History Wall

The Union R High School District 41 opened September 4, 1924. The new junior/senior high school (grades 8-12) was named Highline, following the suggestion of a student at Mount View Elementary School. The name stood for high standards, high efforts and sportsmanship.The first student body had the privilege and responsibility of establishing some of the traditions of Highline. The team name (Pirates) and the school colors (purple and gold) were selected. The class of 1925 graduated nine students.

 

 

 

 

 

The school opened during the Roaring Twenties. HHS’s own flapper girls wore drop-waisted dresses and bobbed their hair short. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, many after-school activities were curtailed, and 18-year-old boys were drafted to fight overseas before they graduated. Forty HHS alumni lost their lives in World War II. Japanese American families were forced to leave school and home to live at internment camps. Some, like Toll Sieke, were drafted. Japanese American students vanished from yearbooks 1943-1945. With the post-war boom, enrollment hit 2,219 in the upper three grades by 1956, before four more high schools were constructed in the area. Other conflicts the U.S. became involved in (Korean War, Cold War with the Soviet Union, and the Vietnam War) resulted in refugees emigrating from war-torn countries, bringing new students to HHS.

 

While the original student body primarily consisted of Western European and Japanese immigrants, the 1980s brought the first English as a Second Language (ESL) program and an increasing number of students who were refugees from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Korea, Cuba, Romania and Venezuela. In the 1990s, HHS welcomed students from Eastern Europe. By 2020, Highline had a richly diverse student population, including 40% Latino, 19% white, 15% Black/African American, 15% Asian, 4% Pacific Islander, 7% two or more races and 1% American Indian students. Clubs included the Pacific Islanders Club, Africa United, the Latino Club and more.

 

 

In early years, the Board of Control was composed of student body officers, class officers, Girls’ and Boys’ Club presidents, publication editors and ‘yell queens.’ For a time, all students gathered in the cafeteria to voice opinions and vote on proposals. Student-led initiatives included fundraising for the Red Shield community swimming pool and Memorial Field, advocating for school levies,organizing class gifts like the original school sign and Spirit Rock, and leading food drives, events and community service projects.

 

 

 

Dedicated HHS leaders and teachers established a tradition of excellence in education. As times changed, Special Education services and Advanced Placement classes in core subjects were introduced. Fine arts and music classes were a constant enrichment, but other electives like home economics, typing, business, auto mechanics, and wood, metal, and plastic shop classes have come and gone over the years, and some have come around again. At one time, even botany and zoology were offered. Computers were first added to math classes in the 1960s. Laptops were distributed in 2020 during a coronavirus pandemic, so that all students had 1:1 technology for online classes from home. Over the years, HHS has offered instruction in Latin, German, French, Russian, Chinese and Spanish, and in 2021 HHS became an English/Spanish dual language school.

 

 

Highline has a history of excellence and variety in performing arts, from elaborate dramatic performances and operettas, to string orchestras, symphonic, jazz, pep and marching bands, choirs, musicals and plays. Teacher Harry Lemon, hired in 1926, had a hand in leading many of these musical groups during the 30 years that there was one large high school in Highline.

 

 

Clubs and activities have been a popular tradition at Highline High School since the school opened in 1924. Student groups focus on a range of interests, from service-oriented or academic pursuits, to recreational activities or professional, and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Striving to be the best possible member of a team creates champions regardless of the score, but here are a few of Highline’s state championship teams. Until the 1980s, Highline High School was classified 4A in athletics or the historic equivalent. In the 1990s,the Pirates became a 3A school, then 2A in 2014.

 

 

 

 

Individual or small group efforts shine in sports like track, cross country, gymnastics, swimming, golf and wrestling.

 

 

 

 

As World War II ended, Highline High School students and Principal Leonard Johnson led an effort to raise money to build a living memorial to40 HHS alumni who died in the war. The result was Highline Memorial Field, constructed south of the first field, with a cinder track, grass field and wooden grandstands to hold 3,000. It first opened for football games in 1946. As the district expanded with more high schools, an improved Highline Memorial Field with a concrete stadium was rededicated in 1963 to honor all Highline district alumni who died in World War II.

 

 

 

Initially, league sports consisted of boys’ football, basketball, track and baseball. In 1928, however, girls’ baseball (yes, baseball!) played a series of conference games, and the “Pirate Prides” won the championship—wearing wool bloomers. Golf and tennis clubs started in 1934 and 1936. Tennis often fielded a coed team. In the early 1940s, some sports schedules were limited by the scarcity of gasoline and rubber for tires. The first year for boys’ swimming was 1948. Pirate wrestling started varsity competition in 1962. In spring 2020, a coronavirus pandemic halted sports for a year.

 

Uniforms and equipment have changed a lot:

 

 

 

Girls enjoyed many intramural sports including fencing, archery, hiking, track, tumbling, badminton, baseball and basketball. The Highline Girls Athletics Association, later named Highline Girls Letterman’s Club, merited just one or two pages in most yearbooks.The intramural games culminated in a “Play Day’’ competition with other local high schools.Title IX, a 1972 civil rights law, gave female athletes the right to equal opportunity in sports at schools that receive federal funds. 1972-73 was the first year of full varsity sports for HHS girls—they could letter in volleyball, swimming, gymnastics and tennis. By 1974, girls added track. Girls’ softball and soccer started league play in 1982. Boys’ wrestling opened to girls, and in 2017, girls wrestled in their own dual meet.

 

 

 

 

Fans are also important members of each sports’ team. Loyal Pirate students, families, staff and alumni cheer athletes on to do their best. Here are some wayback memories.

(Larger photos are coming soon for panels 15-18.)

Photo captions:

Top and left: Launch of the 1953 football season with a pep rally parade through Burien.

Boys’ basketball game, 1960-61.

The 1952 Homecoming crowd cheers from the grandstand.

Highline High School has a legacy of dedicated mentors and teachers who have invested thousands of hours in Pirate athletes. Often their greatest reward is “the whole-hearted cooperation of every member of the squad,” as the 1938 Pirate’s Log says.

(Larger photos are coming soon for panels 15-18.)

Photo captions:

The 1928 girls’ baseball champions were coached by Lucille (Wilson) Wiggens, an original staff member, who served for three years as Home Economics teacher and coached girls baseball, basketball and track. Lucille had to quit due to an early regulation requiring married women to resign. She married teacher Lowell Wiggens, who later became vice principal.

The 2015 cross country team was coached by Sara Ullmer and Rex Post.

Football coach Deontae Cooper (center) led the team toa 2018 division title and won Coach of the Year honors.This triumph harked back to Coach Jack Mackinroth’s 1953 league championship team.

Bob Sarver coached gymnastics for both boys and girls, and boys’ swimming. His success with gymnastics was legendary.

Cheer and drill team members lead and entertain the crowd at games and pep rallies—and require as much athleticism as other sports.

(Larger photos are coming soon for panels 15-18.)

Photo captions:

Cheer team, 1973.

Cheer team, 2013.

Drill team, 2015.

Cheer team, 1952.

Drill team, 1989.

Drill team, 1954.

A proud history of music in athletics played through the years with the HHS pep and marching bands.

(Larger photos are coming soon for panels 15-18.)

Photo captions:

Band and cheer in 2018.

Marching band in formation at a game, 1983.

Marching band at Homecoming, 1972.

Highline marching band musicians, 1984.