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The Bolles School is an American private college preparatory day and boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida. It has a lower school (including pre-kindergarten), a middle school, and a high school, spread across four campuses around the Jacksonville area, and enrolls about 1,800 students a year. The school was founded in 1933 as an all-boys military academy. It dropped its military focus in 1962 and became coeducational in 1971. Its athletics programs have been recognized as some of the best in the Florida High School Athletic Association by Sports Illustrated magazine.

History

The school was founded as an all-boys' military academy in 1933 by Agnes Cain Painter, a friend of philanthropist Richard J. Bolles. The original campus, now known as the San Jose Campus, was formed from San Jose Hotel, a former hotel on San Jose Boulevard near the east bank of the St. Johns River. Bolles announced that it would drop its military status in 1961 and the graduating class of 1962 ended the military era. It began admitting girls in 1971. Today, male and female students are enrolled in relatively equal numbers.

International students have enrolled at Bolles since the late 1930s, and the school maintains separate boys and girls boarding facilities for 90 students from other states and 22 foreign countries. The school also has an active student exchange program with schools in China, Japan, France and Spain. Participants live with the host family while attending school.

John E. Trainer, Jr. served as the sixth Bolles President/Headmaster from 2002 to 2012, overseeing the growth of the Bartram campus, creation of an elementary school in Ponte Vedra Beach, and boosting the school's endowment. He was succeeded by Brian E. M. Johnson for the 2012–2013 school year, who was succeeded by Bradley R. Johnson '79, who was succeeded by David J. Farace who was then succeeded by the previous Assistant Head of School Tyler Hodges the ninth head of school since its founding.

The school's campuses include:

• Upper School (grades 9–12) - San Jose Campus (Jacksonville)
• Middle School (6-8) - Bartram Campus (Jacksonville)
• Lower School (pre-kindergarten-5) - Ponte Vedra (Ponte Vedra Beach) & Whitehurst (Jacksonville) Campuses

Academics

Bolles has been a fully accredited Florida high school since 1934. Bolles operates on a two-semester academic year, with each semester split into two quarters. Bolles offers Advanced Placement courses.

Athletics

In 2005, Sports Illustrated named Bolles's athletic program the ninth best in the country, and second best in Florida. Of the top twenty-five schools, Bolles was the only one with an Upper School enrollment of under 1,000 students. Bolles has received the Florida High School Athletic Association's Dodge Sunshine Cup/Floyd E. Lay All-Sports Award (given to the best overall athletic program in each school type/size classification in Florida) 27 times. During the 2015–2016 school year, Bolles won 7 different Florida state championships, including boys swimming, girls swimming, girls cross country, boys basketball, girls soccer, girls track and field, and baseball, bringing the school's all-time state championship total to 123.

The outdoor field where its seven outdoor sports teams practice is called "George H. Hodges Field" and in 2016 it was converted to an artificial turf.

The swim team has been coached by Gregg Troy, current head coach at the University of Florida, and 2012 US Olympic men's team head coach. Troy was followed as head coach by Olympic medalist Sergio Lopez until 2014 when Lopez left to become the Singapore national swimming team's head coach. The current Bolles coach is Peter Verhoef. The school's swimming facility has its own offices, weight room (separate from the weight room that the rest of the school uses), and two swimming pools (one Olympic-sized). As of 2016, the boys swim team has won 45 Florida state championships and 9 national championships, while the girls team has won 37 state championships and 9 different national titles. Bolles has had at least one alumnus or student competing in every Summer Olympics since 1972, including 2016 Summer Olympics gold medal winners Ryan Murphy and Joseph Schooling. The Bolles Sharks, Bolles's club swim team, compete and practice year-round.

The school's football team was coached by Charles "Corky" Rogers from 1989-2016. Rogers is the all-time winningest Florida high school football coach with 466 wins. The team has won eleven state championships, ten under Rogers. As of November 2016, Rogers compiled a record of 325-46 during his tenure at the school. For the 2009 season, the Bulldogs went 12–1, losing only to Cocoa High School, 44–37 in overtime. They defeated Tampa Catholic in the state championship game on December 12, 21–7.

Activities

The school's drama program performs a musical every second year and a Shakespeare play every third year. Performing groups include Jazz Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Choir, Choral Music and Dance.

Notable alumni

• Linden Ashby – actor
• Alex Aster – author
• Ron Clark Ball – author
• Jackson Baumeister – professional baseball player
• Chris Bono – American freestyle and folkstlye wrestler, member of three US freestyle World Championship teams and an NCAA wrestling champion at Iowa State
• Gustavo Borges – Brazilian world-record-setting swimmer and 4-time Olympic medalist, competing for Brazil in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympics.
• George Bovell – Olympic bronze medal swimmer
• Dee Brown – former National Basketball Association player
• Greg Burgess – Olympic silver medal swimmer
• Travis Carroll – former NFL player
• Shaun Chapas – NFL fullback for the Detroit Lions
• Santo Condorelli – 2016 Olympian for Canada
• Bruce Crump – southern rock musician
• Char-ron Dorsey – former NFL offensive lineman
• Max Ferguson – baseball player in the Boston Red Sox organization
• Javontee Herndon – former NFL player
• Charles Hicks – two-time European U23 Cross Country champion
• Hayden Hurst – NFL tight end for the Los Angeles Chargers
• Trina Jackson – Olympic gold medal swimmer
• Jawan Jamison former NFL running back.
• Chipper Jones – former Major League Baseball player and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
• Mac Jones – New England Patriots, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback
• Joseph Kittinger – United States Air Force pilot, performed the record highest and fastest skydive at over 100,000 feet as a key member of Project Excelsior
• David Larson – Olympic gold medal swimmer
• Amelia Lewis – LPGA professional golfer. Attended UF in 2009 on a golf scholarship before turning pro. She currently has 57 professional and amateur wins to her name.
• Brian Liesegang – Filter, Nine Inch Nails, Billy Corgan, Veruca Salt; songwriter, producer, musician
• David López-Zubero – Olympic bronze medal swimmer
• Martin López-Zubero – Olympic gold medal swimmer
• Andrew G. McCabe – former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
• MacKenzie Miller – U.S. Racing Hall of Fame Thoroughbred trainer
• Ryan Murphy – 2016 Olympic gold medalist and swimmer for the Cal Golden Bears.
• Anthony Nesty – Olympic gold medal swimmer for Suriname
• Gram Parsons – country rock musician
• Colin Peek – All-SEC and Academic All-SEC tight end for the University of Alabama 2010 BCS National Championship team and a free agent in the National Football League
• Will Ropp – Actor The Way Back (2020 film)
• Joseph Schooling – Olympic gold medalist for Singapore.
• George Scribner – Disney Director, Imagineer. Directed Oliver & Company. Professional painter.
• Ryan Silverfield – Head Football Coach of the Memphis Tigers.
• Riley Skinner – All-ACC quarterback for the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons and NFL New York Giants
• Austin Slater – MLB player with the San Francisco Giants
• Jason Spitz – NFL player with the Jacksonville Jaguars
• DJ Stewart – MLB player with the New York Mets
• John Theus – former NFL player.
• David Treadwell – former NFL player
• Travis Tygart – CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency USADA
• Fred Tyler – Olympic gold medal swimmer
• Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace – Olympic swimmer
• Dez White – former NFL player
• Ashley Whitney – Olympic gold medal swimmer
• Mari Wilensky – 2006 Miss Florida
• Rick Wilkins – former Major League Baseball player
• George B. Stallings Jr. – Served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1959 to 1968

See also

• List of high schools in Florida

References

1. Boarding School Review: Directory/Florida/The Bolles School
2. Reuse, Adapt + (12 March 2020). "This '20s Florida Luxury Hotel is Now an Elite Private School". Adapt + Reuse.
3. ^ "Bolles History & Characteristics". Bolles School. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
4. "24-7: Boarding at Bolles". Bolles School. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
5. Humphrey, Joe (March 23, 2002). "Bolles president focusing on future growth of school". Florida Times-Union. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
6. Sports Illustrated Magazine: May 16, 2005-Best High School Athletic Programs
7. FHSAA News Release: Jun 11, 2007-St. Thomas Aquinas, Bolles, P.K. Yonge, Port St. Joe, Maclay sweep Dodge Sunshine Cup all-sports awards Archived April 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
8. Scanlan, Dan (August 16, 2016) Bolles's football field goes green with artificial turf Jacksonville Times-Union
9. "Bolles in the Olympics". The Bolles School. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
10. Frenette, Gene (December 9, 2012). "Washington too fast for Bolles in state title rematch". Florida Times-Union. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
11. Cushnir, Chad: "Bolles Wins Class 2B Football Title" First Coast News, December 12, 2009
12. "Bolles School website: Athletics". Archived from the original on 2008-03-23. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
13. The Association of Boarding Schools website: The Bolles School Archived March 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
14. "Bolles School grad hangs 10 to land 'Melrose Place' role", Nancy McAlister, The Florida Times-Union, July 29, 1997.
15. The Bolles School. "Bolles Alumna's "Lightlark" Picked Up by Universal". bolles.org. Bolles. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
16. Barney, Justin (10 July 2023). "Bolles grad Jackson Baumeister hears name called in MLB draft". News4Jax. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
17. Chris Bono. nwhof.org. Received March 21, 2024.
18. "Auburn swimmer adds to proud family tradition", Austin American-Statesman, March 28, 2003.
19. ^ "Florida's Bolles School claims top spot", USA Today, November 26, 1996.
20. "Molly Hatchet biography", Steve Huey, allmusic
21. "Max Ferguson - Baseball". University of Tennessee Athletics.
22. "Swimmers Receive Goodwill Invitations", Orlando Sentinel, April 17, 1994.
23. ^ "Sergio Show Moves to Jacksonville", CollegeSwimming.com, May 30, 2007.
24. [Zapotosky, Matt. "FBI's Andrew McCabe is fired a little more than 24 hours before he could retire". The Washington Post. The Washington Post. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
25. "Waycross' forgotten son", J. Taylor Rushing, The Florida Times-Union, July 20, 2005.
26. "In Wake of Injury, It's Skinner's Job", Hartford Courant, September 14, 2006.
27. "Packers have failure to communicate", Jeff Elliott, The Florida Times-Union, December 15, 2008.
28. Travis Tygart
29. USADA
30. "Tyler Gets Back in Swim of Things", Orlando Sentinel, August 27, 1986.
31. "Playing with a Passion", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 20, 1998.
32. Miss America contestant archive Archived June 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
33. "The Way We Were: George Stallings, Jr". The Resident Community News Group, Inc. 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2022-01-04.

External links

• bolles.org, the school's official website
• The Association of Boarding Schools profile

• 1933 establishments in Florida
• Boarding schools in Florida
• Educational institutions established in 1933
• High schools in Jacksonville, Florida
• Preparatory schools in Florida
• Private elementary schools in Florida
• Private middle schools in Florida
• Private high schools in Florida
• Southside, Jacksonville