Damien High School is an all-boys

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in La Verne, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, named for Saint Damien of

Molokai Molokai or Molokai ( or ; Molokaʻi dialect: Morotaʻi ) is the fifth most populated of the eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is 38 by 10 miles (61 by 16 km) at its g ...

. It is located in and operated by the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles The Archdiocese of Los Angeles (, ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the southern coastal portion of the U.S. state of California. The archdiocese's cathedra is in Los Angeles, and the arc ...

, part of the tri-school community including St. Lucy's Priory High School and Pomona Catholic High School.

History

When Holy Names Academy, a Pomona boarding school for girls, closed in 1949, the Msgr. Thomas P. English reopened it as Pomona Catholic High School, staffed by the

Felician Sisters The Felician Sisters, in full Congregation of Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Assisi (abbreviated CSSF), is a religious institute of pontifical right whose members profess public vows of and live in comm ...

. In 1959, the school moved to the former Bonita High School campus and became Pomona Catholic Boys High School. In 1967, the school changed its name to Damien High School, in honor of St. Damien de Veuster, SS.CC., who had ministered to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

ans with

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

(Hansen's disease) from 1873 for the rest of his life. Damien was canonized as a saint by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

on Sunday October 11, 2009. The Sacred Heart Fathers have staffed and administered the school since its beginning in La Verne. The courage and capacity for self-sacrifice in the cause of others, is encouraged as an impetus toward social causes in the lives of Damien's students. In 1996, a new swimming pool and locker room were constructed. Six new tennis courts were also built near the priests' residence and a new ticket/snack bar/rest room facility was built in Spartan Stadium. A new gymnasium, The Travers Cronin Athletic Center, was opened in 2006. In 2008, the Spartan Stadium was renovated. It now includes an all weather track and

FieldTurf FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by FieldTurf Tarkett, a division of French company Tarkett. FieldTurf is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and its primary manufacturing facility i ...

. Spartan Stadium was renamed "Dick Larson Stadium" in honor of the school's longtime football coach. 2010 brought a renovation of the football stadium, including the installation of a new scoreboard and stadium seating. The stadium was officially named "Tom Carroll Stadium," in honor of Damien's Athletic Director of 37 years. Damien was a member of the Baseline League prior to their inclusion in the Sierra League. In 2014, Damien and St. Lucy's Priory High School were moved from the Sierra League, where they had competed since 1998, to the Baseline League. The League consists of Damien/St. Lucy's, Chino Hills, Etiwanda, Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga, and Upland. In 2015, the basketball team won the

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have s ...

State championship (Division III) by defeating Campolindo High of Moraga (CIF North Coast Section) by the score of 70-57 at

Haas Pavilion The Walter A. Haas Jr. Pavilion is an indoor arena on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley. It is the home venue of the Golden Bears men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, and men's and women's gymnastics teams. T ...

on the campus of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Admissions

Each of Damien's freshmen classes draws from an average of over 75 different elementary and junior high schools for youths from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

counties.

School activities

Policy Debate Team

The Damien

Policy Debate Policy debate is an American form of debate competition in which teams of two usually advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government. It is also referred to as cross-examinat ...

team won the 2009 National Debate Coach's Association National Championship, the 2009

National Forensic League The National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) is the largest interscholastic speech and debate organization serving middle school and high school students in the United States. It was formed as the National Forensic League in 1925 by Bruno Er ...

National Tournament, and the inaugural Unger Cup, the award given to the "nation's most successful high school debate squad." Damien qualified 4 teams to the TOC in 2009, more than any other school in the nation. A school team won the National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA) Tournament, in 2011, making Damien the first school to win the NDCA twice.

Student Spaceflight Experiments Program

Damien High School was one of 23 communities involved with Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP's) Mission 7 to send a science experiment to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. The experiment was originally aboard the SpaceX-7 rocket launched on June 28, 2015 which exploded 2 minutes into launch. The experiment was successfully re-flown on the SpaceX CRS-8 (SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket; Dragon spacecraft) on April 8, 2016, and docked with the International Space Station two days later. The experiment studies the effects of

tardigrade Tardigrades (), known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them . In 1776, th ...

s in a microgravity environment.

Tri-School Community

Damien High School is a part of the "tri-school" community existing between St. Lucy's Priory High School and Pomona Catholic High School. Numerous dances and functions are coordinated between the three schools during the school year. Additionally, financial incentives exist for parents who have multiple children attending these schools.

Notable alumni

* David Bañuelos, professional baseball player *

Buckethead Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative and virtuosic electric guitar playing. Buckethead's extensive solo discography currentl ...

(né Brian Carroll), guitarist, musician, composer *

Chukwudi Chijindu Chukwudi Ibegbunaneke 'Chuck' Chijindu (born February 20, 1986) is an American professional soccer player. Career Youth A native of Fontana, California, Chijindu attended Damien High School in La Verne, California, He was a 4-year Varsity lett ...

, professional soccer player (

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

) * Casey Dailey, former NFL football player * Nick Davila, professional football player (

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

); ArenaBowl XXV Champion *

Rick Davis Richard Dean Davis (born November 24, 1958) is an American former soccer midfielder, and former captain of the U.S. national team for much of the 1980s. He is considered by fans the best U.S.-born player of the North American Soccer League er ...

, retired professional soccer player (

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

); captain of the 1984 Olympic soccer team * Bill Duffy, sports agent * Brian Dunseth, retired professional soccer player; television commentator * Joe Franchino, retired professional soccer player * Bobby Fresques, former professional football player and football coach * Mike Hunter, retired professional soccer player * Sheldon Jackson, retired professional football player (

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

) * Chris Jakubauskas – Professional baseball player,

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

* Ian Johnson, retired professional football player (

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

) * Stephen G. Larson, attorney; former United States Federal judge * Cory Lekkerkerker, retired professional football player * Joe Lunardi, ESPN NCAA Basketball Bracketologist * Chad May, former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

quarterback *

Mark McGwire Mark David McGwire (born October 1, 1963), nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 to 2001 for the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Card ...

, retired professional baseball player, MLB coach * Mike Morrell, California state senator * Daniel Moskos, professional baseball player * Frank Pastore, retired professional baseball player * Cody Ponce, professional baseball player *

Nick Lodolo Nicholas Frank Lodolo ( ; born February 5, 1998) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022. Amateur career Lodolo attended Damien High School in La Verne, C ...

, professional baseball player * William Saito, special advisor for the government of Japan in charge of science & technology; entrepreneur *

Dennis Shaw Dennis Wendell Shaw (born March 3, 1947) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Buffalo Bills, St. Louis Cardinals (NFL), St. Louis Cardinals, ...

, retired professional football player; 1970 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year * Geoff Vanderstock, former world record holder

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

* Tristan Vizcaino, professional football player *

Larry Wilmore Elister Larry Wilmore III (born October 30, 1961) is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actor. He served as the "Senior Black Correspondent" on ''The Daily Show'' from 2006 to 2014, and hosted ''The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore'' in 2 ...

, comedian, writer (''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...

'')

References

External links

Damien High School Website
{{authority control Roman Catholic secondary schools in Los Angeles County, California Boys' schools in California La Verne, California Educational institutions established in 1959 Catholic secondary schools in California 1959 establishments in California