Big Spring High School

Big Spring High School
Address
707 E 11th Place Big Spring, Texas 79720-4648 United States
Information
School type	Public high school
School district	Big Spring Independent School District
Principal	Mike Ritchey
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	974 (2012)
Color(s)	Black & Gold
Athletics conference	UIL Class AAAA
Mascot	Steers/Lady Steers
Website	Big Spring High School

Big Spring High School is a public high school located in Big Spring, Texas and classified as a 4A school by the UIL. It is part of the Big Spring Independent School District located in north central Howard County. The high school building was dedicated on March 23, 1952. The dedication address was given by J.W. Edgar, State Commissioner of Education. This was the first new high school built in 35 years, and the third in the districts history. In 2015, the school was rated "Met Standard" by the Texas Education Agency.

UIL Academic Events

The Big Spring Steers compete in the following UIL Academic Events - Events below have both team and individual components unless specifically noted otherwise. Sanctioned high school academic events are:

• Accounting
• Calculator Applications
• Computer Applications (individual competition only)
• Computer Science
• Current Issues and Events
• Literary Criticism
• Mathematics
• Number Sense
• Ready Writing (individual competition only)
• Science
• Social Studies
• Spelling and Vocabulary
• Speech (an award is given to the top overall school in speech events; the award does not qualify students for advancement)
  • Cross-Examination Team Debate (team competition only)
  • Lincoln-Douglas Debate (individual competition only)
  • Extemporaneous Informative Speaking (individual competition only)
  • Extemporaneous Persuasive Speaking (individual competition only)
  • Poetry Interpretation (individual competition only)
  • Prose Interpretation (individual competition only)
  • Congressional Debate (UIL)
• Journalism (an award is given to the top overall school in journalism events; the award does not qualify students for advancement)
  • Editorial Writing (individual competition only)
  • Feature Writing (individual competition only)
  • Headline Writing (individual competition only)
  • News Writing (individual competition only)
• One-Act Play (team competition plus individual awards that do not lead to advancement)

Athletics

The Big Spring Steers compete in these sports -

Cross Country, Volleyball, Football, Basketball, Powerlifting, Swimming, Golf, Tennis, Track, Softball & Baseball

The school competes in class 4A in all sports except for swimming and diving which competes in class 5A

State Titles

Team

• Boys Cross Country -
  • 2006(4A)

Individual

• Boys Triple Jump -
  • 2010(4A)

• Girls Long Jump -
  • 2011(3A)

State Finalists

• Football -
  • 1953(3A)
• Baseball -
  • 1994(4A)

State Semi-Finalists

• Volleyball -
  • 2013 (3A)

Other State Placings

• 2011 Girls Track 2nd Place team
  • 2011(3A)
  • 2nd Place Girls Long Jump
  • 2nd Place Boys Long Jump
  • 2nd Place Girls 400 Relay
  • 2nd Place Girls 800 Relay
  • 3rd Place Triple Jump

UIL Academic State Meet

State Titles

Individual

• Editorial Writing
  • 1990(4A)

• Feature Writing
  • 2008(4A)

• Lincoln-Douglas Debate
  • 2005(4A), 2011(3A), 2015(4A)

• News Writing
  • 2009(4A)

• Number Sense
  • 2009(4A)

• Persuasive Speaking
  • 2011(3A)

• Prose Interpretation
  • 1978(4A), 1979(4A)

• Spelling
  • 1977(4A), 2001(4A)

• Typing
  • 1948(2A)

Team

• Journalism
  • 2004(4A), 2009(4A)

Other State Placings

• 2002
  • Octa-Finalists: Cross-Examination Debate

• 2003
  • 3rd Place Persuasive Extemporaneous Speaking

• 2004
  • 2nd Place Persuasive Extemporaneous Speaking
  • 2nd Place: Headline Writing
  • 2nd Place: News Writing
  • 3rd Place: Lincoln-Douglas Debate
  • 4th Place: News Writing
  • 6th Place Informative Extemporaneous Speaking

• 2005
  • 3rd Place Persuasive Extemporaneous Speaking
  • 3rd Place: Feature Writing
  • 6th Place Poetry Interpretation

• 2006
  • Quarter-Finalists: Cross-Examination Debate

• 2009
  • 2nd Place: Feature Writing
  • 3rd Place: Headline Writing
  • 3rd Place: Literary Criticism

• 2010
  • 3rd Place Persuasive Extemporaneous Speaking
  • Octa-Finalists: Cross-Examination Debate

• 2012
  • 3rd Place Lincoln-Douglas Debate

• 2014
  • Octafinalist Cross-examination Debate
  • 5th Place Speaker, Cross-examination State Meet
  • 3rd Place Informative Extemporaneous Speaking
  • 3rd Place Lincoln-Douglas Debate
  • 4th Place Informative Extemporaneous Speaking

• 2015
  • 5th Place Congressional Debate 4A
  • 4th Place Editorial Writing
  • 5th Place Ready Writing
  • 5th Place Persuasive Extemporaneous Speaking

Alumni

• Larry Arnhart- writer and scholar, graduated from Big Spring High School in 1967.
• Stephan Pyles - Chef and restaurateur. Owner of Stephan Pyles, Samar, and Stampede 66 in Dallas.
• Bubba Franks - Green Bay Packers tight end; although born in California, was raised and played high school football in Big Spring.
• Tony Franklin (placekicker) - Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins; barefoot kicker set 18 NCAA records playing at Texas A&M, He led the NFL in scoring (140 points) and field goals made (32) in 1986 and was selected to represent the AFC in the Pro Bowl. Played in Super Bowl XV and Super Bowl XX
• J. T. Smith — wide receiver for the St. Louis and Phoenix Cardinals, Washington Redskins and Kansas City Chiefs. Played 13 years in the NFL, then coached the San Angelo indoor team. Played at North Texas State after finishing at Big Spring High School. He was inducted to the Big Spring Hall of Fame and in 2002. JT was named to the AFC Pro Bowl team in 1980 and the NFC Pro Bowl team in 1988. He also led the NFL in total punt returns in 1979 & 1980.
• Ryan Tannehill - Quarterback for the Miami Dolphins

External links

• Big Spring ISD