Tustin Union High School was founded in December 1921 in Tustin, CA. It was founded bcause the local School district only had a single school which housed all of the grade levels of school. In 1920 a bond issue was passed in California calling for each school district to open at least one secondary school. In Tustin, THS was it.
Originally THS served all of Tustin, Fountain Valley, Irvine, Orange, Newport Beach, Santa Ana, and even as far down as Capistrano Valley. Most of the county at the time was farmland so folks traveled miles to go to school.
The original mascot of the school was the farmer in honor of the agricultural heritage of the school. Some time later, however, it was changed to the tiller, which is basically the same thing. A tiller tills the land, preparing it for planting.
Some famous graduates: Well, I can only really think of one offhand. Cuba Gooding Junior, actor in such movies as "Boyz in the Hood" and "Gladiator" as well as some recent movies, including the wildly popular Jerry McGwire. An astronaut also graduated from THS, but I can't rmember his name.
THS has one brush with semi-greatness that I can remember. Right after the LA Riots Rodney King visited THS unannounced to speak to a club on campus. This caused an uproar beyond any I'd ever seen at THS, though the whole thing was blown totally out of proportion.
THS was also the State CSF Champions in Basketball in 1991. Whoopee.
How the heck do I know so much about this? Actually, because I researched it in 1990 for a story I was writing. Nothing ever came of the story, but the information I learned was pretty interesting and remained with me. I also know an awful lot about the city of Tustin, but I won't bore you with that now.