In 1959, Archbishop John Floersh decided to build a boy’s Catholic high school on the Dixie Highway corridor. The parishes in that area, St. Matthias, St. Denis, St. Helen, St. Basil, St. Lawrence, St. Paul, St. Polycarp, St. Clement, St. Timothy, and Our Lady of Consolation, Our Lady Help of Christian, were all rapidly-growing parishes. The children of the baby boomers were showing up in great numbers. Ground was broken and Bishop David opened with the school’s first freshman class in 1960. Fr. Clarence Schwartz was named principal, Fr. Tom Maloney served as assistant principal, Fr. John Feistritzer as business manager and Fr. William Bohnert served as athletic director for all sports. Coach Wally English was hired as a coach for football, basketball and baseball. Teachers and coaches would be added as the enrollment grew over the next four years Fr. John Caskey, Fr. John Prechtel, Mr. Leo Tierney, Mr. Jerry Armstrong (who became the basketball coach), Mr. Ray Olliges and Mr. Robert Eckert were part of the growing faculty.
The early days of the school were quite primitive as all they had was half of a gravel parking lot. Bob Walsh, one of those in the pioneer class, recalls that there was no cafeteria, no gym or locker room when he started at the school. “We dressed in the classrooms for all sports in the first couple of years. From time to time, the basketball team would go to the parking lot of the Tom Mcann shoe store where the coach would draw a goal 10 feet up on the concrete wall and the team would run through plays. You had to be careful driving to the basket.”
Joining these first students and teachers was a group of highly competent men and women providing needed services outside the classroom. Jim and Louis McGee headed up maintenance, Vivian Hinton became school secretary, Lavinia Osbourne was the first bookkeeper, and Doris Leitner, Regina Steffan, and Hallie Westerman would become the core of the cafeteria staff for many years to come.
During those formative years, many important organizations and activities were formulated. Fr. Feistritzer established the Falconeer’s Men’s Club. The National Honor Society and the Youth Speaks Program were established. The athletic program began to broaden to include more sports. By the end of the second year, many new faculty members were added including: Fr. William Miller, Fr. William Wagner, Mr. Jim Ballard, Mr. William Delaney, Fr. Michael Byrne, and Fr. James Brown. Most of the priests lived in parishes but some of them lived at the school before the faculty house was built. Fr. Miller lived in a storage room next to the boiler, some others lived in classrooms. They used one empty classroom as a kitchen and the chem lab to wash dishes. They took showers in a slop closet on the bottom floor.
In 1964 work started on a 100’X30’ fieldhouse that would cost $20,000. Additionally, a baseball field was carved out in the back of the school in the spring of ’64. Coach Denny Nash from Flaget High School was hired to take over the football program from Wally English who moved on to the college ranks. Over the next 20 years, Bishop David would build a tremendous success story in sports being one of the strongest programs in Jefferson County. Also, the early years would see growth and development in many areas. Fr. Ted Sans started the Flight newspaper and the Kirkos literary magazine in 1963. He also produced plays from 1964 through 1965. The Drama Department was eventually taken over by Mr. William Bradford III who created highly regarded productions through the early 70’s.
By the mid sixties the archdiocese needed its priests in the parishes. Archbishop Floersh invited the Brothers of Holy Cross to administer the school. In the fall of 1964, Bro. Richard Reaume, CSC and Bro Dominic Elder, CSC came to the school as teachers. In the fall of 1965 Bro. Richard became principal and Bro. Domini assumed the role of business manager. At this time the new faculty house was completed and would serve host to many brothers and priests throughout the years. The peak enrollment years of the school came in the late sixties with total enrollment in the 700’s. In 1971 a distinct drop in the freshman class signaled a trend of a declining enrollment in Catholic schools across the country and was reflective of what was occurring in the feeder parishes until 1974 through 1977 when the enrollment once again enjoyed an upward momentum.
Brother Richard Reaume would leave at the end of 1969 and be replaced by Bro. Charles Blavat who continued as principal until 1972 when Mr. John Moll became the school’s first lay principal. When he retired in 1979, Mr. Gerald Wilkinson became the last principal until the school’s final year. The school was merged with Angela Merici to become Holy Cross High School.
The Anointed Servants: Teaching Priests of the Archdiocese of Louisville.
By Michael A. Diebold