B.M.C. Durfee High School is a public high school located in the city of Fall River, Massachusetts, United States. It is a part of Fall River Public Schools and is the city's main public high school, the other being

Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School is a public vocational high school located in Fall River, Massachusetts. The high school serves a regional school district comprising the city of Fall River, and the surrounding towns of Somerset, S ...

History

In 2014 the school and

Bristol Community College Bristol Community College (Bristol) is a public community college with four campuses in Southeastern Massachusetts. History The college was originally established in December 1965 when it was instituted by the Massachusetts Board of Regional Co ...

(BCC) were planning an agreement regarding early college classes.

Buildings

The school has been located in two buildings. From its opening in 1886 until the new building was completed in 1978 the school was located in the historic

B.M.C. Durfee High School B.M.C. Durfee High School is a public high school located in the city of Fall River, Massachusetts, United States. It is a part of Fall River Public Schools and is the city's main public high school, the other being Diman Regional Vocational Tec ...

building on Rock Street, The iconic building, with its tall red-capped clock tower and red-domed observatory tower, overlooks the

Taunton River The Taunton River (historically also called the "Taunton Great River"), is a river in southeastern Massachusetts in the United States. It arises from the confluence of the Town River and Matfield River, in the town of Bridgewater. From the ...

and gives rise to the Fall River school district's seal, the school's athletics nickname, the Hilltoppers, their school colors of black and red (for the two roof colors), the school newspaper, the Hilltop, and their school alumni newspaper, the Chimes. For several decades prior to moving, the school also occupied the former Technical High School building across the street. Since 1978 the school has been located on Elsbree Street in the city's north end. Located in former swamp land, the school was built both to modernize the district and to alleviate the overcrowding at the former sites. The school also moved its athletic fields, which were nearby to the new school, to its new campus, as well as building the on-campus

Luke Urban Louis John "Luke" Urban (March 22, 1898 – December 7, 1980) was an American multi-sport athlete and coach. He played four seasons of professional American football in the National Football League and two years of Major League Baseball with the ...

Field House, as the school had formerly used the Fall River Armory for indoor athletics. Since 2011, there has also been a modern recreation of the Durfee clock tower located at the new site.

Athletics

Durfee's athletic teams are known as the Hilltoppers, a nod to the location of the old school building atop the Highland neighborhood hills overlooking the Taunton River, and their school colors are black and red. As of the 2018–2019 school year, their school mascot is Rocky the Hilltopper. The school fight song is sung to the tune of the Notre Dame Victory March. *Fall **Boys' and Girls' Cross Country **Boys' and Girls'

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

** Cheerleading **Girls' Swimming **Girls' Volleyball **

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 ...

** Field Hockey ** Golf *Winter **Boys' and Girls' Basketball **Boys' and Girls' Winter Track **Boys' Swimming ** Cheerleading ** Ice hockey ** Wrestling *Spring **Boys' and Girls' Outdoor Track **Boys' and Girls' Tennis **Boys' Volleyball ** Baseball ** Softball

Notable alumni

Many of the below are considered distinguished alumni of Durfee by the B.M.C. Durfee Alumni Association. *

Mark Bomback Mark Bomback (born August 29, 1971) is an American screenwriter, originally from New Rochelle, New York. Bomback is a graduate of Wesleyan University, where he studied English Literature and Film Studies. Biography In 1994, Bomback began work ...

, former MLB player (

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays) * James Chace – (1949), historian *

Warren A. Cole Warren Albert Cole (November 15, 1889 – December 29, 1968) was an American businessman and lawyer and is known as the founder of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. Early life and education Cole was born in 1889 in Swansea, Massachusetts, the s ...

– (1908), founder of Lambda Chi Alpha International Fraternity *

Morton Dean Morton Dean Dubitsky (born August 22, 1935), better known as Morton Dean, is an American Broadcast journalism, television and Broadcast journalism, radio News presenter, anchor, news correspondent and author. Dean is a former weekend news anchor ...

– (1953), American television news journalist *

Margery Eagan Margery Eagan (born June 13, 1954) is a talk radio host and a frequent guest on CNN, ABC, Fox News, and the Imus in the Morning radio show. For many years she was a columnist for the ''Boston Herald''. Subjects of her commentaries include gender/ ...

, journalist and writer *

Edward Francis Harrington Edward Francis Harrington (born September 16, 1933) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Early life Harrington was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. He graduated from S ...

– (1951), United States federal judge *

Tom Gastall Thomas Everett Gastall (June 13, 1932 – September 20, 1956) was an American professional baseball player who spent two years in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher with the Baltimore Orioles in and . A right-handed batter and thrower, he s ...

– (1951), former MLB player ( Baltimore Orioles) * Russ Gibson, former MLB player ( Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants) *

Brandon Gomes Brandon Gomes (born July 15, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and current baseball executive. He played for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2011 to 2015. After his playing career ended, Gomes joine ...

, former MLB player ( Tampa Bay Rays) *

Chris Herren Christopher Albert Herren (born September 27, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player and motivational speaker. He played in the NBA and several leagues overseas. Youth and high school Herren attended B.M.C. Durfee High Sch ...

– (1994), former NBA player for the Denver Nuggets, Boston Celtics * Sam Hyde, comedian, co-creator of

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

group

Million Dollar Extreme Million Dollar Extreme (MDE) is an American sketch comedy troupe. The group consists of Sam Hyde, Nick Rochefort, and Charls Carroll. The group remains largely inactive since the cancellation of their show ''World Peace'' in 2016. They are kno ...

, and actor and writer of Adult Swim's Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace * Brig. Gen. John J. Liset, USAF – (1938), chief of the USAF Section of the Joint Brazil-United States Military Commission, and chief of the Air Force Section, Military Assistance Advisory Group in Brazil *

James M. McGuire James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambigua ...

– (1931), Supreme Court Justice of the State of New York * Ernest Moniz – (1962), United States Secretary of Energy under Barack Obama * Humberto Sousa Medeiros – (1937), cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church; former archbishop of Boston * John Moriarty – (1948), vocal coach and accompanist and a conductor and stage director of productions at opera companies throughout America *

Beatrice Hancock Mullaney Beatrice Hancock Mullaney (died on June 24, 1990) was an American jurist who served as the first female judge of the Massachusetts Probate Court. Early life Mullaney was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. She graduated from the Boston University ...

– (1923), first female judge of the Massachusetts Probate Court *

Jerome Namias Jerome Namias (March 19, 1910 – February 10, 1997) was an American meteorologist, whose research included ''El Niño''. Biography Jerome "Jerry" Namias was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the second son of Joseph Namias, an optometrist, and ...

– (1928), prominent American meteorologist; former Chief of the Extended Forecast Division of the National Weather Service and was involved in the research of both the Dust Bowl and El Niño phenomena *

William J. Porter William James Porter (September 1, 1914 – March 15, 1988) was a British-born American diplomat who from 1971 to 1973 headed the U.S. delegation to the Paris Peace Talks to end the Vietnam War. Porter was the first-ever United States Ambassado ...

– (1930), American diplomat; former ambassador to Canada, Saudi Arabia, and others * Joseph Raposo – (1958), musician and lyricist for Sesame Street *

William K. Reilly William Kane Reilly (born January 26, 1940) was Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H. W. Bush. He has served as president of World Wildlife Fund, as a founder or advisor to several business ventures, and ...

– (1958), former administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and current director of

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

Andrew Sousa Andrew Sousa (born September 26, 1989) is a former professional soccer player. Career College and Amateur Sousa attended B.M.C. Durfee High School (1978), where he served as team captain during his senior year and played his club soccer for Ba ...

, former MLS Player ( New England Revolution) * James M. Swift – (18??), first head football coach at

Michigan State Normal School Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

(now Eastern Michigan University) *

, former MLB player (

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

) * Gen. Melvin Zais, US Army – (1933), decorated United States Army generalGeneral Melvin Zais's Biography

Sources

External links