Hillcrest High School is a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located at 3319 N. Grant Avenue in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. Hillcrest High School is one of five public high schools in Springfield Public Schools. It is located in the north part of Springfield. It was opened in 1958. As of 2015, there was an enrollment of 1,054 students, making it the smallest of the five public high schools in Springfield.

Notable programs

FFA (Future Farmers of America)

Hillcrest is the first, and only school in the Springfield R–12 district to have a Future Farmers of America chapter. The chapter was chartered in 2019.

JROTC

Hillcrest is the only high school in Springfield, Missouri to have a

JROTC The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") is a federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US military ...

program, associated with the Army. The JROTC program teaches students citizenship and patriotism. They are recognized throughout the community for their volunteerism and community service. The cadets visit the Veterans' Home several times yearly to support the veterans. The JROTC Program at Hillcrest has several activities the different teams participate in. They have a saber team, color guard, shooting team, and exhibition team. The color guard has performed at several events in the community from the Missouri State bears basketball games to the 9/11 ceremony the JROTC holds at Hillcrest High School every year on September 11.

Hillcrest basketball

Hillcrest boys have won state championships in 1984 and 2010, with a runner-up in Class 5 in 2012. The Lady Hornets also advanced to the final four in 2012.

Hillcrest baseball

Hillcrest High School is known for its

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

program. Dick Birmingham is its most well known coach. Under Birmingham's reign, 120 players received college baseball scholarships or signed professional contracts, with six players drafted professionally from the 1966 Hillcrest team (a national high school record) and four others taken during the 1972 major league draft. In 1990 he was inducted into the halls of fame of both the

American Baseball Coaches Association The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) is the world's largest amateur baseball coaching organization. It was founded in 1945 as the American Association of College Baseball Coaches. Now, the ABCA is composed of over 13,000 baseball coac ...

and the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association. The most recent player drafted was pitcher Jon Barratt by the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home venu ...

in 2003. Twenty-three players have been drafted from Hillcrest since 1960, more than any other school in Springfield. Some of its better known players are: Bob Detherage (LAD),

George Frazier George Francis Frazier Jr. (June 10, 1911 – June 13, 1974) was an American journalist. Frazier was raised in South Boston, attended the Boston Latin School, and was graduated from Harvard College (where he won the Boylston Prize for Rhetoric) in ...

(NYY), Doug Bennett (LAD) and

Keith Drumright Keith Alan Drumright (October 21, 1954 – August 7, 2010) was an American Major League Baseball second baseman. He played parts of two seasons in the major leagues. He played for the Houston Astros in 1978 and the Oakland Athletics in 1981. D ...

(OAK), just to name a few. Hillcrest has won eight state championships, six in American Legion baseball (1970, 1971, 1976, 1979, 1987, and 2002), and two in high school (1979, 1988). On January 26, 2014, the Hillcrest baseball program (Legion and high school) was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, the highest honor the state bestows on scholastic programs. This was the first baseball program to be inducted. Coaches that followed Birmingham included Dave Davis, Byron Hagler, and Ryan Schaffitzel, who is the current head coach.

Renovations

On April 4, 2006, Springfield Public Schools' voters approved an 18-cent increase in the district's debt service levy. Among the approved projects was an upgrade to the science and technology labs at Hillcrest and two other Springfield high schools. The project added new science–technology classroom labs, renovated old lab space into additional classrooms; remodeled and provided new areas for student services. The final cost was $5.75 million. Construction began in September 2007 and finished in 2008.

Notable alumni

* Daniel Arnall, NBC Nightly News, Executive Producer, Weekend Edition; Past Executive Producer of Bloomberg News *

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...

, former Missouri Governor, former U.S. Senator and former U.S. Attorney General *

Dorial Green-Beckham Dorial Isaiah Green-Beckham (born April 12, 1993) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft and played college football at Missouri until he was dismissed fro ...

, Former

Missouri Tigers football The Missouri Tigers football program represents the University of Missouri (often referred to as Mizzou) in college football and competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Missouri's ...

Oklahoma Sooners football The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma (variously "Oklahoma" or "OU"). The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (forme ...

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 h ...

, and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

wide receiver * Bob Detherage, Former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player (

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

) *

, Former MLB player (

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

) *

, Former MLB player (

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

) * Emily Scott, USA Winter Olympic Speed Skater

References

External links

Hillcrest High School website
{{authority control Schools in Springfield, Missouri Educational institutions established in 1958 High schools in Greene County, Missouri 1958 establishments in Missouri Public high schools in Missouri