I know I have written about this before, but I really miss the old community schools.

Consolidation has gobbled up all of the old grade schools, junior highs and high schools. But those smaller grade schools were special and the heart of every community.

Kids were able to attend classes with their friends and neighbors. The smaller classrooms were better for children to learn and get individual instruction if they needed it.

Just in the Williamson area alone, there were several grade schools, and many of those went to the 8th grade, which is now considered middle school.

Now, in the Williamson area, there is just one school, Williamson Pre-K8 (Riverside Grade, when it was first formed). In later years, they moved the middle school to that location along the flood wall in West Williamson, where there is just one school for the entire area.

Growing up, I attended Nolan Grade School, which actually went to the 8th grade. Other schools in the district were Chattaroy, West End, Main Building (or Town), East End, Cinderella and Sprigg. There was also Sacred Heart, the local Catholic private school.

Every school took pride in its community. Each school had its own Midget League (now Buddy League) basketball team. This made for great, but friendly rivalries.

Some of my best memories are playing for the Nolan Hornets basketball team in the 7th and 8th grades. It was basically what they call middle school basketball these days. I recently posted an old team photo on social media and received many kind comments.

You make lasting friendships and memories playing alongside teammates from your neighborhood.

At Nolan, we didn’t have a gym to practice in. In fact, we only had one goal on a dirt court for a while, until part of the playground was paved with asphalt, and they put in a full-court basketball surface and an adjacent volleyball court.

That was big-time for my teammates and me.

We rarely got to practice on a wooden gym floor. Sometimes we could go to Chattaroy Junior High to practice or scrimmage. The games were played on weekends at the historic Williamson Fieldhouse. That was special for us – being able to play on the same court as the great Williamson High School Wolfpack teams of the 1960s and 1970s.

Recess was always special playing basketball, softball, or volleyball.

I am sure most everyone reading this column can remember their old grade school. There were others in the area like South Williamson, Turkey Creek and Varney. At times, they fielded teams in the Williamson Midget League.

Besides the Hornets, who wore red and white, there was the Town Trojans that donned the green and white, Chattaroy’s Yellowjackets were orange and black, the East End Elks wearing maroon and white and the West End Warriors, which early on also had red and white, then gold and white and finally maroon and white for the Wolfpack.

Each school had cheerleaders, so some of the females got to cheer for their local grade schools.

In later years, I even coached the Nolan Hornets right out of high school. The late Jeff Chapman coached the team for many years. Several good men from the community helped or coached, including Wally Marcum, principal Shayde Chapman, Dean Francis, Brian Haney, and others.

But getting back to the local schools, most students were considered “walkers” and lived close enough to walk to and from school. Even in bad weather like snow or rain. We had a few that lived a little farther away who rode school buses.

If you are like me, you can remember every teacher you had in each grade as you moved up. Most of them lived in or near the community, so they knew your parents and that could be a good thing – or a bad thing, depending on what the situation was.

I know, due to financial constraints and population loss, consolidation was mandated by the state and the county. But I also do not think it is necessarily a good thing. I guess I am “old school,” no pun intended.

Many other schools in Mingo, Martin, and Pike counties no longer exist. I saw on the news recently that Wayne County voted to close Dunlow and Genoa Grade Schools.

But, if you think about it, look at how many schools there were in a district back in the good old days and now in most areas there is just one school with students crammed into one building.

As I get older, I long for those days gone by and have such fond memories of those teammates and rivals from other schools.

I guess I am extremely sentimental about these memories, especially at this time of the year. But what is wrong with that?

Until next time.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)