T. L. Hanna High School
| T.L. Hanna High School | |
|---|---|
 T.L. Hanna shield | |
| Address | |
 | |
2600 Highway 81 North Anderson , South Carolina 29621 United States | |
| Coordinates | 34°34′02″N 82°37′24″W / 34.5671°N 82.62329°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| School district | Anderson School District Five |
| Principal | Walter Mayfield |
| Staff | 95.90 (FTE)[1] |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Number of students | 1,875 (2018–19)[1] |
| Student to teacher ratio | 19.55[1] |
| Color(s) | Vegas gold and white |
| Nickname | Yellow Jackets |
| Website | hanna |
T. L. Hanna High School is located at 2600 Highway 81 North, outside the city limits of Anderson, South Carolina, United States. It is one of two high schools in Anderson School District 5 and has a population of nearly 1,800 students. On July 1, 2015, Shawn Tobin was appointed as principal taking the place of long time principal Shelia Hilton, who retired. In 2019, Tobin retired to be replaced by T.L. Hanna graduate, Walter Mayfield. In 1989, the school was named "Palmetto's Finest" by the South Carolina Department of Education. In 2000, it was named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. In 2014, U.S. News & World Report named T.L. Hanna as the fifth best high school in South Carolina, and ranked it in the top 3% of high schools in the United States.[2]
History
Before T.L. Hanna High School, there was a Boys High School (located at what is now the Hanna-Westside Extension Campus) and a Girls High School. In 1951, Girl's High School changed its name to T.L. Hanna High School.[3] In 1961, the school moved to a new site on Marchbanks Avenue, the current site of McCants Middle School, and became co-ed in 1962.
Prior to 1971, T.L. Hanna was Anderson School District 5's all-white high school (Westside was the African-American school); in 1971, the district finally integrated nearly 20 years after the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. During the first year of integration, each grade's student government had two co-presidents, two co-vice presidents, etc., one white and one black.
In 1992, the school moved to its current location on Highway 81. In 1996, McDuffie High School closed as an independent vocational/non-college preparatory high school and became the Hanna-Westside Extension Campus, a change which increased and substantially diversified T.L. Hanna's student population (prior to 1996, many African-American students who were zoned for Hanna attended McDuffie, and the school's population made it state 3A instead of 4A.) It has been an International Baccalaureate school since 2010.[4]
T.L. Hanna recently expanded by adding a freshman academy, math hall, new auxiliary gym, and new sports area.
Notable alumni
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2017) |
- Chadwick Boseman, actor, writer, and director, Marshall, 42, Get On Up, Draft Day, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther [5]
- James Michael Tyler, actor who played Gunther on the sitcom Friends[6]
- Martavis Bryant, former wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL
- Preston Jones, football player[7]
- Rafael Little, former running back for Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League
- Jim Rice, Baseball Hall of Fame player for Boston Red Sox; attended his final year of high school here in 1971
- Stephen D. Thorne, NASA astronaut
- Nate Woody, former defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech
James "Radio" Kennedy
James "Radio" Kennedy was a young man with an intellectual disability who befriended T. L. Hanna Coach Harold Jones in 1964. The two became great friends, and Kennedy informally worked as an assistant coach under Jones, against considerably push-back from the school administration and members of the football team. Following a 1996 Sports Illustrated profile, their story was made into a feature film, Radio, in 2003. Cuba Gooding Jr. portrayed Kennedy in the film. A large statue of "Radio" is located on the school grounds today.[8] Kennedy died at the age of 72, at his South Carolina home surrounded by his family and friends including Coach Harold Jones, on December 15, 2019.[9]
MTV's Made
MTV came to T.L. Hanna High School in September 2007 to cast for Made, a reality show featuring makeovers of high school students.
References
- ^ a b c "T. L. Hanna High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
- ^ "T. L. Hanna High School". usnews.com.
- ^ "T. L. Hanna High School / Homepage". anderson5.net.
- ^ "T. L. Hanna High School". International Baccalaureate Organization. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "James Michael Tyler". IMDb.
- ^ "Former Hanna QB Preston Jones returns to alma mater as receivers coach". independentmail.com. July 19, 2012. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ^ Perez-Pena, Richard (September 15, 2008). "The Sports Whisperer, Probing Psychic Wounds". The New York Times. Retrieved September 23, 2008.
- ^ "James Robert "Radio" Kennedy (1946-2019) - Find A Grave-gedenkplek".