St. Ignatius College Preparatory

St. Ignatius was founded as a one-room schoolhouse on Market Street by Anthony Maraschi, a Jesuit priest, just after the California Gold Rush in 1855. Maraschi paid $11,000 for the property which was to become the original church and schoolhouse. The church opened on July 15, 1855, and three months later, on October 15, the school opened its doors to its first students.

SI was the high school division of what later became the University of San Francisco, but it has since split from the university and changed locations five times due to the growth of the student body and natural disaster. In the 1860s, the school built a new site, adjacent to the first, on Market Street in downtown San Francisco. In 1880, SI moved its campus to a location on Van Ness Avenue in the heart of San Francisco, and by 1883, SI had become the largest Jesuit school in the nation.[4]

Within 26 years of the relocation, however, St. Ignatius would be completely destroyed. Though the school would survive the tremors of the 1906 earthquake with only moderate damage, the subsequent fires destroyed the school and church, forcing SI to find a new location near Golden Gate Park, a hastily constructed "temporary" wooden building, affectionately known as the "Shirt Factory", which housed the school from 1906 to 1929.[4]

In 1927, the high school was separated from the university, becoming St. Ignatius High School. Two years later, SI relocated its campus once more, this time to Stanyan Street, where it remained for 40 years. In the fall of 1969, Father Harry Carlin moved SI to its current Sunset District campus, whereupon the current name, St. Ignatius College Preparatory, was adopted.[5]

Though founded as an all-boys school, SI became coeducational in 1989 and is now home to over 1,500 male and female students. The school celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2005.[4]

In 2004 the faculty was one of 12 schools nationwide to be honored by Today's Catholic Teacher magazine for excellence and innovation in education.[6]

St. Ignatius offers accelerated, honors, and Advanced Placement classes.[1]

1,507 high school and 82 middle school students were enrolled in 2021-2022.[7]

The current diversity in 2021-2022 is:[1]

• 43.4% Caucasian
• 5% Latino
• 7.6% Latino+
• 13.3% Asian
• 8.2% Asian+
• 4.6% Filipino
• 4.7% Filipino+
• 3.2% Black
• 2.3% Black+
• 1% Pacific Islander
• 6.2% Other/Unclassified

Note: Categories with a + sign indicate students who identify with more than one ethnicity.

The school has 66 athletic teams with over 70% of students participating. The Wildcats generally participate in the Western Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) in the Central Coast Section (CCS) of California, though for some sports, the teams belong to other leagues.

The SI men's rowing team won the US Rowing Youth National Championships in 1997, 2005, and 2006.[8] In addition, the crew competed in the Henley Royal Regatta in England, where St. Ignatius won Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup in 2006.[9] In 2022, the varsity men's team placed 4th in the SRAA National Championship under the Boys Junior 8+ category.[10]

The SI women's rowing team placed third in the SRAA National Championship under the Girls Ltwt Varsity 8+ category, 4th under the Women’s 2nd Varsity 8+ category, and 6th under the Junior 8+ category. [10]

The SI men's lacrosse team won the state championship and was ranked nationally in 2008, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2022. The Cats have won the WCAL Championship 14 years in a row. In 2017 the Wildcats finished ranked number 5 nationally with a 19–2 record, beating number 6 ranked Chaminade, NY and number 14 ranked Gonzaga, D.C. St. Ignatius has a powerhouse lacrosse program, known nationwide for sending student-athletes to Ivy League and ACC schools.[11]

The SI women's lacrosse team has historically seen success as well, winning the WCAL title for five years straight from 1997 to 2001.[12] The team also won CCS in 2022 and ended the season as the 12th best in the country.[13]

The SI men's soccer team has been nationally ranked by ESPN. The boys won the WCAL championship in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2018, and 2019, and the CCS championship in 2009, 2017, and 2018. They won the inaugural Northern California championship in 2018 and were ranked number 2 nationally to end the season.[14]

The women's soccer team has also been quite successful, as the reigning WCAL champions. The team went undefeated in league play to capture the 2019 WCAL crown.[15]

The SI football team were WCAL champions in 1967, 2006, and 2019, as well as CCS Division III champions in 2006 and 2011. In 2012 SI placed first in the WCAL and competed in the CCS Division I playoffs.

The SI men's swim team placed 3rd in CCS Div I and the 200 Freestyle relay team broke the CCS Record in prelims and then was ranked 10th nationally in the All-American rankings in 2014. In 2015, the men placed 4th in CCS Div I with a CCS championship in the 200 Freestyle, and also placed 6th at the Inaugural California State Championship. In 2017, the men placed 6th in CCS Div I with a CCS championship in the 200 Freestyle relay.[16]

The SI women's swim team has seen much success in the WCAL Championship in recent years, with the varsity team winning in 2007 and 2019 and the junior varsity team winning in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2017, 2018, and 2019. In both 2007 and 2008, the women placed 4th in CCS Div I with a CCS championship in the 200 Medley relay. In 2022, the women placed first in CCS Div I, with CCS Championships in the 200 Medley relay, 100 Butterfly, and 200 Freestyle relay, with the 200 Medley and 200 Freestyle relay teams qualifying for the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association(NISCA) All American.[17]

The SI men's basketball team made it all the way to the regional finals of the CIF Division 1 playoffs in 2022.[18]

The SI men's and women's cross country teams recently won the 2019 CCS Division III Championship, while the men's water polo team won the Division II Championship, as well as a Northern California Championship.

The SI field hockey team has experienced much success over the past few years, making history in 2018 by advancing to the CCS semifinals.[19]

Saint Ignatius also hosts esports teams for Rocket League and League of Legends, with the former winning the state championship and the latter placing 8th in California in 2019.

Jerry Brown

Darren Criss

• Bradford Dillman – actor
• Dutch Ruether – Major League Baseball pitcher in three World Series
• Stephen M. White – United States Senator from California
• John Paul Getty, Jr. – philanthropist (attended, did not graduate)
• Paul Pelosi – businessman and husband of Nancy Pelosi (attended, did not graduate)
• Luke Whitehead – professional basketball player (attended, did not graduate)
• Francis Joseph McCarty – experimenter
• André Laguerre – managing editor of Sports Illustrated from 1960 to 1974
• James F. O'Connell – Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Utah
• Edward John O'Dea – Bishop of Seattle
• Jeremiah F. Sullivan – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California
• John Joseph Montgomery, 1873 – aviation pioneer[21]
• Joseph Richard Slevin – second curator of herpetology at the California Academy of Sciences
• Charles H. Strub, 1902 – dentist, sports entrepreneur
• Daniel J. Callaghan, 1907 – Medal of Honor recipient
• William Callaghan, 1914 – military, first commanding officer of USS Missouri (BB-63)[22]
• Joseph Kurihara – Japanese American internee who renounced his American citizenship
• Raymond L. Sullivan, 1924 – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California
• Frederic B. Butler – US Army Officer in World War II
• Joseph E. Tinney, 1927 – attorney and politician
• Richard Egan, 1939 – actor
• Rene Herrerias, 1944 – college basketball player and head coach
• Ivan L. Slavich Jr., 1945 – United States Army colonel served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War
• Joe McNamee, 1946 – NBA player
• John Jay O'Connor, 1947 – lawyer and husband of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
• George Moscone, 1947 – 37th mayor of San Francisco
• Jim Mangan – Major League Baseball catcher
• Leo T. McCarthy, 1948 – 43rd Lieutenant Governor of California
• William H. Briare, 1948 – 18th mayor of Las Vegas[23]
• Pat Malley, 1949 – Santa Clara Broncos basketball player, head coach and athletic director
• George Stanley, 1951 – award-winning poet and member of the San Francisco Renaissance
• Gordon Getty, 1951 – billionaire and businessman
• Jerry Brown, 1955 – 32nd and 39th Governor of California[24]
• Fred LaCour – professional basketball player
• Adrian Buoncristiani – college basketball coach
• Dan Fitzgerald, 1961 – college basketball coach and athletic director at Gonzaga University
• Gil Haskell, 1961 – Former American football coach, offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks from 2000 to 2008
• Mike Nevin, 1961 – politician
• Tim Tierney – college football player and coach
• Abe Jacob, 1962 – sound designer and audio engineer
• Al Saunders, 1964 – NCAA Academic All-American Football player, NFL Coach 38 years, HC San Diego Chargers
• Charles Parks, 1964 – professional basketball player
• Bob Portman, 1965 – Creighton University basketball player, Golden State Warriors player
• Laurence Yep, 1966 – author
• James Houghton (artistic director) – Director of Drama at the Juilliard School
• Marshall Kilduff – investigative reporter
• Robert Francis Christian, O.P., 1966 – former auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
• Paul Otellini, 1968 – President and CEO of Intel
• Dan Fouts, 1969 – NFL Pro Bowl quarterback, played for the San Diego Chargers, NFL Hall of Fame[25]
• Gerald Posner, 1971 – investigative journalist
• Len Salvemini, 1971 – professional soccer player
• Mark Stahl – professional soccer player
• Kevin Shelley, 1973 – California Secretary of State from 2003 to 2005
• Dan Salvemini, 1975 – professional soccer player and member of 1980 US Olympic team
• Kevin Rodney Sullivan – film and television actor and director
• Eugene Gloria – poet
• Kevin V. Ryan, 1976 – United States Attorney for the Northern District of California
• Bartlett Sher, 1977 – Tony Award-winning stage director, known for directing the 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific
• Anthony Cistaro, 1981 – actor
• Francis Jue, 1981 – actor
• Luke Brugnara, 1981 – businessman, casino mogul.
• Jonathan Moscone, 1982 – theater director
• Robert Hewitt Wolfe, 1983 – television producer and screenwriter
• Luke Brugnara, 1983 – commercial real estate investor and developer
• Derek Lam, 1984 – fashion designer
• Levy Middlebrooks, 1984 – former professional basketball player
• Stephen McFeely, 1987 – American screenwriter and producer
• Al Madrigal, 1989 – comedian (Daily Show)
• Mark Farrell, 1992 – 44th mayor of San Francisco
• Gwendoline Yeo, 1994 – Singaporean actress
• Beth Spotswood, 1996 – writer
• Anthony Buich – professional football player
• Dan Kaminsky – computer security researcher
• Igor Olshansky, 2000 – NFL football player, defensive lineman for the Miami Dolphins[26]
• Honey Mahogany, 2002 – American activist, politician, drag performer, and singer
• Darren Criss, 2005 – musician, actor, singer-songwriter, composer
• Jill Costello – activist for lung cancer awareness and research
• Jeff Cosgriff, 2006 – professional soccer player
• Molly McGrath, 2007 – sportscaster and studio host
• Zac Lee, 2007 – professional football player
• Eleanor Columbus, 2007 – film producer
• Jamize Olawale, 2008 – professional football fullback
• Brendan Daly – professional rugby player
• Colin Woodell – actor
• Alli Austria – professional basketball player
• Nicholas Miller, 2009 – Professional DJ
• Jacqueline Toboni, 2010 – American actress
• Stephen Domingo, 2012 – professional basketball player
• Matt Krook, 2013 – baseball player[27]
• Troy Rike, 2014 – professional basketball player
• Andrew Vollert, 2014 – professional football player
• Michael Harrison, 2020 – college football player

• San Francisco high schools

• St. Ignatius College Preparatory