A Pictorial History of the Changes at South High

For nearly 40 years if you were a kid living in Torrance, then you were going to Torrance High School (opened in 1917.)  With the post war baby boom explosion, more high schools were needed to meet the population demand.  North High opened in 1955, South High in 1957, and West High in 1962.  In 1952, the swamp land that would soon become our campus (44.5 acres) was purchased for $163,000.  For the first semester of 1957, the South High kids were actually on the Torrance High campus due to delayed construction on the new campus (administration building and the main gym.)  In January 1958 the kids finally funneled onto their permanent campus .  Apart from a few buildings, the campus looked like a desert.  Heck, the whole city of Torrance looked like a desert.  Look behind these on-campus pictures.  East view of Torrance from South High....with no tennis courts, nor any houses by Anza.  North view of Torrance with Calle Mayor Middle school in construction in the background.  South view Torrance with the Hollywood Rivera hill almost completely barren.  In 1964, the stadium was built.  And in 1977 the girls gymnasium started construction.

    Changes to Cross Country

A quick rundown of the Cross Country coaches...Coach Stuart, Coach Scully, Coach Ruffell, Coach Griffing, Coach Tokuda, Coach Hartman, Coach Harris, and Coach Terry.  In the early days, it was not uncommon for the runners to run shoeless ...try to run barefoot now and you'll get disqualified. In the beginning, there was only boys Cross Country (girls would start in 1978) and the courses were only 2 miles.  The South High home course started on campus ....the runners would head out the parking lot ....cross Calle Mayor, while the spectators stopped traffic ...and up into the residential street (Vanderhill Rd) ...coming back onto campus, they would take a quick turn onto the track ...then back on the main field for the finishing kick .  In the late-70's, the home course moved to Rolling Hills Prep School.  During the next twenty or so years, the Rolling Hills Prep school course would go through a series of changes.  One course went down the grass strip to Torrance Beach...then through the soft sand by RAT beach and up 'agony hill' to the finish line.  One crazy course had the kids run down 'agony hill' and take a sharp turn up the cliff face above RAT beach ...if a kid  veered 2 feet to the left and off the trail, then he would have plunge 100+ feet to his death and onto the rocks below.  The final Rolling Hills Prep course never made it to the beach and never went past the horseshoe region.  In the late 90's, our home course moved to Peninsula course.

    Changes to Track & Field

Our Track has gone through significant changes.  It started with no bleachers .  Visitor side bleachers were built in 1966...home side bleachers ???  Sprint and hurdle races would start on the visitor side .  The long jump pit was on the football field .  The shot put ring was outside the track just before you walk onto the track (near the current girl's gymnasium) .  The race distances were in yards instead of meters.  But nevertheless there were some clearly unusual events:  660 yard race , the 880 yard relay with the finish line on the 50-yard line, the 80 high hurdles (for boys), the 50 high hurdles (for girls), the 120 High hurdles which started by our current jump pit area , and the softball toss.  In the early days (before the Fosbury flop), high jumpers would go head first into the saw dust pit.  And the pole vaulters would also vault into the saw dust pit ...it's hard to tell in this picture, but clearly there are no landing mats...ouch!  In the early 80's, everything changed to meters.  In the early 90's, the discus event was first introduced.   In 2003, the kids dug up a new long jump pit