Bennett High School (Buffalo, New York)

Bennett High School was an American high school located in the University Heights section of Buffalo, New York. It was named for Lewis J. Bennett, who donated the land for the school and for All High Stadium. Bennett High School formerly was a magnet school with three college prep programs: the Academy of International Law (similar to pre-law), Business and Computers (similar to information systems), and Education and the Arts.[1]

Bennett High School
Address
2885 Main Street

Buffalo
,
New York
14214

United States
Coordinates42°56′38″N 78°49′56″W
Information
Funding typePublic
MottoOptima Futura
(The Best is Yet to Be)
Opened1925
StatusNow called Lewis J. Bennett High School of Innovated Technology
School districtBuffalo Public Schools
School number200
Grades9–12
Color(s)Blue and orange
         
Team nameTigers
YearbookBeacon
Websitebuffaloschools.org/Bennett.cfm

History

Bennett High School was built in the 1920s. It has four stories with 270,000 square feet (25,000 m2). It is named for Lewis J. Bennett, who donated the land for the school and for All High Stadium. Portions of the 1984 movie The Natural were filmed in All High Stadium, although it was filmed as Wrigley Field.

The school was renovated in the summer of 2005 and the summer of 2006. During this time, some students were housed at Bennett while others were housed at nearby School 63 on Minnesota Avenue.

In 2014, the alumni association and the Buffalo Board of Education worked cooperatively to bring a dramatic change to the curriculum at Bennett. In 2017, the last class of students in the original Bennett programs graduated. At the same time a new program was put into place, the Lewis J. Bennett High School of Innovative Technology. Its first graduating class will be in 2020.

Notable alumni
  • Michael Bennett (1943 – 1987), who wrote the Broadway musical A Chorus Line dropped his last name, DiFiglia, when he went to Broadway.
  • Sorrell Booke (1930 – 1994), who played Boss Hogg in the Dukes of Hazard TV show was a 1948 Bennett grad.
  • John Elliot (1914 – 1972), songwriter
  • Leslie Feinberg (1949 – 2014), author and activist
  • Don Gilbert (b. 1943), CFL player
  • Reed Hadley (1911 – 1974), actor
  • Karla F.C. Holloway (b. 1949), James B. Duke Professor of English, Professor of Law, Duke University. Dean, Humanities & Social Sciences. Was Karla Clapp at Bennett, led debate team to state wide championship.
  • Catherine Ryan Hyde ( b.1955), novelist, author of Pay It Forward
  • Rick James (1948 – 2004), funk superstar, played in the Bennett High School Band.
  • Beverly Johnson (b. 1952), fashion model, was a graduate of Bennett High School. She was the first Black cover model for Vogue.
  • Dr. John H. Kennell (1922 – 2013), doctor of pediatrics and researcher
  • Bob Lanier (b. 1948), Basketball Hall of Famer, graduated from Bennett in 1966
  • David Lucas (b. 1937), music producer and jingle writer, attended Bennett in the 1950s but then transferred to a school in Florida.
  • Dick Offenhamer (1913 – 1998), former University at Buffalo football coach
  • Robert E. Rich, Sr. (1913 – 2006), founder of Rich Products Corporation, was the starting center for the Bennett High School football team which lost the 1930 Harvard Cup to South Park 13–2.
  • Antoine Thompson (b. 1970), former New York State Senator
  • Westside Gunn (b. 1982), Rapper, Fashion Designer, Art Connoisseur

Academics

Schedule
School 63, where selected Bennett students were housed while Bennett was renovated.

References
  1. "Bennett High School Programs". Buffalo Public Schools Website. Buffalo Public Schools. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
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