Bellarmine College Preparatory

Bellarmine College Preparatory is an all-boys, Jesuit, private secondary school located in San Jose, California. Founded in 1851, it is the oldest Jesuit secondary school in California and the second-oldest west of the Mississippi River.

Overview


A Roman Catholic school in the tradition of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Bellarmine is a member of the West Catholic Athletic League, the Jesuit Schools Network, and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

As of 2021, Bellarmine led the CIF Central Coast Section with 140 Division 1 titles. Bellarmine's Speech and Debate Team was ranked in the top 10 programs in the country with its policy debate team ranked #1 after winning the triple crown (NDCA Championship, Tournament of Champions (debate) and NDSA Nationals) in 2021. In addition, the school's FIRST Robotics Competition team, Team 254: The Cheesy Poofs, has been the World Champion (2011, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2022) for 4 of the past 10 years. The school's publications include its student newspaper, The Bell Online, and its yearbook, The Carillon.

The school is reputed for its graduates’ contributions and powerful influence in the Bay Area. Bellarmine's list of notable alumni includes 4 Olympians (six Gold Medals combined), 2 living Billionaires, 3 Mayors of San Jose, the former team owners of the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics, 3 World Series Champions, 5 Super Bowl Champions, 1 Academy-Award Winner, 1 Pulitzer Prize Winner, 28 Professional MLB athletes, numerous award-winning authors and several state politicians. Previous Bellarmine alumni have won prestigious postgraduate scholarships including the Rhodes Scholarship, Marshall Scholarship, Schwarzman Scholarship, MacArthur Fellowship, and the Fulbright Awards.

History


Bellarmine was founded in 1851 by Fr. John Nobili, S.J., and his companions, as Santa Clara College, a school for secondary and college-age students. In 1912, the college was separated into 2 schools - Santa Clara University and Santa Clara Prep. After sharing the same campus for thirteen years, the secondary school moved to its current College Park Campus after purchasing the land from the University of the Pacific (then known as the College of the Pacific) for $77,500. In 1926, the renovated school opened its doors to a student body of 200 registered students.

In 2011, the Lorry I. Lokey Academic Center was completed after a $15 million gift from the family of the philanthropist and founder of Business Wire. This was the single largest gift in the school's history. The new center houses over 27 classrooms, a faculty lounge and the Craft-Malcolm Family Academic Resource Center.

The College Park Caltrain station is adjacent to the campus since its inception and has been a historic presence for Bellarmine's metropolitan community. Over 140 students take the train to school everyday from San Mateo county to Gilroy. The station is served by only 4 trains a day, timed to correspond with the school's hours. In recent years, amidst discussion of the station shutting down, the school has lobbied Caltrain to avoid cutting service to the station.

Academics
As of 2020, Bellarmine's current enrollment size is approximately 1,655 students. The average class size is 22.5 and the student-to-teacher ratio is 13:1. For the Class of 2019, 99.2% of students went to attend college. 94.7% of graduating seniors were attending a four-year institution.

Football
The Bells Football team represents Bellarmine College Preparatory in the West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) of the CIF Central Coast Section. The team has 20 WCAL Titles and 8 CCS Championships in program history. The Bell's Football team is currently headed by former San Diego Chargers coach and 2-time Super Bowl Champion with the Denver Broncos David Diaz-Infante. He took over from Bellarmine alum Jalal Beauchman who led the Bells to a NorCal Championship in 2022. In 1965, the John Hanna-coached Bells outscored opponents 310–6 during a 31-game winning streak to earn the first of two state titles (the other was in 1981).

Soccer
The Bellarmine Soccer team is noted for the league's longest winning streak of 17 consecutive titles under Coach Patrick Lowney. The Bellarmine's 2002 varsity soccer team had a perfect 25-0-0 season. As of 2021, the soccer team coached by Conor Salcido '07 has won 3 of the past 5 CCS Open Division titles, a NorCal CIF Division 1 Title, and finished the 2021 season ranked #4 in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer and CBS Sports.

Robotics
The Robotics Team, named The Cheesy Poofs, has over 100 members. The high school competes in two different divisions: FTC and FRC. The team has won the World Chairman's Award (the highest award in FIRST) in 2004, and the World Championships 5 times (the most of any FIRST team) in 2011, 2014, 2017, 2018, and 2022. The team also holds the record for most regional events won, having 44 regional wins to their name. In 2008, Bellarmine first entered VEX Robotics and in 2009–2010 won 16 regional competitions, 7 of them in international competition. In the 2010–2011 season, Bellarmine's VEX team 254A won the VEX World Excellence Award, the highest it confers. In 2014, the team won three regionals, the Curie Division, and World Championships. The school shares a partnership with NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. In 2022, Bellarmine's Team 254F won the VEX World Championships in Dallas Texas.



Student media & publications
In 2008, Bellarmine began its own radio station, KBCP The Bell, as a legal, unlicensed station at 1650 AM which reaches a 1-mile radius of the school. Programs include 30-minute newscasts, sports shows, daily music shows, and political talk radio.

Speech and debate
In 1994, Bellarmine won the team speech and debate National Forensic League Championship in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2003 and 2004, the team won the California State Championship, then came in second in the state in 2005 when it was ranked as one of the top two teams in the nation. In 2006, its policy debate team captured the National Championship. For nine years, 2006–2014, Bellarmine's Speech and Debate program won the California State Championship, as well as in 2022. The program trains students in 12 speech events and 6 debate categories. In 2021, Bellarmine won the Policy Debate Championship, 2nd place in Congressional Debate, Top 10 in International Extemp & National Extemp and received the Bruno E. Jacobs Award, which is given to the school who has the greatest number of cumulative rounds at the national tournament across the years. Its rival high school in speech and debate is Leland High School (San Jose, California).

In popular culture

 * Bellarmine's College Park Caltrain station is mentioned in Jack London's 1903 novel The Call of the Wild as the location at which the stolen canine protagonist is fenced, beginning his journey away from civilization.
 * In his 1960 Lonesome Traveler collection, American poet Jack Kerouac writes about watching the Bells play football in "October in the Railroad Earth."

Notable alumni

 * Marv Owen '24 - MLB (1931–1940)
 * Nello Falaschi '31 - played for NFL's New York Giants
 * John W. Gallivan '33 - publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune, 1960–1984
 * Leo Righetti '44 - baseball player
 * Conn Findlay '48 - holds four Olympic medals, three in rowing (1956 gold, 1960 bronze, 1964 gold) and one in sailing (1976 bronze)
 * Wayne Belardi '48 - MLB first baseman
 * John Vasconcellos '50 - California State Senator
 * Joe Albanese '51 - Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher
 * Jim Beall '70 - politician
 * Dennis Crosby '52 - singer and actor
 * Phillip Crosby '52 - singer and actor
 * Jim Small '55 - MLB (1955–1958)
 * Stephen Schott '57 - former owner of Oakland Athletics
 * John A. Sobrato '57 real estate developer
 * Billy Connors '59 - MLB pitcher and coach
 * Ming Chin '60 - Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California
 * Frank Bergon '61 - writer
 * Bob Gallagher '62 - MLB (1972–1975)
 * Tom McEnery '63 - 61st Mayor of San Jose
 * Dan Pastorini '67 - NFL quarterback (1971–1981, 1983), Super Bowl XV champion; played in 1975 Pro Bowl
 * Jim Wilhelm '70 - MLB (1978–1979)
 * Frank C. Girardot ‘79 - Author "Name Dropper: Investigating the Clark Rockefeller Mystery"
 * Nick Holt '81 - defensive coordinator of Purdue Boilermakers, former head coach of Idaho Vandals
 * Sal Cesario '81 - NFL offensive guard
 * Erik Howard '82 - played for NFL's New York Giants, New York Jets
 * David Diaz-Infante '82 - played for NFL's San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles
 * Randy Kirk '83 - NFL (1987–1999)
 * Pablo Morales '83 - Olympic gold and silver medalist (1979–1983)
 * Tony West '83 - 17th United States Associate Attorney General and current chief legal officer of Uber
 * Jim Wahler '84 - played for NFL's Phoenix Cardinals, Washington Redskins
 * Greg Gohr '85 - MLB (1993–1996)
 * Ron Caragher '85 - NCAA football head coach
 * Kelly Grovier '87 - poet and literary critic
 * Ed Giovanola '87 - MLB (1995–1999)
 * Sam Liccardo '87 - Mayor of San Jose (2015–)
 * Stephen Mirrione '87 - Academy Award-winning film editor for Traffic
 * Chris Kelly '87 - Co-Owner Sacramento Kings, Former Chief Privacy Officer Facebook
 * Viet Thanh Nguyen '88 - 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction for his novel The Sympathizer
 * Ralph Alvarado '88 - Kentucky State Senator
 * Joey Manahan '89 - Hawaii State Representative and Honolulu City Councilman
 * John B. Owens '89 - United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit judge
 * Nick Hatzke '91 - MLS player (2007–09), Houston Dynamo
 * Gregg Hurwitz '91 - author
 * Kevin McMahon '90: track & field athlete at 1996 and 2000 Olympics; teaches in Bellarmine's Visual and Performing Arts department
 * Justin Baughman '92 - MLB second baseman
 * Pat Burrell '94 - MLB outfielder
 * Bassnectar (Lorin Ashton) '96: musician
 * Helmy Eltoukhy '97 - co-founder & CEO of biotech startup companies Avantome and Guardant Health
 * Kevin Frandsen '00 - MLB player, San Francisco Giants (2006–2015)
 * Craig Bragg '00 - National Football League (NFL) wide receiver
 * Copeland Bryan '01 - NFL defensive end
 * Brian Armstrong '01 - Founder and CEO of Coinbase
 * Matt Mahan '01 - 66th Mayor of San Jose
 * Sunkrish Bala '02 - actor
 * Jose Moreno Brooks '03 - actor
 * Francis Maka '03 - linebacker, San Jose SaberCats of Arena Football League
 * Eric Thames '04: MLB player (2011–2012, 2017–2020)
 * Alex Brightman '05 - actor
 * Scott Weltz '05 - U.S. Olympic Swimmer in 2012 Olympics (200 m Breaststroke)
 * Tommy Medica '06 - MLB (2013–14)
 * Mark Canha '07 - MLB first baseman
 * Erik Goeddel '07 - MLB pitcher, New York Mets (2014–present)
 * Austyn Carta-Samuels '09 - professional gridiron football player and coach
 * Michael Clay '09 - Special teams coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles
 * Mitchell Harrison White '13 - MLB pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers
 * K. J. Carta-Samuels '14 - professional gridiron football quarterback for the Dresden Monarchs
 * Marc Pelosi - MLS soccer player, San Jose Earthquakes (2015–2017)