Hendersonville High School (Tennessee)

Hendersonville High School
Hendersonville High School
Address
	123 Cherokee Road; Hendersonville, Tennessee 37075; United States
Coordinates	36°18′11″N 86°36′23″W / 36.30294°N 86.60636°W
Information
Type	Public School
Motto	"A quality education for quality living"
School district	Sumner County Schools
Principal	Mel Sawyers
Teaching staff	93.00 (FTE)
Enrollment	1,537 (2022-23)
Student to teacher ratio	16.52
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)
Mascot	Commando
Website	http://hhs.sumnerschools.org/

Hendersonville High School is one of three public high schools located in Hendersonville, Sumner County, Tennessee. Since July 1, 2023, the principal has been Mel Sawyers, who formerly served as principal at Millersville and Guild Elementary Schools. HHS is part of Sumner County Schools. Two middle schools feed into Hendersonville High: Ellis Middle School and Hawkins Middle School.

The school's colors have been black and gold ever since the first Commando football team in 1941, when the Vanderbilt University football program provided the first Commando football team with older, used jerseys. The black and gold colors have remained ever since. Hendersonville is known as the Commandos because 54 men were sent to fight in World War II.

Hendersonville participates in 6A level sports as a part of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, and maintains athletic programs including track, swimming, softball, bowling, baseball, wrestling, golf, hockey, soccer, football, cross country, marching band, and basketball. The school has rivalries with Gallatin High School, Beech High School and Station Camp High School.^{[citation needed]}

Taylor Swift attended the school until she left to begin homeschooling on her tour bus. The school's auditorium was renamed "Taylor Swift Auditorium" in her honor after she contributed funds to refurbish the lighting and sound equipment.^[2]

Family Circle magazine gave Hendersonville High School a gold star for 315 seniors who logged around 20,000 hours of community service.^[3] Academically, Hendersonville has a 9/10 rating on greatschools.net.^[4]

Athletics

Sports and state titles:^[5]

Baseball
Boys' Basketball
Girls' Basketball
Boys' Bowling 2002, 2003, 2004
Girls' Bowling 2008, 2009
Cheerleading 1997, 1998, 2001, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019^[6]
Boys' Cross Country
Girls' Cross Country
Football
Golden Girls Dance Team
Boys' Golf 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014
Girls' Golf
Boys' Soccer 1989, 1998, 2010
Girls' Soccer
Softball
Boys' Tennis
Girls' Tennis
Boys' Track 1974, 1975, 1976, 1989, 1990
Girls' Track 1985, 1993, 2004, 2005
Wrestling 1993, 2004, 2006
Dual Wrestling
Girls' Wrestling
Volleyball

Football

Hendersonville's home football games are held at Paul Decker Field. The on-campus stadium is named after retired principal Paul Decker, and has a capacity of 5,500 spectators. Before home games, players walk around the field in what is known as the "Commando Walk". In inclement weather, the Commandos practice in the Steven Chaussey field house, a 60 by 40 yard (55 m by 37 m) practice facility. They also work out in their workout facility called the "Iron Bunker".

Cheerleading

For the first time ever, Hendersonville High School won the National cheerleading champions in 2021.^[7]

Soccer

The Hendersonville High School boys' soccer team has won five Tennessee State Championships: 1983,^[8] 1986,^[9] 1989, 1998, and 2010. Hendersonville Soccer also has a soccer-specific facility, called "The Field of Dreams", located in Drakes Creek Park.

Swimming

Hendersonville High School swimming has had over 37 swimming All-American performances over the past decade. Swimming has produced more All-Americans than all other sports combined at Hendersonville High School. ^[10]

Ice hockey

The HHS Ice Hockey team has been in existence since the year of 2000. The first coach was Chris Morris, who was followed by the current coach Tim Rathert. The team finished 23-15-0 last season.

The HHS Commandos have qualified for the state tournament, the Predator's Cup, for the past five years. They play in the Greater Nashville Area Scholastic Hockey league. In 2011, they represented GNASH and state of Tennessee at the USA Hockey High School national tournament, held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

^[11]

Notable alumni

Max T. Barnes, songwriter, record producer, studio musician
Josh Berry, NASCAR driver
Carlene Carter, singer-songwriter, daughter of June Carter Cash and Carl Smith (musician)
Zac Curtis, professional baseball pitcher
DeWayne Dotson, retired football player
Steven Fox, golfer, 2012 U.S. Amateur champion
Jeff Jarrett, professional wrestler, founder of TNA Wrestling
Lennon Murphy, songwriter, singer, producer
Thomas Wesley Pentz (Diplo), record producer, DJ; attended Hendersonville High School for two years
Rachael Price, lead singer of band Lake Street Dive
Thomas Richardson aka, Tommy "Wildfire" Rich, professional wrestler
Zach Stafford, journalist and Tony Award-winning producer
Taylor Swift, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter
James Wilhoit, professional football kicker
Joejuan Williams, professional football defensive back

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Hendersonville High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
^ TuneIn Music City (September 23, 2010). "Taylor Swift becomes namesake of Hendersonville High School auditorium". The Tennessean. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
^ "Hendersonville Named Among Best Cities For Families". Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
^ "GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community". Retrieved June 9, 2016.
^ "Hendersonville High School". History. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
^ "Past State Cheerleading Championship Results". Cheerleading. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
^ "Hendersonville High School wins UCA National Championship". News Channel 5 Nashville (WTVF). April 25, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
^ "Commandos Team History". Hendersonville High School Soccer. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
^ "Commandos Team History". Hendersonville High School Soccer. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
^ "Commando Pride - Hendersonville Swimming". Archived from the original on April 25, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
^ "HHS Ice Hockey". Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.

External links

Official school website

[NCES-1] "Hendersonville High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved February 26, 2024.

[2] TuneIn Music City (September 23, 2010). "Taylor Swift becomes namesake of Hendersonville High School auditorium". The Tennessean. Retrieved January 4, 2011.

[3] "Hendersonville Named Among Best Cities For Families". Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2016.

[4] "GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community". Retrieved June 9, 2016.

[5] "Hendersonville High School". History. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. Retrieved January 9, 2021.

[6] "Past State Cheerleading Championship Results". Cheerleading. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. Retrieved January 9, 2021.

[7] "Hendersonville High School wins UCA National Championship". News Channel 5 Nashville (WTVF). April 25, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2023.

[8] "Commandos Team History". Hendersonville High School Soccer. Retrieved March 24, 2023.

[9] "Commandos Team History". Hendersonville High School Soccer. Retrieved March 24, 2023.

[weebly.com-10] "Commando Pride - Hendersonville Swimming". Archived from the original on April 25, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2016.

[11] "HHS Ice Hockey". Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.

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