The school became known on a national level for its forensics program. Led by coach David Dansky for twenty-five years, Kennedy teams won three state championships in forensics and various state and national individual awards, including second place by Richard Mitchel (via a tie-breaker for first) at the 1969 National Speech Tournament. Mitchel was one of the first black students in the nation to win such a trophy in the Forensics League. In 1973, the school had the largest chapter in the National Forensics League in the nation. It had the second largest chapter twice, and was among the top five schools in the country seven other years. Kennedy succeeded against some of the most elite public and private schools in California.
