Clarke County Democrat

CHS graduates last class

Tuskegee coach and CHS grad is speaker




The 18 CHS grads of 2011 give their mortar boards a traditional toss after receiving their diplomas May 20. They are the last graduating class at CHS as the school is being closed.

The 18 CHS grads of 2011 give their mortar boards a traditional toss after receiving their diplomas May 20. They are the last graduating class at CHS as the school is being closed.

Eighteen seniors, smartly dressed in caps and gowns of Coffeeville High School’s crimson red marched across Panther Stadium Friday, May 20 to receive their diplomas.

Unless something extraordinary happens, this is the last class to graduate high school in a town that has hosted a school since at least 1832 when an act of the state legislature incorporated Coffeeville Academy. The Clarke County Board of Education has voted to close the small school due to financial difficulities at the end of this school year.

There was a large turnout for the historic ceremony. There were references to the school’s closing but the matter wasn’t dwelled upon at length.

Willie Slater, the head football coach at Tuskegee University and a Coffeeville native and graduate of Coffeeville High School was the guest speaker.

“This is supposed to be the last graduation and it is a sad occasion,” he acknowledged as he urged the seniors to take advantage of the opportunities the future would present them.

Willie Slater

Willie Slater

Slater reminisced that he was a freshman at Coffeeville High School in 1970, the first year for him to attend the school after integration and the closing of Clarke County Training School, the town’s black school.

“It was my first time to ever play organized football,” said Slater, 55, who would go on to make the sport a career.

He remembered his first game, on the field from which he was speaking, and that he witnessed it from a sideline bench. But within a few weeks, Slater’s coach learned that he had a good arm and he placed him at quarterback.

“The first time I played [at quarterback] I threw a touchdown pass. The second time I threw a touchdown pass. The third time I threw an interception and cried like a baby,” he recalled.

Slater was the first black to quarterback a Coffeeville High School football team. He would go on to attend Livingston State University where he was that school’s first black quarterback, too.

Crowd sings Coffeeville alma mater at the end of 2011 graduation.

Crowd sings Coffeeville alma mater at the end of 2011 graduation.

He achieved other firsts in various coaching positions at Troy State University, the University of North Alabama, Jacksonville State University and Temple University.

Today he is the head coach at Tuskegee University where he boasts a record of 51-7 in five years. He isn’t bashful about the success: “In my opinion, that is just unheard of,” he said.

Slater said his point wasn’t so much about his successes but about what people can do. He told the seniors, “You come from Coffeeville High School, a small school, but take advantage of your opportunities and you can be whatever you want to be.”

An important key, he said, is to “be humble and respect authority…you can be what you want to be if you put your mind to it and respect authority.”

Valedictorian Oscar Walker-Parks’ remarks were especially meaningful given the fact that he is the last to bear that title at Coffeeville High School.

“…Coffeeville always has been and always will be colossal in potential,” he said to a hearty ovation.

“Life is like a series of passageways,” he said, later adding, “take them as they come and try to make the best of them.”

The program concluded with a group singing of the school’s alma mater. Often the words are mouthed without much thought but it seemed as though they were sung with emotion and much more thought of their meaning this last time.

Coffeeville High School Alma Mater: ‘Hail to the dearest school of all’

Hail to thee, Our Alma Mater Faithful, kind and true. Every son and every daughter Offers praise to you. Hail to the dearest spot of all And hail to Coffeeville. Joy and laughter and attention All we owe to thee. Hail to thee, our dear old high school,

How we love, love thee!

We will sing and we will cheer thee,

Every hour of every day.

Hail to the dearest school of all, and

Hail to Coffeeville.

Love and care and fond devotion


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