Belton High School (Belton, Texas)

Belton High School or (BHS) is a public high school that serves the city of Belton, Texas, parts of Temple and Morgan's Point Resort and classified as a 6A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Belton Independent School District located in south central Bell County. In 2015, the school was rated "Met Standard" by the Texas Education Agency.^[1]

Statistics

• BHS's population according to the last census is approximately 72% Caucasian, 14% Hispanic 3% African-American, and 1% Asian/Pacific Islander, and Other
• BHS is currently estimated to have about 2,600 students. (2013)

Athletics

The Belton Tigers compete in these sports - ^[2]

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Football
• Golf
• Powerlifting
• Soccer
• Softball
• Swimming
• Tennis
• Track and Field
• Volleyball

State Titles

• Baseball - ^[3]
  • 1994(3A)
• Boys Basketball - ^[4]
  • 1958(2A)
• Girls Golf - ^[5]
  • 1985(4A), 1988(4A)
• Boys Track - ^[6]
  • 1909(All)
• 2013 State Champion Individual Golfer, Andrew Paysse
• 1995-96 UIL 4A State Marching Band Contest Champions

Rivalry with Temple

Belton's rival is the Temple High School Wildcats. This is most visible during the yearly Belton-Temple football game. The cities of Belton and Temple in the past have shared years of animosity towards each other, possibly from the founding of Temple by the Santa Fe Railroad.

This spilled over onto the football field during the 1920s and 1930s. It was not uncommon for fights to break out between fans in the parking lot after the game. After the 1936 game this almost turned deadly. Several people were taken to the hospital and one was hospitalized with critical injuries. Given that the fights had increased in violence over the last 3 years and commerce between the two cities was starting to suffer a county judge made a decree that the two schools shall not play each other for a minimum of 50 years. The two schools would not meet again on the football field until 1995.

In general the rivalry is friendly in nature today. Custom shirts are usually printed up by both sides to mark the event. Sometimes pranks, small acts of vandalism and general shenanigans occur in the week prior to the game. Most of this is minor in nature and are perpetrated by the students involved in the games.

The first artificially-lighted football game played in the state of Texas was the 1921 Belton-Temple game played at Wildcat Field.

In 2009 the rivalry with Temple was nationally televised on ESPNU at Wildcat Stadium, Tiger were victorious over Temple for the first time since 2005.

In 2013 the rivalry died in district play after Temple stayed at 5A and Belton moved up to 6A. However the schools do meet in scrimmages in a variety of sports.

In 2016 the rivalry was renewed through a preseason matchup at Tiger Field (Belton, TX). However, the Wildcats won 28-20, bouncing back from a 17-14 score at halftime. The two schools will meet again next year in preseason at Wildcat Stadium.

Notable alumni

• David Ash, former University of Texas football quarterback
• George Eads, television actor
• Ricky Sanders, former NFL wide receiver.
• Ramonce Taylor, football player
• Henry T. Waskow, US Army Captain memorialized by Ernie Pyle
• Molly S. White (Class of 1976), Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from Belton
• Rudy Youngblood, actor
• Booker T Russell, San Diego Charger, Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Stars
• Khiry Robinson, Running back for the New Orleans Saints.^[7]
• Jaclyn Poole, contestant of America's Next Top Model (2011)

References

External links

• Belton Independent School District
• Belton High School