Bethlehem Catholic High School, more commonly referred to as Becahi or just Beca, is a parochial high school located in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

. The school is within the Diocese of Allentown and is located at 2133 Madison Avenue in Bethlehem in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. As of 2024, according to the school's official website, the school had approximately 550 students."School profile"
Bethlehem Catholic High School website, accessed December 30, 2024

History

In 1925,

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Dennis Dougherty and Hugh L. Lamb, the Superintendent of the Schools of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia The Archdiocese of Philadelphia () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania in the United States. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia originally included all of Pennsylvania and Dela ...

, recognized the need for a dedicated

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

high school in South Bethlehem due to the large amount of Catholic emigration to the region. Holy Infancy Parish located on 4th Street was the initial school building, and their pastor, Charles Bowles, was named the first superintendent. The following year, in the Spring of 1926, Bethlehem Catholic High School opened its doors. Bowles was able to raise $50,537 within a month, allowing for a formal dedication on August 24, 1926. By the end of the year the school was

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

to offer a full four year education. By 1927, the school published the first edition of its

yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of Annual publication, a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually ...

the ''Brown and Gold'' with most students being the first in their families to attend four years of high-school. Since the school opened it was staffed with Sisters of St. Joseph, and by 1934, through a competition in a local newspaper, the nickname BecaHi was adopted. In February 1961, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was subdivided with Bethlehem falling in the new Diocese of Allentown. One of the first acts by the diocese's first Bishop,

Joseph McShea Joseph Mark McShea (February 22, 1907 – November 28, 1991) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Allentown in Pennsylvania from 1961 to 1983. Early life and education McShea was b ...

, was to expand the school, authorizing the construction of a new, larger, school on the north side of Bethlehem on Dewberry Road, which opened its doors in 1964, with classes being split between the two schools until 1969 when the south side campus was turned into the Holy Infancy Elementary School. In 1971, BecaHi became

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

. Prior to this, the school was split into a "boys wing" and a "girls wing." In 1973, the school hired its first

lay Lay or LAY may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada * Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France * Lay, Iran, a village * Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community * Lay Dam, Alaba ...

principal, Richard Culver.

Athletics

Bethlehem Catholic High School competes athletically in the

Eastern Pennsylvania Conference The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, known informally as EPC, EPC18, and East Penn Conference, is an athletic conference consisting of 18 large high schools from Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, and Pike counties in the Lehigh Valley and Pocono ...

(EPC) in the District XI division of the

Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA) is one of the governing bodies of Secondary school, high school and middle school athletics for Pennsylvania. PIAA's main office is located in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harri ...

, one of the premier high school athletic divisions in the nation. Home athletic events are held on the campus of Bethlehem Catholic High School while football games are played at the 14,000 capacity Frank Banko Field at

Bethlehem Area School District Stadium Bethlehem Area School District Stadium, or BASD Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It is one of Pennsylvania's largest high school stadiums, seating up to 14,000 and occupying up to 16,000 including the stadium's stan ...

, one of Pennsylvania's largest high school stadiums.

State championships

Boys basketball *1960 PCIAA Class B State Champions *1962 PCIAA Class B State Champions Girls basketball *1993 Class AAA runner-up (North Catholic 62–42) *2013 Class AAA runner-up (South Park 53–38) *2017 Class AAAA State Champions (Villa Maria 46–27) *2019 Class AAAA State Champions (North Catholic 49–60) Football: Pennsylvania state champions, first two-time champion in PIAA football championship history. *1988 Class AA champions (inaugural year of State playoffs) *1990 Class AAA champions Softball *2009 Class AAA State runner-up (9 innings 1–0) *2014 Class AAA State runner-up *2015 Class AAA State Champions Track and Field *2002 Class AA State Boys Team runner-up *2003 Class AA State Boys Team Champions Boys volleyball *2012 Class AA State Champions Girls volleyball *2014 Class AA State Champions Wrestling: Individual championships *2011 Class AA State Dual Meet Champions - Ranked #15 nationally by WIN Magazine. *2012 Class AA State Dual Meet Champions - Ranked #12 nationally by Inter-Mat. *2013 Class AA State Dual Meet Champions *2014 Class AA State Dual Meet Champions *2016 Class AAA State Dual Meet Champions *2017 Class AAA State Dual Meet Runner-up Wrestling: Team championships *1979 Class AAA State Team Champions (2 State Champions) *2012 Class AA State Team Champions (3 State Champions & 1 runner-up) *2013 Class AA State Team Champions (1 State Champion & 1 runner-up) *2014 Class AA State Team Champions (3 State Champions & 1 runner-up)

Notable alumni

Richard Fuisz Richard Carl Fuisz (born December 12, 1939) is an American physician, inventor, entrepreneur, and patent troll, with connections to the United States Armed Forces, United States military and United States Intelligence Community, intelligence co ...

, physician and inventor *

Mike Guman Michael Donald Guman (born April 21, 1958) is an American former professional football player who was a running back with the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) from 1980 to 1988. He played college football for the Penn Stat ...

, former professional football player,

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

* Dan Kendra, former

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

quarterback *

Joe Kovacs Joseph Mathias Kovacs ( ; born June 28, 1989) is an American track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and has a personal record of 23.23 meters outdoors and 22.05 meters indoors. He won gold medals at the 2015 and 2019 Wo ...

, three-time

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

silver medalist and world champion in

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

* Sean Leary, college baseball coach,

Lehigh Mountain Hawks The Lehigh Mountain Hawks are the college athletics, athletic teams representing Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Hawks participate in NCAA Division I competition as a member of the Patriot League. In football, Lehigh competes in ...

Zach Makovsky Zachary Paul "Zach" Makovsky (born April 19, 1982) is an American former mixed martial artist who competed in the flyweight division. He has competed in EliteXC, ShoXC, Bellator, Brave Combat Federation, and Ultimate Fighting Championship. He i ...

, former professional

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

fighter,

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...

Jim Molinaro James Anthony Molinaro (born April 27, 1981) is an American former professional football offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Washington Redskins in the 2004 NFL draft in the sixth round with the 180th ...

, former professional football player,

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

Daniel Roebuck Daniel James Roebuck (born March 4, 1963) is an American actor and writer. In film, he is known for his roles as Deputy Marshal Robert Biggs in ''The Fugitive'' (1993) and its spin-off ''U.S. Marshals'' (1998), as well as Mr. Banks in '' Agent ...

, film and television actor, '' Lost'', '' Matlock'', and '' The Fugitive'' * John Spagnola, former professional football player,

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

, and

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

Catching Up With: Former Bethlehem Catholic and Philadelphia Eagles tight end John Spagnola lehighvalleylive.com
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Notable faculty

* James McConlogue, former head collegiate football coach,

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 18 ...

Notes

References

Niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development and growth *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ec ...

Bethlehem Catholic High School sports coverage
at ''

The Express-Times Founded in 1885, ''The Express-Times'' began as The Easton Daily Express, a daily newspaper based in Easton, Pennsylvania. The newspaper provided national news and extensive local news coverage of the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. ...

'' {{authority control 1925 establishments in Pennsylvania Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Catholic secondary schools in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1925 Private high schools in the Lehigh Valley Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown Schools in Northampton County, Pennsylvania