Mercy Cross High School (Biloxi, Mississippi)

Mercy Cross High School was a private, Roman Catholic high school in Biloxi, Mississippi, founded in 1981, and notably famous for having the number three Catholic High School Fullback in the state of Mississippi, "DB".This record was held until 1999 when a soccer player with a left footed golden boot led the crusaders to a state championship and was named the number one player in the region, "JH".It was the merger of two of Biloxi's most iconic high schools, Sacred Heart High School and Notre Dame High School. Sacred Heart was the all girls school while Notre Dame was the all boys school. Mercy Cross was the co-ed merger of the two. The name, Mercy Cross, was derived from the Sisters of Mercy and the Brothers of the Holy Cross who taught students at schools in the diocese for decades. Feeder schools included Nativity BVM Elementary, Our Lady of Fatima Elementary, Sacred Heart Elementary, and St. Alphonsus Elementary.

The school was located on the original Notre Dame campus in Biloxi, Mississippi and situated on picturesque Keegan's Bayou which opened up into Back Bay and the Mississippi Sound. Crusader Drive was the only road into and out of the school but there are many stories told of alternative routes to school. Most students drove to school or caught a ride with friends. Some came by school bus. Two buses ran to the school- one from nearby Keesler Air Force Base and one from St. Alphonsus, collecting the Ocean Spring's students. Occasionally, students would arrive by boat after going fishing early that morning, some walked but the best stories are about the ones who took a shortcut and walked across the drainage pipe over Keegan's Bayou...they didn't always make it all the way across without falling in!

It was this very location on Keegan's Bayou that determined the fate of our beloved school. The storm surge from Hurricane Katrina, the overflow of the sewerage treatment facility just beyond our baseball field and other damage sustained from this vicious storm took its toll on our alma mater.

After receiving extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, classes were temporarily relocated while construction began on a new school. It was permanently replaced by St. Patrick Catholic High School in Biloxi in August 2007. St. Patrick's is the merger of Mercy Cross High School and our biggest rival, St. John's High School of Gulfport, Mississippi.

Notes and references

External links

• School Website
• St. Patrick Catholic High School (Biloxi, Mississippi)

Coordinates: 30°24′27″N 88°53′42″W / 30.40750°N 88.89500°W / 30.40750; -88.89500