Belvidere High School (Illinois)

History

1967 tornado

Main article: 1967 Belvidere tornado

On the afternoon of April 21, 1967, an F4 tornado struck the school, killing 13 students and staff, tossing buses as students were being dismissed. The tornado was part of the 1967 Oak Lawn tornado outbreak. It was the sixth worse loss of life at an American school as a result of tornadoes, and the worst since 1955.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, a memorial to the lives lost in the tornado was erected in front of Belvidere High School in 2017.{{cite web | archive-date = March 7, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180307022823/http://www.wifr.com/content/news/1967-Belvidere-tornado-survivors-remember-419658663.html | url-status = dead

Athletics

Belvidere competes in the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC-10), and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). Teams are stylized as the Bucs (a shortening of Buccaneers).

BHS Sports: Football, Poms, Cheerleading, Basketball, Dance, Baseball, Tennis, Bowling, Track & Field, Soccer, Softball, Golf, Volleyball, Swimming, and Cross Country.

The school won back–to–back state championships in football in the autumns of 1993 and 1994.

The Bucs branding is also carried over to Belvidere South Middle School.

Notable alumni

• Jeanne Gang ’82, award-winning architect, founder of Studio Gang Architects, and designer of the world's two tallest skyscrapers designed by a woman, Aqua and the St. Regis Chicago
• William James Hurlbut, artist, playwright, and screenwriter
• Bessie Leach Priddy, educator, social reformer, clubwoman, and leader of the Delta Delta Delta women's fraternity

References

References

1. "Superintendent".
2. "Belvidere High School". National Center for Education Statistics.
3. (2009). "Illinois School Report Card: Belvidere High School". Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
4. (1 April 2010). "Belvidere (H.S.)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA).
5. (2 August 2013). "IHSA School Directory". Illinois High School Association.
6. "Buccaneer". Belvidere High School.
7. "April 21, 1967 by James Llorca - Growing Bolder".
8. (1999). "The Ten Worst Tornado Related Disasters in Schools". The Tornado Project.
9. (28 March 2010). "Season Summaries: Belvidere (H.S.)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA).
10. Gang, Jeanne. (April 10, 2011). "Jeanne Gang: Success by Design". Boone County Arts Council.
11. Guerrero, Isaac. (April 18, 2017). "Belvidere native Jeanne Gang opens up about her architecture". Rockford Register Star.
12. Sullivan, Kate (executive producer and host). (January 7, 2022). "Jeanne Gang – Architect. Founder of Studio Gang.".
13. (September 20, 2011). "Belvidere native, architect Jeanne Gang gets 'genius grant'". [[Rockford Register Star]].
14. Ph.D, Fran Becque. (2016-03-12). "#WHM - Bessie Leach Priddy, Dedicated ΔΔΔ and Dean of Women".