Just some interesting facts and a request!

Olympus High School?

The school opened on September 1, 1953, with an original enrollment of 1028 students. In the fall of 1960, the largest entering sophomore class (the graduating class of 1963) in Utah's history (an estimated 935) enrolled. Two years later the overcrowding was reduced when the new Skyline High was completed. In April 2013, the new Olympus High School building was opened for classes adjacent to the original school. The original building was torn down after 60 years of operation.

Throughout its history, Olympus has been one of the leading academic public high schools in the state. In 1961 its orchestral and vocal music program was recognized as one of the nation's finest by the Ford Foundation, which funded a composer-in-residence for the school, an award shared with schools throughout the Granite School district. 

The new building came about after Granite School District was successful convincing voters to pass a $256 million bond in 2009. About $65 million of that bond went into building the new Olympus High School. It went active in 2013 and the old building was demolished over spring break that year. 

Historic rivalry

Considered one of the greatest rivalries in the state of Utah,

"The Rock" is the prized rivalry trophy between Olympus and Skyline football. It is a football-shaped piece of granite, which local lore states was taken from Mt. Olympus in 1962, prior to the first contest between the two schools. The winning school paints the Rock in their colors and displays it in their trophy case. Olympus maintains the edge, 28–26–1 as of 2022.

Olympus High School has a Hall of Fame and you can check out past winners and nominate fellow Titans. https://Olympus High School Foundation, Holladay, Utah - Hall of Fame (olympushighfoundation.org)

Here are some famous Alumni of our great school:

 

Olympus Alumni 1953 or 54

Merrill George Douglas: (born March 15, 1936) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL).  In 1988, he was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. Douglas attended Granite High School, before transferring to Olympus High School. He received All-state honors at fullback twice. He accepted a football scholarship from the University of Utah

 

Olympus Alumni 1958

John Edward Warnock: (born October 6, 1940) is an American computer scientist and businessman best known for co-founding Adobe Systems Inc., the graphics and publishing software company, with Charles Geschke.  Warnock was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Although he failed mathematics in ninth grade while graduating from Olympus High School in 1958,  Warnock went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and philosophy, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in electrical engineering (computer science), and an honorary degree in science, all from the University of Utah. At the University of Utah he was a member of the Gamma Beta Chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He also has an honorary degree from the American Film Institute. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Marva E. Warnock, an illustrator. They have three children.

 

Olympus Alumni 1962

Dorothy McDonald Keddington: Dorothy Rae is a beloved author of popular mystery/romance novels. She has published 10 novels and 1 nonfiction account of the Russion invasion of Afghanistan, A Square Sky.

 

Olympus Alumni 1962 or 63

David Burnett:  Born in 1946, in Holladay, Utah. His parent are Mr. and Mrs. Ted Burnett. He attended Oakwood School, Olympus Junior High, and Olympus high school. During a summer job at optical store in Salt Lake City he developed an interest for lenses, and his first published photos were in the yearbook of his high school.  Burnett said that he knew he wanted to be a photographer from the experience working on the yearbook and that within a year or two he became a stringer for a local weekly and occasionally sold pictures of Friday night basketball to The Salt Lake Tribune.

1973 - Robert Capa Gold Medal - with Raymond Depardon and Chas Gerretsen

1980 - Magazine Photographer of the Year - National Press Photographers Association

1980 - World Press Photo of the Year

 

Olympus Alumni 1963

Virginia Hinckley Pearce: (born February 8, 1945) is an author and was a member of the Young Women General Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1992 to 1997. She is the daughter of the church's 15th president, Gordon B. Hinckley.

 

Olympus Alumni 1968

Karl Rove: Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff. In 1965, his family moved to Salt Lake City, where Rove entered high school, becoming a skilled debater.  Encouraged by a teacher to run for class senate, Rove won the election. As part of his campaign strategy he rode in the back of a convertible inside the school gymnasium sitting between two attractive girls before his election speech.  While at Olympus High School, he was elected student council president his junior and senior years. Rove was also a Teenage Republican and served as Chairman of the Utah Federation of Teenage Republicans. During this time, his father got a job in Los Angeles and visited the family during holidays.

 

Olympus Alumni 1969

Ronald A.Rasband: Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Rulon Hawkins Rasband and Verda Anderson. He graduated from Olympus High School and later served a mission for the LDS Church in the Eastern States Mission. The mission was headquartered in New York City and encompassed the whole New York Metro area, while also stretching into western New York and Pennsylvania. He spent much of his mission assigned to areas of the city mainly consisting of co-op apartments. Rasband studied at the University of Utah. After Rasband returned from his mission, he married Melanie Twitchell in 1973 and they are the parents of five children.

 

Olympus Alumni 1971

Dale G. Renlund was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in November 1952. He married Olympus graduate, Ruth Lybbert in 1977. They are the parents of one daughter. He has served in numerous church callings including full-time missionary in Sweden, stake president, bishop, and Area Seventy.

Elder Renlund had served as a General Authority Seventy since April 2009 prior to being named to the Quorum of the Twelve. He previously served in the presidency of the Africa Southeast Area.

After receiving B.A. and M.D. degrees from the University of Utah, Elder Renlund received further medical and research training at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was a Professor of Medicine at the University of Utah and the Medical Director of the Utah Transplantation Affiliated Hospitals (UTAH) Cardiac Transplant Program.

 

Olympus Alumni 1986

Deanie Wimmer (aka Nadine):  Nadine Wimmer currently co-anchors KSL News at 6pm, 6:30pm and 10pm. She is also an Emmy award-winning reporter who covers education and leads the station’s literacy initiative “Read Today.” Nadine moved up the ranks in the KSL 5 newsroom as weekend anchor, political reporter, general assignment reporter, and producer. She was born and raised in Salt Lake City. After graduating from Olympus High School she began her broadcasting career at KSL Television as a University of Utah intern. Education has always been important to Nadine. She earned her Master’s degree in political communication and bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Utah. She attended a fellows program on education and journalism through the University of Washington.

Olympus Alumni 1997

David Zabriskie (The Green Hornet): Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and graduated from Olympus High School in 1997, and made his professional debut with the Colorado Cyclist team in 1999. After displaying his talent for time trials by winning the US National Time Trial Championships (junior and under-23 age categories) and the Grand Prix des Nations (under-23 category), Zabriskie moved on to the U.S. Postal Service team in 2001.Zabriskie seriously injured his left leg and wrist in 2003 while descending Mill Creek Canyon near Salt Lake City when a vehicle pulled into his lane and collided with him.  Upon announcing his retirement in 2013, Zabriskie stated that the injury to his leg still bothered him and indicated it contributed to his decision to retire.  Following a year of rehabilitation, he returned to form in 2004, winning the Elite US National Time Trial Championships. He also won stage 11 of the Vuelta a España in a 162 km solo breakaway, marking his first Grand Tour stage win—especially notable among his victories for not being a time trial. In the 2005 season Zabriskie switched to Team CSC, where he racked up another Grand Tour stage victory by winning the 8th stage of the 2005 Giro d'Italia.

Despite success on the international cycling scene, Zabriskie did not receive much attention in his native United States until the 2005 Tour de France, when he won the stage 1 time trial, making him the first American to win stages in all three Grand Tours. Zabriskie beat Lance Armstrong by two seconds clocking an average speed of 54.676 km/h. He wore the leader's yellow jersey until the team time trial on stage 4, where he crashed within the final two kilometres, a crash determined as a chain slip though Zabriskie himself did not know what had happened.  After the crash, Zabriskie suffered from his injuries and on stage 8, he arrived last, 51'12" after winner Pieter Weening. Zabriskie abandoned the race in the 9th stage after 11 km. Before Zabriskie had fully recovered from his crash in the Tour de France, a swinging glass door at a restaurant injured his hand badly enough to end his 2005 season.  Back home from the Tour de France, Zabriskie was honored in Utah by the declaration of "Dave Zabriskie Day" by the mayors of both Salt Lake County and Salt Lake City

Zabriskie's 2006 season started out well, with a strong 2nd-place finish in the February stage race Amgen Tour of California, 29 seconds after the winner, countryman Floyd Landis. He was initially placed 3rd in the April stage race Ford Tour de Georgia, but as he lost time to the favourite riders on the Brasstown Bald mountain stage, he finished 6th place overall. Dave Zabriskie won two time trials in the Dauphiné Libéré in May, beating Floyd Landis in the prologue by two seconds, and winning Stage 3 by 53 seconds, again ahead of Landis, further proving Zabriskie's outstanding time trialing skills. Following several mountain stages, including a ride up the Mont Ventoux, Zabriskie finished the race in 32nd place, behind winner Levi Leipheimer. Upon completing the 2006 Tour de France in 74th place, Zabriskie became the second American behind Christian Vande Velde to finish all three Grand Tours.

2007 On September 1, 2007, Zabriskie won the US National Time Trial Championship for the third time. He finished The Cliffs South Carolina 18.7 mile course in 39 minutes, 34 seconds (28.4 miles/hour average speed) which was just one second ahead of second-place finisher Danny Pate.

2008 After helping his team win the first stage team time trial at the Giro d'Italia, Zabriskie crashed in the Giro's second stage and had to abandon the race due to a fractured first vertebrae. Zabriskie was selected as one of the five riders for the US Olympic road race team and one of the two for the time trial. Later that year, Zabriskie placed 12th at 1:05:17.82 in the men's time trial at the Beijing Olympics,

Olympus Alumni 2014

Logan Nelson: Logan and Hadley Nelson, with their third sibling Campbell once being a part of the band. Hadley serves as the lead vocalist while both Campbell and Logan have served as guitarists. The band's influence is self-described as a mix of pop, hip-hop, alternative, Silver Cup is a family band originally composed of three siblings Logan, Hadley, and Campbell Nelson. The siblings described in interviews that they began singing at an early age, with Logan and Hadley performing on stage at the age of 6.  Logan began songwriting at age 10 and played in the band Solarsuit while attending Olympus High School. Hadley attended the Fashion Institute of Technology and Logan attended the University of Utah. They then formed their band Silver Cup.

Olympus Alumni 2018

Cameron Latu: (born February 24, 2000) is an American football tight end for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama. Latu grew up in Chisholm, Minnesota and played football, basketball and track and field originally.  His family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in 2013 and attended Olympus High School.  Cameron has a fraternal twin brother named Nathan who plays football at Oklahoma State at defensive end. ^[3] Also has an older brother Sioka who lives with his family in Utah.

Did we miss anyone? We may not have a Stevie Nicks (Wasatch Jr. High)) but we have more than Mark Hoffman (no jokes about the Utah State Pen). We too, have famous people among us. We would love to know about any interesting (or unusual) facts and/or accomplishments about YOU, the class of 1973!

Participate in the Claim to Fame survey found in the left margin. Tell us about yourself or a fellow classmate.