Alice High School

Alice High School (AHS) serves the students of Alice, Texas and surrounding communities in Jim Wells County.

History

The City of Alice originated from the defunct community of Collins, which was located three miles east. Around 1880 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway attempted to build a line through Collins. The townspeople did not want to sell their land to the railroad company; consequently, the railroad site was moved three miles west, and in 1883 a depot called Bandana was established at its junction with the Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande Railway. Bandana soon became a thriving cattle-shipping point, and application for a post office was made under the name Kleberg in honor of Robert Justus Kleberg. The petition was denied because a town named Kleberg already appeared on the post office list, so residents then chose the name Alice, in honor of Alice Gertrudis King Kleberg, Kleberg's wife and the daughter of Richard King. The Alice post office opened for business in 1888, and within a few years the remaining residents of Collins moved to Alice.

The first school began in 1887 in the attic of the old Sedwick House. Later, starting in the 1930s, students attended William Adams High School, which is now a Middle/ Junior High school. The School Board voted to change the name of the High School to Alice High in 1969. Construction of Alice High was completed in time for 1970 school year, and the first graduating class was in 1971.

Academics

Alice High School is part of the Alice Independent School District, which earn a rating of academically acceptable by TEA as of 2011.

School Songs and Traditions

Alma Mater
Hail! Alice High. The school we love so dear. Where friends we've met. We'll not forget. Throughout the coming years. So here's to the Orange and the White. The colors for which we fight. Let's pledge anew and all be true to Dear Old Alice High.

Fight Song
On ye Coyotes, On ye Coyotes, On ye Coyotes Forward against the foe. We will win thru thick or thin. Forever as we go, go, go, go. Orange and White forever fight. We're Coyotes 'til the end. Fight Coyotes fight, fight, fight. And win, win, win. GO!!! FIGHT!!! WIN!!!

The Pride of South Texas by Buddy Travis (1986)'

Logo

Traditional logo ________________ logo

Traditions

Burning of the "A"

• Alice will host city wide pep-rallies, at Memorial Stadium, before big athletics events. Afterward, the stadium lights are turned off, and a giant "A" is lit on fire while the band plays the school Alma Mater.

Fan Support

• Alice has a great tradition of filling up the stands at high school sporting events. Especially during the post-season, do not be surprised if you see a line of cars behind the school buses transporting the team.

After Football Games

• After every football game, the team, chearleaders, trainers, and fans stand in front of the band, interlock pinkies, and sway side to side to the sound of the school Alma Mater.

Athletics

Alice High School has athletes that compete in 13 different sports, which include:

Cross Country, Volleyball, Football, Basketball, Swimming, Soccer, Golf, Tennis, Track, Softball, Baseball, Power-lifting, and Cheerleading.

The home football games, soccer games, and track meets are held at Memorial Stadium, which has a capacity of 10,500.

The 2011-2012 season has the Coyotes playing in conference 31-4A along with Calallen High School, Flour Bluff High School, Corpus Christi - W.B. Ray High School, Corpus Christi - Foy H. Moody High School, Tuloso-Midway High School, and Henrietta M. King High School.

Football

High school football has been part of Alice, Texas since 1905. The schools first official game was a 38-0 win over H.M. King High School (Kingsville, TX) in the year 1909. Since 1909 the Alice Coyotes have won 21 district titles, made 36 playoff appearances(18th all-time and 6th most in Class 4a history), and played in 4 Texas State semi-final games (1955(William Adams), 1979, 1998,and 1999). Alice High School's all time varsity football record is 292-164-11 as of 2010, and the Alice Coyote Football Team’s all time record is 541-371-34.

Alice High School's rival is Henrietta M. King High School (Kingsville, TX). The Alice vs. Kingsville matchup is known as "The Brush County Shootout." The first meeting between the teams was in 1909. The Alice Football team and their fans rode 20 miles in horse drawn buggies to Kingsville. Alice won the game 38-0. Since then, the two teams have played each other 81 times. Alice leads the series 43-35-3 as of 2010. Youtube Video: Boys of Fall - featuring the Alice Coyote football team

Student Activities

Clubs

Current Clubs at Alice High School include:

Art, Auto Mechanics, BPA, Band Council, Building Trades, Cheerleaders, Chorale, Cosmetology, DECA, Decathlon, Drama, Drill Team/Strutters, Environmental Club, FCCLA, FFA, Graphics, HOSA, Interact/Rotary, JETS, Junior Class, Law Enforcement, Newspaper, NHS, ROTC, Senior Class, Spanish, Student Council, TAFE, UIL, and Yearbook.

Alice High School Band

The Alice High School band was organized in 1933. In 1960, Bryce Taylor was hired on as Band Directer in Alice. He spent the next fifty years as music supervisor and high school band director for the Alice ISD. In his tenor, the Alice High School band earned 29 consecutive UIL Sweepstakes awards and placed in the top five TMEA Honor Band auditions for Class 5A twelve times. The Alice High School band was one of the first five schools to be awarded the Sousa Flag of Honor by The Sousa Foundation and is listed on their national Roll of Honor for high school bands in existence between 1960 and 1980. The band is now under the direction of Arnold Garza who himself was a student of Bryce Taylor.

Theatre Department

Alice High School has an award winning theatre department with a strong reputation in the educational theatre community. For the first two decades, the AHS drama program was under the direction of Don Howell. Well respected around the state for his theatre expertise, he was able to take the UIL One Act Play team to state competition on several occasions. After retirement Mr. Howell went on to work for the U.I.L. One Act Play office located at the University of Texas and to adjudicate for UIL. Following his retirement in 1993, Darleen Totten took over and has continued to promote outstanding theatre at Alice High School. Under her direction the students received the National Forensic League Leading Chapter award and performed at Thespian State and the International Thespian Festival on numerous occasions. In the fall of 2006, the Alice High School Theatre Department received international attention when their thespian troop appeared in Dramatics Magazine and Ms. Totten was interviewed for a story in Stage Directions Magazine.Later on (2010-2011), Darleen Totten lead Alice High School Drama club to a outstanding OAP journey, but they were disqualified at regional for going over a time limit of 39:99, with only 6 seconds left.The Drama Club decided to take their play "Turandot" and perform in Nebraska out side in front of 100s of people.

Notable alumni

• J. Frank Dobie - Award winning author and political activist. He is credited with helping to save the Longhorn Cattle from extinction.
• Spike Dykes- Head football coach for the Coyotes in 1970 & 1971. Later head football coach at Texas Tech^{[citation needed]}
• Sonny Brown - Ex NFL Player (Houston Oilers) and Member of the 1985 National Champions Oklahoma Sooners (Brown was named MVP of the championship game).
• Chris Brazzell - CFL and ex NFL player with the Dallas Cowboys.

Miscellaneous

The Year 1933

• Cost of education in Alice amounted to .27 cents per student per day. ^[1]
• 160 students enrolled in Senior High.
• 119 students enrolled in Junior High.

Memorial Stadium

• Construction of Memorial Stadium was completed in 1947.
• The first game played at the stadium was on October 17, 1947 (Alice beat Taft High School 6-0).
• This grand old stadium has seen and been apart of many historic games in South Texas football lore. Home of The Pride of South Texas, The Alice Coyotes. The grounds crew at Alice takes pride in having one of the best playing surfaces in South Texas, as voted on by many area coaches, and turf builders around the State of Texas. ^[2]
• Alice Memorial Stadium was nicknamed, The Skydome back in 1980 by then Coach Bob Boyd. Alice was going to play Stafford Dulles in the bi-district round of the playoffs. Dulles wanted The Astrodome, we wanted Alice, well we won the flip. Coach Boyd called the coaches and kids back at Alice and said, We're playing in the dome, everyone started jumping around because they thought he meant the Astrodome, he then said, 'The Skydome they are coming to Alice. Alice won that game 14-10. ^[3]
• Memorial Stadium has a capacity of 10,500.

The Year 1950

• Alice hosts the first annual "Hub City Relays." The track meet still takes place today.

External links

• Alice ISD
• Alice Coyotes website
• Alice High School Band Website
• Alice High School - Youtube Video

v d e Alice, Texas The Hub City of South Texas Parks & Recreation Lake Findley • Alice Municipal Golf Course • Memorial Stadium • Sagewood Mall • South Texas Museum Transportation Alice International Airport Education Alice ISD • Coastal Bend College • Alice High School

Coordinates: 27°38′56″N 98°05′26″W / 27.649°N 98.0906°W / 27.649; -98.0906