Allentown Central Catholic High School (ACCHS) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

located at 301 North Fourth Street in

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: *Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California *Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County *Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Taze ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Located in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown The Diocese of Allentown ( la, Diœcesis Alanpolitana) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church, located in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The Diocese of Allentow ...

, ACCHS predominantly serves students from the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

region of the state. As of the 2020–21 school year, Allentown Central Catholic had a student enrollment of 650 students and 43.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis) for a

student–teacher ratio Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...

of 14.8, according to

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...

data. There were 587 students eligible for

free lunch A free lunch is the providing of a meal at no cost, usually as a sales enticement to attract customers and increase revenues from other business. It was once a common tradition in saloons and taverns in many places in the United States, with th ...

and 88 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

History

The school was founded as Masson Memorial School in 1926 by the Rt. Rev. Leo Gregory Fink, then rector of Sacred Heart Parish. The school was named in honor of Msgr. Peter Masson, Fink's predecessor at Sacred Heart. The cornerstone of the new school's first new building was laid in March 1927. This building, now known as Masson Hall, was constructed on the corner of Fourth and Chew Streets in

. As the school grew, new buildings were added. Rockne Hall, the school's indoor sports gymnasium, was constructed in 1940 and named in honor of former Notre Dame football coach

Knute Rockne Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...

. Commodore Barry Hall, named after

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

naval hero Commodore John Barry, was built in 1964. Other buildings, including parts of the Sacred Heart School building, were used by the school during the second half of the 20th century.

Academics

Allentown Central Catholic High School is a multiple Blue Ribbon Award-winning school of excellence.

Athletics

1955 - Allentown School District Stadium

Allentown Central Catholic competes athletically in the

Eastern Pennsylvania Conference The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (known informally as EPC, EPC18 and East Penn Conference) is an athletic conference consisting of 18 large high schools from Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, and Pike counties in the Lehigh Valley and Pocono M ...

(EPC) in the District XI division of the

Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc., also known by its acronymn PIAA, is one of the governing bodies of high school and middle school athletics for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. The PIAA's main ...

(PIAA), one of the premier high school athletic divisions in the nation. Previously, from 2002 to 2014, the school competed in the

Lehigh Valley Conference The Lehigh Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference, known informally as the Lehigh Valley Conference or LVC, was an athletic conference consisting of 12 of the largest high schools from Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, ...

. It holds the fourth most Lehigh Valley Conference championships in all sports, behind Parkland High School,

Emmaus High School Emmaus High School is a large public high school located in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The school serves grades nine through 12 in Pennsylvania's East Penn School District in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. Emmaus High School is loc ...

and

Easton Area High School } Easton Area High School is a four-year public high school located in Easton, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley area of eastern Pennsylvania. It is part of the Easton Area School District. As of the 2020-21 school year, Easton Area High School ...

.LVIAC Historical Stats.
Central Catholic holds the record for the most Lehigh Valley Conference championships in girls

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, girls cross country, and girls

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Stadium and arena

CCHS plays its home

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and some of its

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

games at J. Birney Crum Stadium, a 15,000 capacity stadium and the second largest high school stadium in Pennsylvania, located on Linden Street between 20th and 22nd streets in

. The school plays the majority of its indoor sporting events, including basketball and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

, in Rockne Hall, the school's historic indoor sporting facility, which was named in 1941 for former Notre Dame head football coach

, whose life was cut short at 43 in a 1931 plane crash.

Boys lacrosse

The CCHS boys

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

team won the PIAA 2A State Championship in 2021.

Football

The CCHS football team has won three PIAA state championships, in 1993, 1998, and 2010.

Girls basketball

The CCHS girls

team has won seven PIAA state championships, in 1973, 1978, 1987, and four in a row from 2001 through 2004. The boys basketball team has won three PIAA state championships, in 1984, 1986, and 2021.

Girls volleyball and cross country

n 2001-2002, both the girls

and girls

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

teams were Pennsylvania state champions. Additionally, in 2007, 2008, and 2016 the girls volleyball team won the AAA state championship.

Ice hockey

CCHS is one of eleven

-area high schools with an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team; the team is a member of the Lehigh Valley Scholastic Ice Hockey League.

Notable alumni

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (born September 1, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for Victoria Libertas Pesaro of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines. Abdur-Rahkman p ...

, professional basketball player, U.S. Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro *

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, former female rock musician billed in the 1950s as "The Queen of Rock and Roll" * Walt Groller,

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-nominated

polka Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

musician *

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, comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician, ''

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'', '' Vacation (2015)'', ''

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'' *

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, former

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umpire * George Kinek, former professional football player,

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, former professional women's soccer player,

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* Patrick Maggitti, first provost of

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and former dean of the Villanova School of Business *

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reporter,

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, former women's basketball coach, South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball, and former professional basketball player, WNBA's

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and

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* Karen Marrongelle, chief operating officer,

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, and former dean,

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, former college basketball coach, St. Bonaventure University *

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, former

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professional wrestling announcer *

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, second bishop of Parma for the Byzantines, and the third bishop of Passaic for the Byzantines *

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, and

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* Stephanie Woodling, opera singer,

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Notable faculty

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References

External links

Official website

Allentown Central Catholic High School athletics

Allentown Central Catholic High School
on Facebook
Allentown Central Catholic High School
on Twitter
Allentown Central Catholic High School athletics
on Twitter
Allentown Central Catholic High School profile
at

Niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

Allentown Central Catholic High School sports coverage
at ''

The Express-Times ''The Express-Times'' is a daily newspaper based in Easton, Pennsylvania. The newspaper provides national news and extensive local news coverage of the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855, ''The Express-Times'' is the lon ...

'' {{authority control 1926 establishments in Pennsylvania Catholic secondary schools in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1926 Private high schools in the Lehigh Valley Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown Schools in Allentown, Pennsylvania