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Weekly 150

McKenzie High School

Where It All Began

Posted

In a fit of spring cleaning and purging, our staff went riffling through filing cabinets and old boxes at the office. As the resident scrounger, I came across a Banner special section focusing on the early history of McKenzie High School. The edition came from May 1975 as the doors to the old three-story school building were closing, and the new building was prepping for its first class.
As I thumbed through the pages, questions I’ve had for many years were answered along with a few questions I’ve been asked since I started this weekly column. So I am going to do my best to piece numerous columns and stories together in order to tell the story of the early McKenzie High School.
The first graduating class of McKenzie High School was in 1920. Even though public education had been around in McKenzie since 1883, it took 37 years before the first operational four-year high school program had a graduating class. The three-story high school building was not occupied until 1924.
The graduating class consisted of seven; LaVerne Hailey, Jasper Lee Thomason, U.L. Hodges, Marjory Mashall, Mary Fulgham, Ann Thomas Holland (Valedictorian), and Marcella Todd (Salutatorian). The benediction was at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church with Reverend George L. Johnson delivering the sermon. Musical and commencement exercises took place at Bethel College on Monday, May 17, 1920 and Tuesday, May 18, 1920.
Leading the school as superintendent was John David Mullins. After teaching in Selmer, Tenn. for 8 years, Mullins came to McKenzie in 1910. Known as a dedicated educator, he served as the first superintendent with less than 250 students enrolled in the system to approximately 500 in 1933 when he retired.
The school faculty for 1919-1920; J.D. Clark, Miriam Clark, Blanche Donnell, Eufala Gaskins, Grace Denton, Ethel Pate, May McClure, Bess Huffman, Marjorie Parnell, and Willie Caldwell. The ten educators were responsible for teaching all 12 grades under one roof until the high school building was able to be occupied.
From the records, it appears athletics at McKenzie High School began in the 1920-1921 school year. The sports offered were baseball and basketball. In a story from the 1920 Banner archives:
MHS Wins — In a interesting game McKenzie High School defeated the Camden team last Friday on the Camden ground by a score of 8 to 6.
It was an interesting game from start to finish; first one being in the lead and then another. The Camden boys were one score in the lead in the seventh, but the McKenzie boys added three more in the eighth.
Winston pitched a good game for M.H.S. He struck out thirteen men and pitched well in tight places.
Battery: MHS Winston and McLean; Camden; Parker, Gibson and McGill.
The original team name for McKenzie was Yellow Jackets for the boys teams and the girls were known as the Blue Cyclones. The basketball gym in the “new high school building” was opened in the fall of 1924. A story from the Carroll County Democrat on March 7, 1924:
McKenzie High Ball Games ­— The gymnasium of the new McKenzie High School, new $50,000 building, was thrown open to the public for the first time recently with a basketball tournament in which several teams played the local team of boys and girls.

The first game was between McKenzie High School team and a team representing the Trezevant High School, resulting in a score of 15 to 12 in favor of Trezevant. The McKenzie High School girls played the Dresden girls, McKenzie providing victor by 20 to 2. Trezevant boys played McLemoresville and McLemoresville won. McKenzie girls played McLemoresville and won by a score of 17 to 11.
In 1925, football was introduced to the McKenzie athletic program with Robert Marshall serving as the first head coach. This is the earliest McKenzie Banner archive of a McKenzie High School football story from November 16, 1928:
McKenzie to Play Grove — Eureka! McKenzie High School football squad has scored a touchdown. The team, handicapped all season by ineligibles, met strong the Murray, Kentucky team and although they dropped their sixth straight game, they pushed across a touchdown. The score was 25 to 6. Billy Alexander achieved the honor of being the first McKenzie gridder to cross the opponents goal line this season.
The team has shown considerable improvement in the past two weeks and when they meet Grove High School at Paris this Friday afternoon, the team says it’s going to be a different story. Last year Grove defeated the locals on their own field 6 to 0. It was the first victory that GHS had attained against the McKenzie eleven.
In 1944, McKenzie underwent a transformation at least in the sense of its mascot. Goodbye to the Yellow Jackets and Blue Cyclones. Hello to the Rebels and Rebelettes. It was during this time Lon Varnell took over Rebel football introducing the area to the new “T-Formation.” Varnell coached at Bethel College in the 1940s until athletics were dropped due to WWII. He then began coaching football and basketball at McKenzie High before taking over the basketball program at the Swanee.
McKenzie football was on the upswing in the mid-1940s and early 1950s as the Rebels won multiple “Little Ten” and West Tennessee Championships.
There are so many stories to tell about the early years of McKenzie High School. I will share a few more in next week’s edition.

Jason R. Martin
B.S. • M.A.Ed • MLS
Councilman, Ward II
Executive Chairman, McKenzie 150th Celebration
E: jmartin@mckenziebanner.com  P: 731.352.3323

Jason Martin is a life-long resident of McKenzie. He graduated from McKenzie High School in 2000; earned a Bachelor of Science in History from Bethel College in 2004; a Masters in Education from Bethel University in 2009 and a Masters in History and Humanities from Fort Hays State University in 2011.

Weekly 150, McKenzie, Archives