Football:
Garfield’s football team began in 1920 with the founding of East High School, which was demolished and replaced with the larger James A. Garfield High School in 1923. Over time, the sport continued to flourish and is currently one of the bigger sports at Garfield.

Girls Field Hockey:   

Multiple field hockey teams were present in the 1930s but the sport was gone entirely by the 1950s.

Girls’ Archery:
Girls Archery was offered from Garfield’s founding up until the 1970s. Allegedly, they never broke a single window despite practicing indoors in the gym.

Folk Dancing:
Garfield briefly had a girl’s folk dancing group during the early 1920s.

Boys’ and Girls’ Ping Pong:
Ping pong leagues and tournaments were popular from the 1930s until the early 1960s.

Track and Field:
Another of the sports that has been with Garfield for a full century, overtime not much has changed with the track team other than a larger roster.

Basketball:
Basketball has been with Garfield since its founding in 1923. Originally, the basketball court was located in what is now our fabulous library on the 2nd floor. The original court had a balcony that acted both as a viewing platform and a track for athletes to train on. Due to safety concerns and projects to expand the school, the court was moved to a new building in 1967.

The old gym is pictured above, in 2006, being used as a weight room. This photo was taken just before Garfield’s most recent renovation, in which the gym was converted into half of the current library.

Cheerleading, Dance, and related:
In the early days of Garfield, there were no cheerleaders. Instead, a hand-picked group of boys known as Yell Leaders would lead school chants at assemblies and sports games.
A cheerleading group known as the Songsters was created in 1952, which would combine with the Yell Leaders to form Garfield’s Pep Squad. By 1971, the pep squad had been replaced by the all-girls cheerleading squad that Garfield has today.

Up until the pandemic, Garfield also had a girl’s dance team and hosted the annual Bubblin’ Brown Sugar dance contest, which made a return this year. The dance team was founded in 1968 and was originally known as the Puppettes.

Wrestling: 

The wrestling team was founded 1971 and still going strong today.

Karate:

Garfield offered group Karate classes in 1972.

Bowling:
The Bowldogs were founded in 1997. The team has shrunk in size but is still active in Garfield.