Buckhannon-Upshur High School

Buckhannon-Upshur High School (B-UHS) is a high school located in Buckhannon, West Virginia, United States with approximately 1,200 students. It is located at 270 B-U Drive, about two miles south of Buckhannon city limits. The school offers grades 9-12, and serves all of Upshur County, with the exception of a few students from surrounding counties.

Mr. C Edward Vincent serves as principal of Buckhannon-Upshur High School.

History

Buckhannon High School began in a wood frame building on East Main Street in Buckhannon in 1881. The school remained in the wooden building until 1909 with the construction of a new facility on College Avenue. A gymnasium was added in 1922. In 1925 Upshur High School opened its doors on Route 20 about one mile south of Buckhannon High. Buckhannon High, a 7-12 school, was designated for the city kids; Upshur High, a 9-12 school, was designated for the county, or country kids.

Prior to the great depression, each West Virginia county had several district school boards. To save on expenses each county was consolidated into its own school district. As part of this action, the Upshur County School Board consolidated the two schools in 1933, creating Buckhannon-Upshur High School. The city and county students continued to meet in separate buildings until 1958, but all extracurricular activities, such as band and athletics met together as Buckhannon-Upshur High School.

In the early 1920s, Victoria High School, the school for Upshur County's black population, burned down. A faulty heating system was to blame. No students were present at the time of the incident. The first school was located on Victoria Street less than one block from Buckhannon High School. A new 1-12 grade facility was built on Baxter Street near WV Wesleyan College.

After World War 2 Upshur County's black population dwindled considerably. Many black families left, seeking jobs in northern industrial areas. With just three or four black high school students in the county, it was decided that they should be bused to Kelley-Miller School in Clarksburg, so that racial segregation could be maintained. In 1954 Upshur County's school system was integrated. The few Upshur County black students were integrated into the city branch of Buckhannon-Upshur High School without incident.

In 1958 extensive renovations took place at the Upshur, or county, branch of B-UHS and all high school students began meeting in one facility in grades 10-12. The Buckhannon, or city, building became Buckhannon-Upshur Junior High School that same year, housing all Upshur County students in grades 7-9.

In 1977 a new Buckhannon-Upshur High School was built two miles south of the old B-UHS on Route 20. It began housing grades 9-12 that year. Renovations were made to the school that had housed B-UHS since 1958, and Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School was created, housing students grades 6-8.

The Buckhannon-High that was built in 1909 was condemned in 1977, largely due to its inability to meet modern fire safety standards. It was used for storage until it was torn down in the early 1990s. The original 1881 wooden facility was moved several yards south and used to house a portion of the elementary students attending East Main Street Elementary until it was demolished in the 1970s.

Mascot and colors

The school's mascot is the Buccaneer. Local newspapers began referring to the B-UHS football and basketball teams as Buccaneers in 1934. The nickname soon ran into controversy in 1941. Some local citizens felt it was inappropriate for high school students to be associated with pirates. The nickname was changed to the Blue Eagles in 1941 and remained so until 1946. In 1947 the Buccaneer mascot was brought back by popular demand and has remained ever since.

When the first football team was organized at Buckhannon High School in 1909, the school colors were blue and gray. Upshur High School got its first football team in 1926 and chose red and white as its colors. When the two schools merged in 1933, they also merged the colors. Blue and white became the official colors of Buckhannon-Upshur High School and have remained to this day.

Fight song

"Here Comes the Blue and White" (to the tune of the 1940s song "Weenie Man")

Here comes the Blue and White
To win this game tonight
They'll win it any old time
To keep their rep up high!
They're worth their weight in gold
Those husky lads so bold
Hey boys we really have a team!
Rah! Rah! Rah!
Here comes the Blue and White
To win this game tonight
They'll win it any old time
To keep their rep up high!
They're worth their weight in gold
Those husky lads so bold
Hey boys we really have a team!

Alma mater

(written by the B-U Class of 1951)

Hail to thee, our Alma Mater,
Hail our B-U High,
We attend with hearts of gladness,
All for thee we strive.

Lift our Banner, speed it onward.
Proud and Free we cry,
Hail to thee our Alma Mater,
Hail our B-U High,

Hail our B-U High!

(hum first stanza, and repeat)

PRO-officer

As of the 2009-2010 school year, B-UHS received a PRO-officer through a grant with the Upshur County Sheriff's Department. This officer assists at the school and goes into the classrooms to talk with students about issues associated with underage drinking, drug use, and other illegal activities. The officer is armed with a pistol, a taser, and a nightstick.

Sports programs

BUHS offers sports including football, cross-country (boys' and girls') basketball (boys' and girls'), soccer (boys' and girls'), swimming (boys' and girls'), wrestling, golf, baseball, softball, cheerleading, and lacrosse (boys' and girls'). Football started in 1909, and boys' basketball in 1912. Girls' basketball started in 1919, but was discontinued after the 1929 season and the onset of the Depression. Girls' sports reemerged in the early 1970s.

• The Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneer football team has won five West Virginia state championships, in 1915, 1918, 1924, 1963 AAA, and 1966 AAA.
• The boys' basketball team won state titles in 1921 and 1922.
• The baseball team won state titles in 1937 and 1972.
• The golf team won state championships in 1980, 1981 and 1982.
• The boys' soccer team won state titles in 1993, 1994 and 1995.
• The boys' cross-country team won its state championship in 1993.
• The girls' track team won the AAA state championship in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
• The boys' basketball team was runner-up to the state champions in 1916, 1918 and 1919.
• The baseball team was runner-up in 1941 and 1957.
• The football team was AAA runner-up in 1969.
• The girls' track team was AAA runner-up in 1989, 1990, 1992, 2007, and 2012
• The girls' cross-country team was AAA runner-up in 1987 and 1991.
• The girls' soccer team was runner-up in 1995.
• The boys' swim team was runners-up in 2000.
• The girls' lacrosse team was runner-up in 2010 and 2011.
• As of Fall 2010, Buckhannon-Upshur will leave the North Central Athletic Conference and will return to the Big 10 Conference in school athletics. Buckhannon High was a charter member of the Big 10 in 1930 and remained at B-UHS until 1986. As the Big 10 Conference expanded to 14 teams, disputes over equal access to titles between big and small school led to six bigger schools, including B-UHS, exiting the conference and creating the North Central Athletic Conference (NCAC)in 1986. In 2010, B-UHS and four other schools reentered the Big 10.

Music programs

The Buckhannon-Upshur Blue & White Marching, Symphonic, Concert, and Jazz Bands have earned many awards, including being WVMEA Honor Band finalists many times over the years. They continue to earn "Superior" ratings at the regional Band Festival. They have also recently won several second place trophies, and a first place division 4 champions Grand Parade. They are currently 107, and have a projected number of 132 in the 2016-17 school year. They are directed by Garret Friend, formerly by Danny Williams.

The Buckhannon-Upshur Choirs have earned many awards, including being the WVMEA High School Honor Choir at the WVMEA conferences over the years, and have earned numerous "Superior" ratings at festivals. It was considered one of the best high school choirs in West Virginia during Director James W. Knorr, III's (1966–1999) 34 years of service. The choir program is growing and is again receiving superior ratings. There are currently 100 singers involved in the three choirs at the B-UHS. Jeremiah Smallridge is the current director.

Each Christmas season, the Buckhannon-Upshur Alumni Choir performs classic holiday literature for the Buckhannon community on the Saturday before Christmas.

Rivals

Elkins is a big rivalry for Buckhannon because of location and past interactions with each other. The first football game between the two schools took place in 1920.

Lewis County is a rivalry for Buckhannon because of location. The first football game between Buckhannon High and Lewis (then called Weston High) took place in 1912.

Trivia

• Buckhannon-Upshur High School is one of the few in the country to use both the city and county name for their high school.
• Current Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace graduated from Buckhannon-Upshur High School in 1976.
• Two Buckhannon High School alumni have football fields named in their honor, both from the class of 1919. A.F. "Nate" Rohrbough went on to become the winningest football and basketball coach at Glenville State College. The football stadium, built in the 1920s, was named for him in the 1950s. The field is located in the residential area of Glenville and is now used as Gilmer County High School's practice field.
• Cecil "Cebe" Ross coached a high school state title at Buckhannon in 1924, then moved on to Buckhannon's West Virginia Wesleyan College as football, basketball and baseball coach. He was the all-time winningest football coach at WVWC until 2003. The field, which WVWC still uses, was named in his honor in 1953. Ross's little WVWC football teams beat the likes of WVU, Syracuse, Marshall and Navy. He also coached Clifford "Gip" Battles, who became the NFL's rushing champion with the Boston and Washington Redskins and was later inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.
• As of the 2014-2015 school year, the high school now operates on an alternating block schedule. It holds four ninety-minute classes each day, called "Blue Days" and "White Days", after the school colors.

Resources

• Upshur County Schools
• City of Buckhannon
• The Record Delta newspaper
• Buckhannon-Upshur High school alumni
• Buckhannon-Upshur High school website