Hillcrest High School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

four year

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., ...

located in

Country Club Hills, Illinois Country Club Hills is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb south of Chicago. The population was 16,775 at the 2020 census. History 10,000 years ago, during a glacial period, there was a complex of moraines in this are ...

. It is part of Bremen High School District 228 which also includes Tinley Park High School,

Oak Forest High School Oak Forest High School is a public high school located in Oak Forest, Illinois. It is part of Bremen Community High School District 228 which also includes Tinley Park High School, Hillcrest High School and Bremen High School. It serves most ...

, and Bremen High School. The name "Hillcrest" aside from the obvious connotation of being "the highest point of a hill", is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the two towns which the school primarily serves: Country Club ''Hills'' and Hazel ''Crest''.

History

The first principal of Hillcrest, William Henry Reeves, was appointed in May 1965, leaving his job as principal of Bremen High School to start the new school. Groundbreaking took place in November of that year, with a needed bond referendum passing in December 1966 to cover construction of an addition, even before the school was opened. The school opened in February 1967. The early 1970s at Hillcrest saw a number of racially motivated incidents as the demographics of the school's attendance area began to shift. A late April 1970 incident, coupled with similar incidents in other local schools led to the spread of attacks beyond the school to the local community of Markham. In 1971, the school was temporarily closed after a racially motivated fight that resulted in 48 students being suspended. 1973 saw a 14 May riot that resulted in 34 suspensions and the recommendation for 20 expulsions. When the school board, under pressure from parents, decided to rescind some of the punishments without consulting the building staff or administration, the school's principal, Lee Cox, requested reassignment. In 1990, the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

investigated an incident involving several students from the school who claimed they had been harassed by a Forest Preserve officer while taking a day off from school illegally. Among those counseling parents at the time was R. Eugene Pincham. In February 1994, the school cancelled planned parent-teacher conferences and a day off of school to accommodate a visit by

President Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the attor ...

. Students were banned from parking at the school that day to accommodate the president's helicopter,

Marine One Marine One is the call sign of any United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the president of the United States. As of 2024, it is most frequently applied to a presidential transport helicopter operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX ...

, landing in the parking lot. The visit coincided with the

Brady Bill The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Public Law (United States), Pub.L. 103–159, 107 United States Statutes at Large, Stat. 1536, enacted November 30, 1993), often referred to as the Brady Act, the Brady Bill or the Brady Handgun Bill, ...

becoming law.

Student life

Activities

Hillcrest sponsors over 35 extracurricular activities ranging from academic competition and performing arts to cultural and special interests. Activities which are chapters or affiliates of nationally notable organizations include

Business Professionals of America Business Professionals of America (BPA) is a career and technical student organization that is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Officers Every Business Professionals of America chapter has presiding officers for the national organization, stat ...

, DECA, FCCLA,

Key club Key Club International, also called Key Club, is an international service organization for high school students. Key Club International is the high school branch of the Kiwanis International family, classified as a Service Leadership Program ...

, and

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is one of the oldest, largest, and most widely recognized cocurricular student organizations in American high schools, with 1.4 million members. The purpose of the NHS is to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to ...

. In the performing arts, the school supports a band, chorus, and drama club.

Athletics

Hillcrest competes in the South Suburban Conference (SSC) and is a member of the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National F ...

(IHSA), which governs most sports and competitive activities in the state. Teams are stylized as the

Hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

s. The school sponsors interscholastic sports teams for both men and women in

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 (appro ...

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

, cross country,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

track & field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...

, and

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

. Men may also compete in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

while women may compete in

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

, and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. The new Athletic Director is Maurice Young. The following teams won or placed top 4 in their respective IHSA sponsored state championship tournament/meet: * Basketball (Boys): State Champions (2009–10); 3rd Place (2011–12) * Basketball (Girls): 2nd Place (2009–10, 2010–11); 3rd Place (2012–13) * Bowling (Girls): 3rd Place (1989–90) * Track (Boys): State Champions (2008–09, 2009–10)

Notable alumni

* Maurice Acker (2005), former college basketball player for the

Marquette Golden Eagles The Marquette Golden Eagles are an athletic team representing Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. They compete as a member of the NCAA Division I level (non-football, sub-level), primarily competing in the Big East Conf ...

. *

Maurice "Mobetta" Brown Maurice "Mobetta" Brown (born January 6, 1981) originally from Harvey, Illinois is a Grammy Award-winning American jazz trumpeter, producer and composer. As a member of Tedeschi Trucks Band, he shared the 2011 Grammy for Best Blues Album ('' Re ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

trumpeter, producer and composer. As a member of Tedeschi Trucks Band, he shared the 2011 Grammy for

Best Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Blues Album was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for releasing albums in the blues genre. Honors in severa ...

('' Revelator'') * Danny Clark, NFL

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

, formerly playing for the

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

. * Marquice Cole (2002),

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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

, formerly playing for 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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

. * Herb Coleman, former American football player * Gary Dotson, convicted rapist whose conviction was overturned after his accuser recanted. * Brady Dougan,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

. * Bucky Irving (2021),

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

* Jerel McNeal (2005), former basketball player for the

. * Corey McPherrin, television sports reporter.Corey McPherrin bio at myfoxchicago.com; accessed 2 September 2008
/ref>

References

{{authority control 1967 establishments in Illinois Educational institutions established in 1967 Public high schools in Cook County, Illinois