West Covina High School opened its doors for learning in 1956 as the Spartans on the old Covina High School site at Citrus and Puente Avenues while its new campus was under construction.

In 1957, the Spartans moved to their permanent location on what had been an old cabbage patch at the corners of Cameron Avenue and Fernwood Street. Blue and white were chosen as the school’s colors, and a swaggering imagination of Sammy Spartan became West Covina's mascot.

For over thirty years, Sammy swaggered, and students sang the Spartan Alma Mater at the end of every major event. Then, in 1988 the West Covina Unified School District merged Edgewood and West Covina high schools, forcing their mascots and Alma Maters into retirement.

With the emergence of the internet and social media, the legend of Sammy Spartan lived on in his iconic cartoon illustration, but a recording of the school’s song never emerged. 

With financial help from a Go Fund Me Campaign and the generous pledges of Spartan Alumni from multiple graduating classes, a recording was produced in Carmel Valley, California, at Crystal Studios and is uploaded here. 

I hope you enjoy this interpretation of our high school’s Alma Mater. With extreme gratitude, I would like to acknowledge the following musicians, vocalists, and studio professionals who contributed to this labor of love.

MUSICIANS:  Dave Dally, First Violinist; Terry Shehorn, Electric Guitar; Wes Kelley, Rhythm Acoustic Guitar; Mark Whittington, Electric Bass; Jo Gough, Kurzweil Synthesizer.

VOCALISTS: Wes Kelley, Male Lead Vocal; Amber Guzman, Female Lead Vocal. My sincere thanks to The Jodonaires, Harmonies & Backing Vocals.

SOUND EFFECTS: High school football soundtrack courtesy of SoundSnap.com (NOTE: While we were not able to locate a WCHS football game sound sample, we did locate one from The San Jose State University Spartans!

PRODUCTION CREW AND RECORDING LOCATION: Jo Gough and Charlie McGovern, Crystal Studios, Mid Valley Carmel, Carmel, California.

 We are Spartans!

Wes Kelley
Spartan Class of 1969

WEST COVINA SPARTANS ALMA MATER

West Covina High School ~ We Are Spartans!

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