[John] McKissick remembers when he started [56 years ago], Summerville had 296 students in the top four grades.

"I was the coach," McKissick says. "I did football, girls basketball, boys basketball, baseball. I added track. I don't know how in the world I did it."

Now, the high school has roughly 3,400 students. McKissick, himself, has 10 coaches on the football staff.

And as the school has grown, so has Summerville. In the early days, he'd drive around town in an old pickup he bought from surplus in Columbia, and stop by the pool hall, poke his head in, to make sure all his boys were home by 9 o'clock.

He'd make them get haircuts if they wanted to play. He still hates long hair, and ear bobs, he really hates ear bobs.

"He calls them ear bobs sometimes because that's what they called them growing up," Mrs. McKissick says.

"But all their heroes wear them," McKissick says. "So we let them wear 'em around the school, just not on the field."

Adaptation has been his ally. First rule of convention: Choose the practical solution. The best systems require retrofitting.

"He's been able to adapt better than anyone I've ever seen, especially as a coach," says Billy Long, one of McKissick's former players and coaches. "The kids have changed, and it's not just football. It's everything."

556 victories and 10 state championships. Whoa. Read it all.

Update: A CBS News report on Coach McKissick is here.

Another update: A USA Today article is there also.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Sports

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