the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers, Buffalo Bills, and the Washington Redskins.
- Bob Meyer Former MLB player (Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Pilots, Milwaukee Brewers)
- P.J. O'Rourke (1965): political satirist, journalist, writer, and author.
- Geoff Zahn (1964): baseball star for the University of Michigan and later played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, and California Angels.
- Jack Zouhary (1969): Federal Judge Northwest Ohio.
- Jan Wahl (1948): author of over 100 bestselling children's books, historian of American literature and film.
External links
41.6822°N -83.5925°W
Notes and References
- http://devillbiss.blogspot.com/
- Web site: Hackenberg. Dave. Scott-Waite game kicked off great tradition of high school feasts. . November 27, 2003 . February 7, 2011.
- email correspondence with P.J. O'Rourke October 16, 2019
- Web site: Krauth. Laurie. Schools open to lure transfer students. . February 28, 1991 . February 2, 2010.
- Web site: Toledo Public Schools — Toledo Technology Academy and DeVilbiss Middle School . February 27, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130110163655/http://duketarchitects.com/projects/portfolio/educational_civic/devilbiss.asp . January 10, 2013 .
- Web site: The rebirth of DeVilbiss High. . September 8, 2000 . February 14, 2014.
- Web site: Kushma. David. Bulldog Nation at 100: Scott's past, present converge. . October 20, 2013 . February 14, 2014.
- Web site: Hackenberg. Dave. Sad good-bye to DeVilbiss' Page Stadium. . June 1, 2012 . July 24, 2012.
- Web site: Dusty Anderson – the life of a starlet. 23 February 2019.
- Web site: Gabriel . Chris . 2021-09-01 . Dosia Carlson: A Long Life that Made a Difference . 2024-06-10 . United Church of Christ . en-US.