On October 25, 1890, in the very first high school football game ever played in Ohio, University School—barely six weeks old—faced Cleveland’s Central High School, the oldest public high school in the state. The Cleveland Leader covered the game, calling the Hough Avenue field "a beauty," though observing the sand surface made running difficult. Our team won a decisive 20-0 victory, with the newspaper noting US's "crowning excellence was their good teamwork."

Head Coach John “Speedy” Rush and his undefeated football squad traveled to Chicago on November 21, 1903, to take on a Morgan Park team led by future College Football Hall of Famer Amos Alonzo Stagg. Captain Charles Bradley, 1904, and future Yale star, Clarence Alcott, 1905, were among the standouts as the team capped a tremendous season with a 16-0 victory, earning acclaim as the“Champions of the West.” After 13 seasons at US, Coach Rush left for the head coaching position at Princeton.

John Dewey "Mac" McCarraher came to US in 1922 and left an indelible mark over his 41 years here as athletic director. Mac founded US Day Camp in 1926, an innovative concept at the time, still thriving today, and was an unparalleled baseball coach. In 1925, he led the formation of the Tri-State League in response to disagreements with the Ohio High School Athletic Association over eligibility requirements of transfer students. From 1925 until 1988, when US rejoined the OHSAA, US teams competed for there named Interstate Private School League championships with Cranbrook School of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Nichols School of Buffalo; Shady Side Academy of Pittsburgh; and Western Reserve Academy, among others. During the Interstate Leagueera, US teams led all members in earning the All-Around Championship 38 times.

University School fielded a soccer team for the first time in 1926, facing Western Reserve Academy in the inaugural game. The varsity team was formed thenext year. Woodworking teacher Ernest Arthur "Doc" Rolinson, a transplant from England, started the team and kept it going at a time when soccer's popularity waned considerably in the area, not to be reinvigorated until the 1960s. Doc, who came to US in 1916 and briefly coached baseball and swimming, was the head soccer coach for 19 years.

On October 10, 1970, a highly-touted Gilmour football team featuring future Division I backs Dave Janosek and Eric Penick, soon-to-be stars at Pitt and Notre Dame, led the entire game until a scrambling Dave Chollet ’71 heaved a last-ditch throw in the direction of receiver Ken Bolek ’72. Ken landed across the goal line to tie the game. 

Sophomore and future US teacher, Dick Parke ’72, drove the extra point through the uprights to secure the 21-20 upset.

Behind the slugging of Captain George Richards ’66, the firepower of MVP pitcher Chuck Seelbach ’66, and the glove of All-Scholastic shortstop Bob Mlakar ’66, Coach Jack Horner’s baseball team finished the season 11-1 to earn a sixth-straight Interstate crown on May 25, 1966. All three went on to compete at the college level—George in football at Pitt; and Bob and Chuck in baseball at Dartmouth. Chuck played professionally for the Detroit Tigers, and was their closer in 1972, helping lead their American League Eastern Conference Championship win. Mr. Seelbach returned to US, where he taught history for 39 years, and was the Varsity Baseball coach for 15 seasons.

Tennis has been a fixture on UniversitySchool campuses since Hough Avenue, and 1911 marked the first interscholastic team. A tradition of excellence—15 consecutive Interstate League titles, eightOTCA Ohio State Team championships, five USTA National Interscholasticcrowns, plus three singles and three doubles OHSAA state victories—was built by standout coaches such as Richard Peyser, Toby Perry ’54, and Geoff Morton. The teams spanning 1980-1983, under Coach Morton and featuring John Schloss ’80, Todd Ryska ’80, Peter Kolaric ’81, and Mike Spanos ’83, set a record-breaking winning streak of 99 consecutive matches from 1980-1983.

The 1982-83 and 1983-84 basketball squads could, and did, compete with anyone in the country. With a superbrunning game that tired their opponents,US Basketball and Coach Geoff Morton recorded a school record 50 wins. Coach's son, John Morton ’83, along with Tyler Zachem ’84, and Derek Rucker ’84, led the way to two Interstate League titles, earned acclaim as the top team in Greater Cleveland, and won the Collegiate School Tournament Championship in New York City in 1984.

First-year basketball coach Tom Lombardo's team was facing an undefeated Cleveland Heights team ranked third in the state. The Heights seniors had not lost a homegame in their high school careers. On February 13, 1996, the Preppers combined the physical play of Chris Stakich ’97, Jason Tisdale ’98, and Ryan Schaffer ’96, the floor leadership of Terry Lipford ’98, and big shots from captain Jim Boland ’96, and Ryan Schneider ’98 to stun the Tigers in a 59-54 US win. The game tipped off an exciting run of US Basketball competing at the topof the Greater Cleveland hoops scene.

Determined to avenge a finals loss toSt. Edward in the 2002 state tournament, Coach Bill Beard's team defeated Mentor and Lake Catholic at districts before besting Thomas Worthington in the semifinals to earn a rematch in 2003. John Sideris ’04 recorded 23 saves and forward Curt Kassigkeit ’03 broke a 1-1 tiein the second period, leading the way to a 2-1 victory and the first US Hockey statechampionship on March 2, 2003. The first US Hockey team formed in 1911, and after two lengthy stretches without a team—from 1916-1937 and 1943-1979—the hockey program has skated on solid ice for the last four decades. The team has made three trips to the state Frozen Four under current coach, Andy Gerow ’10. 

2003 – FORE! FIVE GOLF STATE TITLES

The golf team formed in 1972, and in a bid for their second state title—the first was in 1990—a talented 2002 US Golf team had a disappointing finals day. For the next year, the Class of 2004 teammates John Redeker, Putter Johnson, Jeff Heisler, Brian Bowell, and Nik Trikha, guided by English teacher, Dean of Faculty, and coach Bill O'Neil, focused on being at their best when it mattered most. The strategyworked. US golfers dominated the Division II tournament, held on Ohio State's Gray course, and secured the state title on October 11, 2003, setting up a tremendous run that includedthree consecutive state championships from 2006-2008. In other golf news...In December 1929, the Cleveland Press sportspages included a feature article on George Enos, 1933, then age 13, as a potentially great golfer. Much later, after a golf game with Headmaster Rowland McKinley, George, by then a school trustee, first suggested he would donate 50 acres of Hunting Valley woodland for a new campus.

The first record of lacrosse being played at US is in 1890, with none other than founding headmaster, Newton Anderson, working with the boys. It did not become a varsity sport until almost acentury later, in 1987. The 2008 and 2009 US Lacrosse teams did not have perfect seasons, but they were perfect when it mattered most—the state tournament. Head Coach Jack Fisher ’96 and his staff, which included US science teacher Ben Hobbs ’96 and Jay Lammers ’00, guided both championship runs, fueled on the field by a dominant defense featuring Tommy Visconsi ’09, Charlie Clark ’09, and goaltender Adam Daroff ’10.

In the early years of the Interstate League, the Track & Field Preppers set the pace, capturing nine straight titles beginning in 1928. Decades of steady success followed, and in 2008, coach and history teacher, Pete Zappas’s team earned its first OHSAA Regional Championship. The 4x200 relay team of Stephon Lynch ’08, Matt Kelly ’08, Harry Hartnett ’08, and Justin Chappell ’09 stood together atop the state championship podium, with a winning time of 1:29.11.

Wrestling was an intramural sport for 20 years before the varsityteam formed in 1928. Coach Sean Grosz began his tenure in 2005 and has led the team to three consecutive top-five finishes at the state tournament. Powering this success on the mats were Harrison Hightower ’10, who won three consecutive state titles, and Brad Wukie ’10, state champion in 2010, all in Division II. The team has enjoyed other long-tenured leaders, including Dick McCrea ’51, for whom the newly updated wrestling and wellness center is named, and Mark Carle, whose name adorns the wrestling room.

The history of swimming and diving runs deep at US. A "swimming-bath" was included in the original Hough Avenue building, though it spent a few years unfinished until Jeptha H. Wade II—grandson and namesake of a founder of the Western Union Telegraph Co, and himself an incorporator of the Cleveland Museum of Art—donated the funds to finish the work. The diving boards were made in the school woodshop.    US Swimming & Diving has been a perpetual powerhouse since the first interscholastic team formed in 1911. Coach Brian Perry ’89 took the helm in 2000, and his teams have achieved 10 state titles. The 2010-2011 team was exceptional. After defeating the reigning state champs of Indiana, Michigan, and Virginia during the regular season, the team won the Ohio Division II state meet on February 26, 2011, by earning nearly twice the number of points as the second-place team. Co-captain Andrew Malone ’11 was named Swimmer of the Meet thanks to his two tournament-record-setting individual swims and his contribution to two other record-setting relays, including the 200 medley relay with Kevin Stang ’12, Russell Stack ’12, and Korey Schneider ’11, touching the wall in a Division II state record time that stands today.  Coach Ron Grant, Coach Perry’s predecessor, led the team for 29 years. In Coach Grant’s swan‑dive season as head coach (he is an assistant coach today), Thatcher Carr ’99 decisively defended his state diving championship title while also swimming on two relays. In his junior year, Thatcher became the only diver in school history to win the national championship as an All‑American, and he still holds the school diving record. 

Coach Jack Somers returned to the team in 2025, having previously served as coach from 2015-2021. In his tenure, the team has qualified for the Division I meet five times. The first was in 2018, with a team that included Michael Castellanos ’19, Ben Chao ’19, Graham Clark ’20, Justin Iler ’20, and Griffin Walsh ’21. Two people, both new to US in 1966, are credited with getting the first US Cross Country team up and running: Coach Don Blanchard came to US after a distinguished career with Cleveland public schools, and Joe Keithley ’67, an experienced runner from Shaker, who entered US as a senior.

From 2022-2025, US Baseball, led by Coach Rob McNerney, recorded 95 wins and earned three Division III district titles. The 2025 season was superb—the team set a new school record for wins on their way to the program's first regional championship victory, a shutout pitched by captain Aaron Moss ’25, sending the team to their first-ever state championship game in the 134 years of US Baseball. The state final vs. Licking Valley ended in a 1-0 loss for our Preppers after a three-hour rain delay. But neither the rain nor the score could dampen the team's spirit after such a season, one that seems destined for future US Athletics history timelines.

US holds the distinction of establishing the first high school squash program in Ohio. Coach Jon Bridge, also Assistant Head of School for Advancement, has led the team since 2007, and it became our 13th varsity sport in 2008. With a varsity schedule reminiscent of the time in the Interstate League, the team frequently travels out of state for matches with other independent schools. The program has won four national titles, in Division V, Division IV, and two in Division III, the latest in 2025. In squash, division placement for championships is based on performance throughout the season, rather than school size. US Squash earned their highest national finish in 2024, led by captains Chase Greppin ’24, Joey Applebaum ’24, and Fernando Hokello ’24, when the team won the Division II consolation bracket, defeating Phillips Exeter Academy, Tabor Academy, and Milton Academy along the way independent schools. The program has won four national titles, in Division V, Division IV, and two in Division III, the latest in 2025. In squash, division placement for championships is based on performance throughout the season, rather than school size. US Squash earned their highest national finish in 2024, led by captains Chase Greppin ’24, Joey Applebaum ’24, and Fernando Hokello ’24, when the team won the Division II consolation bracket, defeating Phillips Exeter Academy, Tabor Academy, and Milton Academy along the way.


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