Cardinal Spellman High School is a private college preparatory high school of Catholic denomination established in 1958 and located in Brockton, Massachusetts, United States. Like the school's fellow Catholic school and sports rival, Archbishop Williams High School, Spellman separated from the Boston Archdiocese in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal. The school is named after Cardinal Francis Spellman.
History
Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, officiated at the dedication of Cardinal Spellman High School on October 20, 1958. He blessed its buildings and laid the cornerstone during the ceremony. The school was named in honor of Francis Cardinal Spellman, whose birthplace was in the neighboring town of Whitman, Massachusetts. "Sequere Deum - Follow God" was taken from Francis Cardinal Spellman's coat of arms and used as the school's motto.
In September 1958, 300 students began their school careers as students at Cardinal Spellman with Sister M. Vera, CSJ as the founding Principal and a faculty of ten Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston. Many Sisters worked at Cardinal Spellman over the years. There are no longer any Sisters of Saint Joseph currently working at Spellman. The last one, Sr. Patricia Lynch, left in July 2012.
On December 6, 1963, Cardinal Spellman High School, along with several other secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Boston, was incorporated as a member of the Archdiocesan Central High Schools, Inc. In 1979, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges awarded Cardinal Spellman High School its initial accreditation; in 1989 and again in 1999, the school was re-accredited for successive ten-year periods. Cardinal Spellman High School was elected as a permanent member of the College Board in 1983. The school is also affiliated with the National Catholic Educational Association.
Cardinal Spellman High School was incorporated in January 2004 after the board of trustees of the Archdiocesan Central High Schools, Inc., determined that each of its schools would be best served by becoming an independent public juridic institution governed by its own board of trustees. Beginning on September 1, 2004, Spellman's board of trustees took over the responsibility of governing the school.
Scandals Prostitution Incident
In 2013, Monsignor Arthur Coyle, a member of Spellman's board of trustees and former chaplain of the school from 1985 to 1992, was charged with soliciting a prostitute. Coyle was arrested when he was found with a prostitute behind a Lowell cemetery. Coyle was subsequently removed from Spellman's board of trustees, after other members of the board learned of Coyle's arrest from local news outlets.
Sexual Abuse Incident
In 2016, The Boston Globe reported that, seven years prior, Spanish teacher Gustavo Perez began a sexual relationship with his seventeen-year-old female student. At the time, the student's parents found evidence of the teacher's relationship with their daughter, including a hotel receipt and graphic photos. Spellman fired the teacher after administrators saw the photos. The case brought to light controversy over Massachusetts laws governing age of consent and sexual relationships between teachers and students.
Athletics Peter Ambrose, a longtime football and baseball coach at Cardinal Spellman, won 628 games in 50 years on the diamond before retiring, making him one of four Massachusetts high school baseball coaches to win 600 games. He also captured 12 Catholic Central League championships and one Eastern Mass. Championship. Coaching football, he won 211 games in 41 years, as well as 12 league titles and one Super Bowl appearance. He retired in 2010.
The fall season in 2011 was particularly impressive for Cardinals sports teams. Spellman won five Catholic Central titles and had a combined record of 79-15-1.
In 2019, Spellman installed its first artificial turf field on Potvin Field.
Titles
+Football Year Title 1961 Catholic Central League Champions 1964 Catholic Central League Champions 1968 Catholic Central League Champions 1970 Catholic Central League Champions 1971 Catholic Central League Champions 1974 Catholic Central League Champions 1978 Catholic Central League Champions 1984 Catholic Central League Champions (Super Bowl Finalist) 1992 Division 4 Super Bowl Champions 2000 Catholic Central League Co-Champions 2010 Catholic Central League Champions (Super Bowl Finalist) 2011 Catholic Central League Champions (Super Bowl Finalist)
+Boys Basketball Year Title 1962 Catholic Central League Champions 1973 Catholic Central League Champions 1984 Massachusetts State Champions 1995 Catholic Central League Co-Champions 2000 Massachusetts South Sectional Champions 2010 Catholic Central League Champions 2011 Eastern Massachusetts Finalists 2012 Catholic Central League Co-Champions 2013 Catholic Central League Champions 2014 Massachusetts State Champions
+Girls Basketball Year Title 1979 Catholic Central League Champions 1983 Catholic Central League Champions 1996 Catholic Central League Champions 1998 Catholic Central League Champions 1999 Catholic Central League Champions 2006 Eastern Massachusetts Champions 2007 Catholic Central League Co-Champions 2008 Catholic Central League Co-Champions
+Baseball Year Title 1965 Catholic Central League Champions 1975 Eastern Massachusetts Champions 1976 Catholic Central League Champions 1977 Catholic Central League Champions 1978 Catholic Central League Champions 1988 Catholic Central League Champions 1992 Catholic Central League Champions 1993 Catholic Central League Champions 2006 Catholic Central League Champions 2007 Catholic Central League Champions 2008 Catholic Central League Champions
+Softball Year Title 1997 Massachusetts Division 3 South Sectional Champions 1999 Massachusetts Division 3 South Sectional Champions 2000 Catholic Central League Champions 2001 Massachusetts Division 3 State Champions 2002 Catholic Central League Champions 2003 Massachusetts Division 2 State Champions 2004 Eastern Massachusetts Division 2 Champions 2005 Massachusetts Division 2 South Sectional Champions 2007 Catholic Central League Champions 2008 Catholic Central League Champions 2009 Catholic Central League Champions 2010 Catholic Central League Co-Champions 2012 Catholic Central League Champions 2014 Catholic Central League Champions
+Girls Soccer Year Title 1987 Catholic Central League Champions 1988 Catholic Central League Champions 1989 Catholic Central League Champions 1990 Catholic Central League Champions 1993 Catholic Central League Champions 2003 Catholic Central League Champions 2006 Eastern Massachusetts Division 2 Champions 2008 Catholic Central League Champions 2009 Massachusetts State Champions 2011 Catholic Central League Champions 2013 Massachusetts Division 3 South Sectional Champions
+Boys Soccer Year Title 1990 Catholic Central League Champions 2004 Catholic Central League Champions 2006 Catholic Central League Co-Champions 2007 Catholic Central League Champions 2008 Catholic Central League Champions 2009 Massachusetts Division 3 South Champions 2010 Catholic Central League Champions 2011 Massachusetts Division 3 South Champions 2013 Catholic Central League Champions
+Volleyball Year Title 2008 Catholic Central League Champions 2009 Catholic Central League Champions 2011 Catholic Central League Champions 2017 Catholic Central League Champions 2019 Catholic Central League Champions
+Boys Lacrosse Year Title 2016 Catholic Central League Champions
Drama
Spellman is recognized locally for its outstanding drama program. Robert J. McEwan, a longtime teacher at Spellman and chair of the English department for 47 years, established the school's first drama department in 1965, opening the school's first production of The King and I to a full house. McEwan went on to direct 47 musicals and 35 "Spring Shows," annual productions that frequently featured alumni, parents, and teachers as well as students.
Spellman established the Robert J. McEwan Drama Hall of Fame in 1996. Since its inception, it has inducted over 100 alumni, teachers, staff members, parents, and other friends of Spellman, honoring their contributions to the drama program both on and off the stage. Though McEwan died in 2013, his legacy continues through the flourishing drama program that he created. In 2015, the school honored McEwan by dedicating the renovated auditorium foyer in his name.
+Past Musical Productions Year Musical 1963 The Student Prince 1964 Blossom Time 1965 The King and I 1966 The Sound of Music 1967 My Fair Lady 1968 The Boyfriend 1969 Oklahoma! 1970 Carousel 1971 Camelot 1972 Brigadoon 1973 Fiddler on the Roof 1974 No, No, Nanette 1975 My Fair Lady 1976 The Music Man 1977 The Sound of Music 1978 Carousel 1979 Oliver! 1980 Camelot 1981 My Fair Lady 1982 Hello, Dolly! 1983 Fiddler on the Roof 1984 The Music Man 1985 The Sound of Music 1986 Oliver! 1987 Carousel 1988 The King and I 1989 Camelot 1990 Fiddler on the Roof 1991 My Fair Lady 1992 The Music Man 1993 Brigadoon 1994 Fiddler on the Roof 1995 Carousel (cancelled) 1996 Oliver! 1997 Hello, Dolly! 1998 The King and I 1999 The Boyfriend 2000 Carousel 2001 My Fair Lady 2002 The Sound of Music 2003 Fiddler on the Roof 2004 Hello, Dolly! 2005 Camelot 2006 Les Misérables 2007 Godspell 2008 Beauty and the Beast 2009 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat 2010 Les Misérables 2011 Fiddler on the Roof 2012 Godspell 2013 Seussical 2014 Thoroughly Modern Millie 2015 Mary Poppins 2016 Bye Bye Birdie 2017 Anything Goes 2018 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat 2019 Seussical 2020 Grease (Postponed Until 2021) 2021 Godspell 2022 Annie 2023 Footloose 2024 Beauty and the Beast 2025 Hadestown
Notable alumni John Altieri – singer and stage actor Paul Antonelli – composer and music director Suzanne M. Bump – Massachusetts State Auditor, state representative and state secretary of labor emeritus Jane Condon – comedian, winner of Last Comic Standing Hon. Mark Gildea – Massachusetts Superior Court justice Christine Hurley – comedian the late Thomas P. Kennedy – former Massachusetts state representative and state senator the late John E. Walsh – former chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party
References
External links Official site