BY HOWARD GARLAND
contributing writer

In 1983 the Rosenwald Eagles (Society Hill) and St. John’s Blue Devils (Darlington) were merged to form one high school.  The reality of the situation was Rosenwald was closing and the former Eagles would have to ride the bus to 525 Spring Street to attend St. John’s.  In terms of size Rosenwald was small, only around 200 students, but the Eagles brought round ball talent to the Blue Devils.  

The 1981-82 season was a good one for Coach Jimmy Harrell’s Rosenwald Eagles.  They played for the Class A state boys’ championship and had a veteran team that could run, jump, and dunk with the best in South Carolina.  The Class A Eagles were to merge with Coach Dave Neilson’s St. John’s Blue Devils.  Coach Neilson’s Blue Devils finished the 1981-1982 season with a 42-26 loss to the Mullins Auctioneers in the finals of the Region 6AAA conference tournament in Manning.  In the tournament semi-final St. John’s beat the 21-0 Socastee Braves.  The Blue Devils were talented, but did not have a deep bench.  This was all about to change. 

The 1982-83 school year at St. John’s was a great season for Blue Devils sports. Coach Gene Stokes’ football team beat defending AAAA Division II State Champion Hartsville 9-3 at Kellytown Stadium and finished the season with an 8-3 record with two of the three losses coming to state champion Myrtle Beach.  Coach Tim Watson’s St. John’s Blue Devil baseball team played for the AAA title in boy’s baseball, but the 1982-83 school year will forever be known as the year St. John’s went 27-0 and won the AAA boys’ basketball title.

During the 1982-83 school year in Darlington County, other high schools also merged.  Butler High became part of Hartsville High.  Spalding High was united with Lamar High School and Rosenwald with St. John’s.  Rosenwald did not play football and for several years Eagle students wanting to play football could line up for Gene Stokes and St. John’s Blue Devils.  Rosenwald was a basketball school and it showed in the number of Eagles that made the cut as tryouts were held for the 1982-83 Blue Devil basketball team.

Eleven Eagles and five Blue Devils made the final cut.  Coach Dave Neilson and Coach Jimmy Harrell kept the best players.  “Most of the players we kept were from Rosenwald,” Coach Harrell said at Joe’s Grill one evening. “We cut some of our players, but Dave and I kept the very best.”  Coach Neilson said the decisions were not easy. “ I was directed to be head coach and I had suggested we have co-coaches, but School Superintendent Len Reynolds said that I would be coach,” Neilson said.  “Coach Harrell would take over the team for the 1983-84 season. 

“Some other places this did not work because the coaches would not work together.  We were fortunate as Jimmy and I got along great and it worked,” he said.

The new look St. John’s Blue Devils had 11 players from Rosenwald (Ellison Scott, David McPhail, Mike Mullins, Dwayne Mullins, Mike Kinley, Jerry “Bo Peep” Singletary, Frederick Graham, Stanley Burns, Robert “Smoke” Rogers, Todd Burns, Terrance Sanders)  and five from Darlington (Anthony Marcus, David Brown, Maxie Jacobs, Johnny Wilson, Kenneth “Kip” Hamilton), and the players immediately meshed. 
“We had a guard-oriented offense with good big men inside that were tall, tough and great rebounders.  I think we had two way above average players from both teams and the starting guards (Jerry “Bo Peep” Singletary, David Brown) who both got full scholarships to play college basketball,” Coach Neilson said.  “David played at Furman University and ‘Bo Peep’ at West Texas.”  

The Blue Devils began the season in the middle of the pack among contenders for the Region VI-AAA conference championship.  Coach Harold Johnson at Bennettsville had a very good team and Lake City featured 6’9’ center Craig Burgess, who later played at The Citadel.  Myrtle Beach had a deep, talented team that always gave the Blue Devils some match-up issues. 

“Our biggest rival that year was Bennettsville,” Coach Neilson said. 

“They didn’t like us and Rosenwald had a great rivalry with them.  All this played up our games with them.” St. John’s easily beat Bennettsville in Darlington, before Christmas, and the Blue Devils went on to win the Darlington County Christmas tournament held at St. John’s.  “We really played well in that tournament,” Coach Harrell said. “I think we beat Hartsville by 30 points and we were having fun.”
Pressure began to mount on the Blue Devils as they moved further into January.  “Our closest scare of the regular season came at Bennettsville,” Coach Neilson said.   “Bo Peep hit a shot at the buzzer over there (Bennettsville) and we played them a third time in the conference tournament final.  We were fortunate in that Bennettsville had to play three games to get into the championship game and we only had to play one game.  We beat them three times which is quite a feat in one season.” 

The Blue Devils also won close games at Lake City (when half the team was late arriving to the game), Myrtle Beach (when the Seahawks played in a place called “The Barn”) and Mullins.  WDAR-FM broadcast 26 of 27 games on the radio and the only game they could not call was the contest at Mullins as Mullins School District 2 would not allow any radio broadcasts from their gym.  Brad Todd and Howard Garland called 26 of those 27 games and when Brad could not work the games Darrin Byers assisted in the broadcast. 

In 1982-83 16 teams were invited to the AAA boys’ basketball playoffs.  St. John’s with a 23-0 record was able to play three of their four playoff games in Darlington or Florence. 

In a strange twist the Blue Devils would have to beat the entire City of Columbia to get to the state final at Carolina Coliseum.  “We played the big three from Columbia.  I think that was the best basketball we played that season against some very talented teams,” Coach Neilson said. 

Next week the News and Press will complete the story of the fabled team, including the last second winning shot, and will talk with players about their memories as well.