The high school was founded in 1905 by Augustinian friar Kevin Campbell, O.S.A, who bought the property on which the original school sat for US$30,000 for the 5-acre (20,000 m2) site.[1][17] Green Hall was the initial building on the original campus. The school was formally dedicated on 22 April 1906, at which time the San Francisco earthquake of four days earlier was invoked.[18]
Successor to the founder was William L. Egan, O.S.A., during whose tenure the original Harris Gym and Egan Hall were completed. In 1922, the school's first stadium was constructed.[19] Joseph B. Kepperling, O.S.A. followed Egan in 1926, but his career was brought to a close by his death in 1929. John J. Harris, O.S.A. was selected as the next rector of St. Rita.
In January 1935, a fire caused extensive damage to the school's shrine after an altar candle was placed too close to a Christmas tree.[20]
In the summer of 1935, Ruellan P. Fink, O.S.A. succeeded Harris.[21] Under Fink's leadership, technical coursework began at the school in 1936. This period also saw the construction of the Mendel Technical Building (1938), and an addition to Egan Hall (1939), which (at the time) made St. Rita the largest all-boys Catholic school in the American Midwest.[22][23] A fire destroyed the wooden stands in the athletic stadium in 1944, and were soon replaced with concrete bleachers.[19] An April 1939 benefit for the addition included actors Arthur Treacher, Fifi d'Orsay, Eddie Bracken, and Virginia Payne.[24] The new monastery was completed in 1949.[1]
John E. McLaughlin, O.S.A. succeeded Fink in 1956 as principal. In 1962 Francis P. Crawford, O.S.A. became Principal. Crawford was succeeded in 1968 by Daniel B. Trusch, O.S.A. In 1971 LaVern J. Flach, O.S.A. became principal; in 1979 David L. Brecht, O.S.A., in 1983 Patrick E. Murphy, O.S.A. became Principal and in 1989 Bernard R. Danber, O.S.A. was appointed principal. Both Murphy and Danber are graduates of the school.
In 1990 the St. Rita Campus moved from 63rd and Claremont Avenue to its current location at 7740 S. Western Avenue. Prior to St. Rita's renting of the new campus, it had been home to another Catholic high school, Quigley Seminary South High School.[25] The Archdiocese of Chicago closed Quigley South prior to St. Rita's purchase of the property, returning the Chicago minor seminary to its original site at Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary.[25] At the time of the move, St. Rita had been preparing a renovation, but was forced to move when there was a concern over a new school opening on the property.[25] The school's then principal stated: "We could not afford to let another high school open there. We felt that that would be such a threat to us that we would be in danger of closing."[25] The original campus was sold to the Chicago Board of Education for US$1.8 million.[26] The original campus is now the site of Claremont Academy Elementary School.[27]
In 1993 a new president-principal model was adopted for the school. Michael J. O'Connor, O.S.A. became the school's first president. O'Connor appointed Joseph F. Bamberger as principal. In the year 2000 Thomas McCarthy O.S.A. was then named the second president and the first alumnus to be president of St. Rita High School. In the spring of 2002 McCarthy became President-Principal after Joseph F. Bamberger retired. In 2007, Sally Deenihan became not only the twelfth principal in the school's history, but also its first female principal.
In 2012, the school announced that Ernest Mrozek would be the new high school President, a position he held until 2016. Father Thomas McCarthy, O.S.A., continued to serve as both the chairman and the chaplain of the school; he also focused on his new position for the Augustinian Order's new Director of Vocations.[28] In 2023, Deacon John Donahue J.D., ED.D. was named President.[29]
Students are placed into one of three academic programs, based on an entrance exam score, and input from parents and previous teachers.[31] The Augustinian Academy is for gifted students, the Mendel Academic Program is a college preparatory program, and the Villanova Academic Study Center is geared toward students requiring more individual academic attention.[31]
The school sponsors 14 extracurricular activities ranging from academic competition and publishing to student government, and performing arts.[32]
The school's music program supports four organizations, three of which are a marching band, a concert band, and a jazz band.[33] There is also a dance and twirling squad (the Ritanettes), made up of girls from local girls' Catholic High schools, which performs with the marching band and at performances in the winter.[33]
Athletics
St. Rita competes in the Chicago Catholic League (CCL). St. Rita was one of the eight founding members of the league in 1912, and one of five remaining charter members.[34] The school is also a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), the organization which governs most sports and competitive activities in the state.
The school sponsors 12 interscholastic athletics teams which compete in IHSA sponsored state championship tournaments.[35] While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school also sponsors interscholastic teams in ice hockey, and rugby.[35]
St. Rita has won IHSA State Championships in football (1978–79, 2006–07) and wrestling (2002–03, 2003–04).[36]
They also have won many State Titles in baseball and made state many times.[37]
St. Rita has participated in nine Prep Bowls, the annual (since 1934) game pitting top teams from the Chicago Public League and the Chicago Catholic League. St. Rita won the game in 1963, 1970, 1971, 1977, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2018, and 2023.[38][39][40][41][42]
The 1963 football team won the national championship.[43]
Because Quigley South did not have a football team, there was no football stadium at the new school building. St. Rita used its old stadium until the end of September 1990 by which time the conversion of Quigley South's soccer field to a football stadium was completed.[19]
The original football stadium at 63rd and Claremont was used in the beginning of the movie Rudy.[44]
time, St. Rita had the top Aviation Industrial Arts Program at the High School level in the USA. Robert D. Blacker was St. Rita's Aeronautical Instructor for the program which was inspired by The Reverend Joseph A. Coyne, O.S.A., Dean of St. Rita's Technical Department.[46] Over the next 4 & 1/2 years, Blacker and his students built the first two airplanes for Project Schoolflight. The first one, a Baby Ace airplane completed in 1957, was christened the Spirit of Cascia and the second airplane, completed in early 1960, was the EAA Biplane which is now in the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The Spirit of Cascia, an EAA award-winning plane for Outstanding Achievement at EAA's 1957 Fly-In, is currently at the Historical Aircraft Restoration Museum in Maryland Heights, Mo., where it is being restored (2021).[47]
Blacker helped the students of St. Rita form the first Junior Chapter in EAA history[48] and he also wrote articles in the EAA's Sport Aviation magazine which included photos and stories of St. Rita High School students working on the aircraft.[49][50][51] A St. Rita student's real life story of his two years in Blacker's Aviation classes is in the external link below entitled: "From a Baby Ace to a Ford Tri Motor".
Blacker's 1958 book, Basic Aeronautical Science and Principles of Flight, has an 'In Appreciation' Forward section on page v. which extends "deep gratitude" to The Reverend Coyne.[46]
^ abc"Alumni of st. rita high to build chapel in priest's memory", Chicago Daily Tribune, pp. SW 1, 17 October 1948, Alumni of St. Rita High school have launched a $100,000 to build a memorial chapel in the Augustinian Fathers monastery now under construction at 63rd st. and Claremont av ... The chapel would honor the late Very Rev. James F. Green, OSA, founder and first rector of the school ... The million dollar monastery is expected to be completed by next fall.
^Nee, John (6 October 2016). "The "real" neighborhood rivalry". WCIU. While St. Rita and Brother Rice have been Catholic League rivals for over 50 years
^Kuchta, Chris (17 February 2009). "South Side showdown: St. Rita tops Marist". Southtown Star. Tinley Park, Illinois. Archived from the original on 8 September 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009. As far as South Side hardwood rivalries go, the one between St. Rita and Marist is developing quite a name for itself ... "It's always nice to get the neighborhood rivals together", said St. Rita coach Rob Sarmiento, who served for two years as an assistant under Marist coach Gene Nolan ...
^Stablein, Tim (5 February 2009). "Huskies, Friars ready for state-tourney challenge". OakLeaves. Oak Park, Illinois. Retrieved 12 December 2009. The Friars (16-6) ended the regular season on Thursday, losing to Neuqua Valley (39-30) and beating St. Rita (40-27). Fenwick had not beaten Chicago Catholic League rival St. Rita in 10 years.
^Currier, Dan (11 October 2007). "Ramblers top St. Rita on off day". Morton Grove Champion. Morton Grove, Illinois. Retrieved 12 December 2009. That's what the Loyola Rambers did last Thursday in a 2-1 victory over Chicago Catholic League rival St. Rita.
^"TESTIMONY SHOWS A RUSTIC CHICAGO: "Little Venice" Witnesses Describe Rich Farm Lands Within City's Limits. WANT RATING AS TILLERS Owners of Tracts Near the Flood Bound Gage Park Object to Payments for Sewers. College Pays $6,000 an Acre. Court Declines Invitation. Gage Park Attacks Foreman. Foreman Promises Improvement. Waiting for More Land", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 7, 14 February 1908, ... the city called the Rev. J. F. Green, president of St. Rita's college, which is situated at Sixty-third street and Oakley avenue ... Father Green testified he had paid nearly $30,000 for the five acres occupied by the college ...
^"FRISCO CALLING FOR ARCHITECTS: Mayor Schmitz Telegraphs an Urgent Appeal to Executive in Chicago. WANTS TO REBUILD CITY. Local Members of the Profession Say Volunteers Will Be Sent to the Coast. Fears Labor Union Troubles. Hope of Truce Expressed", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 7, 23 April 1906, At the dedication of St. Rita of Cascia college, Sixty-third street and Oakley avenue, yesterday the Rev. Father M. J. Dorney referred to the disaster at San Francisco.
^ abcdTemkin, Barry (28 September 1990). "St. Rita stadium takes final bow". Chicago Tribune. p. 12.
^"Fire Loss 1 -- No Title", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 6, 4 January 1935, Damage estimated at $5,000 was caused by a fire yesterday in the shrine of the St. Rita High school at 63rd street and Oakley avenue ... Firemen who extinguished the blaze said it was caused by a Christmas tree coming in contact with altar candles.
^"St. Rita School Head Elevated to New Post", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 4, 28 June 1935, The Rev. John Harris, OSA, principal of St. Rita Catholic High school ... received word yesterday ... that he has been made superior at the St. Nicholas church, Bronx, NY. He will be replaced by the Rev. R. P. Fink, OSA
^"ST. RITA'S HIGH FINDS NEED OF NEW BUILDING :Plans Drive to Obtain $75,000 Fund", Chicago Daily Tribune, pp. SW 1, 25 December 1938, St. Rita's High school, which began its new building program last summer with the erection of a $150,000 technical building, will construct a $75,000 classroom and administration building this spring.
^"Ground broken for addition to st. rita school", Chicago Daily Tribune, pp. SW 1, 2 April 1939, The 1,200 enrollment will make St. Rita's the largest Catholic boys' high school in the middle west.
^"Stars of stage to aid st. rita benefit party", Chicago Daily Tribune, pp. SW 1, 23 April 1939, Celebrities who will appear in person include Arthur Treacher, Fifi d'Orsay, ... Eddie Bracken ... Virginia Payne ...
^ abcdReardon, Patrick T; Hirsley, Michael (3 May 1990). "St. Rita to call Quigley South its new home". Chicago Tribune. p. 1.
^Reardon, Patrick T. (11 September 1990). "All feel like freshmen at St. Rita". Chicago Tribune. p. 3.
^"Claremont Academy sports sign to go with new name". Chicago Tribune. 3 October 2004. p. 2.
^Leusch, John (1 December 1963). "St. Rita All-Chicago Champion: 81,270 watch 42-7 rout of Vocational". Chicago Tribune. pp. D1. Before a throng of 81,270, Byrne broke two Prep boal records ... to lead St. Rita to its first All-Chicago gridiron championship.
^Leusch, John (6 December 1970). "ST. RITA BEATS LANE IN PREP BOWL, 12-8: 65,735 See Catholic String Reach 11". Chicago Tribune. pp. B1.
^Leusch, John (5 December 1971). "St. Rita Stops Morgan Park 18-12: Keeps City Crown on Marek TDs". Chicago Tribune. pp. D1. St. Rita won its second All-Chicago high school football championship in a row yesterday by managing an 18-12 victory over Morgan Park ...
^Shnay, Jerry (4 December 1977). "Rita fulfills prophecy". Chicago Tribune. pp. B1. St. Rita's football team profited from Coach Pat Cronin's prophecy. And that's one reason the Mustangs won the 44th annual Prep Bowl Saturday afternoon.
^Metsch, Steve (29 November 2007). "Prep Bowl pomp saturates St. Rita". Southtown Star. Chicago. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2009. It's not often a high school football team follows a state championship with a highly respected Chicago Prep Bowl victory. Yet, that's what St. Rita accomplished ...
^"45 Darius Fleming". biography. Notre Dame University Athletics. Retrieved 4 October 2009. ... helped lead St. Rita to the Class 7A state championship in his junior season ... St. Rita's original football stadium was used in the beginning of the movie "Rudy" ...
^Blacker, Robert D (March 1983). "SCHOOLFLIGHT- It Really Works". Sport Aviation. March Issue: 62 – via EAA.org. ...Mr. Blacker came to St. Rita High School in 1951 and initiated a class known as 'Aeronautics'.....
^ abBlacker, Robert D (1958). Basic Aeronautical Science and Principles of Flight. Chicago Il.: American Technical Society. Lib. of Congress: 58-10423...Robert D. Blacker Instructor in Aeronautics, St. Rita High School.............Particular gratitude is extended to The Reverend Joseph A. Coyne, O.S.A Dean of Technical Department...
^Schmid, Julie (October 1957). "Youth takes a Trophy". Sport Aviation. October Issue: 13 – via eaa.org. ...Spirit of Cascia Baby Ace....built by St. Rita students....wins " Outstanding Achievement in Aviation Education award at 1957 EAA Fly-in....
^Lande, D.A. (2002). OSKOSH: Gateway to Aviation- 50 Years of EAA Fly Ins. Oshkosh, Wisconsin: Experimental Aircraft Association. p. 22. ISBN1-58932-005-0.
^Blacker, Robert D. (March 1956). "A Place for Amateur Built Aircraft in Education". Sport Aviation. March Issue: 4 – via eaa.org. ...We take our hats off to Father Joseph Coyne & instructor Robert D. Blacker of St. Rita's.....
^Blacker, Robert D. (April 1958). "One High School's Aviation Training Program". Sport Aviation. April Issue: 11 – via eaa.org. ... By Robert D. Blacker, Instructor St. Rita High School...
^Blacker, Robert D. (June 1959). "How EAA can Further Aviation Education". Sport Aviation. June Issue: 18–19 – via eaa.org. "...The EAA Biplane is center of attention of airplane building at St. Rita's High school junior chapter #39
^ abcdefghijkTucker, Steve (4 December 2007). "St. Rita". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 30 December 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2009.
^"Judge William J. Campbell". biography. Library of the U.S. Courts of the Seventh Circuit. Retrieved 3 October 2009. William J. Campbell was born on March 19, 1905 in Chicago, and was a graduate of St. Rita High School.
^"Cubs sign pitcher Clancy". Chicago Sun-Times. 31 January 1992. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2009. The Cubs signed 14-year veteran right-hander Jim Clancy to a minor-league contract ... Clancy, a Chicago native and 1974 graduate of St. Rita, spent most of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays ...
^McNear, Claire (20 January 2016). "A guide to that wild Darius Fleming story". SBNation.com. It's an understatement to say we are proud of New England Patriot Darius Fleming, St. Rita Class of 2008.
^"Finnegan, Edward Rowan". biography. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 3 October 2009. ... attended the St. Ritas, Northwestern, and DePaulus schools, Loyola University, and Northwestern University School of Law ...
^"81 Tony Simmons WR". biographic sketch. New England Patriots. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2009. He attended St. Rita High in Chicago, Ill. and earned prep All-American honors ...