Huntington Park HS and Bell HS have been pillars in the South East LA community for over 100 years. They hold one of the longest standing rivalries in the city dating back to over 80 years. Although the rivalry is not what it once was, there hasn’t been any love lost between the two schools filled with a lot of history. The rivalry is HP and Bell’s oldest and only rivalry and everyone around the area knows how serious it gets when it comes to sports.
“Being a student at HP of course you had to hate the Bell, here in HP you had to hate anything associated with purple.”
says Mr. Gonzalez, a math teacher here at HPHS who is an alumni.
Huntington Park High School opened its doors in the winter of 1909, while Bell High School would not have opened for another 15 years. Formerly known as the “Bell Unit of the Huntington Park Union High School”, it later transitioned into what we know it as today Bell High School.
The sporting events between the two schools is what makes the rivalry spark between these schools, it can bring out different sides of people and players as they play for the ultimate bragging rights with football even getting to play for a trophy that the winner holds until the next meeting. These sporting events bring out the competitive sides from players, coaches, and even parents as things can become personal. For example, fights, pranks and even vandalism. It shows how serious the rivalry can get.
“Yeah, of course we hated HP just like how you guys hate bell, Being a teacher here is kind of a funny experience knowing that when I was their age I hated this school.”
states Dr. Alamo, a Bell Alumni who now teaches here at HP.
“I remember when I came here we had a HP mural and one day we came to school and saw that the mural had been ruined by purple spray paint, we were stunned… I even recall them putting honey on the visitors cheer section when we had gone to their school for the football game.”
Says Mrs. Huerta, another HPHS alumni who was part of the cheer team. No matter who you are, if you represent HP or you represent Bell, you are an enemy to one another.
A lot of this is caused by personal conflicts. As current players on the various sports teams that HP has have said how HP players along with Bell players are sort of entitled to hate each other in a way which brings out the competitive fire that results in a series of conflicts.
“Man… I remember when we played Bell on their senior night, the atmosphere was wild. It was an intense game, I remember my brother David got into a scuffle with one of the players from Bell that caused suspensions forcing players to sit out… We played Bell again the next week and my brother David and the guy he had that scuffle with hashed it out like they weren’t trying to fight a few days ago… They both blamed it on the intensity of the game and how it got to their heads.”
says Isaiah Crenshaw, one of the captains of the Varsity Basketball team recalls one of his wildest experiences in his 4 years of being a part of this fierce and intense rivalry.
As we near the century mark of the rivalry we can all agree on both sides that the competitive energy will continue to grow and live on for years to come.
Written by Rene Zendejas, Staff writer.