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W.H. Gibbons High School (1915–1967) was a high school in Paris, Texas, located at 741 North Twenty-First Street. (originally on South Twenty-Third Street?)

History

In 1915, the negro high school in Paris burned to the ground. In 1917, Gibbons was one of 13 "colored" high schools in Texas listed by the U.S. Department of Education. For the 1966–1967 school year, Gibbons High School and Paris High School consolidated into one school. The Gibbons High School facility became a four-grade junior high school.

Many Paris citizens attributed the opening of the Paris public school system in 1884 to (i) W.B. Aiken, (ii) E.L. Dohoney, (iii) Travis Henderson, and (iv) John Chisum Gibbons (1835–1910). Gibbons, was in 1884, Mayor and founding President of the school board. The negro school was on North Jefferson.

Two types of segregated schools

Mandated by law and predominance.

Other names

1930–1960: Gibbons Negro High School

Feeder school

• Baldwin Negro Elementary School
• Gibbons Negro Elementary School
• Bankhead Negro Elementary School

"In 1884 Aikin Institute, Graham School, and Gibbons High School comprised our school system."

Selected educators and staff

Principals

• Edward "Edwin" Walter Bailey (né Edward White Bailey; 1863–1926), from Brownsville, Tennessee, was principal of Gibbons from about 1905 to 1926. He held a B.A. (1887) and M.A. (1890) from Fisk University. His son, Edward Walter Bailey, Jr. (1890–1983), was a professional musician and bandleader in Chicago.

803rd Pioneer Infantry Band, 1919

In July 1918 a third major Chicago area regiment of black draftees, the 803rd Pioneer Infantry regiment, was organized at Camp Grant. Its band played under Sgt. Major Edward Walter Bailey (1890–1983), who had been the leader of the orchestra at one of the nation’s most important African-American theatrical venues, the States Theater on Chicago’s South Side. The band quickly took Camp Grant by storm before shipping out, and a concert by the group upon its arrival back home after the war was eagerly anticipated.

• Travis Gosnold Givens (1891–1974), principal of Gibbons Junior Senior High School from 1936 to 1967. He earned his first bachelor's degree in 1912 from Prairie View A&M University. He held two other bachelor's degrees from Prairie View – one in education and one in agriculture. He also earned a master's in 1939 from the University of Colorado Boulder. In 1939, an era when most universities were segregated, the Colorado had accepted 486 blacks.

Teachers

1960s: Vernon Van Bolden (1922–2002), became the Gibbons High School band director beginning fall 1956. He became the band director at Bishop College.

Ruth Hancock, choir director

James Edward McPhail (born 1937?), band director, whose son, James Henry McPhail (born January 1, 1966), was the first birth of Lamar County for 1966. He was married to Bettye E Brannon.

Sports

Football coaching staff

Gus H. Brown (né Gus Henry Brown; 1908–1976), a manual art teacher, became head football coach at Gibbons in 1945. Gibbons has suspended football the previous two years, due to World War II. He remained head football coach until 1959. In 1957, he became known for innovating Reverse Gear Quarterbacking, where the quarterback has his back to the center and the rest of the line faces the backfield. The quarterback takes the snap between his legs, and, can, in theory, more quickly make handoffs or retreat for passing. He played college football for four years at Huston–Tillotson University (then called Samuel Huston College), where he received A.B. degree. He also attended Prairie View A&M.

John C. Burton became head football coach for the 1959–1960 school year.

Basketball coaching staff

Newton Woods, Jr. (né Newton James Woods Jr.; 1924–2002) was a graduate of the Tuskegee Institute became head basketball coach in 1953. He was a science teacher.

L.D. Taylor resigned in July 1953 to become head football coach for Charleston Pollard High School in Beaumont, Texas.

Ralph Rodgers, basketball coach and biology teacher in 1966

Notable students

• Sharon Samuels Reed, choir director of Pekin Community High School District 303, Illinois
• Larry "T-Byrd" Gordon (né Larry John Gordon (1949–2011), studio musician, composer, and music director. He credited Van Bolden, Gibbons High School Band Director for having influenced his interest in music.

Yearbook

• The Coyote

Mascot

• The hard-working gopher

School colors

• Regal purple and gold

Selected athletic history

1954 high school basketball teammates

1954 Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL) Basketball State Champions, Division 3A

Gibbons High School, Paris, Texas – 62, Blackshear High School, Odessa, Texas – 60

Gibbons Gophers

• Oscar Ford
• Theodis Bowman
• Robert White
• Mike Rollerson
• Richard Kendall

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• Arthur Gene Bills (1936–1999) (class of '54)
• Oscar Edward Ford (class of '54)
• R.B. Lewis
• Michael Brooks Rollerson (1936–1995) later served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the Vietnam War.
• Richard Gordon Kendall (1933–2008)
• Theodis Wyrosteck Bowman (1936–2002)
• William Lee Morgan (class of '56)
• Harold Ray Reed (1936–2015), in 1968, married Jennifer Joy Bills (born 1948)
• Clarence Clemon White (1932–2011)
• Bobby Nash (1931–2014) (class of '54) was drafted into the U.S. Armed Forces in November 1954
• Coach Newton Woods, Jr. (né Newton James Woods Jr.; 1924–2002)

Enrollment and graduation data

Enrollment

1922–1923: 700

1958–1959: 66

1959–1960: 88

Graduation

1909 – May 24, 1909, fifteen graduated – twelve women and three men

Notable alumni

• 1893: Captain J.O. Richardson, went on to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy

Notes and references

References

Category:Historically black schools

Category:Historically segregated African-American schools in the United States

Category:High schools in Texas

Category:Former high schools in Texas

Category:African-American history of Texas