Sunset Park Junior High School, with one of its athletic fields, in May 1989. (Photo courtesy the New Hanover County Public Library)
After talking with seven people, including former New Hanover County Public Schools Athletic Director Joe Miller, the consensus is when Sunset Junior High School was torn down the sports trophies are believed to have been thrown away.
And most people, however, I spoke with were unaware Sunset was torn down.
I do know Roman Gabriel played there and mentioned to me recently his first football coach the late Bill Billings was one of the best coaches he ever had and put him nearly on par with the legendary Leon Brogden.
Gabriel was a 155-pound tight end as an eighth-grader. He won trophies and so did his teammates, but had no idea where they went.
Date posted: October 11, 2011
User-contributed question by:
Linda Bullard
June 2, 1988 was the day Sunset Park Junior High was shuttered. The Star News sent myself and news reporter Hunter Kome to the school to document the faculty, staff and a handful of students as they stayed behind to pack up memorabilia -including the trophies, yearbooks and several football & cheerleading uniforms. Once wrapped and packed into boxes, the items were taken over to Lake Forest School, which was closed that same year, but was being reopened that fall. Shame neither the Star News or the county school system saw fit to keep the archived memories. As an alum of the Sunset Park ninth grade center, I had hoped those memories would have been safely tucked away…I guess not. – Jamie Moncrief, former photographer with the Star-News
Jamie,
Thanks for providing the clue to where those trophies might be. MyReporter.com is on it.
Yes, I agree it is a shame no one saw fit to take better care of the priceless trophies acquired by some famous folks and not so famous Wilmingtonians. My husband won 2 county championships playing for the awesome Coach Jackie Blanchard for basketball- and now the trophies that represented the great talents of those players are just gone?? They may not have meant anything to the school system, but boy I would love to show my two boys the trophies their father won “back in the day”.
The missing sports trophies from Sunset Junior High School remain a mystery.
Dave Spencer, the hearing board officer for New Hanover County Schools, followed a lead provided by former coach and teacher Sally Meserole, who packed away the trophies in boxes and was told they were being shipped to the basement of Lakeside School more than two decades ago.
After recently looking through boxes in the basement of Lakeside and asking others about the trophies’ and uniforms’ whereabouts, Spencer came up empty, meaning they seem lost forever.