Bartlesville High School (College High)

Built in 1939; Opened in 1940; College High Became BHS in 1982

1940s

College High was constructed in 1939. Its official name was Bartlesville Senior High School and Junior College, and it originally served 585 students in grades 11-14. On January 8, 1940 those students, who had been attending Bartlesville's Central High School, moved 3/4 mile south to the impressive new building with its Streamline Art Deco styling.

1939 College High School Campus

Bartlesville Senior High School and Junior College in 1939

Paul C. Norvell was the first Col-Hi principal. Some old traditions were maintained, such as the Nautilus yearbook and the Peppers girls' pep club. New traditions were also started, such as the "Deliberative Committee" which would serve as the student government for the next four decades. Maurice W. Taylor and G. M. Roberts were principals in the middle of the decade, with Carl A. Ransbarger occupying the post from 1947 until 1954.

Students in these and subsequent years participated in long-lasting clubs such as Hi-Y, Y-Teens, Service Club, Trade & Industrial Club, and the B Club for lettered athletes. The B club sold Wildcat stadium seats and ran the concession stands at games, using the proceeds for an annual scholarship. New clubs in the late forties and early fifties included the United Nation Youth, Future Homemakers of America, United World Federalists, and Junior Red Cross. Foreign language clubs thrived, including the Latin Club & Senate (which later became the Junior Classical League), and the Spanish and French Clubs (sometimes grouped as the Modern Languages Club). Driver's education was first offered as an elective in 1949. Students participated in such annual traditions as the homecoming parade and bonfire and Sadie Hawkins Day.

1950s

Sophomores began attending classes at Col-Hi in the fall of 1950, and the junior college closed.

1953 College High School Girl Students

Col-Hi entrance in 1953

John C. Haley

John C. Haley moved up to principal in 1954, a position he would hold until 1973. He had formerly served as teacher, counselor, and vice-principal. In 1956 black students were finally welcomed to Col-Hi from segregationCard's Douglass High School. Jane Morrison was the first black student to attend Col-Hi, with Principal Haley noting that Bartlesville was a leader in the state in integration, with what he termed a smooth transition. But Jane Morrison recalls racial taunts and how she was excluded from the prom, the YWCA, and some restaurants during band trips - it would take time for the most overt racism to be extinguished.

Cecil Custer

The baby boom was on and several additions were built to serve the 1,000+ students on campus, including a track and field, stadium, three-story classroom annex, and shifting the upstairs cafeteria into a newly finished basement. Football games which had previously been played crosswise on the baseball field at the Bartlesville Municipal Stadium (now Bill Doenges Memorial Stadium) moved to the new field and stadium at College High, which were dedicated in memory of coach Cecil "Lefty" Custer.  He came to Bartlesville in 1924 and coached junior high football and many other sports for decades, and passed away in 1953.

1955 Custer Stadium

Custer Stadium opened in 1954

The fifties brought such clubs as the Future Teachers of America, Fashion Board, Future Nurses of America, Key Club, Boys and Girls State, and various Science Clubs. Bartlesville hosted the state Student Council convention in the early 1950s, an honor that would not be repeated for forty years.

The late fifties and early sixties brought the Canteen, a popular hang-out on Price Road for local youth. It was built and operated by the Service League for over 50 years, and members taught card games and hosted tournaments. The facility offered dances with live bands and was in active use up until the mid-2010s when it became the new home for the MUTUAL Girls Club.

Youth Canteen

Bartlesville Youth Canteen

1960s

In the sixties, Col-Hi organizations included the Indian Club, International Relations Club and American Field Service, Youth Court, Medical Careers Club, Art Club, Math Club, Drafting Club, and several business organizations such as Distributive Education Clubs of America, Future Business Leaders of America, and the replacement of the old T&I Club with Vocational Industrial Clubs of America. 

1961 Senior High Building

Col-Hi in 1961

The baby boom made for cramped conditions, with 1,985 students on campus by 1964-65. Accommodating so many students required the use of four portable buildings, and there were three different day schedules starting at 7:30, 8:30, and 9:30 am. That led to the building of Sooner High across town, and began the long-time rivalry between the Col-Hi Wildcats and the Sooner Spartans. Each school would burn the other's mascot during pep rallies the night before their annual football game.

1966 College High School Air view

1966 Aerial Photo shows temporary buildings

1970s

The seventies brought clubs focused on students' personal interests and issues, such as Contemporary Music, Photography, Rodeo, Interracial Relations, and Afro-Americans. Other additions were the Secretarial Club and the John Baird Society; Baird's 1974 Calculus course was the first Advanced Placement course at Col-Hi. The character of the school was changing to keep up with the times. The traditional pep club disbanded in 1971, and the "Wild Bunch", consisting of boys and girls, was formed. Mr. Haley retired in 1973 and Jim Morrel was principal for a couple of years, followed by Col-Hi's final principal, Dennis Pannell.

Reportedly no proms were held in 1975 or 1976 due to protests over a rule regarding who could attend and also supposedly after a raucous assembly over changing a prom date to match a band's schedule. The Alternative High School Program, which was located at various sites, began in 1977. In the late 1990s, it would share the former Col-Hi campus with the regular high school.

College High School

College High signage in the 1970s

1980s

1983 Seniors

Talk and controversy about consolidating College High and Sooner High began as early as 1970 and a plan was discussed in 1973-74, but no action was taken. Decreasing enrollments led to consolidation proposals being revived in 1977 with formal committees on the issue in 1978. A September 1980 bond issue for renovations and additions, which grew to include a swimming pool and gymnasium, was defeated by a large margin.

In 1981, voters approved a bond issue that added onto Sooner High and adding parking at College High, and the board of education voted to consolidate the two high schools and re-establish Bartlesville High School. The rivalry between the Col-Hi Wildcats and Sooner Spartans ended with the establishment of the unified Bartlesville Bruins in the fall of 1982. Freshmen and sophomores began attending classes at the former Sooner site, which was renamed Bartlesville Mid-High. Juniors and seniors attended former College High, now back to being called Bartlesville High School.

Dennis Pannell's successor as principal was Ben West. The eighties brought a short-lived Greenway environmental club; another Environmental Club would begin in the 1990s. The Sadie Hawkins tradition was revived in 1983 with the first Snowball dance. The shift to Bruins led the Wild Bunch to become the Bru/Brew Crew, with many loud years of packed basketball games in the old field house.

1990s

Advanced Placement course offerings expanded throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but there was also a decrease in elective offerings as core course requirements increased. In 1994, Bartlesville hosted the Oklahoma Student Council state convention for the first time in forty years. In the 1990s Ben West was succeeded as principal in turn by Bill Denton, then Jim Sisney, and finally Dr. Debi Boyles in 1998.

Cheerleaders

1992 Cheerleaders in the Phillips Gym

2000s

The twenty-first century opened with the most significant changes to this facility since it was constructed. The community supported a ten-year bond issue, Building on Excellence, that would spend over $23 million to build a new fine arts center, field house, and science wing. It would also transform the 1939 auditorium and part of the middle level of the annex into a new home for the library, which had long outgrown its upstairs space, spreading across the hall into the 1939 cafeteria area.

The first new principal for the twenty-first century was Jane Sears in 2002. Chuck McCauley assumed the post in 2005 and was succeeded by Teri Brant in 2008. The school continued to rack up numerous awards of academic excellence, but the number of clubs was diminishing as the new generations of students were preoccupied with opportunities outside of school.

LaDonna Chancellor became principal in 2012.

BHS in the 2000s

The campus saw massive improvements in the 2000s

2010s

The next decade started off with improvements to Custer Stadium's seating, access, lights, sound, and exterior concessions. There were large-scale HVAC system updates to the main building, annex, and stadium. The Bruin Activity Center indoor practice facility was expanded and event parking added.

In September 2013 voters approved another bond issue to expand the school to accommodate freshmen and sophomores by adding science rooms for sophomores on the north, other sophomore classrooms, and a large cafeteria and commons area east of the Phillips Field House (in place of a connecting link from the previous decade). A Freshman Academy area was built to the north and east of the Bruin Field House.

BHS 2010s

BHS had additional expansions and renovations in the 2010s

Late in the decade the tennis courts were rebuilt, the bottom level of the stadium was renovated into additional locker rooms, and the indoor practice facility was refashioned to provide an athletics weight room and cheerleading practice area. The Phillips Field House had extensive renovations to provide improved locker rooms and an additional instrumental music room.

2020s

The 65-year-old pressbox was replaced with a much larger and more functional structure, and an agriculture building was constructed near the indoor practice facility. In 2022, Doornbos Track was rebuilt along with the visitor bleachers across Lyon Field from Custer Stadium.

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Track and bleachers
LaDonna Chancellor

BHS Principals

LaDonna Chancellor has been the Principal of Bartlesville High School since 2012, the longest tenure of anyone in that position since Dennis Pannell. In 2022 Michael Harp will become the school's new principal when Ms. Chancellor becomes the Exec. Dir. of Teaching and Learning for the district.

  • Paul C. Norvell, 1940-1944

  • Maurice W. Taylor, 1944-1946

  • G. M. Roberts, 1946-1947

  • Carl A. Ransbarger, 1947-1954

  • John C. Haley, 1954-1973

  • Jim Morrel, 1973-1975

  • Dennis Pannell, 1975-1985

  • Ben West, 1985-1992

  • Bill Denton, 1992-1995

  • Jim Sisney, 1995-1998

  • Debi Boyles, 1998-2002

  • Jane Sears, 2002-2005

  • Chuck McCauley, 2005-2008

  • Teri Brant, 2008-2012

  • LaDonna Chancellor, 2012-2022

  • Michael Harp, 2022-present

Bartlesville High School Alma Mater

Verse 1

Morning sun greets many banners
On its westward flight -
Fair to us above all others
Wave the blue and white.

Chorus

Bartlesville, school we love,
Stands for all to see
May we all be ever loyal
To thy memory.

Verse 2

In the hills of Oklahoma
With its skies of blue
Bartlesville is proudly standing
With its colors true.

Verse 3

We will ever stand for honor,
Bartlesville, to you.
Hail to thee, our alma mater,
Hail the white and blue.

College High School Alma Mater

Hail to dear College-High,
colors so bold,
Bright banner in the sky
of black and gold.

To you our loyalty will never die
We're ever faithful to you,
College-High.

Sports

Mascots

Bartlesville has had various mascots: Yellow Jackets, Wildcats, Dragons, Spartans, and Bruins

Willie the Wildcat

Col-Hi Wildcats

The Col-Hi Wildcats were named after the oil industry's "wildcatters" and wore black and gold for the "black gold" coming out of the ground to build Bartlesville into what it is today. The high school mascot had been the Yellow Jacket until 1924-25. Incidentally, that was the same year Cecil "Lefty" Custer (as in Custer Stadium) became the junior high football coach. He would later coach the high school team for many years. The school's mascot, Willie Wildcat, was a prominent part of school spirit.

State Championships

  • As of spring 2019, the boys and girls teams had earned 40 swimming titles since 1948.

  • The sixties and seventies brought powerhouse golf teams, with five golf state championships between 1972 and 1979.

  • The Wildcats were state boys basketball champions in 1967, state baseball champs in 1969 and 1980, and took state in tennis in 1978, 1979, and 1982.

  • A boys' basketball game between Sooner and Col-Hi at the Adams Gym tied a national record of seven overtimes in 1979. In 1981 the Col-Hi Cheerleading squad was the first in Oklahoma to attend a national cheerleading competition in Florida. The Bru Crew "pep club" began in 1985.

  • The Bartlesville High School Bruins have racked up numerous state championships, including girls gymnastics in 1987, 1988, and 1989; boys basketball in 1989, 1991, and 1992; girls cross-country in 1991 and 1993; boys golf in 1984 and 1988; boys gymnastics in 1988; girls softball in 1982; and boys baseball in 1985.

  • A dry spell ended in 2014 with 5 state champion girls swimming and 5 state champion cross country teams by 2019. Details are at the BHS website.

Bruin Fight Song

Go, win, Bartlesville
Mighty Bruins fight for you

Fight on, Bartlesville
Yell the colors - white and blue

Go, win, Bartlesville
Mighty Bruins fight till the end

Fight on, Bartlesville
Blue and white we will defend

B-R-U-I-N-S
Blue and white, blue and white
Fight, fight, fight!

College High Fight Song

On BHS, on BHS
Fight right through that line
Run the ball around the goalposts
Touchdown sure this time
Rah rah rah
On BHS, on BHS
Fighting for our fame
So fight fellows
Fight fight fight
And win this game!

to the tune of On Wisconsin