# C. Leon King High School

C. Leon King High School is a Tampa, Florida public high school named in honor of C. Leon King, a member of the Hillsborough County Board of Public Instruction for 18 years. It opened in 1960 with 58 faculty members and 960 students. It is located at 6815 North 56th Street in Tampa, Florida 33610.
King High School, a part of Hillsborough County Public Schools, is a traditional/hybrid magnet school. It has one of five International Baccalaureate programs in Hillsborough County, Florida. The IB program of King began in July 1994. Ninety eight percent of IB seniors earned the IB Diploma in 2014—one of the highest rates in the United States. For the 2010–2011 school year, King High School received an A grade in education overall. As of 2017, King High has been rated a "B".
Its student population was 1,889 in 2014–15 and the attendance rate was 92% in 2005.

## History

The school was built on the site of Ridgewood Cemetery, a municipal cemetery for poor African-Americans established in 1942. Hillsborough County Public Schools acquired 40 acres (16 ha) of land for the school from a private company in 1959, and that company bought the site from the City of Tampa in 1957; the cemetery is in that plot and became used for agricultural classes. In 2019, officials discovered graves of 145 people.

## Academics

King High School hosts an International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, which began in 1994. King High also offers advanced placement courses (KAPS).
The school has various academic clubs. The speech and debate team competes at various statewide and national NSDA events. The math club Mu Alpha Theta has won the county math bowl 22 times and competes at regional and statewide events. The science bowl team competes at science bowl and Science Olympiad. The math and science clubs administer the qualifying examinations for the various international science olympiads. Other academic clubs include HOSA and FBLA.
The IB Program offers various standard level (SL) and higher level (HL) IB courses in subjects such as English, history, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology.

## Sports

Fall:
* Football
* Boys Golf
* Girls Golf
* Boys Cross Country
* Girls Cross Country
* Swimming
* Volleyball
Winter:
* Boys Basketball
* Girls Basketball
* Wrestling
* Boys Soccer
* Girls Soccer
Spring:
* Baseball
* Softball
* Flag Football
* Track
* Tennis

## Music programs

King High School's musical programs are a Marching Band (Marching Lions), Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band (Jazzalonies), and a Chamber and Symphonic Orchestra. The Marching Band received Superior ratings at the annual FBA competition for 45 consecutive years and has been invited to perform in the State's band events. The dance team (Lionettes) have one of the most talented and culturally diverse teams in the county. The Lion’s Pride Marching Festival was established in 1997 and is hosted by the King High School Marching Lions annually, where bands have the opportunity to be judged before their FBA Marching Festival.

## Notable alumni

* Musa Abdul-Aleem, professional basketball player
* Mike Awesome, 1984, former WWF Champion
* Addison Barger, professional baseball player
* Derek Bell, former professional baseball player
* Pam Bondi, 1984, Florida Attorney General, US Attorney General
* Tim Crews, former professional baseball player
* Ty Griffin, former professional baseball player
* Eric Hayes, former NFL football player
* Pam Iorio, 1977, former mayor of Tampa
* Gary Koch, 1970, former professional golfer and ESPN sportscaster
* Jim Morrison, former professional baseball player
* Edmund Nelson, 1978, former professional football player, graduated in 1978
* Audrey O'Brien Nelson, 1973, director of VISN 8 at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and prominent research scientist
* Reena Ninan, 1997, National mainstream media news anchor
* Henry Paul, musician formerly with the Outlaws
* George Peoples, 1978, former professional football player
* Calvin Pickering, 1995, former professional baseball player