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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.
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.
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