Finneytown High School
Finneytown sports teams are known as the Wildcats. The Wildcats compete in the Cincinnati Hills League (CHL), a competitive small school league in the Cincinnati area. The high school also has a competitive marching band that competes in regional and national competitions.
History
Before the secondary campus was built, students in Finneytown would attend Whitaker Elementary from 1st to 8th grades and then would go to Hughes, Mt.Healthy, or Wyoming for high school. During the late 1940s and 1950s, the population of Finneytown increased by 368%, thus increasing the demand for a high school. In 1955, an issue was passed by the residents to construct a high school. The school was partially built and opened to the first Finneytown freshman class in 1958. The secondary campus initially included two main buildings and one administration building. In the following years the high school was further expanded through the construction of additional buildings. The first expansion of the school was the construction of the gym was in 1964. The auditorium, the Performing Arts Center, and a third main building was constructed in 1969. in 1997, the two main buildings were connected through a construction of a connecting hallway building.
Due to the secondary campus' age, Finneytown residents passed an issue in 2019 for a plan to construct new schools to replace the school district's aging buildings. In 2022, the state of Ohio approved funding for a new Finneytown middle and high school.
Athletics
Finneytown Secondary Campus has various sports teams, which compete in the Cincinnati Hills League. Finneytown offers the following sports:
- Boys Sports:
- Girls Sports:
Ohio High School Athletic Association State Championships
Finneytown has won a total of 8 state sport championships in the following sports:
- Boys Track and field – Sean White, 800 Meters – 1990
- Boys Soccer – 1974, 1976, 1981
- Wrestling – Kraig Keller, 132 lb – 1980
- Girls Swimming – 200 Yards Medley Relay – 1979
- Girls Swimming – Kim Carlisle, 100 Breaststroke – 1979
- Girls Swimming – Kim Carlisle, 200 IM – 1979
Finneytown High School Marching Band
Finneytown Secondary Campus has a marching band which competes at a regional and national level. The Finneytown marching band has competed at Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA), Mid-States Band Association (MSBA), and Bands of America (BOA) competitions. The Finneytown marching band is also disproportionately large in the number of participating students compared to the high school's student enrollment. This can be seen by the band competing in BOA class A (600 or fewer enrolled students) for the 2022 season and in MSBA class AAAA (60-89 marching band members) for the 2022 season. Despite this, the band performs well at the regional and national levels. The band has managed to achieve 2nd place in MSBA class AAAA 2021 finals, 3rd place in MSBA class AAAA 2022 finals, and 5th in class A in BOA 2022 prelims.
The Finneytown marching band is directed by Director Bradley Delaney and Assistant Director Samuel Fronk.
| Year | Name of Show | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Over the Falls | 1st in MSBA AAA prelims 4th in MSBA AAA finals |
| 2019 | From Darkness into Light | 10th in MSBA AAAA finals |
| 2020 | Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | N/A |
| 2021 | Rise | 2nd in MSBA AAAA finals |
| 2022 | A Winter at the Lake | 3rd in MSBA AAAA finals 5th in Class A BOA prelims |
| 2023 | Among the Clouds | 5th in MSBA AAA finals 8th in Class A BOA prelims |
P.E.M. memorial
During The Who concert on December 3, 1979, a crowd disaster took place, which resulted in the death of 11 people of which 3 were Finneytown students. The three Finneytown students were Stephan Preston, Jackie Eckerle, and Karen Morrison. In 2010, the P.E.M. memorial was created by several Finneytown alumni with P.E.M. standing for the first letter of the surnames of the students that died at the concert. The memorial consists of a bench with an etched guitar with the inscription "My Generation" and plaque portraits of the three students near the bench. A scholarship commemorating the three students was created to coincide the memorial. The P.E.M. Scholarship is awarded every year to three Finneytown seniors who are perusing arts or music at a university or college. Every first Saturday in December, the P.E.M. memorial event takes place at the Performing Arts Center (PAC) building of the school. A Finneytown Alumni Band and various local music artists perform at the event to commemorate the three students and raise money for the P.E.M. scholarship.
On May 15, 2022, The Who performed at Cincinnati for the first time since the concert disaster as part of their "The Who Hits Back" tour. The Who had several students from Finneytown perform on stage with them for a portion of the concert. The Who also had a local band, which included Finneytown students from 1979, perform for the opening of the concert.
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Notable alumni
- Aajonus Vonderplanitz '65 – nutritionist
- Jeffrey R. Immelt '74 – former CEO and chairman of the board, General Electric.
- Marco Marsan '75 – American author with three books.
- Douglas E. Richards '80 – New York Times bestselling author.
- Randall Einhorn '82 – television and film director, producer, and cinematographer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Office (US)
- Amanda Borden '95 – 1996 Olympic Gold medalist in gymnastics.
- Donavon Clark '11 – professional football player for the Los Angeles Chargers.