Camelback High School
# Camelback High School

Camelback High School is part of the Phoenix Union High School District. The campus is located at 4612 North 28th Street, northeast of downtown Phoenix, Arizona, United States. Camelback's enrollment is just over 2,000 students, over 75 percent of whom are Hispanic. The school predominantly serves students from partner elementary districts Balsz, Creighton, Madison and Wilson.

## History

Camelback was designed by a group of noted local architects consisting of Lescher & Mahoney, Edward L. Varney, H. H. Green and John Sing Tang with Harold Ekman and Fred M. Guirey as consultant and supervising architects. The construction contract to build the school was awarded to Mardian Construction Co. The campus was renovated in 2007 with many of the outdated original buildings demolished and replaced with new buildings. Architectural Resource Team drew up the planes for the renovation.

## Partner elementary districts

* Balsz
* Creighton
* Madison
* Wilson

## Notable alumni

* Patrick O. Ford – Vietnam war hero
* Gary Gentry – professional baseball player; pitched for 1969 "Miracle" New York Mets
* Clay Graham – writer, producer, website creator
* Derek Mason – cornerback at Northern Arizona University; former defensive coordinator at Stanford; former head coach at Vanderbilt University; current defensive coordinator at Auburn University.
* Billy Mayfair – professional golfer, ASU
* Warren Wheat – NFL player, Seattle Seahawks 1989 & 1991, BYU
* Kevin Miniefield – NFL player, Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals, ASU
* Valerie Perrine – actress, dancer
* Liza Richardson – music supervisor, radio broadaster, DJ, host, producer KCRW 89.9 MHz FM, Santa Monica, California
* Skip Rimsza – former Mayor of Phoenix
* Tom Robson – former MLB player (Texas Rangers)
* Juan Schoville – 2020 Phoenix Mayor Candidate & 2022 Phoenix City Council District 6 candidate
* John Shadegg – US House of Representatives
* Neal Smith – drummer for band Alice Cooper
* Frank Spotnitz – writer, producer
* Melody Thornton – singer
* Mark Whipple – football coach, University of Massachusetts

## Trivia

Camelback High School is referenced in the song "Alma Mater" by Alice Cooper, whose drummer Neal Smith graduated from there.

