University School, commonly referred to as US, is an all-boys, private,

Junior Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

–12 school with two campus locations in the

Greater Cleveland The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census results, the five-county ...

area of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. The campus located in

Shaker Heights Shaker or Shakers may refer to: Religious groups * Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect * Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination Objects and instruments * Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone * Cock ...

serves junior kindergarten through eighth grade students, while the campus in

Hunting Valley Hunting Valley is a village in Cuyahoga and Geauga counties in the U.S. state of Ohio, and an eastern suburb of the Greater Cleveland area. As of the 2010 census, the village population was 707. At the 2000 census, it was ranked the 6th highest- ...

serves ninth through twelfth grade students. University School is a founding member of the

International Boys' Schools Coalition The International Boys' Schools Coalition (IBSC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of all-boys schools dedicated to the education of boys, to the professional development of their educators, and to the advancement of educational institution ...

(IBSC) and a member of the Center for the Study of Boys' and Girls' Lives and Cleveland Council of Independent Schools.

History and headmasters

In 1890 the founding headmaster of the school, Newton M. Anderson, established University School. The school's first building was erected on at the corner of Hough Avenue and East 71st Street in Cleveland. At the turn of the century, Headmaster George D. Pettee led the entire student body to the

Pan-American Exposition The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Avenue to Elmwood A ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, in 1901. A few years later in 1908 Headmaster Harry S. Peters led University School during two World Wars, 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 ...

and, in 1926, to the campus in Shaker Heights. He was the longest-tenured headmaster in University School history; he left the school in 1947. That same year Headmaster Harold L. Cruikshank oversaw the building of the Hanna Wing on the Shaker Campus and guided the school through the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to the beginning of the 1960s. Under the leadership of Roland P. McKinley, the Upper School moved, in 1970, from Shaker Heights to nearly of meadows and woodland in Hunting Valley. In 1988, Richard A. Hawley, an author and educator, became the sixth headmaster of US. With the support of the US community, Conway Hall on the Shaker Campus and the William S. Kilroy '43 Field House in Hunting Valley were built during Hawley's tenure. Stephen S. Murray became the seventh headmaster for University School in 2005 after Hawley's departure. Murray led the School in the fundraising and construction of a nearly $100 million, 52,000 square-foot academic wing, which features classrooms and interactive technology. Extensive renovation of the original classroom building has allowed for facilities for the visual and performing arts. After it was announced in August 2014 that Headmaster Stephen Murray would leave US to become the 13th headmaster of

The Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Scho ...

in New Jersey, Benjamin I. Rein of the Collegiate School in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, assumed the position of headmaster in mid-2015. Rein left the school in late 2016, with Rick Bryan assuming the duties as the school's first alumnus headmaster. Headmaster Bryan stepped down in January 2018 due to allegations that he had mishandled a number of sexual misconduct cases at his previous school, the

Nichols School Nichols School is a private, non-denominational, co-educational college- preparatory day school in Buffalo, New York, United States. The average enrollment is 570 students with an average Upper School grade/class size of 98 students. The average ...

. In the wake of Bryan's departure, dean of faculty and English teacher Patrick Gallagher was named interim headmaster by the school's board of trustees. On September 22, 2018, the school's board of trustees announced that Patrick Gallagher would officially assume the role of headmaster, following an eight-month search period.

House system

University School has a

House system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...

, similar to that of British tradition. Every student is assigned to one of ten houses, which integrate students from all grades and provide a structure for the boys to connect between grades with each other for companionship and support. Each house has a faculty head, the Head of House, and a senior leader, the Prefect. One student from each house is elected during his junior year to lead the house for his senior year as a Prefect. The ten houses, honoring notable previous headmasters, faculty, or students, are listed below: *Anderson House *Cruikshank House *Goodwillie House *Hawley House (Formerly Brown House) *McCarraher House *McKinley House *Murray House (Formerly Pickands House) *Peters House *Pettee House *Sanders House Each house competes annually at Founders' Day. Held each fall, this event lets all students in grades 6 through 12 compete in field day-like activities at the Upper School. Games played include capture the flag, soccer, tug-o-war, the egg toss, and more. Students compete against members of the other houses. The winner of Founders' Day gets house points that go towards the end of year House Cup.

Publications

* The ''University School Journal'' is published twice a year for the alumni, parents and friends of the school. * ''The US News'' is published monthly by students. Founded in 1898, it is the oldest school newspaper in Ohio. In 2014, ''The US News'' became digital. * ''The Record'', released annually, is a compilation of the artistic and literary achievement of University School boys including poetry, short stories, photography, and, more recently, drawing. * ''The Mabian'' is the Upper School's yearbook, published every year since 1919. The first three letters of the name "Mabian" come from the school's colors, maroon and black, and "...ian" means "of the"; "of the maroon and black." * ''The Tower'' is the Lower/Middle School counterpart of ''The Mabian''.

Athletics

The school traditionally has a rivalry with

Western Reserve Academy , motto_translation = Light and Truth , address = 115 College Street , city = Hudson , state = Ohio , zipcode = 44236-2999 , country = United ...

, with the football games being the highlight of each school's season throughout the 20th century, starting with the first meeting in 1895. US fields varsity teams in thirteen sports, five in the winter season and four in the fall and the spring seasons: football, soccer, cross country, and golf in the fall; ice hockey, wrestling, swimming, squash, and basketball in the winter; and lacrosse, tennis, track and field, and baseball in the spring. University School competes in the Premier Athletic Conference (PAC), an eight-team conference. The cross country, wrestling, basketball, track and field and baseball teams began competing in this conference in 2009. Football began its PAC schedule in the fall of 2011. The Kilroy Field House at the Hunting Valley Campus is a multi-purpose indoor practice facility featuring two basketball courts, three squash courts, a 200-meter cantilevered indoor track, and practice areas for track events. The complex also includes a fitness center. Wrestling rooms, a gymnasium and 25-yard indoor swimming pool with a separate diving well complete the indoor facilities at the Hunting Valley Campus. Outdoors there are a football stadium and a new turf football field, an all-weather track, four soccer and other practice fields, two baseball diamonds, and seven tennis courts. The physical education facilities at the Shaker Campus include a football field; 400-meter track; three baseball fields; two soccer fields; eight tennis courts; double-size gymnasium; wrestling room; four-lane, 25-meter indoor swimming pool; and a rock climbing wall. In 2013, University School's student-created and student-led sports broadcasting network, USPN, started streaming live coverage of the school's football, soccer, basketball, hockey, lacrosse and baseball games. In 2014, University School's squash team won the Division IV national championship at the U.S. High School Team Squash Championships in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

State championships

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

: 1990, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008 *

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 ...

(OHSLA): 1999, 2008, 2009 *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2022 *

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

: 2013, 2014 *

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 ...

: 2003, 2009 *

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

: 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2005, 2012, 2017

Notable alumni

Academia, law, and medicine *

Arthur Laffer Arthur Betz Laffer (; born August 14, 1940) is an American economist and author who first gained prominence during the Reagan administration as a member of Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board (1981–1989). Laffer is best known for the Laf ...

, economist and creator of the

Laffer Curve In economics, the Laffer curve illustrates a theoretical relationship between rates of taxation and the resulting levels of the government's tax revenue. The Laffer curve assumes that no tax revenue is raised at the extreme tax rates of 0% and ...

, class of 1958 * Richard "Rick" Banks,

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

professor and author, class of 1983 Arts, journalism and entertainment * John Bell, lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the southern rock band

Widespread Panic Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guit ...

, class of 1980 * Warren Brown, founder of CakeLove,

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

and former host of the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

show '' Sugar Rush, class of 1989 *

Craig Doerge Craig Doerge (; born December 4, 1944) is an American keyboard player, session musician, songwriter, record producer, best known for his keyboard work with Crosby Stills and Nash, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne. Biography He was born in Cle ...

, musician, class of 1962 *

Anthony Doerr Anthony Doerr (born October 27, 1973) is an American author of novels and short stories. He gained widespread recognition for his 2014 novel ''All the Light We Cannot See'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Early life and education Rais ...

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning novelist (''

All the Light We Cannot See ''All the Light We Cannot See'' is a 2014 war novel that was written by American author Anthony Doerr. The novel is set during World War II and centers around the characters Marie-Laure Leblanc, a blind French girl who takes refuge in her uncl ...

''), class of 1991 *

Tom Griswold Thomas "Tom" Bruce Griswold (born April 22, 1953) co-hosts the radio show ''The Bob & Tom Show'' together with Chick McGee, Kristi Lee, and Josh Arnold. Co-host Bob Kevoian retired at the end of 2015. This comedy-based early morning program is ...

, radio host, class of 1971 * Bob Harris, author, TV writer (''

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

'', '' CSI:''), eight-time ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...

'' winner, class of 1980 *

Robert Kovacik Robert Kovacik is a multiple-award-winning American television journalist based in Los Angeles, California. He is currently an anchor/ reporter for NBC ( KNBC) Los Angeles and can be seen worldwide across all NBC platforms. In 2018, Kovacik wo ...

, NBC Los Angeles anchor and reporter, class of 1982 *

Lee Kravitz Lee Kravitz is the author of ''Unfinished Business'' and was editor-in-chief of ''Parade'' magazine from 2000 until he was fired in 2008. Scholastic, Inc. From 1987 to 1995, Kravitz was an editorial director of Scholastic Inc., an educational ...

, author, former editor-in-chief of ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' magazine *

Chris McCarrell Chris McCarrell (born January 9, 1991) is an American theater and television actor and singer. He is best known for portraying Marius Pontmercy in the Broadway revival of ''Les Misérables,'' and for originating the titular character in '' The Li ...

, Broadway actor; Marius in ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

'' and Percy in '' The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, ''class of 2009 *

Austin Pendleton Austin Campbell Pendleton (born March 27, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor. He is known as a prolific character actor on the stage and screen who has appeared in films including ''Catch-22'' (1970); '' W ...

, actor, class of 1956 *

Joshua Radin Joshua Radin (born June 14, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter. He has recorded nine studio albums, and his songs have been used in a number of films and TV series. His most successful album, '' Simple Times'', was released in 2008. Beginni ...

, musical artist, class of 1992 *

Chris Rose Christopher Rose (born January 27, 1971) is an American sportscaster for the NFL Network. He is also a commentator for the Discovery Channel series ''BattleBots'' and podcast host for Jomboy Media. Early life and career Rose, who was born and r ...

, host of the popular sports program ''

The Best Damn Sports Show Period ''The Best Damn Sports Show Period'' was an American sports television show that aired on Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. The show regularly featured irreverent and opinionated interviews with top athletes, coaches, celebrities, and entertai ...

'', class of 1989 *

Michael Ruhlman Michael Carl Ruhlman (born July 28, 1963) is an American author, home cook and entrepreneur. He has written or co-authored more than two dozen books, including non-fiction, fiction, memoir, and books on cooking. He has co-authored many books w ...

, author, class of 1981 * Jason White, singer-songwriter, class of 1985 Aviation * David E. Harris, the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

commercial airline pilot and pilot captain for a major U.S. commercial airline. American Airlines Newsroom. “American Celebrates Black History Month. Monday, February 11, 2013. https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2013/American-Celebrates-Black-History-Month/default.aspx Business and philanthropy * George Gund, businessman, philanthropist *

William Oberndorf William Ernst Oberndorf is an American billionaire businessman and Republican political donor. Career Oberndorf attended University School in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Williams College in 1975. He received an MBA from Stanford Graduate ...

, hedge fund manager * James Park, CEO and co-founder of

Fitbit Fitbit (stylized as fitbit) is an American consumer electronics and fitness company. It produces wireless-enabled wearable technology, physical fitness monitors and activity trackers such as smartwatches, pedometers and monitors for heart rate, ...

* Patrick S. Parker, former Chairman and CEO,

Parker Hannifin Parker Hannifin Corporation, originally Parker Appliance Company, usually referred to as just Parker, is an American corporation specializing in motion and control technologies. Its corporate headquarters are in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, in Greate ...

Corp., class of 1947 *

Rob Markey Rob Markey (born 1964) is an American author, speaker, and business strategist. Often referred to as the Vince Lombardi of Customer Loyalty, he is perhaps best known for his research and writing on customer experience and loyalty marketing. Mark ...

, business strategist, author, co-creator of the Net Promoter System, class of 1982 Sports * Ronnie Anderson, former NFL wide receiver, class of 1993 *

Nick Caserio Nicholas Caserio (born December 27, 1975) is an American football executive who is the general manager of the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). Caserio began his NFL career as a coaching assistant with the New England Patriot ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

Director of Player Personnel, class of 1994 *

Jason Garrett Jason Calvin Garrett (born March 28, 1966) is a former American football player and coach and current broadcaster. He previously served as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for the 2010s from 2010-2019. Garrett has also been offensive coordi ...

, former head coach of the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

, former NFL quarterback, class of 1984 * John Garrett, former NFL wide receiver, class of 1983 *

Judd Garrett Judd Garrett (born June 25, 1967) is a former American football running back in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of the Las Vegas Posse in the Canadian Football League and the London Monarchs in the World ...

, former NFL running back; current Director of Pro Scouting for the

, class of 1985 * Charlie Horton,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

, professional goalkeeper for

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

, class of 2013 *

Dave Kaval David A. Kaval (born October 28, 1975) is the seventh and current president of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. He previously served as president of Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes and founded the Golden Baseball Le ...

, current MLB executive, class of 94 *

Chris Korb Chris Korb (born October 8, 1987) is a former American soccer player who last played in 2017, for D.C. United in Major League Soccer. Early life Korb was born on October 8, 1987 in Ohio to Rozann and Kenneth Korb. His dad coached his first s ...

, professional soccer player for

, class of 2006 *

Jamie Moriarty Jamie Moriarty (born March 26, 1981) is an American bobsledder who has competed since 2006. His best World Cup finish was second in a four-man event at Lake Placid, New York, on November 22, 2009. Biography Moriarty graduated in 2003 from Corne ...

, Olympian, competed in bobsled as a member of

team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

in the

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

, class of 1999 *

Derek Rucker Derek Alan Rucker (born October 2, 1966) is an American-Australian former professional basketball player who starred in the Australian National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League for 15 seasons. Playing career Prior to th ...

, former international professional basketball player, class of 1984 *

Chuck Seelbach Charles Frederick Seelbach (born March 20, 1948) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the Detroit Tigers between 1971 and 1974. Amateur career In 1967, Seelbach played collegiate summer baseball with the Orlea ...

, former

Major League Baseball 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), ...

pitcher for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, class of 1966

References

External links

* {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1890 High schools in Cuyahoga County, Ohio Shaker Heights, Ohio Private high schools in Ohio Private middle schools in Ohio Private elementary schools in Ohio Boys' schools in Ohio 1890 establishments in Ohio