- Walter M. Williams High School , one of the flagship schools of the Alamance-Burlington School System, is a high school (grades 9-12) in Burlington, North Carolina. The school was named in honor of philanthropist, industrialist, and former Burlington City Schools chairman Walter M. Williams. The school began its fifty-ninth year of operation on August 25, 2009. As of the fall of 2008, nationalities represented in the student body included the United States, Bosnia, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, Croatia, El Salvador, Greece, Honduras, India, Iran, Mexico, New Zealand (Maori), Nicaragua, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, and Vietnam. The school runs on a 4x4 block schedule, and is known for its imposing facade and sweeping front lawn.
- Overview
-
In past years, the school has been recognized by the United States Department of Education as one of the top six high schools in North Carolina, as well as blue ribbon designation in 1993.. As of 2008, 30% of the staff held advanced degrees, and eleven staff members held national board teacher certification (2007-08 NC School Report Card).
- The school itself has been recognized by the nearby Ramada Inn Convention Center, where a meeting room is named for the high school (the only high school in the district to be so honored) while all other meeting rooms are named for prominent North Carolina colleges and universities. In addition, the popular Mayberry restaurant across the street is a favorite student hangout and has several items on its menu named in honor of the school's mascot.
- The campus is bordered on the north by Sunset Drive and Parkview Drive, to the east by Arlington Avenue, to the southeast by South Church Street (on which street the campus actually has its address), to the south by Country Club Drive (an homage to the property being the former site of a country club), and to the west by Tarleton Avenue. Bulldog Alley, a north-south private campus street, intersects the campus with athletic facilities to the west and academic facilities to the east.
- The Legacy Of Jerome Evans
-
Probably the most recognizable figure in the history of Williams High is that of Jerome Evans, legendary former head football coach and former assistant principal, topic of the book Black Coach publised by Dodd & Mead of New York. Evan's pioneering role as one of the first African-American football coaches in the South led to him being featured in a 1971 articles in Sports Illustrated titled "The Man Who Was Cut Out For The Job" and later was featured in Pat Jordan's documentary account Black Coach. The Jerome Evans Memorial Scholarship is named in his memory.
- Academy of Finance
-
Williams is home to the Academy of Finance, a school within a school that is administered in collaboration with the National Academy Foundation, a national network of smaller learning communities that focus on areas such as tourism, entertainment, finance, and other areas of business. In addition to the school diploma, graduates also receive a special academy diploma. As part of this small learning community, students contribute to service and social justice by providing tax assistance to low income families and inviduals. In addition, students take college level courses for credit, hear guest presentations from members of the business community, as well as participate in internships, related visits to area colleges and universities. Field-based experiences allow students to put into practice skills learned in the classroom and interact with members of the business community. In the spring of 2009, an extended classroom experience was created which allowed Academy students to tour the financial district of New York City, following a similar visit to Washington, DC in 2008. Support for the Academy from the Burlington business community is facilitated by a community-based business advisory board. A junior advisory board allows students to contribute to the decision-making process within the Academy as well as develop leadership skills and become engaged in the life of the academy and school at large. The Academy is under the direction of Ms. Rhonda Farmer.
- Academics
-
Williams has a strong Advanced Placement Program to challenge the upper tier of its students. Graduates of Williams have been accepted to notable universities, including Davidson College, Elon University, North Carolina State University, Princeton University, Yale University, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- The school has an English as a Second Language (ESL) program and the current instructor of which teaches at Williams through the cooperation of the Chapel Hill based Visiting International Faculty program. Williams school offers three foreign languages: French, Latin, and Spanish. Williams has produced seventeen University of North Carolina Morehead-Cain Scholars (the first being in 1957, and the most recent in 2007), several North Carolina Teaching Fellows, several North Carolina State University Park Scholars (most recently in 2009), and recently an Appalachian State Chancellor's Scholarship (most recently in 2009). Students are able to accumulate college credits through collaborative programs with Alamance Community College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and University]. One of the school's unique social studies course offerings is a class dedicated to the 1960s. Students also participate in the annual North Carolina Governor's School program.
- Under the leadership of math instructor James Smith, the school has had numerous state-level Quiz Bowl championships.
- Williams is one of several area high schools whose students are eligible to participate in the Elon Academy summer college preperatory program at Elon University.
- Since its inception, Williams has participated in foreign student exchange programs several times. The school has hosted students from Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, Colombia, Brazil, and Paraguay.
- Student government, service, and engagement
-
During the 1960s, an intricate student government orgazation was in place that maximized student potential and manpower. In addition to the representative body, an executive board and an inter-club council was in place. The inter-club council was responsible for approving all new student organizations. Various committees allowed students to have the opportunity to have a direct influence on creating a sense of school community, and oversee the student government election process, and activities such as homecoming.
- During the integration of the Sellars student body into the Williams campus, a task force of six students each from the former Sellars student body and Williams laid the groundwork for combining the traditions and rules of the two schools into one. In the fall of 1974, the students instituted the Senate-House system of student government (not in place as of 2009-10).
- Students participate in summer leadership programs such as Boys State and the Hugh O'Brien Leadership Seminar.
- Namesake
-
The school was named for Walter McAdoo Williams (March 1, 1891- May 5, 1959), a native of Liberty, Randolph County, North Carolina, and son of Joel P. and Flora A. Spoon Williams. Considered a "giant in the textile world", he was a member of the Board of Trustees of what is now Wake Forest University and a local citizen recognized for his role in making the high school possible from a financial standpoint. In April 1912, at the age of twenty-one, he moved to Graham, North Carolina. From 1930 to 1940, he had served as Chair of the Burlington School District's school board. He was also executive vice-president and chairman of the board of Virginia Mills, based in Swepsonville, North Carolina. In 1940, he became executive vice-president and chairman of the board for Virginia Cotton Mills in Swepsonville, from which he retired on February 17, 1959. In 1945, the Williams' made the purchase of the campus land possible. When the possibility was raised that the seating capacity in the proposed auditorium would be substantially cut back, they made it possible to retain the planned 2,500 seat capacity. It is believed that the auditorium is the second largest high school auditorium on the east coast. They also donated the auditorium's organ as well as a Steinway grand piano. They were very resistant to the idea of the school being named for them. A member of both Kiwanis and Lions, Williams actively supported the Baptist Orphanage in Thomasville, North Carolina and the Masonic Orphanage in Oxford, North Carolina. The Williams' had no children of their own. In 1950, Williams was named Citizen of the Year by the Burlington Kiwanis Club (Burlington Times-News, August 1, 1993, p. G2).
- In addition to the Williams' contributions to the high school, the organ in Wait Chapel on the Reynolda campus of Wake Forest University is named in honor of he and his wife Flonie Cooper Williams (1893-1975). The Williams donated the organ at Wake Forest in 1956. The Williams' were active in Hocutt Memorial Baptist Church. It is interesting to note that the school's colors of black and gold are the same as those of Wake Forest University, an institution with which Williams had ties. Williams was also a trustee for North Carolina Baptist Hospital.
- Ironically, Mr. Williams stopped attending school at age twelve and was largely self-taught.
- Williams died on May 5, 1959, after spending seven months in a coma following suffering from a brain tumor. He is buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, only a few blocks from campus, and almost within view of the school.
- The Burlington Board of Education had voted in November 1945 to name the school after Williams. However, the decision was not announced until October 27, 1949 (Burlington Times News, August 1, 1993, p, G2).
- Mascot and traditions
-
The school seal was approved by vote of the student body on September 29, 1961, as was the school's Alma Mater, with words by athletic director Fred Miller and music by Harold Grant, director of bands. The seal was among forty potential seals submitted for consideration. The creator of the winning design received a prize of $7.00.
- The mascot is the bulldog, which has manifested itself over the years by costumed students and real dogs (one of which was named George I). An avant-garde statue of George was dedicated outside the auditorium in 1974 in memory of Cynthia Lemar Ledbetter (a student who died in 1971) and other deceased students. The statue which sits prominently on a pedestal in Bulldog Plaza on the east side of campus, is a focal point of school-wide celebrations, and is an object of scorn and derision of students from rival high schools. It was designed by sculptor Norman Keller of East Carolina University (The Barker, December 16, 1971).
- School colors are black and gold, the same colors as Wake Forest University, where Williams served on the Board of Trustees.
- The names of the yearbook is the Doe-Wah-Jack, an American Indian term meaning "the first, the best" and has been the name of the yearbook since the school opened in 1951 (and was previously the name of the Burlington High School yearbook since 1926.
- The newspaper is The Barker, taking its title from the sound made by the mascot. The newspaper has received awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.
- Upon the consolidation of the former Jordan Sellars High School into Williams at the time of school integration, a student task force representative of both schools attempted to incorporate traditions from both schools into the newly integrated Williams (1999 Williams Alumni Directory).
- History
-
On October 27, 1949, the school board announced its decision to name the facility "Walter M. Williams High School." It was constructed as the successor campus to Burlington High School.
- The school was built on the site of the former Piedmont Country Club. "The land the school is on was once a golf course; hence, the name Country Club Dr[1]. About ... 42 acres the country club were auctioned off in September of 1945 or 1946. Walter Williams bought the land from the estate of Ben May. The clubhouse (now a house) sits across from the stadium." (E-mail from Annette Grant, September 17, 2008).
- The stadium on the site, presently known as Burlington City Schools Stadium, was dedicated on Veteran's Day, November 11, 1949. The field house was also completed in the late 1940s.
- Construction began on the main building in 1949. Two cornerstones flanking the base of the front stairwell, one reading "AD" and the other "1949" attest to this fact (the cornerstone contains a sealed copper box including financial records and newspaper clippings from the period of the school's construction). The 1951 graduating class from the former Burlington High School graduated on the stage of the Williams High School Auditorium in the spring of 1951, some three months before the new school officially opened.
- Williams High officially opened its doors on September 5, 1951, with an enrollment approaching 1,000 (today, it has a student body approaching 1300, and in the early 1970s surpassed 1700) and a staff of 43 (as of November 2008, the school has a combined certified and classified staff of 124). The first student to arrive at school that day was Roger Cheek, who thus might be compared to Carolina's Hinton James, and be considered Williams' "first student."
- What is now Spikes Gymnasium was completed by the opening of school in September 1955.
- During the 1956-1957 school year, classrooms in the west wing on the Ground Floor served as overflow space for fifth grade students from nearby Hillcrest Elementary School.
- Prior to the school district merger between the Burlington City Schools and the Alamance County Schools (creating the Alamance-Burlington School System in 1996), Williams was one of two high schools in the former Burlington City Schools district, along with Hugh Cummings High School, which was constructed in the early 1970s to accommodate the expanded student population at Williams. Prior to integration, Williams was historically white, while Jordan Sellars High School across town was historically black. The period surrounding integregation at Williams is documented in the book Black Coach.
- Elvis Presley performed at Williams on February 15, 1956, and Buddy Rich also performed at the school in the 1950s. Poet and novelist Flannery O'Connor has also appeared at Williams, along with author Timothy Tyson.
- Prior to the completion of the "Tobacco Road" stretch of Interstate 85 through Alamance County in 1960, US Route 70 (which runs concurrent with Church Street) was a major east-west route, placing the school on a major thoroughfare, which most likely led to the academic landmark becoming very familiar with east-west travelers.
- In the fall of 1960, ninth grade students began attending what was then the newly opened Turrentine Junior High School. Ninth graders did not attend Williams again until after the former Jordan Sellars campus was no longer used as a ninth grade center. Following a 1971 desegregation order which sought to eliminate racial segregation at Sellars Gunn, ninth grade students were sent to Sellars Gunn. Eventually, the Jordan Sellars campus transitioned into a campus to house alternative educational programs in 1995, and both Williams and the Hugh M. Cummings campus returned to a four year format in 1982.
- The 1975-1976 school year marked the national bicentennial, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of Williams, and the fiftieth anniversary of the school's yearbook, the Doe-Wah-Jack, as it had been the name of the yearbook at the former Burlington High School. According to Gillespie, yearbook staff members wo saw the word on a local stove found out that the name is an American Indian word meaning "the first, the best". The name was submitted to student and was chosen as the name of the yearbook (V. Gillispie).
- Predescessor schools: Burlington High School (to 1951) and Jordan Sellars High School (1937-1970)
-
The original Burlington High School was located on Broad Street, and served students until 1951. It is from this school that the names of the yearbook and student newspaper are carried on.
- Jordan Sellars High School, a historically black institution, closed its doors in 1970, at which time all of its students were integrated into the student body at Williams.
- In 1971, the Burlington City Schools were placed under a cour order to integrate, leading to ongoing federal court supervision of the school system's operations (as well as those of the subsequent Alamance Burlington School System).
- The 1971 order sought to eliminate racial segregation at was Jordan Sellars, which the federal court determined was being operated as a racially identifiable school in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pursuant to the order, the former Burlington City District attempted to end segregation at what was now Sellars-Gunn by converting it into a junior high school for all Burlington ninth grade students, regardless of race. Sellars-Gunn remained a ninth-grade school from 1971 until 1982, when it was closed and its students were moved to the two high schools - Cummings High and Williams High (Caron Myers press release, July 20, 2009).
- In 1995, Sellars-Gunn re-opened as an alternative education center, presently houses several of the school system's alternative education programs, including a Career-Technical Education program and a voluntary program for students suspended for more than 10 days from other Alamance-Burlington schools (Caron Myers press release, July 20, 2009).
- Feeder schools
-
Most ninth graders previously attended nearby Turrentine Middle School. Elementary schools that ultimately feed into Williams include Smith, Grove Park, and Hillcrest.
- Facilities
-
One of the most historically architecturally unique high school buildings still in use in North Carolina, it is three stories tall, centered around an interior courtyard area now used for parking. Unique in architectural style, it is reminiscent of the classic high school architecture representative of the 1950s. The main academic building consists of three wings: the Main Wing, the East Wing, and the West Wing. From above, the building looks like a dogbone.
- The main wing includes the cafeteria, the historic academic hall, and classrooms. The east wing includes office facilities, the media center, classrooms, and the Academy of Finance. The west wing includes science and home economics classrooms.
- The cafeteria (lunchroom) is furnished like a 1950s diner. When the school was originally constructed, the cafeteria's service area contained separate restrooms for "white and colored help" (Burlington Daily-Times News, May 19, 1951, p. 10B), thus accounting for two sets of men's and women's restrooms being located virtually side by side. After a renovation in the summer of 2009, the cafeteria was outfitted with four televisions that will display menus.
- A portion of one part of the building was designed to provide a "homelike" area for home economics (family and consumer sciences) instruction, and includes a replicated living room area, complete with fireplace, along with a replicated bedroom (which now serves as an assistant principal's office).
- The auditorium is one of the largest auditoriums in any high school in North Carolina, if not the largest. The "auditorium seats over 2100 and includes a balcony that makes it reminiscent of a traditional downtown theatre. Because it is the largest facility of its kind in Alamance County, the auditorium is used for many outside performances and graduations, as well as Williams' school functions" ("Williams High Auditorium" greeting card, back side). At the time of construction, it was said to be second only to Raleigh's Memorial Auditorium in terms of seating capacity (Burlington Daily Times-News, May 19, 1951, p. 10-B). includes a pipe organ donated by the Williams', a rarity among even older high schools, which is generally used only during commencement exercises. Its dedicatory concert was performed by world-renowned concert organist Virgil Fox on October 19, 1951. The Burlington newspaper billed the organ as one of "the largest organ installations in the South." The auditorium was the first part of the facilty to be completed, and was used for the Burlington High School Class of 1951's commencement ceremony before the completion of the rest of the building. Thrice in the 1950s, the Miss North Carolina Pageant was held here.
- During the early years of the school, there was a designated student "smoking room" where students, with parental permission, were allowed to go smoke after lunch. Students were required to show a red card to the faculty members (later student government officers) that supervised the room.
- A street known as "Bulldog Alley" intersects the campus, with the main school building on the east side of the street, with major athletic facilities on the west side of the street.
- The third part of the main building to be constructed is the Spikes Gymnasium. The gymnasium was named in honor of Dr. Lewis Everett Spikes on June 13, 1993. Dr. Spikes served as Superintendent of the Burlington City Schools from 1936 to 1963.
- Athletic facilities include the Tommy Spoon Memorial Field House (named in memory of a star member of the football team and former athletic director who died in the late 1990s), the Kernodle football field, and the Burlington City Schools stadium.
- The campus is also known for its vast front lawn that faces South Church Street. The area, which is protected from development by city ordinance, hosts youth soccer events and is a seating area for community fireworks displays.
- Extra-curricular activities
-
At various times throughout its history, three major service clubs have included the Key Club (and the former Keywannettes (known as the Keyettes prior to being chartered at Williams as the Keywannettes in 1977), a female counterpart to Key Club prior to the 1976 international vote to admit female students), Interact (sponsored by Rotary International, currently inactive at Williams), and the Junior Civitans (and the former Civanettes for female students). According to Kiwanis International, the organization date of the Key Club is May 26, 1947, which would indicate that the club's charter was carried over from the former Burlington High School, which would indicate that the club is one of few students organizations to actually predate the opening of the present facility (E-mail from Nikki Reynolds, KI Member Services Representative, August 14, 2008). Over the course of the Key Club's history, several district and international officers have come from Williams, including two district secretaries, two district governors, and four international trustees (Carolina Key, 2008). The school's Junior Exchange Club, now known as Excel Clubs, is also inactive.
- Another organization that predated the opening of the school was the Burlington Chapter of the National Honor Society which was chartered on November 7, 1930 on the campus of the former Burlington High School. As the National Honor Society itself was formed in 1921, this would make the Williams chapter one of the oldest continuously operating chapters in the nation. The charter date of the now defunct Quill and Scroll chapter at Williams was listed as 1938, thereby being another organization carried over from the former Burlington High School.
- The Junior Civitans were also in place as of the school's opening. Numerous students have served as district officers of Key Club, and students have served as state officers of the National Honor Society.
- Athletics
-
- The 1952 baseball team won the North Carolina AAA championship. The 1980 football team won the state championship, the first for Williams. AAA championships were also won in 1981, 1985, and 1999.
- The school has a very good athletic program that consists of the sports: Tennis, Cross-Country, Football, Basketball, Soccer, Swimming, Golf, Track & Field, Wrestling, Baseball, and Softball.
- The career of football coach Jerome Evans is documented in the book Black Coach by Pat Jordan (published by Dodd Mead of New York in 1971). Evans was appointed as head coach in the fall of 1970 during the period of integregation. The book also documents related racial tensions in Burlington in the early 1970s. The storyline is sometimes associated with the film Remember the Titans (although the Williams High School in the film is located in Virginia). The film alludes to Evans� career briefly.
- In the fall of 1976, a new head football coach was hired, and the Williams athletic program changed from class 4-A to class 3-A.
- The former head football coach, Sam Story, was the North Carolina head coach for the 2007 Shrine Bowl game, and coached for a number of years at Duke University. In 2007, the football field was named in honor of Dr. Kernodle, the long-time football team physician. The team is now lead by Scott Frazier, a Williams alumnus, formerly on the staff of Presbyterian College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For many years, the athletic facilities were utilized by sports teams at Elon University.
- Fine arts
-
The arts program is very large at Williams: Art, Pottery, Band, Orchestra, Chorus, Musical Theater, and Dance are just some of the few. The Marching Bulldogs perform at all home football games and select away games.
- The chorus, under the direction of University of North Carolina at Greensboro graduate Laura Sam since 1984, program puts on a homecoming show starring George Bulldog and a musical in the spring. Auditioned members from the choral groups have also performed internationally in Italy and Austria, with other choral students from schools in Alamance County. Sam was named 2007 choral director of the year by the North Carolina Music Educators Association. Students have been selected to participate in the North Carolina High School Honors Chorus, most recently in 2008.
- The band program has received extensive recognition at contests and festivals over the years. The Marching Bulldogs were the official marching band of the 2007 Shrine Bowl. Incidentally, two of the band's directors have been alumni of the Rho Tau chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity at Appalachian State University: Joseph Mark Hauser ('71) and R. Neil Nelson ('03). The band is currently under the direction of James Brewer, a 2007 graduate of the Elon University.
- The school's Tri-M Music Honor Society chapter was chartered in February 2000. However, the chapter has been inactive since 2005.
- Administrators
-
Over the course of its history, the school has had thirteen principals.
- The first principal, Calvin C. Linnemann, served from 1951 to 1957.
- The second principal of Williams, Lester R. Ridenhour served from 1957 to 1960.
- The third principal of Williams, Cleet C. Cleetwood served an abbreviated administration from 1960 to 1962, at which time he was scheduled to be reassigned to the central office, but turned in his resignation instead (later serving as Superintendent of the Greenville City Schools system in Pitt County, c. 1971.
- The fourth principal of Williams, Jesse W. Harrington, who came to Williams from New Hanover High School in Wilmington, NC was the longest serving principal, serving from 1962 through 1978. He was serving as principal during the period covered in the book Black Coach and is discussed briefly in the book. He is the only former principal at the school to have a scholarship named in his memory.
- The 1980s saw three principals. March Lyall served as the fifth principal from 1979 to 1983.
- Clinton E. Leggett served as the sixth principal from 1983 to 1986.
- After serving as principal, the seventh principal of Williams, Harold Brewer (1986-1992)later served as Superintendent of Montgomery County Schools (from 1996), and later Senior Associate for Organizational Development for Durham Public Schools (from 2001). Prior to 1996, he was the assistant director of the Principals' Executive Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for two years. For a time, he was also Assistant Superintendent for Burlington City Schools. Prior to coming to Williams, he had served as an administrator in Duplin County and Moore County, as well as eight years of business management in the textile industry. Brewer held a doctorate degree in school administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; a master's degree in school administration from Appalachian State University; and a bachelorˆs degree in psychology from what is now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He most recently served as Senior Vice-President for Programs for the Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning based in Raleigh, North Carolina.
- These were followed by the eighth principal, James Daye (1992-1994), and and the ninth principal, Donald Andrews (1994-1996). Andrews currently serves as Superintendent of the Randolph County Schools, southwest of Burlington.
- Phillip Deadmon served as the tenth principal from 1996 to 2001. Gary Thornburg, now principal of Cedar Ridge High School, served as the eleventh principal from 2001 to 2005. Dr. George W. Griffin, formerly of Apex High School and North Carolina Central University served from 2005 to 2007. He now serves as Director of School Programs at the district level.
- Nola Taylor was appointed as the thirteenth and first female principal in 2007. Ms. Taylor, a graduate of Indiana University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro came from principalships in Guilford County Schools. She is now serving in her third year as principal. Thus far, her tenure is longer than that of four other principals, and at the end of the present school year, will have exceeded or will be equal to that of six other principals.
- Here are listed the principals in chronological order, the portraits of which hang in the school's main lobby:
- 1. Calvin C. Linnemann (1951-1957, six years)
- 2. Lester R. Riderhour (1957-1960, three years)
- 3. C. C. Cleetwood (1960-1962, two years)
- 4. Jesse W. Harrington (1962-1978, sixteen years)
- 5. Marsh Lyall (1979-1983, four years)
- 6. Clinton E. Leggett (1983-1986, three years)
- 7. Harold Brewer (1986-1992, six years)
- 8. James Daye (1992-1994, two years)
- 9. Donald Andrews (1994-1996, two years)
- 10. Phillip Deadmon (1996-2001, five years)
- 11. Gary Thornburg (2001-2005, four years)
- 12. George Griffin (2005-2007, two years)
- 13. Nola Taylor (2007-present, third school year at present)
- With the exception of Jesse W. Harrington (who served for sixteen years), no principal has served longer than six years. As many as seven other principal's terms can be included in the length of Harrington's term.
- The current assistant principal team consists of Kristen Harrington, John Heath (formerly of Cedar Ridge High School and Haywood Early College High School), Stefan Henderson, and Donna Westbrooks (formerly of Graham High School). While there have been many assistant principals since the school's opening in 1951, perhaps the most well known is Jerome Evans, who was appointed assistant principal at the same time he became head football coach in 1970.
- Faculty, alumni, and others affiliated with the school
-
James Michael Barham (Class of 1959), whose mysterious death in his dormitory room at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the early 1960s was documented and discussed in Blood on the Old Well by Sarah Watson Emery, a book which discussed alleged communist involvement in Chapel Hill. The Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia James Michael Barham Memorial Scholarship in music at Carolina is named in Barham's memory.
- Billy Bryan, Class of 1972, was an All-American football player at Duke University and later played Center for the Denver Broncos.
- Dr. John D. Denning, who recently served as chair of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program, student taught at Williams in the early 1990s. Dr. Kim Pyne, currently a professor at Elon University, taught at Williams in the 1990s.
- Jerome Evans, former head football coach and former assistant principal, topic of the book Black Coach publised by Dodd & Mead of New York. The Jerome Evans Memorial Scholarship is named in his memory.
- John R. Kernodle, late chair of the Guilford County Schools school board and namesake of Greensboro's Kernodle Middle School.
- Jeremy Krist, 2008 North Carolina High School Coach of the Year.
- Jim Long, 1958 graduate, who served in the North Carolina House of Representatives and as North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance from 1986 to 2008.
- 1971 graduate and former math teacher and basketball coach, Danny Morrison, was named President of the Carolina Panthers on September 2, 2009.
- Dr. Donna H. Oliver, who was recently selected as the sixth president of Mississippi Valley State University, graduated from Williams in the 1970s. While teaching at Hugh Cummings High School, Oliver was the 1986 North Carolina Teacher of the Year and the 1987 National Teacher of the Year. Oliver holds an undergraduate degree from Elon University, a master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a master's degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and a doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She was vice president of academic affairs for ten years at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro (Burlington Times-News, July 19, 2009).
- Laura Sam, 2007 North Carolina Choral Director of the Year, has served on the faculty since 1984, and is currently fourth in seniority on the faculty in terms of longevity.
- Brandon Spoon played football for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Buffalo Bills.
- Jack Wooten, Class of 2005, Member of the 2009 NCAA National Championship men's basketball team at the University of North Carolina whose photograph playing basketball with Barack Obama at a campaign stop in Chapel Hill was featured in the January 2009 issue of Weekly Reader. He now serves as Director of Basketball Operations for Elon University.
- External links
- Walter M. Williams High School
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
-
Add/edit information about this school (e.g., awards, news stories, notable alumni, fun facts)
|
Visit school website
View current housing listings in this area
Find your graduating class at Classmates.com
Review school: 
