Bloomington High School (Bloomington, Illinois)

Curriculum

Courses include subjects of standard core high school curricula (Math, English, Science, Physical Education, Foreign Language, etc.) as well as courses in fine arts, vocational skills and special education.

Athletics

Athletics include a full range of individual and team sports, including football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, swimming, diving, wrestling, track and field, cross country, golf, cheerleading, gaming club, and dance team. A wide variety of school clubs also meet on various topics.

The school's colors are purple and gold. The school dropped its mascot, a Native American chief head, in 2001 because it was deemed offensive. The school's students at that time voted not to replace the mascot but still called the Purple Raiders. Bloomington High School participates in the Big 12 Conference (Illinois).

Awards

Bloomington High School was named by U.S. News & World Report as a Bronze Medal Winner in 2009 and a Silver Medal Winner in 2012. In 2024 it was ranked by U.S. News as #8,362 nationally and #297 within Illinois.

Notable alumni

• Lynne Allsup, 1964 Tokyo Olympic swimmer in the preliminaries of the 4x100 freestyle relay.
• Bob Bender (1975) — basketball coach and player: Currently working as an assistant with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.
• Zach Bradford, pole vaulter
• Tim Bradstreet (1985) — Comic book artist and illustrator
• Jim Cox (1968) — Former MLB player (Montreal Expos)
• Clinton Davisson, recipient of the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics.
• Greg Engel, NFL player
• T. Markus Funk, law professor and attorney at Perkins Coie.
• Brandon Hughes (2004) — Philadelphia Eagles football player
• Gordon William Lillie a.k.a. Pawnee Bill, worked for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, then later operated his own wild west show
• A.C. Littleton (1908?) – Professor and accounting historian University of Illinois (now Gies College of Business), editor-in-chief The Accounting Review, Accounting Hall of Fame inductee
• Kenneth Raisbeck (1916), playwright and screenwriter
• Curt Raydon (1952?) — Former MLB player (Pittsburgh Pirates)
• John Ridgeway III, NFL player
• Edward B. Rust Jr. (1968) — CEO, State Farm
• Sidney Smith (1890s) Syndicated cartoonist

References

References

1. "Bloomington High School". National Center for Education Statistics.
2. "About Bloomington High School".
3. "Bloomington High School / Homepage".
4. "Bloomington High School". U.S. News & World Report.
5. "Olympedia Biography, Lynne Allsup".
6. "Bob Bender Profile - University of Washington Official Athletic Site".
7. http://www.nba.com/coachfile/bob_bender/index.html?nav=page Bob Bender. nba.com.
8. "Craft: It's a match made in comic book heaven".
9. "Jim Cox Baseball Stats | Baseball Almanac".
10. Kemp, Bill. (October 27, 2013). "Bloomington Native Won Nobel Prize in Physics". Pantagraph.
11. (30 September 2022). "Bloomington High School, District 87 induct 3 into their halls of fame".
12. (4 April 2009). "Kindred: Life in 'the dream' good for BHS grad Hughes".
13. "::District 87 Sesqui: Pawnee Bill::".
14. Salt, Bonnie B.. (December 22, 2015). "Kenneth Raisbeck papers". [[Houghton Library]], [[Harvard University]].
15. "Curt Raydon Trades and Transactions by Baseball Almanac".
16. "15 Fortune 500 CEOs that Attended Public School | PublicSchoolReview.com".
17. "::District 87 Sesqui: Sidney Smith the Gumps::".