Since 1901 until the opening of Acalanes High School in 1940, Mt Diablo High School was the only high school serving all the residents of the Diablo Valley. Mt Diablo HS was fondly known as “The Mother Ship”.

In 1948, residents from various Diablo Valley Elementary School Districts voted to unite, forming the Mt Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD). One of the stipulations for their votes was that the residents of unincorporated Pleasant Hill were assured that they would get the very next high school constructed in the Diablo Valley. This commitment was fulfilled in the early 1950’s when ground was broken, and Pleasant Hill High School construction began!

During construction, Arthur Curtis Bloom, an administrator at Mt Diablo High School, stepped forward to vie for the position as the inaugural principal at the new institution. With prior teaching experience at Oroville High School in 1948, a UC Berkeley degree and service in the US Navy as a gunnery officer during WWII in both the Atlantic (the perilous Murmansk run) and Pacific (Okinawa) campaigns, Mr. Bloom possessed a wealth of leadership acumen. Alongside his battle tested leadership, Mr. Bloom was also a fierce competitor, having played baseball as a pitcher for Cal and later for the minor league teams of the New York Yankees from 1937 to 1939. His aspirations came to fruition when he was granted the position of Pleasant Hill High School’s first principal in the fall of 1953.

Arthur Bloom created a vision for his nascent high school, one rooted in firm but fair leadership. He successfully cultivated and nurtured this vision, leaving behind a legacy that was immortalized in a 2005 Contra Costa Times article by Cassandra Braun and 2016 East Bay Times article by Jennifer Starks (see 1,2). The central construct of his vision= was the concept of fostering a familial atmosphere within the school community, where every instructor would be committed not only to each other’s well-being but also for the welfare of every student. His keen insight and war experience allowed him to effectively identify and recruit teachers who were disciplined, organized, empathic and competitive. Mr. Bloom made it clear that “he only hired teachers that were smarter than him”. He assembled a cadre of coaches who shared his intense competitive spirit andwere dedicated to pursuing championships. Among them were Lyle Palmer and Art Poulin whom he brought from Mt Diablo.

High School and Hal Briggs whom he recruited from Colorado. Robert McGuire, Jimmie Timms, Don Lockyer, Jim Snowden, Roger Leonard, George Galli, Bud Pigott Clyde & Charlene Forrest, and Jack Warren were all championship coaches that Art identified and persuaded to join the PH team. He was known to join his coaches in the locker room following each game and engage in the banter discussing the day’s contests!

He departed this world far too soon, in 1966, at the age of 56, yet his legacy lives on in the enduring bond of the Family of Rams!

Unfortunately, due to declining enrollment and passage of Proposition13, which resulted in severe MDUSD budget deficits, the district chose to close PHHS along with eight other campuses at the end of the 1980 school year. A huge community outrage resulted but could not prevent the closure.

• “Many Recall Closed School as Unique” Contra Costa Times 6/22/2005 by Cassandra Braun
• “Remembering “The Rams” East Bay Times 8/15/2016 by Jennifer Starks (Bay Area News Group)