North Santa Rosa

Jay High Gymnasiums Will Soon Have a New Name…

Built in the late 80’s, the gymnasium at Jay High School has been known by the locals as “The New Gym.” That’s because Jay High School is the only school in Santa Rosa County that has two gyms. The “Old Gym” has been around since the 1950’s, so when the current gymnasium was built, the two gymnasium’s took their monikers and are still referred to as “The Old Gym” and “The New Gym” by current faculty and students.

That is about to change as the both gyms will take the name “John Clarence Smith Gymnasium.”

“Coach Smith is a legend and iconic figure in our community as well as throughout the state and neighboring states,” JHS principal Benjie West states.

Clarence Smith taught in Santa Rosa County for 40 years,  36 of those years at Jay High School. He was the head boys basketball coach for all of the 36 years at Jay.  During his illustrious coaching career, he amassed 613 wins.  He was inducted into the FHSAA Hall of Fame as a charter member in 1991.

January 27 is the date set for the official naming ceremony. It will occur between varsity girls and varsity boys games that evening (approximately 6:45-7:15). Former players are invited to attend and will be recognized on the floor with Coach Smith and his family.

There will be a meet and greet in the JHS Cafeteria beginning at 5:00pm that evening.

(Pictured below are former JHS basketball coaches Lance Youngblood, Clarence Smith, and Jacob Jordan.)

Basketball Coaches

Posted by on Jan 18 2022. Filed under Announcements, Events, Happenings, High School, Jay, Jay High, Local, Schools, Sports, Top News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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