T. L. Hanna High School

T.L. Hanna High School
T.L. Hanna shield
Location
Anderson, SC United States
Coordinates	34°34′02″N 82°37′24″W / 34.5671°N 82.62329°W / 34.5671; -82.62329Coordinates: 34°34′02″N 82°37′24″W / 34.5671°N 82.62329°W / 34.5671; -82.62329
Information
Type	Public
Principal	Shawn Tobin
Grades	9-12
Number of students	Approx. 1800
School color(s)	Old Gold and White
Mascot	Yellow Jackets
Website	TLH Online

T. L. Hanna High School is located at 2600 Highway 81 North, outside the city limits of Anderson, SC. It is one of two high schools in Anderson School District 5 and has a population of nearly 1,800 students. TL Hanna is administrated by Shawn Tobin. On July 1, 2015 Mr. Shawn Tobin was appointed as principal taking the place of long time Shelia Hilton, who has now retired. In 1989, the school was named "Palmetto's Finest" by the South Carolina Department of Education. In 2000, Hanna 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 in the top 3% of High Schools in the United States. ^[1]

History

Before T.L. Hanna High School, there was a Boys High School (located at what is now the Hanna-Westside Extension Campus, formerly McDuffie High School) and a Girls High School (located on the site of the Anderson County Museum). In 1951, Girl's High School changed its name to T.L. Hanna High School, named after its first principal,^[2] Thomas Lucas Hanna. In 1961, T.L. Hanna High 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 2 co-presidents, 2 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.)

T.L. Hanna recently expanded by adding a freshman academy, math hall, and new auxiliary gym.

Notable alumni

• Preston Jones, gridiron football player.^[3]
• Rafael Little is a running back for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.
• Jim Rice, player for the Boston Red Sox, attended his final year of high school here in 1971.
• Chadwick Boseman actor, writer, and director.^[4]
• NASA astronaut Stephen D. Thorne.
• Martavis Bryant, wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League.

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 their story was made into a movie, Radio, in 2003. A large statue of "Radio" is located on the school grounds today in honor of this man.^[5]

MTV came to T.L. Hanna High School in September 2007 to cast for Made, a reality-show featuring the makeovers of high school students. All T.L. Hanna football games have been broadcast on WAIM-AM 1230 for over 40 years.

References