R.L. Paschal High School
History
We Are Paschal!
Welcome to Paschal, the oldest and largest high school in Fort Worth ISD. Paschal was founded in the 1880s as Fort Worth High School. In 1891, the location of Fort Worth High was at 200 South Jennings. In 1906, Robert L Paschal became our principal. After a 1910 fire, the school was moved to the building on the Corner of Jennings and Rosedale. In 1918, we moved again to the building on Canon and College Street. It was here that we changed our name to Central High School. When Principal Paschal retired in 1935, the school was renamed in his honor as RL Paschal High School. Fort Worth saw growth after World War II, so in 1955 we moved south to our current location on Forest Park Blvd. We took over the building that was McLean Junior High.
Since 1955, Paschal has continued to build on the greatest traditions we began in those early years. We are the purple and white, the royalty of our great city. We are the panthers of Panther City. We are Purple Reign, We are Paschal. For nearly 150 years, Paschal graduates have gone on to lead remarkable lives, lives of service, creativity, and leadership. Graduates like Morten Meyerson, the famous electronics businessman and namesake of the Morten Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, played football and graduated from Paschal in 1956. Graduates like Astronaut Alan Bean, a 1950 graduate of Paschal, the fourth man to walk on the moon. Paschal is the only high school on Earth to have had a flag on the moon, thanks to Captain Bean. Graduates like Lila Banks Cockrell, class of 1936 who became mayor of San Antonio in 1976, the first female mayor of a major US city, Price Daniel, class of 1927, who became Governor of Texas in 1956, and Bill Owens, who graduated from Paschal in 1969 and served as a congressman and from 1999 to 2007 was Governor of Colorado. Graduates like Charles Frank Pendleton, a graduate of Paschal High School, who later gave his last great measure while serving his country in the Korean War. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in July of 1953. Like Aneal Luebanos, who graduated from Paschal in 2004 and in 2017 was elected to the FWISD board of education. Charles Tandy, the class of 1935, the founder of the Tandy Corporation and Radio Shack, went to Paschal, and so did Dr. Rebekah Ann Naylor, Class of 1960, who founded a hospital in India. Major league baseball player Jeff Newman and NFL quarterbacks Frank Ryan and Tommy Thompson, and even the great golfer Ben Hogan went to Paschal. Actors like Norman Alden, Ginger Rogers, and Dan Hewitt Owens called Paschal home, so did musicians Charlie Applewhite and T Bone Burnett. Tens of thousands of Fort Worth residents have learned, grown, and graduated from Paschal over the decades. Many of them have been named National merit commended scholars, Hispanic Scholars, and national merit semifinalists or finalists. We have also seen hundreds of Advanced Placement Scholars, more than all other FWISD schools combined. Today, about 2200 students call Paschal home. Some are athletes, some are musicians, some will go on to be doctors, politicians, or business owners, but all will be challenged during their years at Paschal to be prepared for college, career, and community leadership. They will experience the value of diversity, a tremendous sampling of Fort Worth, and they will learn to support one another. No matter whether your family has been in Fort Worth and at Paschal for generations, or if you are first in your family at PHS, you are a valued member of our community. There is only one Fort Worth and there is One Paschal.
History of R. L. Paschal High School
1882-1910 In 1885 Paschal High School was founded, under the name of Ft. Worth High School. Not only was the name of the school different but so were the names of the classes. For instance the Physical Education classes were called Physical Culture. Because the school was not co-educational girls and guys attended separate classes, and also had separate principals. The fashion of the time was double breasted suits and ankle length skirts. In 1891 the first Ft. Worth High School was built and considered to be the finest school building in Texas. It was a three story building surrounded by dirt roads, which were muddy on rainy days and caused a decline in attendance. There was no lunch room until 1899 and the girls in the domestic science classes made sandwiches that sold for three cents and soup that sold for five cents. In 1902 the first class in manual training began, which later became known as shop class, and the students had to wear suits. Mr. Robert L. Paschal, a lawyer and a genius of education, became the Principal in 1906. A teacher's salary back then was a dollar a day. Female teachers wore hats and male teachers wore a coat and tie. Some very well known teachers from Ft. Worth High School have since been honored, such as Ms. Lily B. Clayton, who has had an elementary school named after her, and Miss Charlie Mary Noble after whom the Noble Planetarium at the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History is named.
1910-1916 In 1910, Ft. Worth High School burned to the ground and classes were moved to various elementary schools until a new high school was built. It was also the first year the school annual was published, then named "The Panther," after Ft. Worth's nickname "Panther City." A new high school was built on the corner of Jennings and Rosedale and classes went on as usual. Paschal's football team began its dynasty in 1913 when it was still Ft. Worth High School. The 1913 team had a perfect no loss season except for one game against the College Allstar team. Football wasn't the only sport that flourished under the name Ft. Worth High School. The baseball team of 1916 became known as the Pride of Ft. Worth High after winning the North Texas State Championships. Paschal has always been one of the top sports competitors in Texas.
1917-1956 Fort Worth High School moved to a new location on Canon and College Street. From 1918-1923, Paschal was called Central High School. In 1918 teams dominated in every sport and the football team was proclaimed the North Texas Champions. The first Pantherette, the school newspaper which still exists to this day, was published in 1919. The 1923 track team walked away with the State Relay banner and some of the team made the U.S. Olympic team. In 1924 the girl's basketball team was started and the challenge of female athletics was just beginning. An Outdoor club was organized in 1929 for students taking botany and zoology; the class is now called OAA. In 1935 R.L. Paschal, who had been the principal since 1906, announced his retirement and the school was renamed after him. Mr. Bateman was the principal until 1940 when Mr. O.D. Wyatt took over as principal. Mr. Wyatt was later honored when another high school was given his name. In 1945, Coach Charlie Turner's basketball team won the state championship--the first time a Ft. Worth school that had ever gone that far in basketball. Charlie Turner's basketball team won their second state Basketball Championship in 1949 and the baseball team captured the State Baseball Championship in 1950. Principal Wyatt initiated the "Paschal Honor System," which meant there were no monitors in the halls and no tardy bells (an improvement we should have kept). He also began the tradition of the Homecoming game in 1940. That same year Tom Reeder, a Paschal cheerleader, wrote the school song. Principal Wyatt's son, O.D. Wyatt, Jr. was one of the many Paschal students that were killed in World War II and "Stardust", the song that reminded Principal Wyatt of his son, became the second school song until 1962. Paschal still has the memorial plaque of the names of those who died in W.W.II, including O.D. Wyatt, Jr.
1957-1980 The first classes held at the Forest Park location were in the fall of 1955 and Paschal became the largest high school facility in Ft. Worth. O.D. Wyatt retired as principal in 1962 and the Paschal spirit he hoped would continue has become a reality. Paschal sports teams continued to shine over the years. In 1960 the mighty Paschal football team lost in the state semifinals. The basketball team captured Bi-District in 1961 and the baseball team won third place in the 4A division. The 1963 Panther football team shared the district crown with Eastern Hills and the basketball team lost in district to Heights. Sports wasn't the only thing Paschal had going for it in the 60's. In 1966, a shorthand typing lab was opened and the Art club won at Dallas High School Art Competition. That was also the year that the Barristers Club reorganized which was club for the future lawyers. The 1966 Paschal High School Band won top honors in all fields, keeping the crowd motivated at all the games, including the district football games where Paschal came in third place. There was no stopping the 1966 basketball team that snatched the district title once again. The tennis team won the 1966 Brownwood Interscholastic Tournament and the golf team won two tournaments that year as well. Over the years there have been many cultural clubs here at Paschal such as the Turned On Mexican Americans of the TOMA club which helped bring a better sense of cultural awareness. 1977 was the first year that the Paschal Student Council sponsored a blood drive and the Gymnastics team took second place at the city meet. Paschal continued to press on and change with the times.
1980-Present Around 1980 Paschal began to remodel the front of the school and add on to the original building. The remodeling of the front of the school was just one of the things that progressed at Paschal. Sports teams at Paschal continued to excel in all areas. The tennis team won several years in a row and the football team made it to the playoffs several times. The girls volleyball program really progressed and last year's varsity was ranked number one in District 7-5A. Organizations at Paschal have continued to grow and diversify. Paschal now has many more clubs designed to bring about a better sense of cultural awareness such as HEAR program, the Paschal Hispanic Society, the Paschal Asian Society, the Ebony Club, Leadership Paschal, and many more. New classes are being offered every year at Paschal. In 1995, Advanced Placement European History was just one of the many new classes being offered, and in the 1999-2000 school year AP Music Theory, Humanities, and AP Comparative Government were added to the curriculum and wrestling was added to the sports roster. The next year, Mr. Herbelin started a Graphic Design Class as an art elective. In 2000-2001, Paschal underwent a makeover. A new wing was added to the school and new English and Science classrooms glimmer a pristine white. Over winter break 2001-2002, the dreaded senior parking lot was completely redone. The student body changed every year, but one thing remained the same and that was the continued spirit of the school. 2018 saw the opening of two new additions to our campus, the "New Building" housing our new cafeteria opened that spring. The Gus Bates Center, our new game gym and community meeting space opened up that fall. Almost the entire interior of the main building was remodeled in 2020-22 and a new main entrance and office were added to the front of the main building, just south of the original entrance.