In most modern high schools, PE is a full-on take-off course — something you have to take when you’re not playing a sport and have to fulfill a health/gym-related elective. Participants often sit in the stands and chat or half-heartedly play some basketball.
There was a time in this country when PE was taken more seriously, however, and it reached its absolute peak at La Sierra High School in Carmichael, California.
During the 1950s and 1960s, La Sierra boasted arguably the most rigorous PE program in the country, if not the world. The so-called “La Sierra System” was born at a time when World War II was over, the Cold War was still heating up, and prosperity and technological advances were making life increasingly sedentary and comfortable. In this atmosphere, there was a national concern about whether Americans were becoming too soft, overweight, and complacent to not only defend their country in war, but also to vigorously meet the challenges of peace.
As President John F. Kennedy wrote in “The Soft American”:
Fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body. it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity. . . . [We] you know what the Greeks knew: that intelligence and skill can only function at their peak when the body is healthy and strong. that hardy spirits and hard minds usually inhabit healthy bodies.
In this sense, physical condition is the basis of all the activities of our society. And if our bodies become soft and inert, if we fail to encourage physical growth and prowess, we will undermine our ability to think, to work, and to use those skills vital to an expanding and complex America.
Therefore, the physical condition of our citizens is a vital condition for America’s realization of America’s full potential as a nation and for each individual citizen’s opportunity to make full and fruitful use of his abilities.
To arrest the physical decay of his countrymen, and to promote the idea of developing a sound mind, in a sound body, JFK used it President’s Council on Physical Condition to revitalize physical education programs throughout the country and looked to La Sierra as an example of what was possible along these lines.
The first few minutes of the video above will give you a look at what some aspects of the La Sierra program were like.
The La Sierra system had developed by World War II veteran Stan LeProtti, who was inspired by the classical, “whole person” approach to fitness espoused by the ancient Greeks. LeProtti’s program sought to improve the strength, agility, balance, flexibility, power, and endurance—as well as leadership qualities—of all men in the student body, not just those relatively few boys who participated in organized athletics. The program not only incorporated physical exercise—a program that included an intense 12-minute warm-up, sports, games, dancing, sparring, gymnastics, running, aquatics, and off-ground work on various devices such as pegboards—but also included regular meetings to talk about philosophy. Why — behind it. Students were taught that the fitness routines they participated in not only built their bodies, but prepared their minds for learning and their spirits for life’s challenges.
His “Philosophy” section La Sierra PE Manual includes both “Physical Fitness” and “Psychological Fitness” as two of the program’s objectives and lists the following among the objectives of the latter:
- Students are systematically and deliberately required to ‘go all out’ within their individual capabilities in a range of physical development activities, thereby gradually increasing endurance and tolerance to pain levels.
- Students develop a well-disciplined attitude towards the “principle of hard work” when it comes to heavy power-generating activities.
When its producers The motivation factora documentary about the La Sierra System, interviewed those who had gone through it in their youth, who reported that the program had exactly that desired effect — and that it stayed with them into adulthood. When these La Sierra graduates faced challenges in the following years, they returned to their experiences in physical exercise as a touchstone—a reminder that they were capable of doing difficult things.
Another unique trademark of the La Sierra system was its use of “ability grouping” — a hierarchy of tiers denoting different levels of physical proficiency. The boys were divided into teams based on these levels, and each team/level was identified by a different colored satin tank top worn by its respective members (sans shirt) while practicing. All freshmen started on the White Team, wearing white shorts, and were then able to move up the ranks throughout their high school years. When you tested to the next level, you had to ditch your old colored shorts for new ones and proudly display your achievement. The color scheme was designed to take advantage of boys’ natural propensity for competition and publicly recognized status as an incentive to “physical excellence”.
One might wonder if this system did not shame and embarrass the boys who were of a lower fitness level and had to wear the lower level of shorts. Wouldn’t color groups make them feel bad about having to broadcast their place at the bottom of the ladder?
A coach at the time, Richard Chester Tucker, who was pursuing his doctoral dissertation on La Sierra’s color system, considered this very question. It compared the least physically able one-third of students in both La Sierra and a school that had a traditional PE program. What he found was that there was no difference between the self-esteem of the boys in each group. But the boys at La Sierra were physically fitter than those at the other school. For example, on average, the lowest third of boys in La Sierra could do nine pull-ups, while the lowest third of boys in the traditional PE program could only do two. In other words, the color-coded shorts system didn’t make students feel bad about themselves, but inspired them to strive higher. maybe these kids were never going to be elite athletes, but the color code system motivated them to be their best. As Tucker says inside The motivation factor“We received a lot of criticism because [people said] “You make these kids walk around in white trunks. What does that do to their self-esteem?’ It makes them want to get red logs!”
When interviewed as adults, those who went through the La Sierra program recalled it as fun and extremely supportive. the boys encouraged each other and helped each other reach the next level.
Within the color system, there were four main levels: White (Beginner), Red (Intermediate), Blue (Advanced) and Navy Blue (Ultimate Athlete). Within the Blue level, there were two sub-levels: Purple and Gold. More than 90% of students were able to progress from the White Team to the Red Team by the end of their first year, and 60% were eventually able to make the Blue Team. For every 100 students, only one or two still wore white trunks by graduation.
The following benchmarks had to be achieved to move beyond the White Team and reach the next levels of color within the La Sierra system.
Each color level had minimum, medium and “ceiling” substandards. the ceiling standard of one color level was the minimum standard of the next. Reaching the ceiling standard within a color level promoted the next color. Listed below is the minimum standard for each base color level:
Red (intermediate)
- Pulls: 10
- Push-Ups: 32
- Bar-Dips: 12
- Seats: 60
- Standing Broad Jump: 6’9″
- 200 yard shuttle run: 34 seconds
- Rope Climbing (18′, Stand Start): Use hands only (no feet)
- Agility Run: 20 seconds
- 880-Yard Run: 3 minutes
- Mile Run: 7 minutes
- Man Lift and Carry: 880 yards
- Pegboard (Vertical): 6 holes
- 50-yard swim (freestyle): 36 seconds
Blue (Advanced)
- Draws: 14
- Push-Ups: 48
- Bar-Dips: 18
- Standing Broad Jump: 7’3″
- Hanging Leg Raises: 24
- 300-yard shuttle run: 52 seconds
- Rope Climb (18′, Stand Start): 15 seconds, hands only
- Agility Run: 19 seconds
- 1320-Yard: 4:20
- Man Lift and Carry: 1320 yards
- World Board (Vertical): 1 trip
- Extension Press-Up: 5
- 1.5 mile run: 10:30am
- 50-yard swim (freestyle): 32 seconds
Navy Blue (Ultimate Athlete)
The mid and ceiling sub-standards at the Blue level were categorized as their own colors: Purple and Gold. In order to try the Navy Blue chests, you had to earn your gold chests first.
- Shots: 34
- Bar-Dips: 52
- Handstand Push-Ups: 50
- Alt. 1 arm burpee (30 sec): 26
- 300-yard shuttle: 47.5 seconds
- Rope Climbing (20′, Hands Only, Sitting Start): 2 runs
- Agility Run: 17 seconds
- Extension Press-Up (8”): 100
- Pegboard (Vertical): 5 routes
- Handstand: 45 seconds
- Man Lift and Carry: 5 miles
- Mile Run: 5:15
- 5 Mile Jog: Finish
- Obstacle Course: Completed
- Swim (Front Prone): 1 mile
- Swimming (Underwater): 50 yards
- Swim (any combination of strokes): 2 miles
- Perform front hanging float with bound hands and ankles (deep water): 6 minutes
- Remain on the surface in deep water in a vertical position (Use of hands and feet allowed within 8′ circle): 2 hours
Representing the pinnacle of fitness, the Navy Blue shorts were obviously extremely difficult to win, and as such high coveted. When a student won their trunks, their achievement was announced over the school’s PA system and the entire student body erupted in thunderous cheers.
Between 1958 when the Navy Blue level was introduced and 1983 when La Sierra High School closed, only 21 students were able to achieve these trunks. Today, the role model remains as a testament to an era that had high expectations for its youth – that believed in their potential and pushed them to achieve as much as they could.
Listen to this episode of the AoM podcast for more about the La Sierra PE program:
With 4,000 articles deep in our archives, we decided to repost a classic piece every Sunday to help our younger readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in March 2022.
