Grand Forks Central High School (GFC) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

senior high school in the

Grand Forks Public Schools Grand Forks Public Schools (GFPS) is a system of K-12 schools in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. GFPS comprises two school districts: the Grand Forks School District and the Grand Forks Air Force Base School District. There are twelve el ...

district. It is located in downtown

Grand Forks Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

History

GFC was originally built in 1882 at a cost of $26,000. Its first graduating class graduated in 1886, and consisted of three women, including Emma Oldham and Mary Parsons. The original building underwent major renovation in 1911, and construction was completed on the current main building in 1917. The original structure was demolished in 1937 to build the

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

, as part of

The New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...

program. In 1985, construction began on a new media center,

cafeteria A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school ...

, updated classrooms, and . The most recent addition was a fine arts wing, a new home for the department, which for the first time included a back stage and a proper set storage area, as well as a

black box theater A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...

. Grand Forks Central is the oldest still-operating in North Dakota.

Athletics and awards

Sports offered

* Basketball (boys' and girls') * Baseball (boys') * Cheerleading (co-ed) * Cross-country (boys' and girls') * Football (boys') * Gymnastics (girls')* * Hockey (boys') * Hockey (girls')* * Soccer (boys' and girls') * Softball (girls') * Swimming & Diving (boys' and girls')* * Golf (boys' and girls') * Tennis (boys' and girls') * Track and Field (boys' and girls') * Volleyball (girls') * Wrestling (co-ed) *Figure skating *RRHS and Central High School have combined teams in several sporting areas, due to low participation numbers. Co-op sports have been adopted the mascot of the "Knightriders".

Championships

* State Class 'A' boys' basketball: 1927, 1946, 1947, 1952, 1956, 1970, 1974, 1996 * State Class 'A' boys' track and field: 1903, 1904, 1906, 1908 co-champions, 1911, 1913, 1914 co-champions, 1915, 1916, 1922 co-champions, 1926, 1927, 1940, 1955, 1956, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1966 * State Class 'A' girls' track and field: 1986, 1987 * State Class 'A' football: 1906, 1913, 1915, 1916, 1931, 1934, 1938, 1946, 1963 * State Class 'AAA' football: 2005 * State boys' hockey: 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1993, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 * State Class 'A' baseball: 2000, 2006 * State girls' soccer: 1997 * State Class 'A' cross country: 1998 *State Class 'A' speech: 1981, 1982, 1984

Notable alumni

Brooks Bollinger Brooks Michael Bollinger (born November 15, 1979) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. He also was a member of the Florida Tu ...

(b. 1979), professional football quarterback * Clifton Emmet "Cliff" Cushman (1938–1966), Olympic hurdler and pilot,

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

; killed in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

; Cushman Field in Grand Forks is named in his honor *

Jerry Gaetz Stanley Jerome Gaetz (April 25, 1914 – April 9, 1964) was an American railroader and politician from North Dakota. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Gaetz served in the North Dakota Senate in 1964 and was mayor ...

(1914–1964), North Dakota state senator *

Glenn Hansen Glenn R. Hansen (born April 21, 1952) is a retired American professional basketball player. He was born in Devils Lake, North Dakota. Hansen, a 6'4" (1.93 m) and 205 lb (93 kg) guard, played college basketball for Louisiana State Unive ...

(b. 1952), professional basketball player who played for the

Kansas City Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

and

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

and founder of a local construction company * Stuart McDonald (b. 1931),

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

and two-term

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

representative in the

North Dakota House of Representatives The North Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and is larger than the North Dakota Senate. North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts apportioned by population as d ...

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head co ...

(1934-2020) Hall of Fame Collegiate basketball coach. Led Central to 1952 State Basketball title. *

Dickie Peterson Richard Allan Peterson (September 12, 1946 – October 12, 2009)hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Blue Cheer Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style, and ...

Online comment of former schoolmate in response to Chuck Haga, "Final cheer for a Blue Cheer". ''Grand Forks Herald'', October 22, 2009; http://www.grandforksherald.com. *

Richard St. Clair Richard Collins St. Clair (born September 21, 1946) is an American composer, pedagogue, poet and pianist. Life History and Musical Career In the 17th c. St. Clairs (or Sinclairs) emigrated from the British Isles to New England as part of the ear ...

(b. 1946), prominent composer of modern classical music *

Andrew Towne use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

(b. 1982), member of the team that completed the first human-powered transit of the

Drake Passage The Drake Passage (referred to as Mar de Hoces Hoces Sea"in Spanish-speaking countries) is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atla ...

. *

Kathryn Uhrich Kathryn Uhrich (born 1965) is Dean (education), Dean of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, at The University of California, Riverside, and founder of Polymerix Corporation. She has received many awards for her research and work inc ...

(b. 1965), Professor of Chemistry, Dean of Math and Physical Sciences at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

; founder of Polymerix Corporation

References

External links

*
History of Central High School
{{coord, 47, 55, 30, N, 97, 02, 02, W, format=dms, display=title, type:edu_region:US-ND Public high schools in North Dakota Buildings and structures in Grand Forks, North Dakota North Dakota High School Activities Association (Class A) North Dakota High School Activities Association (Class AAA Football) Works Progress Administration in North Dakota Schools in Grand Forks County, North Dakota 1882 establishments in Dakota Territory Educational institutions established in 1882