Loyola High School of Los Angeles To Kick Off Year-Long Sesquicentennial Celebration This November; First Home Varsity Football Game In 65 Years Provides Sneak Peek Of Events To Come

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Loyola High School of Los Angeles, the oldest educational institution in Southern California, announced today that it will launch its landmark Sesquicentennial on Sunday, November 16, 2014. The 12-month celebration will showcase 150 years of educating Los Angeles' past, present and future leaders as well as their contribution to the city whose history is so closely intertwined with its own. 

As a preview of what is to come during Loyola's 150^th, the Varsity football team will play their first home game on campus since 1949 against San Diego's St. Augustine Saints on Friday, September 12 at 7:30 PM. Tickets were sold-out within 54 minutes of Loyola's ticket site going live. For the highly anticipated match-off, Loyola will construct a 4,000-seat stadium on Bob Smith Field and close off Venice Boulevard. The game will be streamed live on Loyola's website, http://www.loyolahs.edu/home-game.

"One-hundred-and-fifty years in the making, Loyola High School is preparing to celebrate its past, showcase the present and most importantly, help create its future. We've tapped our good friend and alumnus Jack Girardi '65 to oversee the year-long celebration of academic, community service, environmental and athletic initiatives which will include our students, faculty, parents and alumni as we reach out to our city, Los Angeles," said Fr. Gregory Goethals, S.J., president, Loyola High School. "The Cubs and Saints game on September 12^th is just a preview of the one-of-a-kind 150th events that we have planned. Welcome back, Saints, for this historic game that celebrates our friendly rivalry and our Catholic schools."

Founded in 1865, Loyola High School will be launching its Sesquicentennial as Southern California's oldest educational institution. Five years in the planning, the 150^th kick-off will debut with a special Mass and celebration for the entire Loyola community on Sunday, November 16. Added Fr. Goethals, "Through our 150th, we would like to spread the word of what it means to be part of a community that gives back and excels, highlighting what will be the formation of tomorrow's leaders through our Jesuit spirituality, Catholic teachings and first-rate education."

Loyola's shared athletic history with St. Augustine reaches to over a half a century ago when both teams belonged to the Catholic League. The first Cubs vs. Saints game was in 1922 and the last was in 1949.  Sixty-five years later, Saints are traveling to Los Angeles once again, this time with their President Edwin Hearn, a former Loyola Dean of Men, Assistant Principal for Academic Affairs and football coach, to renew the rivalry and start a new tradition.

"I have profound respect for Loyola High School. My years there really gave me a vision for my life and what boys' schools should be like. The same holds true for St. Augustine. They are both great centers of learning in different metropolitan areas serving the Catholic community," said Mr. Hearn. "The September 12^th Friday night game is the perfect way to celebrate our schools' long history together. We're looking forward to the next 150 years."

About St. Augustine

St. Augustine High School is a Catholic, college preparatory high school for young men grades 9-12.  The school's mission is to provide a Catholic liberal arts education in an environment that promotes the development of mind, heart and body in the Augustinian tradition. Saints has an enrollment of approximately 700 young men from the greater San Diego and Tijuana area with a rich ethnic and racial mix. The average class size is 25 young men from a variety of socio- economic backgrounds and neighborhoods. Many students come long distances each day to attend school, including those who cross the international border each day.

About Loyola High School

Loyola High School of Los Angeles is an academically rigorous Jesuit college preparatory located just west of downtown Los Angeles.  Ninety-nine percent of Loyola graduates go on to college or university. Loyola's student body of 1,270 young men represents a remarkable geographic diversity, drawing on 220 zip codes from throughout and beyond Los Angeles County.  The school is also ethnically diverse with 48 percent of the student body of Asian, Latino or African-American descent. To enable students to achieve the goal of being "men for others," Loyola students must complete at least 150 hours of community service work before graduation.  Over the past two decades, Loyola students have donated more than 1.3 million hours of community service, primarily to inner-city schools, neighborhoods and agencies. 

Contact:
Maite Saralegui
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323 650 2236 (O)
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SOURCE Loyola High School of Los Angeles