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Belmont/Jackson Heights

High school dedicates facilities to 3 who cared

Middleton High names a science building, track and pavilion for three who contributed to the school over the years.

By ELISABETH DYER
Published December 24, 2004

Middleton High School commemorated three community members for their contributions to the school, which reopened in August 2002.

During a dedication ceremony last week, school officials named the agricultural and science building for James B. Green, the track for Theresa Manuel and a student pavilion for Fred Hearns.

Green, who died in May, taught agriculture at the East Tampa school from 1949 to 1969.

"He had quite an impact on many of the students who went through vocational agriculture at Middleton," said his wife, Dottie Green. "Go to college, he would tell them. That was his aim."

Manuel, who is retired, taught physical education at Middleton and coached the girls' basketball team, winning three state titles.

Middleton opened in 1934 as Tampa's first high school for black students in what is now A.J. Ferrell Middle School, a technology magnet. In 1971, Middleton closed under a federal desegregation order, scattering East Tampa teens among other high schools.

Efforts to rebuild Middleton originated at a school reunion in 1991, said Fred Hearns, former president of the alumni association and Tampa's director of community affairs.

Alumni asked that the new school have a pavilion outside the cafeteria for students to eat lunch and socialize. The pavilion takes Hearns' name.

"We had gone for some 30 years without a high school," said Hearns, who graduated from Middleton in 1966. "I thought it was absolutely necessary to bring life back into East Tampa."

Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at 226-3321 or edyer@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 23, 2004, 07:24:16]