Abilene High School (Texas)

Abilene High School
Location
Abilene, Texas United States
Information
Type	Public, co-educational
Motto	“Enter to learn, go forth to serve.”
School district	Abilene Independent School District
Principal	Mr. Terry Bull
Grades	9th - 12th
Color(s)	Black and Gold
Athletics conference	District 3-5A
Mascot	Bald Eagle
Nickname	Warbirds
Website	http://www.ahseagles.com/

Abilene High School is a public high school located in Abilene, Texas and is part of the Abilene Independent School District. Abilene High School is the name given to three different schools in the past 150 years. The first Abilene High was an old warehouse. Not long after that, the school was moved to what is now Lincoln Middle School. In 1955, Abilene High was moved to its current location. Its main rival in sports is Cooper High School. Abilene High's mascot is the bald eagle. The Abilene High Marching Band is accepted to be the oldest marching band in Texas.

Athletics

Abilene High has one of the most tradition-rich football programs in the state of Texas. Coached by P. E. Shotwell, whom the Shotwell Stadium is named for, Abilene won its first state championship in 1923, beating Waco 3-0 (Waco had held opponents scoreless since 1921; they had beaten Abilene 13-0 the previous year). In 1928, Abilene won another state championship, and a third one in 1931. During the 1920s Paul Tyson coached Waco dynasty, Abilene and Dallas Oak Cliff were the only teams able to beat Waco.

Coach Shotwell left Abilene in 1923, but returned for a second stint from 1946-1952. His successor, Chuck Moser took Abilene football to new heights, guiding them to three consecutive state championships (1954-56) and a state-record 49 consecutive wins. Moser left Abilene in 1959, his successors Wally Bullington (1960-65) and David McWilliams (1966-69) were not able to keep Abilene High football on that high level, especially since Cooper High School opened in 1960 and since drew a lot of students away from Abilene High. Abilene High has yet to reach the state championship game again. However, they went unbeaten in 2004 and 2005, but lost to Southlake Carroll in the 5A Division II Regionals both years. In the 2007 season, the Abilene Eagles faced Southlake Carroll again in the Regional semifinals, this time beating them 22-21 to end their run of consecutive state championship appearances and their 58-game winning streak against Texas teams. In the next week of the playoffs, the Eagles defeated Lewisville Hebron 20-10. The Eagles advanced to the state semi-finals for the first time in over 50 years.

In the fall of 1992 the Abilene Independent School District became distraught over the fact the only school with city's name was a consistant loser on the athletic field. The AISD voted to redraw school boundries, as a result the talented athletes were bussed to the gang infested northside for the sake of Athletic prowess. The result was ABilene High began winning and Cooper High began losing. But that was ok due to the fact that Abilene High beared the town name. As a reslut of this program Cooper High went into decline. The AISD was estatic when the allowed Cooopers students enrollment to drop to 4A. The result is Cooper will be a large 4A school in a mediocre 4a District, thus allowing both Abilene to perceived as a 5A and 4A athletic powerhouse.

Notable alumni

• Carl Baugh, young earth creationist
• Jimmy Carpenter, Texas High School Hall of Fame running back who went on to play at Oklahoma for Bud Wilkinson
• Glynn Gregory, Dallas Cowboys running back
• John Lackey, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher
• Dave Parks, NFL wide receiver and end
• Jim Perry, Minnesota Vikings safety
• Randall "Tex" Cobb, actor

Further reading

• Pickett, Al (2004). Team Of The Century: The Greatest High School Football Team In Texas. Abilene: State House Press. ISBN 1880510871. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)