Chico High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Chico, Caliornia, United States. , Chico High School has 2,083 students. Founded in 1902, it predominantly serves as the public school for graduates of Chico Junior High School. In 1966, Chico High School became a

California Distinguished School California Distinguished School is an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs. Approximately 5-10% of California schools are awarded t ...

recognized by the

California Department of Education The California Department of Education is an agency within the Government of California that oversees public education. The department oversees funding and testing, and holds local educational agencies accountable for student achievement. Its st ...

. In 1998 and 1999, it was given the

National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

, in 2001 it received the National Service-Learning Leader School, and in 2003–2005 it received National Smaller Learning Communities School award. In 2008, for the first time, Chico High ended off-campus lunch privileges for freshman students. Since 1967, the school has competed with cross-town rival Pleasant Valley High School at the annual Almond Bowl in junior varsity and varsity football. The game was unnamed in the schools' first three meetings, but local businessmen led by KPAY-AM radio executive Frank Mertz named the contest the "Almond Bowl" before the 1970 clash, when the schools were members of the newly formed Eastern Athletic League. The freshman game is unofficially referred to as the Peanut Bowl; Chico Junior High School played Bidwell Junior High School from the time of Bidwell's establishment in 1958 until 1992, after which freshmen were incorporated into the high schools. The school's graduation ceremony, held at

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

the evening of June 4, 1987, was featured on ''

America's Funniest Home Videos ''America's Funniest Home Videos'', also called ''America's Funniest Videos'' (abbreviated as ''AFV''), is an American video clip television series on American Broadcasting Company, ABC, based on the Japanese variety show ''Kato-chan Ken-chan Gok ...

'' due to the fact that the university's stadium sprinkler system began spraying water on the graduates unexpectedly. Principal Roger Williams scrambled to place a garbage barrel over one sprinkler head before it inundated the podium. The school now hosts its graduation ceremony at its newly built Chico High School stadium.

Notable alumni

* Emily Azevedo, Olympic bobsledder (Vancouver 2010), Class of 2001 * Alden G. Barber,

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

leader *

Nelson Briles Nelson Kelley Briles (August 5, 1943 – February 13, 2005) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. A hard thrower whose best pitch was a slider, he exhibited excellent control. Briles batted and threw right-handed. He was a starting pitcher on World ...

, 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), ...

player with the

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 ha ...

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

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 ...

, Texas Rangers and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

, Class of 1961 * Eddie Butts, former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

player with the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

, Class of 1922 * Gerry Conlee, former

player with the

Cleveland Rams The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team that played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937 to 194 ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

* Haley Cope, Olympic Swimmer *

Clay Dalrymple Clayton Errol Dalrymple (born December 3, 1936) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies (–) and Baltimore Orioles (–). Dalrymple was known for his strong ...

, former

player with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

and

, Class of 1954 *

Amanda Detmer Amanda Jeannette Detmer is an American actress. She made her big screen debut playing Miss Minneapolis in 1999 comedy film '' Drop Dead Gorgeous'', and later had a supporting role in ''Final Destination''. In early 2000s, Detmer had starring r ...

, television and film actress, Class of 1989 * Thomas C. Fleming, influential African American journalist, Class of 1926 *

Nahshon Garrett Nahshon Aaron Garrett (born August 21, 1993) is an American freestyle and graduated folkstyle wrestler, who currently competes at 57 kilograms. In the international style, Garrett was originally the U.S. representative for the 2018 World Cham ...

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

wrestler currently competing with Team USA, Class of 2011 *

Brian Keyser Brian Lee Keyser (born October 31, 1966) is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He played during two seasons at the major league level for the Chicago White Sox. He was drafted by the White Sox in the 19th round of the amateur draft. Keyser ...

, former

player with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

, Class of 1985 *

Kurt Kitayama Kurt Shun Kitayama (born January 14, 1993) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. On the European Tour, he won the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in December 2018 and the Oman Open in March 2019. Early life Kitayama was born ...

, professional golfer currently competing on the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

, Class of 2011 * Matt Lucena, 1995 U.S. Open Tennis Mixed Doubles champion with

Meredith McGrath Meredith McGrath (born April 28, 1971) is a former professional tennis player. She was born in Midland, Michigan, and made her debut on the WTA Tour in 1988. In her eight-year professional career, Meredith achieved career-high world rankings of ...

, and NCAA men's tennis doubles champion at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

in 1990 with

Doug Eisenman Doug Eisenman (born October 2, 1968) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Biography Eisenman, a doubles specialist, comes from Santa Ana, California. He attended Foothill High School, where in 1986 he was ''Los Angeles ...

and with Bent-Ove Pedersen in 1991, Class of 1988 *

George Maderos George Maderos (November 3, 1933 – February 2, 2017) was an American football player who played for San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at California State University, Chico California State ...

, former

player with the

, Class of 1951 * Vance McHenry, former professional baseball player with the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

Jake McLaughlin Jacob Adam McLaughlin (born October 7, 1982) is an American soldier and actor. He is most famous for playing Gordon Bonner in Paul Haggis's ''In the Valley of Elah''. McLaughlin starred as Tate in the short lived spring 2014 NBC series '' Believe ...

, actor, '' Quantico'' (2015-2018), ''Believe'' (2014) *

Brett Ratliff Brett Ratliff (born August 8, 1985) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football at Butte College and Utah. He has also been a member of the Cleveland ...

player with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

and

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

, Class of 2003 * Jason Ross, seven-time

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning comedic writer formerly of ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

''; currently with ''

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'' * Roque Santos, Olympic swimmer (Barcelona 1992), Class of 1986 *

Donovan Scott Donovan Scott (born September 29, 1947) is an American character actor best known for his role as cadet Leslie Barbara in the 1984 film ''Police Academy'', in which he was part of an ensemble cast led by Steve Guttenberg. Biography Scott studi ...

, television and film actor, Class of 1966 *

Mike Sherrard Michael Watson Sherrard (born June 21, 1963) is a former professional American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, and Denver Broncos. He played college football ...

, former

player with 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 ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

, Class of 1981 *

Gentry Stein Gentry Stein is a yo-yo world champion. Stein won the 1A Division of the World Yo-Yo Contest in 2014 and 2019, and received third place in 2011 and 2017. Stein won the 1A division title of the U.S. National Yo-Yo Contest in 2013, 2015, 2016 a ...

, Yoyo World Champion *

Bill Striegel William Joseph Striegel (May 28, 1936 – July 23, 1992) was an American football offensive guard in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles. He also was a member of the Oakland Raiders and Boston Patriots in the American Football ...

, former

player with the

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 ...

Boston Patriots Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

, Class of 1954

References

External links

Chico Senior High School
ndash; official website
Chico Unified School District
ndash; official website

{{authority control Public high schools in California Educational institutions established in 1902 Buildings and structures in Chico, California High schools in Butte County, California Education in Chico, California 1902 establishments in California