Doctor Howell helped Douglass High School become well known in most athletic circles. There was no budget for athletic equipment and uniforms, and the hand-me-down uniforms and equipment from Dobyns-Bennett High School soon became the property of the Douglass High School Tigers. Principal and Football Coach Doctor A.W. Howell, who was also the basketball coach, was known to dye the basketball uniforms in the school-supplied blue ink. But when the players sweated while running up and down the court, puddles of blue dotted both players and the gym floor. When Professor Howell resigned in 1942, Professor V. O. Dobbins, Senior, a Douglass science and math teacher, was appointed principal. Professor Dobbins started the free lunch program at Douglass School, feeding students with fruits and vegetables grown in his own backyard and canned by his sister and other neighborhood mothers in the Riverview-South Central Kingsport area. The Douglass building still outgrew its surroundings, and in 1951, a new school building for black students was built, that still stands at 301 Louis Street in the Riverview Neighborhood in Kingsport today. The building was expanded in 1962, and within the walls of the combined elementary-high school, fiercely competitive sports teams were nurtured. The Douglass trophy case was a display of superiority in basketball and football. Top-notch marching bands and choruses also earned superior ratings, and Professor Dobbins and faculty were able to both entertain and educate the community through "Miss Douglass" competitions and various plays and pageants, funded mostly through the sale of sports concessions. The teachers fostered a togetherness that united each student with a sense of family, that was taught right along with the school subjects. Academically, Douglass gained accreditation from the Southern Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, assuring its graduating seniors that their educations would further them at quality universities. Closure Douglass Elementary-High School closed its doors and ceased operations on June 8, 1966, making it one of the last all-black schools in the area to close. The students who had not graduated yet, were all assimilated into the all-white schools of Kingsport, and the Douglass High School Alumni Association was formed to remind and lead school graduates and former students of the "Tiger Spirit" that forever binds them with their African-American heritage in Kingsport, and a reminder that the school's rich tradition and neighborhood pride are to be passed on to future generations. Over the years, the school