It read: "If the authorities of this city will furnish appropriate and sufficient grounds centrally located, I will contribute $50,000 for the erection of a building to be permanently dedicated to the use of the public free schools of the City of Galveston...I will be pleased to carry [this proposal] into the earliest effect with the hope that it may prove useful to the community with which I have been long identified and whose future welfare I most earnestly desire."

It is a block of Dupree stone, upon the open sides of which are carved simply the words, "George Ball to the Children of Galveston."

In September 1900, the great hurricane struck and Ball High School was not spared from the fury of its waves and wind.

The west wall slipped; the roof blew off; plaster crumbled; windowpanes crashed; and the metal covering was stripped from the ball of the dome, showing its skeleton of steel ribs.

Because of the devastating loss of life and property during the storm, school attendance decreased by some 25 percent, creating an excess of teachers.

The main Ball High School building, remodeled and expanded still stands today and houses the home offices of the American Indemnity Company.

Years later, additional remodeling of the South campus combined with reduced enrollments resulted in consolidating the high school at one facility.

[4] With the closure of Central, Ball High became a very early social experiment for complete school integration and busing.

Multiple conference and state titles were won during the early seventies and as a result the community rallied behind Ball High School quickly.

Leadership on the sports teams was critical to assure that teammates stayed focused on winning and kept the black-white issue completely buried.

In the mid-1970s, a state-of-the-art media center was added at Ball High South campus and air-conditioning was installed for the first time.

In December 1969 attorney David H. Berg, hired by "Babe" Schwartz, filed a Section 1983 to prevent enforcement of the hair length rules.

[6] federal judge James Latane Noel Jr. dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the plaintiff should have sought state legal remedies first.