responsible for planning other schools within the diocese. Located on First Avenue near Buena Vista, the school is expected to hold 700 to 750 pupils. On opening day, Rex Mundi welcomed 280 students. Of which, about 200 were freshmen, and the remaining were sophomores. Enrollment was expected to reach 800 in several years. Early years The high school began with a Catholic priest, Father Charles Meny, as superintendent, and with priests, nuns (Sisters of St. Francis of Oldenburg, Indiana) and a few lay teachers making up the faculty. The school "tracked" its students for most courses, providing basic college prep courses as well as business and home economics courses that those in college prep were not allowed to take—at least in the first several years of the school's tenure. Priests taught all religion courses, and religion was a required subject. An outstanding strength of the school was its mathematics department, headed up by Franciscan Sister Theresa Marie. Under her guidance the school captured medals in state math competitions for several years, beginning soon after Rex Mundi opened. The sports program, particularly the basketball team, also garnered attention statewide. Graduating in the class of 1963, basketball team captain Bob Griese went on to fame in college and professional football. Father Meny kept strict control over the day-to-day workings of the school. Unlike another Catholic high school in Evansville, Reitz Memorial, which boasted separate programs for young women and young men within the same building, Rex Mundi's boys and girls attended classes together. (Religion, biology and gym classes were separated by gender.) Into at least the middle 1960s a demerit system drove the discipline policy of the institution, and speaking to members of the opposite sex in the hallways was against the school rules, resulting in demerits. (A diocese- wide rule book for Catholic high school students forbade dating before the age of 16 and bringing a non-Catholic boyfriend or girlfriend to school dances; infractions of these rules often resulted in calls to parents.) Other rules were typical of schools of the time and included proscription of talking in class, disobeying direct orders from teachers, etc. An accumulation of a certain amount of demerits triggered suspension or expulsion. A visit to Father Meny for disciplinary action was a serious matter at Rex Mundi High School in the early years. Closing By 1971, Rex Mundi became a victim of falling enrollment and pressing