alt1958b

I was referring to the fact that no one will remember Charleston High after being replaced by Walker Valley. and being an open zone county, it does not just serve northern Bradley County. I know kids who live in the south end that went there and are going there, and that took place from the start, just as some from the northern part are going to Bradley. And a lot of the growth has to be attributed to Danny Coogan taking the principle job after being band director at Bradley and most band students followed him there (pretty much decimated the Bradley Band program). Drew Akins has done a nice job there, after Jon Lovingood started the program and Scott Webb and others did some good work. I hope Alan Morris builds the wrestling program up more before he retires. Alan was one of Bradley's first wrestling team members. (although his son is AD at Cleveland now)

I thought of Everett but was not sure who it was combined with from memory. Porter was the one I could not remember at all. I had a coworker that went to Madisonville High. Rhea County High is a combination of Spring City and Dayton High Schools. Two schools in Chattanooga that are gone are Chattanooga City Dynamos and Kirkman Hawks. Chattanooga Central was moved from downtown to Harrison,

Walker Valley is going to be like Heritage. Heritage was the combination of Walden, Townsend and I think another HS I can't remember the name of (case in point). No one will remember the old schools. Same for Sequoyah, Madisonville and Vonore are no more.

Jim Smiddy, who at one time had won the most games of any High School Basketball Coach. Been surpassed by a coach from Granville Texas now. He was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Bradley's Gym is named after him, Smiddy Arena. Had 7 State Championships and 2 National. Jason Rueter is our current coach and his win percentage is actually surpassing Coach Smiddy.

Data was a year ahead of me. I remember her in the halls. Towered over almost everyone, The Bearettes went 36-0 her senior year,

Little bit of history off the cuff. Please remember the numbers I use are approximate from what I remember at the time. Charleston High School was one of those Kindergarten through High school situations. Pretty much all the enrollment come from Charleston itself with a few from the outskirts. The school typically carried around 300 to 500 students. Bradley was then one of the largest high schools in the state, with enrolment generally around 2,000 plus. in 1977 it was like 2100 students and before they moved the 9th grade to the middle schools it hit 2400. (My freshmen class started with 600+ students). Cleveland High at the time had around 1000 to 1200 students as best I can remember. So, when they built Walker Valley, they did away with Charleston High School, in favor of a new name and all that entails. I thought it was a bit of slap in the face of the Charleston legacy which while not great did have some good history. And Walker Valley still tries to embrace the names of the players but avoids the "Charleston name tag" history. (I thought why not keep the name of the Panthers but what do I know). But the upshot was that the county had and has open enrollment. You can go to either HS in the county, but the feeder of Walker Valley is supposedly Ocoee Middle and the feeder to Bradley is now Lake Forest (formerly Trewhitt) Middle School. So essentially, they took in Charleston High School (there is still Charleston Elementary on the original campus and the football field and stands still exist) and split the student population of Bradley when creating Walker Valley. Because of the growth Cleveland High is now the largest school in the county, since they split Bradley with Walker Valley. Bradley is now a small 6A school and Walker Valley a large 5A school with Cleveland 6A.

Well it is OFFICIAL. Boo and Marcus signed with UT living up to their commitments. And then Tito Williams signs with Northwestern and Kaleb Martin signs with Miami of Ohio.

Oh, I know the TSSAA has their hands tied in a large aspect. why I said they were heading in the other direction. I get the point about having to match up. but that don't mean you will not be a factor. Bradley was able to come back and tie Oakland despite the matchup in size issue. It can be done but it's tough. Unfortunately, the Bears were not able to sustain it.

Don't count on the TSSAA fixing anything. They are moving in the other direction.

From Today's Chattanooga Free Press December 15, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. by Patrick MacCoon: "On Saturday morning, Boo Carter and Marcus Goree Jr. will get their first taste of college football as Bradley Central's two highly-touted recruits begin bowl practice with the University of Tennessee. It is a dream come true for both players, who have been committed to the Volunteers for months. Both players graduated from Bradley Central on Friday so that they could take advantage of the NCAA's early enrollee rule, which allows them to begin practicing with the Vols, although they will not be eligible to play in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl against Iowa on Jan. 1 in Orlando." They will sign with Tennessee in the Early signing period, next Wednesday. So put the Colorado rumors to rest. Bradley Central stars Boo Carter, Marcus Goree Jr. set to begin bowl practice with Tennessee this weekend | Chattanooga Times Free Press

Not according to my sources.

One never knows in this day and time.

No change in commitment; still Tennessee.

But yet, the parents sending their kids to private schools subsidize public schools while paying the full price of the private school cost. That could be construed as "socialist" too. Not arguing for or against, but this is still fact that seems to be swept under the rug for those who don't like the voucher idea. To be fair, those who send kids to private schools, for whatever the reason, are getting shafted in that regard. I can understand their point as well.

Ok here is the facts. Steve Hargis has an article about it in the Times-free Press this morning. This move is tied to a law sponsored by Adiam Lowe and passed by the state legislature last summer. Basically the State Legislative passed a law saying that students can transfer at will. TSSAA is over the barrel on what to do because the rules don't align with state law now. It's either find a way to allow transfers or get superseded by law and lawsuits. Now the voucher bill is another facet of this but the law that is forcing the TSSAA's hand is already in effect while the voucher law has not passed yet. Hargis: TSSAA’s punt only delays addressing transfer rules | Chattanooga Times Free Press