Appomattox County High School

Appomattox County High School is a public high school located in Appomattox, Virginia. Appomattox has an enrollment of 686 as of 2008. Its teams are known as the Raiders and its colors are blue, grey, and red. The school was built in 1973. It is known for its size and its constant switching in the VHSL between Group A Dogwood and Group AA Seminole Districts.

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

Howard Clabough served as Athletic Director from 1983–1993 and also served as baseball coach. Bob Hudson served as Athletic Director from 1993-2008. Ron Carter has served as Athletic Director since 2008.

Gordon Bragg served as head football coach for over 30 years until his retirement in the mid-1970s. Coach Bragg is recognized in the VHSL Hall of Fame. The football program has not had stable success since then, until recently, as it went through a number of football coaches after the retirement of Gordon Bragg. Since the retirement of Coach Bragg, there have been numerous coaching changes, from Stuart Justus, Gary Cuccio, to James Hodges. Larry Kidd, Lance Carter, Jeremy Haymore, and Ben Martin have been head coaches at the school since 2000. Since 2008, Ben Martin has provided stability to the program. The volleyball program has had success in recent years, and has been served by some very good coaches. Louise Martin, Lucy Harris, Bob Hudson, Ray Archer, and Mark Drinkard. They have made several appearances in the Regional Tournament in the 2000s.

The basketball programs have been tremendously successful on both sides, girls and boys, with the boys being the most successful of late. Mary Tolley served as the girls coach for 17 years and won numerous championships. Gary Ferguson took over and continued the trend winning a school record 21 games in 2008, his final season. DJ Jack has continued to build a solid basketball program, advancing to Regionals in 2009.

The boys basketball program has had numerous individuals coaching the basketball team, including Gordon Bragg in the 1960's and 70's. Beginning in the 1980s, Cody Dickerson led the team to a 1983 Region Finals appearance against Martinsville. Bob Hudson took over after Dickerson for 7 seasons, and was followed by Steve Williams, Andrew Kelso, Gary Ferguson, Doug Marshall, Brantley Shields, and currently Arik Mawdessly. The program has seen its most successful years since 2008 under the leadership of Brantley Shields with a combined record of 54-22 from 2008-2010. In 2008, they had a 15-13 record and advanced to the state tournament, in 2009 they finished with a 21-5 record and in 2010 won the school's first ever Conference Championship and finished with an 18-4 record.

The wrestling program has produced numerous state tournament contenders under the leadership of wrestling coaches Chris and Scott Conkright over the past 30 years.

The Baseball team has had tremendous success over the past 30 years, beginning with Coach Howard Clabough. Clabough led the baseball team to Conference Championships in 1983, 84, and 85, winning Regional Championships in 83 and 85. After the departure of Clabough, the program went through several head coaches including Cris Bell, Joe Fraley, and Paul Johnson before Joe Caruso took over in 2002. Since that time Caruso has led the program to several conference and regional championships, including a 2006 trip to the AA state tournament.

The softball team, coached by legendary coach and VHSL Hall of Fame member Mary Tolley, won numerous conference and regional tournaments under the legendary coach. In 1987, she led them to the State Championship. Gary Ferguson took over upon Tolley's retirement, and continued the winning tradition. Upon the departure of Gary Ferguson, Donnie Byars took over and led the team to the State Tournament in 2010.

The track team has been very successful since the mid-1980s under the leadership of David Read. They won numerous Conference and Regional titles. Lance Carter took over in the late 1990s and led the team to a AA State Championship in 2006. Upon the departure of Lance Carter, Kevin Walker led the team to a 2008 indoor state title. Since that time, the program has been in transition from coaches attempting to find the right person to lead the program to its successful future.

Drama/Theater Competitions

Under former English teacher Wes Williams the Appomattox Drama Club was able to win several District, Region and even a few Virginia High School League State Championships in the "One-Act" play competition while still at the "AA" level. In 1999 the Drama Club scored a 1st place win in Districts, Regions and went one to place 2nd in the State with a 35 minute one-act version of the famous play "Dark of the Moon". In 2000, the Drama Club scored another 1st place victory in Districts and Regions but this time went on to secure the first ever Drama Club State Championship with a 35 minute version of "The Diviners". In 2004 the Appomattox drama team performed a one-act version of the off-Broadway production of "The Laramie Project" In 2005 the team performed a one-act rendition of "Dancing at Lughnasa". Both plays were cut from the original script by Williams and both went on to score state victories.

Logo dispute with University of Arizona

In 2013, The University of Arizona contacted then principal, Martha Eagle, with a cease and desist order for use of the iconic, block 'A' logo.^[2] The school district had been using the block 'A' similar to University of Arizona's ever since the mid 1980s. The school board held a public contest for the design of the new logo. Then eight grader, Nathan Simpson, won the contest and that design is now used as the official administrative and athletic 'A'.^[3]

References