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Overbrook High School spent the past century turning students into stars — on basketball courts and running tracks, in Hollywood, City Hall and outer space.
Now the West Philly landmark known as the “Castle on the Hill” is celebrating its 100th anniversary, with alumni and supporters gathering Saturday to honor the school’s history and legacy.
Overbrook may be around 90 years younger than Central High, Philly’s oldest public high school, but few schools can rival its roster of notable graduates. There’s NBA greats Wilt Chamberlain and Malik Rose; TV and movie stars Will Smith and Colman Domingo; track stars Jon Drummond and Ce’Aira Brown; baseball players Bill Cash, Mahlon Duckett and Jeffrey Leonard; music’s Len Barry, Rosetta Hightower and Lady B.
The school also educated Guion Bluford, the first African American in space, and Joyce Abbott, the teacher who inspired “Abbott Elementary.”
The list goes on and includes Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., whose district includes his alma mater.
“If someone would have told me … how important the experience of attending Overbrook High School was, I would have looked at them in disbelief,” he said.
Patricia Mathis, the current alumni association president, said the already sold-out celebration at the Sheet Metal Workers Union Hall (1301 S. Columbus Blvd.) will begin at 6 p.m. and include a banquet and ceremony inducting four alums into the school’s Hall of Fame.
The cornerstone for the school’s building was laid in 1924, but it didn’t open its doors to students until two years later. The first alumni association started by track coach Fred Rosenfeld and then-principal Diane Scott in 1988, originally celebrating the school’s standout athletes as the Overbrook High School Athletic Alumni Association.
Its Hall of Fame opened in 1991. Four former Panthers were inducted: Jackie Moore, the first Black Philadelphian to play in the NBA; three-time Olympian Ira Davies; Cliff Calvert, a member of the Panthers’ first championship basketball team and Chamberlain, “the Big Dipper,” himself.
Among Chamberlain’s list of honors, we’re all familiar with the photo of him smugly holding up the sign after the 100-point game at the Hershey Sports Arena. His Overbrook Hall of Fame induction left him looking far less smug.
“Oh, he cried all right,” Rosenfeld told the Washington Post. “I was sitting right next to him. His eyes were moist. When I saw him going, it got me going. That was some moment.”
The “Athletic” was eventually dropped from the alumni group’s name, broadening the scope of the association. This year’s inductees to the school’s Hall of Fame are Institute for Human Relations founder and Penn State defensive back Steve Davis, Community Health and Gardens founder Beverly Giles-Carter, artist and playwright Andre Jones, and Murphy’s Giving Market founder Desireé Murphy Morrissey.
For current Overbrook principal Julian L. Graham, the second-floor hallway with over 90 plaques honoring past excellence — with faces as recent as hip-hop artist Chill Moody — is a great tool to inspire future stars.
“There is greatness and legacies that just continue to adorn these hallways,” he said. “It is my job to continue to uplift what that looks like to children, tell them and impart greatness in them so that they continue to grow and understand that they’re part of something great.”
Graham said that the weight of greatness on the wall and at the helm of a 100-year-old institution even affects him, and he has his own plaque up at his alma mater, John Bartram High School in Southwest Philly.
“It just feels phenomenal to be part of something that’s — especially in this day and time — very historic and prestigious,” he said.
“For 100 years, Overbrook has been a cornerstone of the Philadelphia community, and its perseverance, tradition, and legacy have left an indelible mark on the School District of Philadelphia and our city,” said Philadelphia School District Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. “Overbrook is truly a gem within the fastest-improving large urban school district, and we are proud to celebrate this remarkable milestone with its students, staff, alumni, and community.”
Mathis said the alumni association’s focus today is to connect with the school’s current students, provide mentorship and award scholarships. This year’s scholarship total was close to $29,000, according to the school and the alumni association.
“We’ve been doing just a little bit more to make the students more aware that there is something for you once you graduate from Overbrook High School and become an alum,” she said. “Passing down that baton. Being there for one another is most important.”
Mathis, a class of 1972 graduate, went on to teach business education at Overbrook for 25 years. She said she was inspired by Overbrook teacher Barbara Bivins to follow that career path herself.
Councilmember Jones also credits an Overbrook teacher with shaping his path into politics. Entering Overbrook as a “little bit of an at-risk youth,” James Best was a tough audience when Jones went to try and get his grade changed.
“He wasn’t having it. He made me take the whole class over,” Jones recalled. “I think that was the best thing that happened to me. He made me reach deep and perform better.”
Now as alums, both Mathis and Jones want to keep inspiring the next generation.
“We produced Will Smith. The question becomes how to keep producing Will Smiths and to create an environment that is organically nurturing,” Jones said.
Graham highlighted last season’s undefeated volleyball team as a recent example of the school’s excellence and the digital media Career and Technical Education program as a way alums have helped nurture it.
“It’s not just the 100 years past, it’s 100 years going forward that we are fighting for as an alumni,” Jones said.
