Dillon High School

Dillon High School is a public high school in Dillon, South Carolina, United States. It is a part of Dillon School District Four. It is located on 1730 Highway 301 North, approximately five miles from the border of North Carolina and South Carolina. It is the home of the Dillon Wildcats. The current schoolhouse was built in 1970, with additions in 2000. The school itself dates back to the late 1800's with portions of 1896 and 1910 buildings still in use for other educational purposes. Dr. Shawn Johnson serves the school as principal and D. Ray Rogers is the superintendent of the school's district expected to retire shortly.^[1]

Recent years

For the 2013-2014 school year the school has 837 students and 65 persons on faculty and staff. Dillon High School offers classes from College Preparatory, Honors, and Advanced Placement, to Vocational School, J.R.O.T.C., and Dual Enrollment. In the spring of 2011 ground was broken on the campus of Dillon High School for the site of a new junior high school for Dillon, South Carolina. This middle school was proposed to replace J.V. Martin Jr. High School, which was featured in "Corridor of Shame" as one of many neglected schools in South Carolina. Attention was brought to the school after an eighth grade girl wrote a letter to President Barack Obama expressing her concerns about the school. Her letter reached the president and brought national attention to the area. With the attention of this letter came the funding for the new junior high school.

Athletics

• Athletic Director: Jackie Hayes
• Assistant AD: Robbie Brown

Football

(12/07/2013) At age 29, Jackie Hayes became the head football coach of the Dillon HS Wildcats in 1992. An alumni, he was a quarterback on the 1980 Shrine Bowl team representing SC. In 1998 he was elected to the SC House of Representatives. In his 22 years as head coach, he has led the Wildcats to become a nationally acclaimed football program with 14 region titles, ten lower state titles, and six state titles (including six out of eighth state title appearances from 2008-2015). He has a record of 278 wins to 50 loses. On July 24, 2012 Coach Hayes was inducted in the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame (SCACA). He is the youngest coach to reach 200 wins in state history (2010). Previous coaches of note include Paul Chapman and William "Bull" Lee who helped pave the way for the program's success. The Wildcats play their home games at Dillon Memorial Stadium on West Main Street in Dillon. They wear black and gold uniforms.

Other sports

Dillon High School's sports teams include baseball, coached by Gregg Dozier; tennis, coached by Larry Williams; boys' basketball, coached by Harold Wilson; track and field, and girls' volleyball, basketball, and softball. The gym at the high school is lined with banners that commemorate the region championships that Dillon has won throughout its history.

Dillon has won eight state championships, six in football, one in Girls' Track and, one in Softball. In 1947, the Wildcats were awarded a State Championship in football after the opposing team declined to show up to the game due to weather. Two were won in 2008 and 2009 when the Wildcats played Central Pageland in Death Valley and in Williams-Brice Stadium. State Championship football games were also won at Benedict College in Columbia against Fairfield Central in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, the Wildcats won their third straight football championship against Newberry. They were also the first team to ever go undefeated in school history. In 2012, the Girls' Track team won a State Championship and, the Lady Wildcats softball team won a State Championship in 2014.

Notable alumni

• Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• Robin Tallon, former member of Congress
• Kevin Steele, former defensive coordinator Clemson; now at Alabama
• John Chavis, defensive coordinator at Texas A&M
• Derrick Hamilton, football player

References

External links

• http://www.dillon.k12.sc.us/dhs/Default.asp