Central Catholic High School is a college prep school located in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Central Catholic is affiliated with the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and is the only archdiocesan high school in the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon (''Archidioecesis Portlandensis in Oregonia'') is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It encompasses the western part of the state of Oregon, from the s ...

History

Central Catholic High School, Portland, Oregon (497026596)

Central Catholic was founded 1934 by Archbishop Edward Howard as a

diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

high school for boys. In 1930, St. Mary's Cemetery was closed and the interments were relocated, mostly to Mount Calvary, and Central Catholic High School was built on the site of the old cemetery. Although the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

made fund-raising difficult, the

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...

staged fund-raising affairs and a generous

bequest A bequest is property given by will. Historically, the term ''bequest'' was used for personal property given by will and ''deviser'' for real property. Today, the two words are used interchangeably. The word ''bequeath'' is a verb form for the act ...

made it possible to open the first unit of the school in 1939. It was dedicated on May 9, 1939, and opened with about 125 freshman and sophomore students. The first principal was Father Francis Schaefers. Initially the school operated on a pay-as-you-go basis, meeting its expenses with its tuition, which was $50 a year. Overhead was low because many classes were taught by the diocesan priests, who did not take salaries, and by sisters from different congregations, who were paid $50 a month. While teaching, many of the priests continued their education at universities such as the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...

, the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc Nike, Inc. ( or ) is a ...

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical uni ...

, Dominican College of San Rafael, and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. Central Catholic became a co-ed high school in the 1980s. It accepted the first co-ed students as freshmen and sophomores for the 1980–81 school year. The first co-ed class graduated in 1983. As part of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the company received between $2 million and $5 million in federally backed small business loan from Customers Bank as part of the

Paycheck Protection Program The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the Donald Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARE ...

. The company stated it would allow them to retain 143 jobs.

Notable alumni

* Blake Brandel, NFL player,

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

Michael Doleac Michael Scott Doleac (born June 15, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. Doleac was selected 12th overall in the 1998 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic. He graduated from Central Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon in 19 ...

, basketball,

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

* Steven Evans, soccer,

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at ...

Joey Harrington John Joseph Harrington Jr. (born October 21, 1978) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons, primarily with the Detroit Lions. He played college football at Oregon, where he w ...

, former NFL

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

* Fred Quillan, 1974, football,

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's Nationa ...

Galen Rupp Galen Rupp (born May 8, 1986) is an American long-distance runner. He competed in the Summer Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 in Tokyo. He won the silver medal in the men's 10,000-meter run in London ...

, 2012 Olympic 10,000m silver medalist, 2016 Olympic marathon bronze medalist * Brennan Scarlett, NFL linebacker,

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their home games at NR ...

* George Van Hoomissen, former justice on the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Ryan Nall, NFL running back,

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

* Brady Breeze, NFL Safety,

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

Rich McCormick Richard Dean McCormick (born October 7, 1968) is an American politician and physician. He has represented in the United States House of Representatives since 2023. Education and military service McCormick was born in Las Vegas in 1968 and grad ...

, politician

References

{{authority control Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon Catholic secondary schools in Oregon High schools in Portland, Oregon Educational institutions established in 1939 Schools accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission 1939 establishments in Oregon Buckman, Portland, Oregon