[2] Founded in 1889, Amarillo High School began in a converted courthouse which was outgrown and abandoned that same year.

Early in the morning of March 1, 1970, a Sunday, J.B. Putney, a custodian at First Baptist Church, traveled to work and saw the fire inside the school.

It first began in a second story storeroom, caused by an overheated boiler below, and soon spread to damage nearly all of the structure and destroy most of the property inside.

Several courageous students arrived on the scene first and began removing textbooks, trophies, class gifts, art pieces and other artifacts from the burning building.

Beginning in 1922, Amarillo High has made 46 football playoff appearances (as of 2007[update]), which is second only to 5A Dallas Highland Park.

[3] Amarillo High emerged as a football powerhouse in the 1930s as young head coach Blair Cherry guided the Sandies to three consecutive Texas state championships in 1934–1936, as only the second school to ever do so (the Paul Tyson-guided Waco won 1925–27).

Defee left in 1955, being replaced by Joe Kerbel, who had previously won two state championships at Breckenridge High.

He won 16 district titles at Hereford and AHS combined, and he led the Sandies to the Class 5A state semifinals in 1992.

Amarillo ISD athletic director Tex Nolan selected Brad Thiessen to be Dippel's successor.

[6] The Stratford 2001 football team ran their unbeaten string to 30 games before losing in the semi-finals, ending a 17–1 season.

During Hell Week, vandalism is commonplace, such as egging, spraypainting, toilet papering, keying, and other property defacing acts.

[17] Amarillo High School has won many of the games, including 2010 for the district championship, but they had a notable loss in 2009, losing by a field goal.