Bishop Luers High School

1958 – present

Founded: Luers opened in 1958 at 333 East Paulding Road, the south-side and first-completed half of Bishop Leo Pursley's campaign to relieve Central Catholic, which held more than 1,400 students by 1956. The school was founded and staffed by the Franciscan Fathers of the Saint John the Baptist Province in Cincinnati and the Sisters of Saint Francis of Mishawaka. Its first 136 freshmen walked across mud on narrow wooden planks into a building that was not quite finished, and the school had all four classes for the first time in its fourth year; the first class graduated in 1962.

Namesake: The building rose during the diocesan centennial, and the school was named for John Henry Luers, the diocese's first bishop. Born Johann Heinrich Luers in Lutten, in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, in 1819, he emigrated in 1831, was ordained at Cincinnati in 1846, and was consecrated bishop on 10 January 1858, a date the school's own viewbook once misprinted as 1958. He laid the cornerstone of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1859 and dedicated it in 1860; when he died in 1871 his diocese had grown to 69 priests, 75 churches and some 50,000 Catholics. The hospital record elsewhere in this history also carries his name: in 1868 he bought the Rockhill House to found St. Joseph Hospital. Luers the school and Dwenger together carry the diocese's first and second bishops, in order.

The building: The 1958 plant ran on its original boiler until 2007, when a $3 million first phase of the Faith in Our Future campaign replaced the boiler and HVAC systems and renewed windows and lighting throughout. The current Ignite the Spirit campaign, $11.7 million in the diocese's October 2025 account, joins facility renewal to the school's first permanent endowment and a new auxiliary gym and performing arts fieldhouse; sixteen classrooms were remade in the summer of 2025, the Old Friary on the northwest corner was demolished that spring to clear the gym's site, and alumnus John Ward of the class of 1973 gave $2 million toward the fieldhouse, the largest single gift in the school's history.

Programs: Every Luers student takes theology in each of the eight semesters. The school stood on the Catholic High School Honor Roll's Top 50 list in 2004 and 2005. Its show choir, the Minstrels, hosted the first show choir invitational in the nation, dated by the school to 22 February 1975, and the Midwest Show Choir Invitational marked its fiftieth running in 2024. Career readiness and internship programs enrolled 55 students in January 2026.

Athletics: The Knights play in the Summit Athletic Conference across 19 sports, and their championship count is the largest in this record. Football has won twelve Class 2A state titles: 1985, 1989, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2007, four straight from 2009 through 2012, and 2023, from sixteen state finals appearances. Girls basketball has won seven (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2011 and 2024), the 2024 title tying the state record for the most by one school. Boys basketball won Class 2A titles in 2008 and 2009 under James Blackmon Sr., and baseball in 2008; in that 2008 cycle Luers held the football, boys basketball and baseball titles at once, the first school to hold all three in a single year since 1973.

Today: Luers is a Catholic coeducational high school owned and operated by the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. The Indiana Department of Education counted 553 students in 2024-25, and the school shows 521 for 2026-27, with a 100 percent graduation rate. Its principal is Seth Coffing, who also coaches the varsity boys basketball team.

Sources:

1. Bishop Luers High School, 2025 Admissions Viewbook and 2026-27 handbook: the founding, staffing, enrollment and programs.
2. Luers Accolade yearbook, Class of 1962: the 136 freshmen, the planks and the unfinished building.
3. Today's Catholic, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend: the Pursley campaign, Central Catholic's closing, the Ignite the Spirit campaign and the 2024 girls title.
4. Catholic Encyclopedia, Fort Wayne: Bishop Luers's life, consecration and diocese.
5. The Waynedale News, 2007 and 2026: the Phase I renovation and the John Ward gift.
6. Indiana High School Athletic Association: the twelve football titles, seven girls basketball titles and the 2008-09 boys titles.
7. Indiana Department of Education: 553 students, 2024-25.