School Heritage Museum

It has crossed many minds, but there have been few answers. Until now. How did Huntington High School happened to acquire its distinctive Blue Devil nickname and logo, with its piercing eyes and formidable horns?

The Nathan Hale chapter of the National Honor Society at Huntington High School was organized in 1954. It will hold its 71st induction ceremony late this fall.

Once a piece of history is tossed into a garbage can it’s usually lost forever. Brian Hansen doesn’t want that to happen to any Huntington School District related artifact. So send the curator of the School Heritage Museum a message first and he’ll be a happy man.

The first day of public education in the Huntington community was February 11, 1657. Since then the town has seen revolution, civil war, several economic depressions, two world wars and countless other conflicts, presidential assassinations, scandals, social upheavals and industrialization, the end of slavery, women’s emancipation and the rise of the United States as a world power, but never before had schools seen anything quite like the changes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lou Giani stands alone as New York State’s all-time greatest high school wrestling coach. His unparalleled career as Huntington High School’s mat mentor landed him in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma where he was enshrined as a Distinguished Member, one of only a handful of American high school coaches to be so honored.

As the spring season enters its second week at Huntington High School, more than 370 athletes are filling the rosters of 17 varsity and JV teams. Still more will sign onto varsity Unified basketball when its makes its debut in a few weeks. These teenagers are joining a 114 year old tradition where hard work has always been the culture

The story behind the Huntington High School varsity fencing program is a one that played out over many decades. It took several attempts to get the sport off the ground and it wasn’t until the 1935/36 school year that the effort succeeded.

There’s an obscure memorial plaque on the wall outside the Huntington High School music department office commemorating the life and death of 1953 alum Milton George Bergey, who perished in a February 25, 1960 mid-air collision over Rio de Janeiro with 18 fellow members of the United States Navy Band. The group was flying to Brazil to play at a diplomatic reception featuring President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Brazilian President Juscelino Kubitschek.

Huntington School Board members voted to rename the Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School rotunda after the architect who designed the building; Huntington High School Class of 1941 member Alfred DiGiacomo. A ceremony is being planned for the fall.

The Rock at Huntington High School has been the canvas upon which students and community members have painted heartfelt messages for decades. Now Superintendent James W. Polansky has added his name and story to the beloved tradition.

Faced with growing enrollment just a few years after it opened Woodbury Avenue School and Lincoln Elementary School, the Huntington School District decided to erect a stately looking brick building on Bay Avenue in 1928. Named after Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, the school served children from the Halesite and Huntington Bay areas.

Pride. Huntington High School students have always possessed it in abundance. It was obvious even a century ago and probably decades earlier, too.

A nearby school district recently reached out to Huntington UFSD to gauge interest in collaborating on an equestrian team. While the notion might seem really “out there” if not outright farfetched, officials haven’t slammed the door on the idea. It is under discussion as the two districts explore the possibilities.

The Nathan Hale chapter of the National Honor Society at Huntington High School was organized in 1954. It will celebrate its 66th induction ceremony this fall.