By Ruby Thomas, Record Staff Writer
Alumni of the old Flaget Memorial High School, which closed in 1974, said teachers and coaches instilled a “burning desire” in them to succeed and to be good citizens.
Forty-four years after the school’s closure, many of these former students still remember those lessons and have kept them alive through the Flaget Alumni Association and Flaget Museum.
The museum — which was updated two months ago with a new facade depicting highlights from the school’s state championships — is located inside the St. Xavier High School development office, next to the all-boy school on Poplar Level Road.
Xaverian Brother James Kelly was responsible for moving the museum into that building in 2001 said Bob Ullrich, a graduate of the class of 1965 and past president of the association, in an interview Sept. 10. The museum was established in 1986 in what used to be the chapel of the old high school, once located at 44th Street and River Park Drive in the West End, said Ullrich.
The museum is just a small part of what the association does.
Terry Meagher, a graduate of the class of 1966 and president of the association, said the group donated $70,000 to Catholic high schools last year and $30,000 to local charities. In 2003, the association established a $1.2 million endowment to finance high school scholarships, said Meagher.
The museum showcases many sports artifacts, but the school was about much more than its state championships, added Ullrich, who went on to be a professor of engineering at the University of Louisville, thanks to the good education he received at Flaget Memorial High School.
The Flaget Museum is open to the public free of cost Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The opening hours are the same during the summer.
