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BK Media Releases Digitized 1970s Accolade Yearbooks

Article and Digitizing By:  D’Lee Pollock and Prudence Nieder

Photographs By:  Addilyn Boesch and Jayden Keefer

Video By:  Korbin Shriner 

Graphics By:  Addilyn Boesch 

Contributions By:  Randall Sauceman and Steven Broyles

Edited By:  Kolby Shannon

The 1970s was a riveting time in Chuckey-Doak High School’s history; many of the traditions celebrated by current CDHS students were created in the ‘70s.  Several Knights of Legend and Chuckey-Doak Elite were part of this decade.  The administration, faculty, and students created a Black Knight legacy that would still be revered 50 years later.  The 1970 Accolade yearbook speaks of the “New Age Knight” who demonstrates the characteristics of industry, loyalty, studiousness, courtesy, and obedience.  These qualities identified in the 1970s are still the qualities that are Black Knights are known for today.

The 1970 Accolade has what is now referred to as a retro style, but inside the book is Black Knight-themed with calligraphy or Old English font.  The second proclamation in this annual encapsulates what it was like to be a Black Knight in 1970: “The New Age Knight has his castle, his coat-of-arms, his armor, his steed, his lord and lady, his education, and his training.”  The photographs tell the full story of the New Age Knight.  “His castle” shows a photo of the old high school, the building which now houses Chuckey-Doak Middle School. The coat-of-arms is a graphic of the original CDHS coat-of-arms which depicts the original building, the mountains, the importance of agriculture, the sanctity of academics, and the Black Knight mascot.  The “armor” shows off the back of a 1970 letterman’s jacket.  The phrase “his steed” accompanies a photo of what appears to be a 1968 Buick Gran Sport or Skylark, a two-door muscle car with 60’s swag.  Mr. and Miss CDHS (Kenny Ripley and Judy Burkey) are shown as the New Age Knight’s Lord and Lady.  His education is depicted as a traditional 1970’s classroom with desks in rows, a chalkboard at the front of the room, and the teacher at a podium.  “His training” is a photograph of basketball players warming up.

In the 1970 Accolade, there are several printed pages in full color as well as some pages with just graphics in color.  This technology was also used to print the 1971 Accolade, which contains even more color printing.  In 1971, The Accolade yearbook staff chose to use the alma mater as the theme of the book.  

Hail to thee, dear CDHS,

Lift your banners high;

Loyal are your sons and daughters

Far away and nigh.

Cherished friendships long will linger

As the years unfold.

Truths you’ve taught us guide us onward

Through our paths untold.

CHORUS

Knights of courage, bold and gallant,

Honor shall prevail.

Hail to thee our Alma Mater, 

Black and gold, all hail.  

The 1971 book also returns the hyphen in the spelling of Chuckey-Doak to the annuals; several photos depict the building with its hyphen, which was hung in the 1960s.  It has been said the hyphen in Chuckey-Doak’s name symbolizes the unity between the two previous school communities from 1959.  One other historical note about the 1971 Accolade is that the Black Knights became Round Robin Champions for the first time in 1971.  The third book of the decade has a duo tone cover in black and gold, using photographs from that school year; 1972 proclaims its theme as Signs of our Time; it also highlighted vehicles from that time period owned by faculty and students.

The next few yearbooks yielded a pop culture theme, the 1973 Accolade was People magazine themed.  At the prologue of the annual, The Accolade’s staff writes:  “Happiness is class rings, a banquet, patched jeans, a rap session, free time, an ice cream cone, a trip, a good book, graduating, a cold drink, changing classes, a sneak shot, barefootin’, payday, the lunch hour, winning, long hair, a call, freedom, music, experimenting, and a five-minute break.”  To keep the pop culture themes dominant, the editors of The Accolade created the 1974 annual in true 70’s fashion, calling it The Story of 1974, using song lyrics from the 60s and 70s throughout the storytelling, and showing a 70s-style graphic on the cover with an enamored, dancing couple. Historically, the school added several clubs in 1974, then offering a total of Yearbook, Beta Club, Student Leadership Council, Future Farmers of America, Future Homemakers of America, Future Business Leaders of America, Future Nurses Club, Future Teachers Club, Distributive Education Club of America, Bible Club, Interact Club, Science and Math Club, 4-H, and Archery Club.  1974 also contains the first yearbook documentation of the relatively new Greeneville-Greene County Vocational School, built in 1972 on Hal Henard Road.  In addition to the athletics programs established in the 1960s (i.e. basketball, cheerleading, cross country, and baseball), CDHS added boys tennis under Coach Jerry Holt in 1974, making tennis the Black Knights fifth TSSAA sport as documented in the 1974 Accolade.

1975 was a record year for Chuckey-Doak.  Thematically similar to 2026’s yearbook, the 1975 Accolade is entitled Each Dawn is a New Beginning.  1975 was a year of many dawns and many firsts for Dear CDHS.  This annual is the first to include graphics in the form of clipart and stickers; it also contains the first reference to a CD logo similar to the modern CD, showing a primitive version of the CD logo on a letterman’s jacket.  1975 documents many firsts in sports.  It was the premiere of football under the leadership of Coach Doug Ward.  Girls Tennis was also added with Coach Jerry Holt.  Golf was introduced by Coach Jack Kilday; interestingly, the golf program started with an all-boys team during the regular season with a girl individual (Freshmen Lynna Rader) being added at playoffs; Rader finished 4th individually at the state tournament.  1975 was important academically and for Career and Technical Education with the addition of the Audio and Visual Production (AV) Program and the premiere of Television Channel WCDH; this allowed CDHS to offer a full media program with print (yearbook and newspaper) and AV media. The 1975 book also documented the addition of Chorus with Director Delores Crumm and the Pep Club, which is akin to our modern Bleacher Creatures.  1975 was indeed the year for new beginnings.  

In 1976, The Accolade celebrated the nation’s bicentennial with a patriotic theme called Reflections.  By 1977, there is a noticeable increase in technology for the staff of The Accolade as the annual displays a Nature theme, featuring more advanced photography with sharper focus and better lighting; there is also an improvement in the typography as 1977 is the first year that a typewriter was not used to produce the book.  The staff declares, “Chuckey-Doak is many different things to many different people.”  The book also documents a major change in fashion with t-shirts becoming the new fashion “craze.”  In the sports world, Ray Teedee Maupin returns to coach girls basketball, and the Black Knights golfers have a full boys team and one girl individual compete in regular and post-season.  The 1978 Accolade was branded The Best of Chuckey-Doak, citing “Nobody does it better / Makes me feel sad for the rest / Baby, you’re the best.”  This year’s annual records the first art class in Chuckey-Doak High School’s history, the first set of bleachers at the football field, and enrollment reaching a new record of 524.  There were “20 Black and Golden Years” for The 1979 Accolade Salutes Chuckey-Doak’s 20th Anniversary.  Senior Lynna Radar become the first second generation student to graduate from 

CDHS, following in the footsteps of her mother Carolyn Collins.  Librarian Joe Anne Lintz and Teacher Mildred Masengill were recognized as the longest employed faculty members; both ladies served the school since its conception in 1959.  1979 also records the first special education teacher for CD:  Karen Armstrong.  CDHS also added two more clubs with the Outdoor Club and the Photography Club.  In sports, girls golf field an actual team for the first time in Black Knight history by adding Sophomore Beth Maupin.  Cross Country, which was once popular at the founding of the school, is nowhere to be seen in The Accolade by the conclusion of the decade. 

Throughout this decade, The Accolade documents several important changes to the faculty.  Mary Louise Hurley Hunt, who started at CDHS in 1969, continued to serve in the 1970s, serving in many different English teaching roles.  In 1970, the Principal was John S. Waddle and the Yearbook Advisor was JoAnne Lintz.  Coach Jack Kilday had been at CD since 1965 until 1971 when Glenn Ray TeeDee Maupin takes over boys and girls basketball; Maupin coached for two years and then returned permanently in 1977.  Coach Kilday returned in 1973 to coach both boys and girls basketball; in the same year, Doris Lowery co-sponsored the Accolade yearbook staff with Joe Anne Lintz until Lowery takes over the yearbook advisory role completely in 1974.  John S. Waddle served as principal until 1974, when the school was then led by Principal Wade McCamey; Chuckey-Doak also had its first Assistant Principal in 1974 with Floyd Sellers fulfilling that role.  By 1975, Sellers took over as Principal, and William Huffman served as Assistant Principal.  1977 was a significant year for the Black Knights Basketball program; it was the first year that there were two head coaches (one per gender) with Jack Kilday coming back to coach the boys and Ray TeeDee Maupin coming back to coach the girls.  Principal Wade McCamey and Assistant Principal William Huffman began leading the school in 1977 and were still in command at the close of the decade.  Another distinguished faculty member from the 1970s is Coach Jerry Holt, who started the tennis program in 1974.  This decade also celebrated several yearbook dedications, including:  1970 W. N. Williamson (Board of Education Member), 1972 Anne Sentelle (Teacher), 1973 Arbie Houston (custodian), 1974 Roger Peters (In Memorium) and Kathleen Harold (Teacher), 1977 Mildred Luttrell (Teacher), 1979 Dayton Shelton (Bus Driver) and Student Frankie Sellers (In Memorium).

Mr. and Miss CDHS continued to be an important part of senior superlatives; the students chosen as Mr. or Miss CDHS should show school spirit, be an active member of the student body, participate in extra-curriculars (clubs and/or sports) and exemplify the Knight’s Code.  Many of these students returned as alumni to help the school.

The DAR Award is one of the academic achievements recorded in every Accolade yearbook.  It is a nationally known award that recognizes graduating high school seniors who demonstrate dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism. Notable CDHS Seniors were chosen for this honor during the 1970s.

Homecoming was one of the biggest school traditions in the 1970s, centered around basketball.  The honor of homecoming queen was awarded to several Knights of Legend from the 70s.  

Even though time and technology has progressed, the spirit, traditions, and legends of Chuckey-Doak High School from the 1970s lives on in the lives of our current students and they  will forever remain in the hearts of Black Knights for many generations to come.  In order to preserve this important decade, its memories, and its history, BK Media decided to digitize The Accolade yearbooks for posterity’s sake.  We would like to share this archive with our community “far away and nigh” as the Alma Mater proclaims, and we hope that perusing these annuals will bring back good memories for some, a look at history for others, and an understanding of Black Knight Nation for all.  Click the links below to access each of The Accolades from the 1970s.

Note:  This project would not have been possible without the help of BK Media’s Archivist Prudence Nieder (Class of 2028), Vlogger Randall Sauceman (Class of 2026), Graphic Design Editor Addilyn Boesch (Class of 2029), and Chief Art Editor Kolby Shannon (Class of 2027).