Like most of you that grew up in Dentsville prior to 1970 you can remember the days when there was very little traffic, two lanes and one traffic light on Two Notch Road. Then the Columbia Mall opened in August of 1977.
When our family moved to Dentsville in 1962 I was 5-years old, and I remember we would sit on the steps of our front porch on a Friday night listening to the Dentsville Higfh band play during halftime of the Dentsville Cougars football games. It was so quite you could hear the crowd cheer whenever Dentsville made a big play or scored a touchdown. When I turned 10 years old, I would walk to the Dentsville field by myself to the watch the Cougars play a home football game. During basketball season I would make my way the Dentsville gym to watch the Cougars play on a Friday night. I wasn't allowed to go to games on school night.
Dentsville High Field
I have some fun memories of my times attending Dentsville football and basketball games but the most memorable were the football games. The little souvenir footballs that would be tossed into the stands and going behind the homes stands at halftime to play a quick game of football or pass the ball around with friends.
Growing up I always wanted to attend Dentsville High and look forward to making my way to Dentsville as a student but when I finished 6th grade at Joseph Keels my parents informed me, I would not be going to Dentsville High. Although I did not get to attend Dentsville High as a high school student I did get to walk the halls and sit in the classrooms as past Dentsville High students in 1971. I spent two years (1971-1973 at Dent Junior High and even though the name (Dentsville High) was no longer on the front of the building it still had the look that it had when hundreds of students walked the halls in previous years.
A couple years ago I wrote a book "The Heart of Derntsviile" but after writi9ng it I began wondering if I should have added the history of Dentsville's athletic teams along with adding more photos. During my time writing my second book "Dentsville Remembered" I had made the decision to go forward to write my last book on Dentsville High School and the community of Dentsville. This last book "Dentsville High" 1927-1970 will cover the early years from the 1890's to the last year of 1970. The book will include hundreds of pictures from the "Red and White" Yearbooks from 1955 to 1970.
Two friends I attended school with played the pinball machine at Northcutt's grocery store on Shakespeare Road before driving off very fast to Hunt Club Road off Decker Blvd. The car crashed into a tree and killed both DELL RENEFRO and PHIL SANDERS on impact. The date was JULY FORTH 1966.
Every fourth of July, I still recall that fateful day. (The last name RENEFRO may have a different spelling)
Posted by D. Jorge 12/23/2023.