Alumni and Friends of Saucon Valley / Hellertown High School
Saucon Valley Alumni Association
The Saucon Valley School District is the result of the merger of the Hellertown School District and the Lower Saucon Township School District. Presently, all classes are located at the Saucon Valley Educational Campus located on Polk Valley Road, Lower Saucon Township, at the Southeast corner of the Borough of Hellertown. District students attend school on this campus from kindergarten through graduation from twelfth grade. This unique and functional contiguous structure encompasses Saucon Valley Elementary School, Saucon Valley Middle School, Saucon Valley High School, the District Administration offices, athletic facilities, fields and an outdoor environmental learning center.
How Saucon Valley Students Became PANTHERS
In 1938 or 1939, a school meeting was held in the Hellertown High School auditorium to name the school’s sports teams, particularly the baseball team. The school did not have a football team at that time, due to the expense of fielding a team. Various names were suggested. One student, Joe Sopko, noticed what appeared to him as two panther heads carved in the wood on each side of the stage. Joe pointed them out to the class president, Bobby Potts. Bobby raised his hand and suggested the name "Panthers." It was voted on and passed by the student body.
In the late 1950s, the original auditorium was demolished to make way for the renovation and addition to the high school which included a new auditorium. The wood was torn out, scrapped and eventually found its way into someone’s home woodpile. The panther heads were rediscovered years later, cleaned up, painted black and made into bookends. Their location is unknown.
Thanks to Carol Sopko Schade, HLSHS, Class of 1968
High School Principals
1896 - 1916 Alvin I. Reinhard
W. Reiff Nauman
Robert R. Hoppes
1920 - 1921 Stanley J. Landis
1921 - 1928 Robert N. Taylor
George Kunkle
Edward VanKeuren
1932 - 1948 Montford E. Illick
1948 - 1966 Arthur J. Oplinger
1966 - 1968 Edward Grissinger
1968 - 1970 Donald W. McPherson
1970 - 1982 Norman Wruble
1982 - 1984 Carl Morrison
1984 - 1996 Frank E. Kawtoski
1996 - 2006 Curtis R. Dietrich
2006 - 2009 Todd Gombos
2010 - 2016 Eric Kahler
2016 - 2017 Kenneth Napaver
2017 - 2018 Beth Guarriello
2018 - Tamara Gary
Important Dates in
Saucon Valley High School History
Hellertown High School
1896 - 1958
Hellertown Lower Saucon High School
1958 - 1971
Saucon Valley High School
1971 - Present