Morrison R. Waite High School is a

public high school State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

located in east

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

that opened in 1914. It is part of the

Toledo Public Schools Toledo Public Schools, also known as Toledo City School District, is a public school district headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, in the United States. The district encompasses 70 square miles, serving students of the city of Toledo. Toledo Public S ...

. It is named after

Morrison R. Waite Morrison Remick "Mott" Waite (November 29, 1816 – March 23, 1888) was an American attorney, jurist, and politician from Ohio. He served as the seventh chief justice of the United States from 1874 until his death in 1888. During his tenur ...

, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who is famous for overseeing the

Alabama Claims The ''Alabama'' Claims were a series of demands for damages sought by the government of the United States from the United Kingdom in 1869, for the attacks upon Union merchant ships by Confederate Navy commerce raiders built in British shipyards ...

case. Waite replaced the original Central High School when Toledo Public Schools decided it couldn't afford to have 3 high schools for the 1914-15 school year. ( Scott High School had opened in 1913.) The Waite Indians are members of the

Toledo City League The Toledo City League is an Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) high school athletic conference that was formed in 1926 and comprises the six high schools in Toledo that are from Toledo Public Schools. Membership The current member ...

and their school colors are purple and gold. However, the Indian nickname is not for Native Americans. When the school was first opened, the

Toledo Fire Department The City of Toledo Department of Fire & Rescue Operations, or simply Toledo Fire & Rescue Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services for Toledo, Ohio. The department was established on November 27, 1837. Stations and app ...

had an annual competition that involved running and pulling the fire truck. The team from the East Side was called the Indians. Someone thought it would be a good idea to name the school's athletic teams after the Fire Department team. The Indians have a rivalry with fellow East Toledo City League rival

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

. The rivalry ended in 2019. They had a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

rivalry from 1914 thru 1963 with Scott High School that was played every Thanksgiving morning and generated much interest across the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

. That game is now played on the final Friday of October and, with the closings of Libbey and DeVilbiss High Schools, has become once again the top rivalry for both high schools. Waite has named their football stadium after their successful coach,

Jack Mollenkopf Kenneth Webster "Jack" Mollenkopf (November 24, 1903 – December 4, 1975) was the head football coach at Purdue University from 1956 until 1969. Mollenkopf was also an assistant coach at Purdue from 1947 to 1955 under Stu Holcomb. Mollenkopf wa ...

, who also coached football at

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

. Waite was a national high school football power in the 1920s, traveling as far as California. In 1927, they played away games on successive Fridays 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 co ...

and

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

. Travel was by train. They were crowned National High School Champions in 1924 and again in 1932. In 1924 they went 10-0 under Coach Joe Collins to win the title. In 1932, under Coach Don McCallister and Assistant Frank Pauly, they defeated Miami High School 13-7 in Miami to finish 12-0 and win the honor. The school's Latin Club functions as a local chapter of both the

Ohio Junior Classical League The National Junior Classical League (National JCL or NJCL) is a youth organization of Secondary education in the United States, secondary school students sponsored by the American Classical League (ACL). Founded in 1936, the NJCL comprises m ...

(OJCL) and

National Junior Classical League The National Junior Classical League (National JCL or NJCL) is a youth organization of secondary school students sponsored by the American Classical League (ACL). Founded in 1936, the NJCL comprises more than 1,000 Latin, Greek and Classical ...

(NJCL).

Toledo City League titles

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

: 1926, 1928*, 1929*, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938*, 1939, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1947*, 1948, 1952*, 1956, 1963, 2014* *Girls Tennis 2016 *Boys Cross Country: 1984 *

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 ...

: *Boys

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

: 1926-27, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1937–38 *Girls Basketball: 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 *

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

: 1999-00, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05 2005-06 2017-18 2019-20 2020-21 *

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 ...

:1966 (Sectional, District, & Regional Champions; State Semi-Finalists), 1967, 1982, 2002 *Boys

Track and Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

: 1926, 1927 *Girls Track and Field: *

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

: *

Bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

: 1988 (years marked with an asterisk (*) denote a shared title)

Notable alumni

Teresa Brewer Teresa Brewer (born Theresa Veronica Breuer; May 7, 1931 – October 17, 2007) was an American singer whose style incorporated pop, country, jazz, R&B, musicals, and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of th ...

- Famous American Singer *

- Football Coach (1935-1946) *

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...

- Famous feminist activist and alumnus * Frank Pauly, an alumnus and football coach *

Drusilla Nixon Drusilla Elizabeth Tandy Nixon (July 15, 1899 – May 10, 1990) was a community activist and music educator in El Paso, Texas. Background The daughter of Maud Grant and John Clifford Tandy, she was born Drusilla Elizabeth Tandy in Toledo, Ohio ...

, community activist and music educator * Mark Kerr, a two-time UFC heavyweight tournament winner and an NCAA division I wrestling champion * Natasha Howard, a two-time WNBA champion *

Curtis Johnson (cornerback) Curtis Wise Johnson (born June 22, 1948) is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the fourth round of the 1970 NFL Draft. He played college football at Toledo and high scho ...

, U of Toledo, 9-yr Miami Dolphins starter, a two-time Super Bowl champion

References

External links

* {{authority control High schools in Toledo, Ohio Public high schools in Ohio