Down on Frida Kahlo Way lies a school–Archbishop Riordan High School,to be exact. For the past 75 years, Crusaders have been calling the school their home. Every one of those Crusaders has had a different student experience, but how has that experience changed over time? 

In 1949 Riordan High School officially opened with its small graduating class of only 30. Those students didn’t exactly have it easy. They had to deal with construction going on in the interior of the school, and student orientation was even held in an incomplete library. In addition, there were little to no athletic teams. The school didn’t even have a football team, until September 18,1951,when the Crusaders would host their first ever home football game. 

Before MUNI, students in the 50’s would have to take streetcars to get to Phelan Avenue,which today is known as Frida Kahlo Way. 

Sergio Nibbi ‘54 recalls “It was a streetcar that ran all along Ocean avenue and just get off there to get to Phelan.”

Life was very different in the early years of Riordan, to say the least. The school colors were almost black and gold, until Brother Aloysis Doyle pushed for the royal and majestic nature of purple, which swayed the students’ vote.

The 70’s were the decade of champions for the Crusaders, winning 13 championships across six varsity sports.

Strength and conditioning coach Ryan Jones ’09 said, “I know a little bit about our history with all the banners […] historically, we’ve been really good” 

A big change of the 2010’s was the implementation of the house system. When coming to Riordan, all students are sorted into one of the four houses: Bolts, Cana, Pilar, and Russi. These houses give students an opportunity to participate in friendly competition.

Student activities director Benny Willers ’08 says, “It breaks up the monotony of divisions… It creates an opportunity for the seniors to be sort of like a mentor to the freshman…It’s impacted our school culture in terms of engagement and a lot of our campus and external events.”

The last years of the brotherhood were cut short due to the covid year of 2020. Students would meet asynchronously via ZOOM classes. 

This would be tough for students, especially the seniors, but it also helped prepare them for the future. 

Former EIC of The Crusader Steven Risotto ’20 said, “It was tough, especially as a senior. I really wanted to finish out the year in-person and it’s a major regret that I was never able to. But you move on, and I guess a learning experience for me was to be prepared for life’s curveballs.”

“I thought the teachers also handled it really well. It’s never easy to be pushed into remote learning, but everything was super smooth — like they’ve done it before,” Risotto said.

For the teachers, asynchronous teaching was difficult because it eliminated the personal aspect of teaching. But through the work and thoughts students would give over the ZOOM year, teachers were able to discover the passions and personality traits that they had.

Directory of Safety & Logistics and Digital Media Instructor Viggen Rassam ’87 said “There’s no way to get to know students over video, especially people you never met… you never really got to know them. But through their work, by the time I got to meet them, it was like I already knew them. We would hit the ground running.”

Now, Riordan has become more than just a brotherhood. With the addition of girls, Riordan’s culture has changed significantly. Besides doubling the attendance of Riordan, the addition of girls at Riordan allowed for change.

Operations manager Cara Garcia said “[With the addition of girls] There is more conversation and more things happening on campus.”

  These changes would be seen all over the school, but none more than athletics. With four co-ed teams and six girls sports, the athletic department has evolved significantly. Now including the girl’s flag football team in their inaugural season, who had recently won a WBAL championship.

First solo-female student body president Caroline O’Connell ’25 said, “Girl’s sports has brought new entertainment, spirit, and success to the school.” She continues, “This year was the first ever year of flag football. We went into the season super nervous, but having an athletic program with great support, and girls with great talent, led us to win the league, the 49ers sponsored Jamboree, and a 20 game win streak.”

As Archbishop Riordan evolves which every year that comes, Crusaders look at tomorrow with hope for the future. As the cycle of freshman coming and seniors graduating  continues, students look back to reflect and close the page of this yearbook.