Many of you will accuse me of writing this article because I am a good friend of Monty Bross, Jaylin The Boss Bross’ father and, by reputation, Mr. Male High School. Well, maybe.
Regardless of the motivation, one has to admit the tradition and history of Louisville Male High School is both fascinating and interesting. Why do they refer to Louisville Male High School as dear Old High School…in the fight song and why is the letter H commonly used in its brand as a symbol of Louisville Male?
If you want to know, here it is…
Louisville Male Traditional High School was founded in 1856 and, at the time, was the only high school west of the Allegheny Mountains. When you are the only high school west of the Allegheny Mountains, which was a significant divide, in that day, between East and West in the United States of America, one has no need for the designation of Louisville. So, the high school which is now Louisville Male was just c
alled High School and adopted and branded the letter H as a symbol.
High School needed to adopt a geographic designation because other high schools started opening and, as the school’s entire student body were male in gender, the school became known as Louisville Male High School. The school’s oldest football rival DuPont Manuel High School, who the Male Bulldogs have continuously played since November 18, 1893, took the insignia M so Louisville Male kept the original H as a tip of the hat to its origins. Louisville Male still uses the H to this day!
Louisville Male claims 14 State Championships (1924, 1937, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1951, 1954, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2015) but 7 of the 14 were prior to 1960, the first year the KHSAA sanctioned a State Champion. Therefore, according to the KHSAA website, Louisville Male is credited with 7 State Championships while being Runner-up three times (2001, 2002 and 2010). What isn’t in dispute is that Male’s Bulldogs have an overall record of 869-325-49 with 9 undefeated seasons (1893, 95, 1924, 37, 43, 51, 63, 64, 2015).
In closing, we at Kentucky Prep Gridiron would like to tip our hats to the origins of Louisville Male High School by adopting the words of the lyricist who penned the following chorus to the fight song for dear Old High School…It’s dear Old High School,/It’s dear Old High School,/ The pride of folks ’round here./ Come on, you old grads,/ Join with us young lads,/ It’s LMHS now we cheer./ Now is the time, boys,/ To make a big noise/ About Kentucky’s finest school;/ For there is naught to fear,/The gang’s all here,/ So hail to dear Old High School, hail!
Okay, Coach Bross, we love you at KPGfootball. Remember Male Bulldogs and ballers everywhere to…PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
In 1856, Louisville Male High School became the first high school west of the Allegheny Mountains making it first high school in Kentucky, so it was just called “Highschool” and the letter “H”