Wyandotte High School

Wyandotte High School is a public 9–12 high school of Kansas City USD 500 at 2501 Minnesota Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. The district traces a high-school program at this name to 1886; the present Art Deco building, by Fellows Hamilton & Nedved, was completed in 1936 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 30, 1986 (NRIS 86000920). The school is a 6A member of the Kansas State High School Activities Association; mascot Bulldogs, colors red and white. Notable alumni include actor Ed Asner.¹

Overview

Address	2501 Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, KS 661021
District	Kansas City USD 500 (kansas-city-kansas-public-schools)1
Grades	9–121
Enrollment	1,903 (2024–25)1
Present building	1936; architects Fellows Hamilton & Nedved; Modern / Art Deco1
Designations	Kansas City, Kansas Historic Landmark Mar 28, 1985; Historic Kansas Places Nov 23, 1985; NRHP Apr 30, 1986 (ref 86000920)1
Athletics	KSHSAA 6A; KCK-Atchison League; Bulldogs1

History

The school’s own published history dates a public high-school program named Wyandotte to 1886. The current campus building went up in 1936. Local landmark designation came March 28, 1985, followed by listing on Historic Kansas Places (November 23, 1985) and the National Register (April 30, 1986). Stephen King’s Sometimes They Come Back was filmed on the campus.¹

In the early 1930s, students built a two-seat monoplane designed by Noel Hockaday and called the Wyandotte Pup. Design rights were later bought by the Porterfield Aircraft Corporation, which produced the type as the Porterfield Flyabout.¹

Athletics

Wikipedia, summarizing district history pages, credits Wyandotte with more than fifty state championships across sports. The basketball program is the headline: 20 boys’ state titles, including an undefeated 1923 season described in those histories as a national championship (final 43–21 over Rockford, Illinois). Coach Walter Shublom (1955–1969) posted a 296–26 record (.919), ten state titles, three runner-up finishes, unbeaten seasons in 1957 and 1965, and ten straight state-final appearances (1956–1965), winning seven of those including five in a row (1957–1961). He and the school share a “high school dynasty” listing at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. The basketball team also won a state title in 1998.¹

Football titles reported for 1921 (9–0), 1923, 1932 (8–0–1), 1933 (9–0, co-champions), 1942 (10–0), and 1952 (9–0) predate KSHSAA’s first sponsored football championships in 1969 and are therefore not counted in the official KSHSAA football-title list. The 2006 team made the school’s first playoff appearance since 1987.¹

Notable alumni

Wikipedia’s alumni list, pointing at the USD 500 notable-alumni page, includes Ed Asner; NBA players Lucius Allen, Larry Drew, Larry Comley, Pierre Russell, and Calvin Thompson; NFL players Ray Evans, Skip Thomas, Spencer Thomas, Lyron Cobbins, and Reggie Jones; MLB pitcher Steve Renko; actress Dee Wallace; Phillips Petroleum president Boots Adams; cryptanalyst Virginia Aderholdt; and Tyrone Garner, later mayor of Kansas City, Kansas.¹

Sources

See also

• sumner-high-school
• kansas-city-kansas
• edward-asner
• kansas-city-kansas-public-schools
• Wiki

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Wyandotte High School.” — asserts: 2501 Minnesota Ave, Kansas City, KS 66102; USD 500; grades 9–12; enrollment 1,903 (2024–25); school founded 1886; 1936 building by Fellows Hamilton & Nedved, Modern/Art Deco; KCK Historic Landmark Mar 28 1985; Historic Kansas Places Nov 23 1985; NRHP Apr 30 1986, ref 86000920; 6A; Bulldogs; red/white; Sometimes They Come Back filmed there; Wyandotte Pup / Porterfield Flyabout; 20 basketball state titles and 1923 national-championship claim; Shublom 1955–69, 296–26, 10 titles, Hall of Fame dynasty listing; 1998 basketball title; six pre-1969 football titles as listed; 2006 playoff; alumni roster as named. Supporting official/NPS pointers: wyandotte.kckschools.org; npgallery.nps.gov ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³