With over 1,200 students, it is the largestCatholic high school in Houston. It has a full-time curator for its art collection; theCity of Houston has classified the campus as an art museum.[7] The school is located within theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. It is one of only two private schools in Texas that are members of theUniversity Interscholastic League (the other beingDallas Jesuit), which allows it to compete athletically against the largest public schools.
The school was founded by Father Michael Kenelley, S.J.,[8][9] on June 21, 1960, in what was then the undeveloped, west side of Houston. It is named in honor of oil tycoonGeorge William Strake Sr.
The school's patron saint isStanislaus Kostka, a Polish Jesuit who serves as a patron of students; additionally, as a Jesuit institution,Ignatius of Loyola is invoked as an unofficial patron saint.[10]
In 1971, the school asked to declareChapter 10 bankruptcy as it lost money in theSharpstown scandal.[11] The school surrendered seven acres of its original property to pay its debts and emerge from bankruptcy protection. The seven-acre tract was repurchased by the school in 2012 for $3.3 million.[12]
From 1990 to 1993, the number of applications submitted to Strake Jesuit doubled. Fr. Brian Zinnamon, the school president, said during the year that there were twice as many applicants as available spots. At the time, tuition was $4,700 per year, described by theHouston Chronicle as steep.[6] Father Zinnamon said, "Certainly what is going on in the public schools is a factor. Parents are choosing a safe environment where they know their children are getting Christian values."[6]
The "Fighting Crusaders" were one of many Catholic high schools that originally competed in the now defunct T.C.I.L. (Texas Christian Interscholastic League).[14] The league began in 1935 under the direction of Albert Mitchell (then principal ofCentral Catholic,San Antonio). Strake Jesuit's last year of competition in the T.C.I.L. concluded when the league came to a close in the 1999–2000 athletic season with the baseball team capturing the final T.C.I.L. State Championship in any sport.[citation needed] After T.C.I.L. merged withTAPPS, both Strake Jesuit andDallas Jesuit were not permitted to join as TAPPS believed those two schools were too powerful.[14] From the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2003, the Crusaders competed as an independent in all sports.
They were admitted into theUniversity Interscholastic League (U.I.L.), the public school athletic league, partly due to the efforts ofJoe Nixon, a member of theTexas House of Representatives.[14]Texas Senate Bill 1943 opened the UIL to Strake andDallas Jesuit, which established rules to put those two schools on equal footing with public schools.[15] After its admission into the U.I.L., Strake Jesuit began competing in its listed district of 19-5A in the fall of 2003. The Crusaders have won several district and regional championships along with a state championship, state runners-up, and state semi-finalists within the past eight years in the U.I.L. The "Fighting Crusaders" athletic department provides 14 different programs which include: baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, water polo, and wrestling.[citation needed]
TheHouston Press ranked the U.I.L. realignment as the "Best Way to Break In to the Big Time" in 2003.[14]
Despite moving to the U.I.L., Strake Jesuit had a storied rivalry withSaint Thomas High School (STH). Since its beginning in 1964, Strake Jesuit had a record of 24–29–1 against STH. However, as of 2020, both schools have announced the end of the annual competition and Strake Jesuit will now compete with Dallas Jesuit instead. This decision however was disliked by students and alumni from both schools.[16][17][18]
^McKenna, Carter (September 2019)."Strake Jesuit Wins Football Opener vs. St. Thomas".The Buzz Magazines.Strake Jesuit and St. Thomas, who have been high school football rivals for five and a half decades now, ...
This list is incomplete. This listonly includes schools in the Houston city limits. Multiple schools with "Houston, Texas" addresses arenot in the city limits.
