Wolverine History: Pulled From the Flames, the Night Woodruff High School Burned in 1987

The Woodruff Times, in a story published January 18, 2022 by staff writer Garrett Mitchell, recalled the night Woodruff High School burned. Here is our summary.

In the early morning of January 11, 1987, three local youths went on a vandalism spree that hit all four schools in Woodruff. At the high school they broke a window and started a small fire inside. Sparks reached the air ducts and the fire spread through the building, destroying much of the school, though the main gym and some locker rooms were not fully burned.

Terry Cox, a former Wolverine quarterback from the 1978 state championship team, was at his parents' home across from the school when his father noticed what looked like snow falling; it was ash and embers. Cox hurried to the school, went in through a broken door and first pulled team uniforms out of the locker rooms. Longtime coach Willie Varner, alerted at his home nearby, also went in, and Jeff Page, a former player of Varner's, joined them. Over roughly an hour the three went in again and again, despite firefighters' efforts to stop them, carrying out photographs and plaques from the gym walls. Cox broke into the main trophy case to take out championship trophies, and Varner retrieved items from the main office. Firefighters later saved more photos and plaques. Varner finally stopped Cox from going back once more because conditions had become too dangerous.

The paper reports that most of the athletic uniforms, most of the gym's photos and plaques, a number of championship trophies and all of Varner's handwritten athletic records were saved. Three decades of Woodruff football game film and several of Varner's championship rings were lost, and some team photos recovered the next day were damaged by smoke and water.

In the aftermath, neighboring schools and towns donated textbooks and supplies and opened their doors to Woodruff students, who were also housed for a time in the elementary school. REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin and the band held a benefit concert at Clemson's Littlejohn Coliseum to help fund the new school. The new Woodruff High School opened in August 1989, built around several surviving classrooms, and the rescued photos, plaques and trophies were installed in its new gym.

This is our own summary for community reference. Read the full story, with firsthand recollections, at The Woodruff Times using the source link below.