Herman Eugene Hall

A strong relationship-based career along with championship football and baseball teams has earned former coach Shad Hall a spot in the Clarendon County Athletic Hall of Fame.

Hall was a coach of football, basketball, baseball and track at East Clarendon. Hall was killed in a tragic car accident in 1966.

Current Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Dwayne Howell nominated Hall for the Hall of Fame.

“He was a well-rounded person,” said Howell. “Not just with athletics, but the whole student body and with his faculty and staff.”

Hall was nominated to the Hall based on two elements of his career.

He had a coach’s mind as in knowing all about the Xs and Os, but it was also his ability to approach his assistant coaches and players and bring out the best in them that got him selected.

“His rapport with young people was outstanding,” said Howell.

Howell coached against Hall; however he said everything was professional.

Anytime he came to the campus in Turbeville or spent time with Hall, he had a sense of great hospitality.

Howell said that is a reason he was and remains a beloved person in the community as well.

“It was a place where you wanted to come,” Howell said. “When you came, you felt welcome to be there. He was a gracious host. He didn’t see strangers and he would work with anybody and work for anybody.

“That’s what struck me and his personality was so good. He was willing to take up time with anybody. Just the way he carried himself, to me, is what was most striking about him.”

Howell said Hall was a great person who knew what he was doing and knew how to get things done; however, he was not a man who simply gave success.

Hall was a coach who made his teams and players earn their success.

“He had strong beliefs that you had to do certain things for yourself,” said Howell. “You certainly had to be a team person as well. If you weren’t a team person, he’d let you know that in a hurry.”

In 1963, Tommy Cooper was hired as an English teacher while Hall was the principal and head football coach. He became the third assistant football coach under Hall.

The next year, Cooper helped Hall coach football again as well as basketball and baseball.

Cooper only worked and coached with Hall for roughly three years prior to his death.

Even so, he said it was some of the best times of his life.

Cooper said his relationship with Hall and Hall’s relationship to his players was so genuine that it was unmatched.

He felt Hall’s ability to relate to his players and get them to see the bigger picture was one of his best attributes.

 “He could get them to perform beyond themselves,” Cooper said. “He was an excellent Xs and Os coach. He could pick out weaknesses in another team’s defense; he just had a wonderful eye for doing that sort of thing. He had the ability to do any of those things.”

In 1964, a year before winning a state championship in football, Hall’s team lost every game except one.

“He told those boys if they would stick with him, they would be champions,” said Cooper. “That was quite a statement to make. It showed his ability to see potential in boys. He was right and the next year, they were champions.”