Before there were Bruins, students at College High were the Wildcats, named after the oil industry's wildcatters. They wore black and gold for the black gold coming out of the ground to build Bartlesville into what it is today. However, the original high school mascot was the Yellow Jacket until 1924-25. Incidentally, that was the same year Cecil "Lefty" Custer (as in Custer Stadium) became the junior high football coach. He would later help coach the high school football team for many years. Col-Hi's mascot, Willie the Wildcat, was a prominent part of school spirit. You will find some old sports photographs on the history pages for the Douglass segregated school and Central.

College & Bartlesville High School have a long history of powerhouse swim teams with the boys and girls earning 40 state swimming championships since the first boys' title in 1948. 

The baby boom led to the creation of the Sooner High School Spartans on the east side of town, fostering a spirited rivalry between the two schools. Bartlesville had tremendous boys golf teams in the seventies, with the Wildcats earning five state championships and their rivals, the Spartans, winning two more. The boys Wildcat tennis team captured three state championships from 1979-1982. A boys' basketball game between Sooner and College High at the Adams Gym tied a national record of seven overtimes in 1979. In 1981 the Col-Hi Cheerleading squad was the first in Oklahoma to attend a national cheerleading competition in Florida. 

Sooner High and College High merged in 1982 to re-create a unified Bartlesville High School. The Bru Crew "pep club" began in 1985.

A 17-year lull in state team championships began after 1997, although the sports teams would rack up one state academic championship after another. Finally, in 2014, the girls cross country team took the state championship, promptly followed by the girl swimmers taking the state championship in 2015. The girls cross country teams were again named state class 6A champs in 2015 and 2016, along with the girl swimmers taking state again in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2024. The boys cross country team earned its first state championship in 2016, the first time a Bruin boys team earned an athletic state championship in 24 years.