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Long Beach Poly has produced more NFL and MLB players than any other high school. Alumni include household names like Billie Jean King, Snoop Dogg and Cameron Diaz. But before it was named the top athletic high school in America by Sports Illustrated, before it boasted nationally acclaimed academic magnet programs, Long Beach Poly had to overcome an extraordinary set of challenges. From a devastating earthquake that destroyed the original campus to racial tensions that rocked the school, Poly has persevered and excelled. Since its founding in 1895, Poly has been intrinsically woven into the fabric of the Long Beach community, affectionately known as the "Home of Scholars and Champions." Mike Guardabascio and Tyler Hendrickson tell the story of how a school rose from the ashes to become a powerhouse.

Once a staple of American society, military schools are a dying breed, with fewer than thirty remaining. Historically, most military academies existed in the South and along the East Coast. However, Colonel Thomas A. Davis pushed this tradition westward when he founded the San Diego Army and Navy Academy in 1910. Davis pioneered a novel education and leadership training structure for young men that predated the Boy Scouts and JROTC Program. From this single institution sprang the Brown Military Academy, Davis Military Academy, San Diego Military Academy and more. Author Alexander Mui chronicles the endurance of this revered academy through countless trials, wars, economic depressions and the nationwide military school decline until it remained the last traditional military academy west of the Rocky Mountains.

Long Beach State grew up right along with the sprawling Southern California suburbs. Born in 1949, it swelled to accommodate the post-world war enthusiasm for education and land. The rapid expansion brought its share of growing pains. Students took classes in a cramped converted apartment with no books and playing ring-around-the-rosie for physical education. Money was scarce, and faculty at times feuded with the administration. But the new college's "let's put on a show" spirit produced a scrappiness that endures today. Read about the personalities that grew the college from Fred Bixby's bean fields into one of the largest universities in California.