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Week 11 – SPORTS – Risley High School Sports

Brunswick’s Risley High School was known both for its academic and athletic successes. The school that would become Risley opened in 1870 as the Freedmen’s School, Brunswick’s first public school for African Americans. New buildings for an updated Risley High School were constructed on the same site in 1936 and 1955. Generations of African Americans in Brunswick and on the islands attended Risley High School, and many remembered anticipating their high school experience from childhood.

One such Risley student, Clyde Williams, grew up in Brunswick with a strong mind for sports from an early age. He remembers that a coach at Glynn Academy would save used footballs and basketballs for him, but that he had to visit a local service station to have them patched and reinflated. By the time he reached high school, Williams looked forward to playing basketball in a wooden gym, Risley’s Carrie I. McIntyre Memorial Gymnasium, which was built by students and staff at the high school. Williams remembers that such a structure at an African American high school was unusual—most students at black schools had to play basketball outside. Williams was also part of Risley’s official boys’ basketball team, which, during his time there, often placed in the top three at the state championships, where they played against teams from other African American high schools across Georgia.

After attending Fort Valley State University, Williams returned to Brunswick, where he began teaching and coaching at Risley High School in 1957. He was an assistant coach for both football and basketball for several years before becoming head coach for the school’s basketball teams. He remembers that the first basketball team he coached at Risley won one game and lost nineteen. The second won fifteen games and lost sixteen. After that, he says, “it was always on the winning side.” Because Risley’s school colors included red, the team would roll out a red carpet for their entrances before games.

Risley students and staff remember a strong community atmosphere surrounding sports, especially for the football and basketball teams and for the marching band. One student recalls that “when I was a kid… I used to run behind the drums because I always wanted to be a drummer. […] Everybody in the community would always come out for the band.”

Sources: Historic Risley School Digital Archives, Clyde Williams Interview 01 and 02, https://risleyhigh.omeka.net, Reflections Vol. III, No. 4, September 2003, Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, https://georgiawildlife.com/sites/default/files/hpd/pdf/AfricanAmericanHistoricPlaces/September%202003.pdf