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Dealing with countless name changes, Zack Huggins High School was unique in and of itself. The main white school at the time, it was constantly undergoing different changes. The students were actually very proud of the school and its building since it went through as many buildings as it did names.
“When Zack Huggins was being built, school started that summer,” recalled Gay Hardeman. “I was probably in sixth grade. It was where like the sixth grade would go on Mondays, and other grades would go the other days. We didn’t go full time. That went on until around September when they finished the school, and we were really proud of the school.”
While the school building is the same one that the high school uses today, there were some different classes offered at the time.
“We were in the same building that the school is in now. We had to get 16 credits to graduate. We basically had six periods each school day each year,” explained Ann Hollingsworth. “We had business courses every year. Most of us took typing our sophomore year, and we had a shorthand class. They had an office management course or something like that that was the senior business course. The only foreign language we had was Spanish, and I took two years of Spanish. There was no such thing as A&P or VOTEC. We had home economics and building classes like carpentry, but they were in the school. We had study hall, and pretty much everyone had a period of study hall. All the female students had to take home economics in the ninth grade. We had to do cooking and sewing, but in our room we also had to do a house plan for a house that we would like. That was one of the things we did during the year in home economics.”
While the academics were important, their classes would also do other things sometimes.
“We had 4-H and home economics. Home economics is where we learned how to sew. Some of us already knew how to sew, but we critiqued it and got better,” expressed Gay. “There was something else that the girls did. We’d go to Clarkco and have a weenie roast. Of course, during the fall it was all about football.”
Of course, the students who attended Zack Huggins can easily recall having amazing teachers.
“We had some fine teachers,” declared Gay. “Once you got through those ladies, Jones County Junior College was easy, and you just blew right through it.”
Along with the outstanding teachers, they can recall a fairly strict dress code and all of the amazing extracurricular activities that the school offered them.
“I remember the dress code. I think all the men teachers wore ties every day. For the female teachers and students, we would wear dresses or skirts. We could not wear pants,” remembered Ann. “Some of the sports were football, baseball, basketball, and track. We didn’t have weightlifting or some of the sports that are there now. We had Beta Club, Future Homemakers of America (FHA), Future Farmers of America (FFA), and there was a club for students who wanted to go into teaching.”
Despite all the possible extracurricular activities, Ann didn’t participate in most of them. Instead, she focused most of her time on her academics. With the graduation requirements at the time, students were able to graduate early, and she chose to take advantage of it.
“Both of my parents were teachers. My mom was a librarian at the junior high school, and my daddy taught ninth grade science, chemistry, and physics. I had him for chemistry. Since we only had to take 16 credits, people could take five classes a year and then finish up the summer after their junior year. That’s what I did, and I graduated in 1969. My mother encouraged me to do that because she may not have felt like dealing with all the senior costs that come up that last year,” proclaimed Ann. “I wasn’t really part of many clubs because with both my parents being teachers, I had to focus more on the academics. I wasn’t in the band. I wasn’t a cheerleader. I didn’t play sports or anything like that. If I had stayed at the school my senior year, I would’ve been there when it integrated.”
There was one volunteer thing that the school did that Ann was involved with, however: candy stripers.
“We had candy stripers. We had to volunteer a couple hours a week at the hospital near where the library is,” Ann reminisced. “Our club in high school was called the candy stripers, and we’d volunteer and do stuff like deliver trays and little stuff like that at the hospital. We had a little pinstripe red and white striped uniform with the little hat. That was kind of a fun thing to do.”
Like other schools, Zack Huggins had its cliques. Everyone would get along, but it was very noticeable on who tended to hang out with each other.
“We had friendships. I remember there was a group of girls that I hung around with at school, but we didn’t really see each other a lot outside of school. It was kind of funny because at the time we basically had the town students and the country students as far as cliques,” informed Ann. “Most of the students who lived in town were in the band. Things like football, baseball, and cheer were made up of people from both the town and country. As far as people just hanging around together, you tended to have townsfolk hanging out together or country folk hanging out together.”
Overall, being at the school was just a different experience from most. There was more of a laid back atmosphere, and they were never sure what was in store if an assembly was called together in the auditorium during the day.
“We could be having a regular school day, and Mr. Zack Huggins would come over the loudspeaker and tell all the students to report to the auditorium,” remembered Gay. “We’d go in there, and he’d be on the stage with his cigar, and we would sing about 30-45 minutes. He would sing to us. It was all old songs like ‘My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.’ It was unique.”
Today, students have to stay on campus no matter what unless they are checked out; when it was Zack Huggins, however, students were trusted and were able to leave campus sometimes to pick up lunch and bring it back. While some wouldn’t understand, the popular thing to do at the time would be to drive around a couple of the restaurants in town, get a burger and drink, and just spend time in the parking lot talking.
“Back then, if you came to town, you’d go to the Big R. We’d meet up there. It was where the Pizza Hut is now. It was a big hamburger place. We’d go there and sit in the cars or get out and sit around and talk,” Gay reminisced. “We had six weeks test instead of nine weeks test. If you came to school that day and had a test or review of what you’d studied those six weeks, after that first period when you took your test, you could leave. We would all get in our cars and go to a drive-in that was where BankPlus is now. We’d get a hamburger and then just ride around and do whatever we wanted to do. Then, we’d go on back to school. It was really good if you finished after third or fourth period, because then you really did want to go get a hamburger and a coke.”
Although most students were trustworthy, others were known to be pranksters. Some of the pranks they did are now divulged as somewhat of legend for the school.
“There were different instances at the school,” described Gay. “One time when the school was fairly new, we came to school, and somebody had put molasses down through the hallways. I want to say they had killed a pig or deer and hung it on the flagpole. No one ever found out who did it, but the ones who did it knew.”
Eventually, Zack Huggins had to change its name yet again in the middle of the school year. The time had come for Shirley Owens and Zack Huggins to consolidate in January of 1970, so they merged and took on the name Quitman Consolidated School District again. Other areas farther north saw violence erupt as desegregation occurred, but those who attended Zack Huggins remember the transition to be fairly peaceful.
“We got our class rings in the eleventh grade. Of course, it had Zack Huggins High School on it. When we came back our senior year, we realized we were fixing to be consolidated. It would be after the Christmas holidays. My class ring has Zack Huggins High, and my diploma has Quitman Consolidated,” explained Gay. “It was just smooth sailing. There were never any instances or anything with anybody getting into trouble. We just all came together. I look back now, and when I see anyone from that 1970 class, black or white, we’re friends and connected. I look back and wonder how they made room for everybody because it just seemed to work out. I guess they had just been planning it and knew how to make it work. I always said I wish we could’ve gone up north and shown them how to get along with one another.”
Another thing that was different at the time involved marriage. With the Vietnam War raging, young men were being drafted and sent overseas as soon as they graduated high school. Young school lovers found a way to be together and marry before the boys could be deployed. They simply married while in high school.
“I got married in high school. Some of the boys were about to go off to war,” expressed Gay. “I bet there were about 10 of us or maybe more who got married in high school. One couple got married, and then everybody else started getting married. I got married in November and graduated in May.”
It was a different time back then. Regardless of the differences, the students enjoyed themselves and the education they received. They take pride in the smooth transition they witnessed when consolidation occurred in 1970 and cherish every opportunity they were given with new friends made along the way. Zack Huggins High School experienced plenty of change over the years, and it truly was unique.
