The Super Bowl has become an star-studded event, and among those stars are Anaheim Colonists who have played a role in the epic gridiron match.
Fifty-six years ago, the Anaheim High School Drill Team appeared in the first Super Bowl and three Colonist grads have coached and played in five Super Bowls, placing AHS on the Super Bowl High School Honor Roll.
The Ana-Hi-Steppers carried flags representing all AFL and NFL teams in Super Bowl I. The U.S.A. outline map was created by two university bands. The team also performed in a pre-game show.
The award-winning 1967 Ana-Hi-Steppers Drill Team, wearing traditional blue and gold Colonial costumes complete with white wigs and tri-corner hats, performed along with the Grambling State University Marching Band and the University of Arizona Symphonic Band. Musician Al Hirt was the half-time headliner, along with two rocket men who were propelled over the field by jetpacks.
The Colonist Hi-Steppers shared the field that January day with such greats as Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, and the colorful Hank Stram. The game was watched by 50 million TV viewers and football fans who packed the LA Memorial Coliseum. (Billed as the most watched event in television history, more than 10 million viewers are expected to watch Super Bowl 50, Feb. 7, at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara.)
The Class of 1967 also produced two football greats who are connected to what has become sport’s greatest spectacle. Gerry “Moon” Mullins starred in all four of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first four Super Bowl championships (IX, X, XIII, XIV), and Jim Fassel was named NF
L Coach of the Year in his first season at the helm in New York, when he led the Giants to Super Bowl XXXV.
A third Anaheim football star, perhaps the school’s greatest player, Reuben Droughns from Class of 1996, played on special teams for the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.
To honor Anaheim High’s contribution to Super Bowl history, the NFL gifted the school with a three commemorative Wilson Golden Football imprinted with the names of Mullins, Fassel and Droughns.
Footage of the half-time show is available at: http://twentytwowords.com/nearly-every-super-bowl-halftime-show-since-1967-37-videos.
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- Vintage drill team costumes were recoved by the AHSAA and are being preserved along with other Colonist memorabilia.
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- The Anaranco documented the important accomplishments of Anaheim High.
