Three decades ago, six Roosevelt High School seniors set out to show they could match up with the best minds in Fresno County when they competed in the county's first Academic Decathlon.

The southeast Fresno campus had not yet become a magnet school for the arts, and expectations were low for the school, said Dr. Catherine Pilibos, one of the students.

"We wanted to prove that we were just as good if not better than the other schools," said Pilibos, 46, a lawyer-turned-chiropractor and a University of California Hastings College of Law graduate.

Today, after months of arduous preparation, schools in Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare counties will compete to become the 2012 version of Roosevelt High's team -- Academic Decathlon champions.

Decades after winning the county championship, Roosevelt team members recalled that it was extremely satisfying and uplifting for the school.

"That was the highlight of my high school career," said Sonya Pettus Williams, 46, an anesthesiologist in Fresno. "The whole school got a boost. I had students coming up to me saying, 'I'm proud of you.' "

Winning the championship also is a fond memory for J. Perske, 46, of Fresno, who is retired after a career as a computer programmer and technician.

"It was the best thing that had happened to me in my life up to that point," he said.

The feat was a reflection of the school's students and staff, Perske said.

"We had some very brilliant people at the school, and we had some excellent, excellent teachers," he said.

One of those teachers was Dave Sischo, who taught advanced placement U.S. history and was the Academic Decathlon coach.

The teammates cited Sischo's dedication in preparing them for the competition. Sischo and two team members -- Margaret Howsepian and Robert Wenger -- could not be reached for this story.

"It was a great opportunity to bond with that group, and that's why we were able to pull off what was considered an upset," said team member Jeff Reimche, 47, a University of California at Berkeley engineering graduate who runs a fertilizer plant in Dinuba.

That first championship began a run for Roosevelt High, which won eight of the first 11 county Academic Decathlons before Edison High School dominated in the mid-1990s.

Roosevelt finished in the top 10 out of about 50 schools at the state decathlon in 1983, team members said.

The Academic Decathlon experience affirmed a solid work ethic in Pettus Williams, a UC San Francisco School of Medicine graduate.

"You really figured out," she said, "that it paid off to set a goal and study hard."

Academic Decathlons

Super Quiz events are open to the public today

Fresno County: Glacier Point Middle School, Fresno, at 3:30 p.m.

Tulare County: Porterville College gymnasium at 2:45 p.m.

Madera County: Madera South High School at 2:45 p.m.

Kings County: West Hills College, Lemoore, at 2:30 p.m.