Columnists

A lost but hallowed Pirate trophy

Posted by Staff on March 17, 2023 - 5:30am

By Bill Herr
Bluffton Icon columnist

What is the most treasured trophy ever won by a Bluffton Pirate team in sports or academics? I recently looked in the sports trophy case by the gymnasium and the academics trophy case by the old gym. Here are some candidates in sports: 1929 State Runner-up Boys Basketball, 1981 State Champions Boys Wrestling, 1991 State Runner-up Boys Football 1997 StateRunner-up Girls Track & Field, 2000 StateRunner-up Girls Basketball, 2008 State Champion Boys Track & Field, 2019 State Runner- up Boys Soccer.

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A book reviewed during a storm

Posted by Staff on January 30, 2023 - 7:03am

By Robert McCool

After a spell of ill health, I find myself back at the books and the keyboard during a winter storm, ready to talk about a book I wanted to hate, but couldn't.

Barbara Kingsolver is a great writer who presents her stories as plain-faced as a tale can be. This leads to some unpleasant topics sometimes when a story absolutely must be told. Such is “Demon Copperhead” ($34.50 ISBN:987-0-06-326746-6), an Oprah's Book Club 2022 selection.

The book is all about a boy (Daemon) with red hair (Copperhead) growing up up in the Apalachicola South, with all its poverty–which means plenty of teen mothers and drugs, among other things like high school football, drinking excessively and having not much future to look forward to. On the other hand, family is tight and most important in life.

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First BHS sports state champions?

Posted by Staff on January 5, 2023 - 6:26am

By Bill Herr

What was the first Bluffton High School Pirate sports team to win a state championship?

The 1981 varsity wrestling team. In wrestling at Bluffton High School, there have been 48 Pirate wrestlers that qualified for the State Championships in the 46 years between 1975 and 2021. 24 of them qualified multiple times and 7 became State Champions. The high caliber of this sport at BHS reached a peak in 1981 when the varsity wrestling team won the State Championship. This is their story.

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