Reitz High School
from the Sep. 2, 1976 Reitz vs. Central Football Program
The idea for a school on the
Westside of Evansville came from the Centennial Club, led by
Mrs. C.F. Werner, who fought a genteel, but determined battle
with the reluctant school board. The ladies said the
Evansville High School (old Central) was too far away to be
financially practical for many west side families. After four
years of crusading, the Centennial Club won.
The school board had planned to
call the school West Side High School. That was before the
board discovered a lack of funds and F.J. Reitz agreed to
finance the building of the school. A grateful school board
immediately voted that this new hall of learning (which
incidentally cost $223,844.00) should be named after Mr.
Reitz.
Thus Reitz High School became
the first high school on the Westside and the second in Evansville.
At first Reitz was intended to
be a Junior High School, including only seventh, eighth, and
ninth grades', but as the student body grew older, the
curriculum was geared to fit the needs of older students.
Reitz graduated its first seniors in 1921.
Reitz School Colors
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Reitz's original school colors
were and orange and purple, but those were given to Lincoln
High School during the first half of the century. After they
gave away their colors they picked blue and gray, as Reitz
sits on the Mason-Dixon Line, and blue and gray were the
colors of the North and South during the Civil War. |
Reitz School Song
Sung to the tune of On Wisconsin, Edna
Mae Shaw (Class of '31) composed the now-famous lyrics to RHS Boys.
They are as follows:
RHS Boys, RHS Boys
Fight on for her
fame
Take the ball
right down the field,
And win for her
this game.
Rah! Rah! Rah!
RHS Boys, RHS Boys
To this name be
true
Fight Fellows,
fight, fight, fight
We're backing
you.
R-R-R-E-I,
I-I-I-T-Z
Reitz, Reitz,
Victory!
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