“We hitchhiked to Norfolk. I told everyone I was 17, or they would have sent me home.�

“I was the type, if I made a decision, it was go forward and try to be the best at it.�

“I was a very animated, challenging person because my life had been that way,� Fred Aldridge says.

In 1960, at age 16, Aldridge graduated from Mullens High School. He went on to graduate from Morris Harvey College three years later.

This snapshot shows Fred Aldridge (right) with his older brother, Darrell, a polio victim. As a 4-year-old, Aldridge accompanied his 6-year-old brother to school to help him walk.

The original famous photo of Aldridge confronting officials hangs in his family room, a gift from the George Washington High School student body when he left there to go into administration. Taken by former Daily Mail photographer Bill Tiernan, the photo didn’t run in the Charleston paper, but the National Enquirer published it along with papers in 48 states. The picture won a national award for sports photography.

In the family room of his home in Kenna, surrounded by memorabilia chronicling his career as a coach and teacher, Fred Aldridge holds the basketball that won his George Washington High School team the 1971 state championship, GW’s only state basketball title.