A School Rich with Tradition

written by T.R. ROBERTSON

Carlsbad High School opened with two buildings called the 100 bldg. and the 200 bldg. We had no gym, football field, or lights. The Admin and the counseling offices were part of the 100 bldg. Football and basketball games were played at Oceanside High School until the field was built. Most football games were played on Fridays after school. The “Old Gym” was built in 1960 for CHS.

On March 5, 1957, students piled into cars at Oceanside High School and a parade of cars drove down Hill St., turned on Elm St. and drove up to Monroe St. to arrive at the school. Our address was 3557 Monroe until our ASB, about 15 years ago, petitioned to change the street name in front of the school to Lancer Way.

While at Oceanside High, the students that were to come to Carlsbad, got a vote on the school mascot and colors. They met in January 1957 and formed a committee of 20 to come up with ideas. February 25, 1957 they voted for 3 out of 16 names nominated. The top three names were Lancers, Knights, and Eagles. Lancers was chosen. Lancers is what the “knights” of the king of the Czech Republic and Austria were called.

The top three school colors were purple/white, aqua/white, and lavendar/white. Purple and white was chosen and are the official school colors. Purple and white are also royal colors of the King’s Court. Over the years, yellow, gold, and black have been added as trim, but the official CIF colors are purple and white.

The first Lancer Day was in the fall of 1957. Since we had not had a graduating class there was no Homecoming, so it was called Lancer Day and the name remains. The first queen was Judy Collins and the princesses- Natalie Vermilyea, Betty Bowman, and Jeanette Gastelum. The first king did not appear until 1976-Frank Castro. The first parade anyone can remember was in 1959 down state street. The floats used to be on huge flat beds constructed beginning in the summer at local families homes. The floats were especially massive in the 1980’s-1990’s. They were then built at that time in a large vacant warehouses in the community.
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Jostens rings and grad announcements designed the official school mascot for stationary, labels, and stickers. It was a formal knight on a horse carrying a banner. This appeared on the school related material for years. Also over the years, various logos have been introduced by different CHS sports teams. Senior sweaters and rings were opened up for the first graduating class. The school opened with a little over 400 students. In 1958 there were 68 seniors in the yearbook and 80 juniors.

*The school fight song uses Minnesota Rouser, from the University of Minnesota, as the musical theme. The first band director was Mark J. Fabrizio. There were 28 students in the band, 4 varsity cheerleaders, 3 J.V. cheerleaders,  3 song leaders, and 3 majorettes.

*The Alma Mater was written by band director Mark Fabrizio while he was still at Oceanside High School.
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*The school yearbook has always been called the Purple Shield.

*The first school paper was called Castle Capers. The advisor was Mr. Wieste, who is still alive and lives in Carlsbad. It was published twice a week and run off on a memeograph machine.

​*The first ASB President was Alex Reza. Mack Mata was the first Senior Class President and also the starting quarterback for the football team

*Carlsbad has had 6 head football coaches: Swede Krcmar (the stadium is named after him), Buddy Lewis (former CHS teacher and Mayor of Carlsbad), Mel Galli, Rick Brown, Bob McAllister (all-time winningest coach at CHS- 48-20-2), and currently Thadd McNeal (former CHS student and ASB member).

*CHS Musicals are well known in the theater world and have won numerous awards. The first musicals, under the direction of Jim Shepard, were performed in the Old Gym- “The Sound of Music,” “Music Man,” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” Monica Hall took over when Mr. Shepard moved to Mira Costa College. Her first musical was “Anything Goes” in 1980 then “Irene,” which was also in the Old Gym. The first musical in the CAC was in 1982- “South Pacific.”

The Old Cafeteria (located in what is now the quad) had an inside eating area that could hold about 200-300 people. Smaller plays were held here. Ms. Hall’s first plays were “Play It Again Sam” and “The Crucible” in 1979-80. ASB also used to hold many meetings and dances in the Old Cafeteria, Especially popular here were the Sadie Hawkins (girls ask guys) dances. Some themes included Winter, Valentines, Country, and Western. Also held here was an after-game football dance after EVERY home football game.

Leaders

*The first principal was Dr. Alfred D. LaFleur from 1957-1967,

*Ms. Jean E. Walker was principal from 1967-1970. She hired TR in 1969. TR student taught at CHS form 1968-1969.

*Dr. Lynn L. Davies was principal from 1970-1977 and was a former assistant principal.

*Dr. Douglas R. Deason served as principal from 1977-1981 and was also a former assistant principal.
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*Ms. Pat Burden was principal from 1981-1987 and was also a former assistant principal.

-Mr. William Dunmeyer was principal from 1987-1998.

-Mr. Scott Wright was principal from 1998-2006 and was a former basketball coach, athletic director, and assistant principal.

-Ms. Maggie Stanchi was principal from 2006-2012 and was also a former assistant principal.

-Dr. Matt Steitz was principal from 2012- October of 2014.

-Dr. Josh Porter is the current principal and has been since October 2014.

*As far as we can tell there has been 6 ASB advisors over the years- Dorothy Rector, Joe DeDiminicantanio, Eric Monce, TR (for 35 years), Stephanie Nasser, and currently Jeff Riccitelli who was a former CHS student. In the early years the ASB was referred to as a Lancer Rally Group as well as ASB.

Article from Carlsbad Magazine on CHS Traditions by alum Wendy Hinman ('76)