Santa Ana College 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 ...

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

History

In 1915, Santa Ana Junior College opened its doors to 25 students as a department of

Santa Ana High School Santa Ana High School is the oldest and largest high school in Orange County, California, United States. The school was established in 1889. Notable alumni * Original members of the surf band The Chantays * Barry Asher, professional bowler * To ...

. It was the second community college founded in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

, behind

Fullerton College Fullerton College (FC) is a Public college, public community college in Fullerton, California. The college is part of the California Community Colleges System and the North Orange County Community College District. Established in 1913, it is the ...

, and the fourth oldest in all of California. In 1932, a charter of Gamma Sigma Fraternity International was granted. Beta Alpha Chapter was at the school from 1932 to 1938 but anti-fraternity agitation and lack of communication with the organization in the east made the chapter dormant by 1938. The 1933 Long Beach earthquake damaged the Santa Ana High School building, prompting the campus move to North Main Street where it remained until 1947. A bond issue passed in 1945, paving the way for development of a 48-acre (194,000 m²) campus at its current location. Santa Ana College plays host to Middle College High School, a small alternative high school in the Santa Ana Unified School District in which students can earn their Associate of Arts degree at the same time as their high school diploma. In the late 1970s the college purchased the properties on Martha Lane south of the original campus and that land is now part of the parking lot. Recent years have witnessed the further development of and annexation of adjacent property to the original location. For a short time, the college was known as Rancho Santiago College, but the name changed back to Santa Ana College in the late 1990s. In 1985, a satellite campus, what is now called

Santiago Canyon College Santiago Canyon College is a public community college in Orange, California. Along with Santa Ana College, Santiago is one of two campuses in the Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD). History In 1980, The Irvine Company sold 30 ac ...

was established in

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, California. Santiago Canyon has since grown in size to become a separate college from Santa Ana College (although both colleges are part of the

Rancho Santiago Community College District The Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD), one of four community college districts located in Orange County, California, offers associate degrees and adult education certificates through its two colleges: Santa Ana College in Santa ...

Academics

The college has various programs lead to the awarding of

associate degrees An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The f ...

in Arts and Sciences, as well as vocational certificates. Santa Ana College is also home to the Tessmann Planetarium which was renovated and now has a state-of-the art planetarium system. It is the largest, both in diameter (30 ft) and seating capacity planetarium in the County of Orange CA. It was completed and became operational in 1967. Santa Ana College is also home to ''Around and About Orange County News'' and ''Noticiero Latino del Condado de Orange'' (NLCO), student-produced weekly news shows. NLCO became the first Spanish language college newscast produced by a community college. The TV Department uses the college's Digital Media Center to produce, shoot, and edit the college's newscast.

Athletics

Santa Ana College sponsors 18 sports programs. The 9 men's sports programs are baseball, basketball, cross country, football, soccer, swimming, track and field, water polo and wrestling. The 9 women's programs are basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming, track and field, volleyball and water polo.

Notable alumni

Duane Allen Duane David Allen (born April 29, 1943) is an American singer/songwriter who had formal training in both operatic and quartet singing before becoming a member of The Oak Ridge Boys in 1966. Allen is the lead singer for the quartet and is hear ...

, NFL player *

Barry Asher Barry Asher (born July 14, 1946) was an American professional bowler on the PBA Tour (1966–76). Biography Asher, who is Jewish, was born in Los Angeles, California. His bowling average was 170 when he was 10 years old, 180 the next year, and ...

, Hall of Fame bowler *

Heath Bell Heath Justin Bell (born September 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. As a closer with the San Diego Padres from 2009 to 2011, Bell was a three-time All-Star and twice won the Rolaids Relief Man Award. He was ...

, retired

MLB All-Star The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...

Pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

* Bob Boyd, Basketball coach *

Lem Burnham Lemuel L. Burnham (born August 30, 1947) is a former American football defensive end who played three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fifteenth round of th ...

, NFL player *

George Brancato George Brancato (May 27, 1931 – October 22, 2019) was an American/Canadian gridiron football player and coach. Both an offensive and defensive player in college, he played five games for the Chicago Cardinals during the 1954 NFL season. He rus ...

, NFL player and

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

All-star * Al Carmichael, NFL player *

Ed Caruthers Edward Julius Caruthers Jr. (born April 13, 1945) is an American former athlete who competed mainly in the men's high jump event during his career. Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, he competed for the United States at the 1968 Summer Olympics h ...

, high jump olympian *

Nancy Fuller Nancy Fuller (also known as Nancy Fuller Ginsberg or Nancy Ginsberg; born March 27, 1949) is an American chef and businesswoman from Claverack, New York. She is the co-owner of Ginsberg's Foods, and the host of the Food Network television series ...

, host of Food Network's ''Farmhouse Rules'' *

Robert David Hall Robert David Hall (born November 9, 1947) is an American actor, best known for his role as coroner Dr. Albert Robbins, M.D. on the television show ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''. Early life Born in East Orange, New Jersey, Hall attended ...

, Actor on the television series ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

''. * Bob Hamelin,

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 *

Diane Keaton Diane Keaton ('' née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Gl ...

, Academy Award-winning actress * Khan Malaythong, Olympic Badminton player * Cathy Marino, Team USA Kayak in the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Olympics. *

Yael Markovich Yael Markovich ( he, יעל מרקוביץ, pronounced ''Ya-el'', born 15 September in Haifa, Israel) is an Israeli-American model and Israeli beauty queen titleholder. Early life Markovich was born in Haifa, Israel. Markovich is Jewish, atte ...

, Israeli/American model and beauty queen/pageant titleholder (Miss Israel) *

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...

, Emmy and Grammy winning actorjournal

Orange Coast Magazine ''Orange Coast'' is an American lifestyle magazine published for the Orange County, California region. Established in February 1974, ''Orange Coast'' is the oldest continuously published lifestyle magazine in the region. ''Orange Coast'' includ ...

December 2001 * Kris Medlen, former

pitcher for the

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 ...

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

, and

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

. * Dan Meyer,

player * Louie Olivos Jr., Actor, promoter, producer, director and playwright * Rick Ownbey,

player *

Kasey Peters Kasey Peters (born May 20, 1987) is an American football quarterback. He played college football at Saddleback, Santa Ana, Grand Valley State and Rocky Mountain. He was a member of the Tri-Cities Fever, New Mexico Stars, West Texas Wildcatters ...

, American football player * John Pitts, NFL player *

Jim Steffen James William Steffen (May 1, 1936 – April 23, 2015) was an American football defensive back in the National Football League for the Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys. He was NFL Draft, drafted in the thirteenth round of the ...

, NFL player * Larry Stuart World record setting javelin thrower *

Joe Taufeteʻe Joseph Soosemea Taufetee (born October 4, 1992) is an American rugby union player who plays as a hooker and prop for the Houston SaberCats in Major League Rugby (MLR). A converted American football player, Taufetee has also previously represen ...

, rugby player *

Bill Thomas William Marshall Thomas (born December 6, 1941) is an American politician. He was a California Republican Party, Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 2007, finishing his tenure representing California's 22 ...

, Member of the United States House of Representatives *

Bob Webster Robert David "Bob" Webster (born October 25, 1938) is a retired American diver who won the 10 m platform event at every competition he entered between 1960 and 1964, including the 1960 and 1964 Olympics and 1963 Pan American Games. He later beca ...

, Diving champion who won gold medals at both the 1960 and 1964 Olympic games *

Ray Willsey Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

football coach * CJ Wilson – Class of 1998 – Baseball player:

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

starting pitcher * Jose Vasquez, Professional soccer player * Gaddi Vasquez, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture and Director of the Peace Corps *

Tony Zendejas Tony Zendejas (born May 15, 1960) is a Mexican-American former NFL placekicker. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League (USFL). After the USFL folded, he was selected in the first ...

, former NFL kicker

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control California Community Colleges Education in Santa Ana, California Universities and colleges in Orange County, California Sports in Santa Ana, California Educational institutions established in 1915 1915 establishments in California Two-year colleges in the United States