spartanburghigh.com

For the record, your webguy graduated from SHS in 1964. During all the time I was in grade school in Spartanburg, not one of my classmates passed from this life.

But I, and I suspect my classmates, did get a dose of reality when Kennedy flew into Dallas. Those were strange times, and though things returned to normalcy soon enough, we never forgot. Today is November 22, and as you may or may not know, this is the 48th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.

I don't remember the speeches delivered up at our graduation ceremony, but I bet at least one of them had a carpe diem theme. Seize the day. It's darn good advice.

However, just maybe, knowing what I know, a better theme would've been, Mox nox in rem. That translates roughly as, Hurry, night approaches.

If, perchance, you don't understand what I'm saying, give it time. You will.

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I was visiting Sparkle City not long ago, and thinking good thoughts. I'd frankly forgotten about how one could see mountains from my hometown. There's a lot of beautiful views in that part of the world, and the sunset I witnessed from the home of a former classmate was absolutely spectacular. Got me to pondering whether or not I could live there again. I think the answer is yes. I have a lot of good memories of Spartanburg, Greenville, Charlotte, and, well, okay, even Gaffney.

Actually, we've all known Gaffnians who were decent enough. Back in the early '60s, some of their football teams were certainly "decent," in the sense they were competitive. Poor guys, they'd show up for every game, score way more points than they actually needed, and all for what? The thrill of victory?

Hey, it was just a game.

Is the Peachoid still there? I got friends across the water who ask about it on occasion. Seriously.

For what it's worth, I haven't seen Gaffney since I visited the Hamrick sisters in 1984. That two hour visit with those ladies was a footnote to my life, but a marvelous footnote.

But getting back to Spartanburg, my old hometown looks prosperous, to say the least. I was impressed.

If I walk into a restaurant and have a bad experience, I tend to blame the manager. If I have a good experience, by the same token, I give the lion's share of the credit to the manager. One could well apply that same rule to a city, especially one which seems to have employed a plan to transform itself. Spartanburg, happily, is just such a success story, and, without a doubt, that has to do with the current city administration.

Spartanburg is a happening place. I bet good things are going on in Gaffney, too.

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The Spartanburg Viking

You can tell a lot about a person just by the way he looks.

Take this gentleman, for instance – by the set of his lantern jaw and the prominence of his brow ridge, it’s obvious to even the casual observer this guy is respectful to his elders, flosses daily, takes out the trash, and brakes for small animals.

Yep, the Spartan Viking. What’s not to love?

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Questions or comments? Email the webmaster at PaulMChilders@gmail.com

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Late in the spring of 2005, Barry Brown, Class of '64, went for a walkabout with his camera through and around the Spartan High campus. The full tour, all sixty-plus pictures, is now ready for viewing. The accompanying text is another matter -- you might want to ignore it and just look at the photos.

The front portico.

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What’s with that Viking dude?

Here's a plausible explanation of how the SHS Viking came to be:

In the late ‘60s, the Feds finally began running out of patience with the slow progress of racial integration in public schools across the South. By the early ‘70s, you had to be crazy blind not to see that the Justice Department was gearing up to do some serious shin kicking -- it was all over the papers and everything.

In order for the Spartanburg city schools to get in step with federal regs, Carver High was closed, with Spartan High absorbing Carver’s students.

For those who’d previously cheered the Carver Tigers, being presented the opportunity to root for the Spartan Crimson Tide Redbirds wasn’t exactly an answer to a prayer. There were those among the new arrivals who wanted -- demanded change.

Fans of pro football may remember about that time the Minnesota Vikings were doing especially well. Even the Mary character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show alluded to the Vikings' prospects in the upcoming '73 Super Bowl. The highly publicized success of Minnesota’s NFL franchise, one way or another, had something to do with Spartanburg High’s adoption of the Viking mascot. It may have been a case of any port in a storm, any feel-good name in a crisis of self-identity. Do it, and get it over with.

In any event, whether by administrative fiat or the student body had choices for which to vote, the Spartanburg High School mascot is now… the Spartan Viking.

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