2017 – Robert Saldivar – Class of 1996
Roberto Saldivar, a Class of ’96 graduate is now serving as Anaheim High’s newest principal and the first alumnus to serve in that position. He previously was at Orange View Junior High as principal.
Saldivar began his teaching career at Anaheim in 2001, after earning his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with a minor in health from Cal State Fullerton. He later earned his master’s in education from Azusa Pacific University.
At Anaheim High he taught AVID, health science and coached baseball, football, and basketball. He began his administrative career as an assistant principal at Ball Junior High, then returned to Anaheim as an AP before becoming the principal of Orangeview Junior High, also an AUHSD school.
Saldivar with his family of junior Colonists
Saldivar, whose wife Liliana Hernandez is also an AHS graduate from Class of 1999, said he is grateful for the opportunity to lead his alma mater. “The saying really does ring true in my case: ‘Once a Colonist, always a Colonist.’ ”
The AHS Alumni Association recently learned of another Anaheim High graduate who competed as an Olympic athlete, increasing the Colonist Olympian count to six.
Anaheim High’s legendary swim and water polo coach Jon Urbanchek, himself an Olympic swimmer, is in Rio now as a special assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team, a position he also held in 2012.
water polo coach between 1963 and 1978, an era when his Colonist teams achieved CIF championships and All American honors.
Happy 100th birthday to Martin Geissler from Class of 1936. He will become a Centennial Colonist on Dec. 24, 2017.
Anaheim High’s Clayes Stadium served as more than just a place to sit and watch Colonist football, soccer games, track meets, graduations, band performances and other events.
Named after Anaheim’s longest serving principal, Joseph A. Clayes, the stadium evolved into an iconic structure. Along with a training facility below and above (generations of Anaheim athletics ran the stadium steps) and a place from which Colonist fans cheered on their teams, the grandstand also served as a vehicle for expressing class pride.
At some point during the stadium’s 90-year history, the tradition of painting the stadium surfaced. An upper classman privilege, painting the stadium became so much a part of becoming a senior that it was looked upon as a small infraction (provided of course that it is done in good taste) to NOT paint your class numbers in blue and gold on the stadium steps. Being a part of the paint crew for these secret evening sessions is a favorite memory of many Anaheim grads.
During his 22-year tenure, Principal Clayes oversaw the complete reconstruction of the school after being destroyed by the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Along with the main building, auditorium, gymnasium, athletic fields and stadium, a new swimming pool was constructed in the 1920s and later replaced in the 1940s.
The stadium was condemned in recent years and the pool was emptied more than 10 years ago, both due to structural damage. With community support, including that of Anaheim alumni, the District is undertaking a major renovation of the school’s athletic facilities, including the construction of a new aquatics center and improvements to the gymnasium and fields.
