spartanburghigh.com

Okay, we're back. Contrary to what you peeps may have thought, the webguy was not off doing community service. Nope. As a certain bumper sticker points out, Stuff happens. Life is real. All that aside, let's think other thoughts.

Like doing an inter-class project. Let's call it, Spartanburg High, The Wonder Years. It'll include photos and whatever else the members of the classes from, say 1970, back to the beginning of dear old Spartan High, can offer up. Think of it as a compilation of all things digital. Well, not all things, if you get my drift. But those items members of our collective classes might be interested in. Use your imagination, and don't be shy. Use good sense, but otherwise, don't be shy.

Your webguy is going to work with you guys, and most especially a certain SHS reunion committee, and young Joe Wachter, SHS '64.

Who he, you ask. Did I hear you correctly?

While you need to work on your communication skills, briefly, Joe is a guy who gets things done. Right now, he's working on another project that's putting him in touch with many of Spartan High's former students. He's been incredibly active in civic affairs in the Carolinas, and he will definitely have an input in Project Wonder Years.

Stayed tuned for more, cuz we're flat going to lay it on you.

I mean, really, did you think you were going to lie around on your backsides with nothing to do?

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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, young 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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