Respect the Roe: Munroe's growth from segregation academy to Gadsden grown football powerhouse

For decades, Munroe Day School was quiet, small brick house in rural Gadsden County.

Chattahoochee High, Havana Northside, Greensboro High, and Shanks High all competed in the 90s in football and basketball. The four schools later combined into two in the mid-2000s as East Gadsden and West Gadsden before becoming one high school, Gadsden County High, in 2016. In boasting countless athletic successes, Munroe was on the outside looking in.

"There was really no rivalry between Munroe and the public schools, in fact, we rarely played them," Munroe basketball coach and Havana Northside alumnus Dimitric Salters said. "They were in their own classification with Aucilla Christian, FAMU High, Maclay, and maybe North Florida Christian, but they rarely played the public schools in Gadsden. Maybe in baseball, but football and basketball they did not at that time."

The Bobcats had a few silver linings in its baseball program and won a girls' basketball state championship in 1994, but when it came to football, Munroe struggled to get 11 players on the field. Clay Fallis, a 27-year veteran coach of the program and Munroe's current offensive line coach, who attended Munroe in the 80s and had his kids attend the school, has seen the program slowly grow over its almost 50-year existence and hit a sudden growth spurt these past two years.

However, it's taken some trying times to get where the Bobcats are today.

"I've seen this school go from the smallest school in the state to playing 11-man football to now in the state final four. The trajectory has been up," Fallis said. "The school won its first district championship in 1997. Won the second district championship in 1998 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Went to the playoffs as the district runner-up in 1999, 2000, and 2001. Lost. The. First. Round. Of. The. Playoffs."

"Then we had this big gap. We would do well, but not well enough to make the playoffs. There were some years when we were not good because it's a small private school out here and there's no miracle walk in the hall. There are not 500 kids to choose from. There are 300 kids and that counts the kindergartners."

In 2020, despite another first-round exit, Munroe posted an undefeated regular season, one year of a 1-9 record. In 2021, despite a slight fall to 7-2 in the regular season, history began to write itself. The Bobcats topped perirenal power University Christian in regional semifinals to win the program's first playoff game and make an appearance in the regional championship for the first time ever.

The offseason saw Russell Ellington hired as the football program's first Black head coach and start seeing more talent arrive at the little school in Mount Plesant. Players were committing to places like Stanford, and Florida State and getting offers from Michigan, Oklahoma, and many more. In addition, players who had left Gadsden County to play in Tallahassee began to return back home.

Senior Markari Vickers, junior Ostin Perkins, and senior Makahi Brown are just a few names that have returned back to their Gadsden County roots after transferring to Tallahassee schools. The movement in the offseason has only lined up the Bobcats for a historic 2022 campaign, winning the program's first regional title and putting Munroe only two wins away from its first-ever football state title.

"The three and a half years I've been here have been crazy," Ellington said. "The focus the first year we were just trying to find guys who wanted to play football and numbers to practice. Last year, we had a new influx of kids and a new dynamic to the program and this year just went off the rails. We had kids from middle school, freshmen, and juniors coming into the program."

"We finally had a real football team this year that could practice and work on things. Academically, we only have two people under a 3.0 GPA. Ahmari Borden and DJ Johnson have two of the highest GPAs in the school."

Extending a legacy

Despite this being his first season at the helm of the Munroe program, Ellington has always been a part of the changing dynamic at Munroe. Born in Savannah, Georgia, and growing up in Flossmoor, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Ellington has always aspired to live up to the legacy of his grandfather.

Russell Ellington Sr. was a storied basketball coach in Georiga, coaching multiple high school squads, Savannah State University's men's basketball team, and even the Harlem Globetrotters for nine seasons. Ellington Sr. won Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference basketball titles, and four high school state championships and is a member of multiple institutional halls of fame.

Ellington played college football at Illinois before returning down south and eventually coming to Munroe. He had heard rumbles about what was being built at the small, rural Florida private school from a friend, and now assistant coach Mikhal Kornegay, who played football at Florida State. Salters also played against Ellington Sr.'s teams when he was in high school. Ellington knew nothing about Quincy, let alone Munroe, but was open to the opportunity.

"I knew nothing about Munroe when I came into the job," Ellington said. "The first time I heard about the school was when I talked to coach Salters and it was also the first time heard about Quincy, Florida. Now, being from south Georgia, I knew about Bolles, Rickards, and the schools that had been winning for a while, but I didn't know of Munroe. But I'm happy I followed my heart here."

Ellington joined the program as an assistant coach in the midst of a new wave at Munroe to make the school an athletic competitor not just in the Big Bend, but in Florida. Joseph Gaddy set a plan in place to put the program in motion in the mid-2010s before stepping down due to personal reasons. Alex Lehky later took over as head coach, piloting Munroe to two historic seasons and the Bobcats' first playoff win.

Ellington is the fifth head coach in the last decade at Munroe, with Lehky leaving this past offseason for an assistant coaching job at Coffee High School in Georgia. In being the football program's first Black head coach, he understands the significance of stepping into the role and what it means to the development of the school, but he also sees it as a chance to continue following in his grandfather's footsteps. In a similar light, Ellington Sr. won the first integrated basketball state championship in Georgia in 1967.

"There is some significance to being Munroe's first Black head football coach because I'm trying to follow in my granddad's footsteps," Ellington said. "I pride myself in following what he did and making history myself, but I would be lying to you if I said that was the main focus for me right now. My main focus right now is to win a state championship and be known as a winner."

'This is what schools should be'

Munroe is a far cry from what it was back in the late 60s and early 70s, along with a handful of other Big Bend private schools. Munroe, North Florida Christian, Maclay School, and Tallavana Christian were all founded as segregation academies, but have since then opened their doors to everyone.

The demographic makeup of Gadsden County is 55 percent Black according to the 2021 U.S. Census, with Munroe boasting a 50 percent minority enrollment (29.2 percent Black, 15.9 percent Hispanic/Latino, 4.7 percent two or more races and 0.7 percent Asian/Asian Pacific Islander) according to U.S. News. Outside of Tallavana Christian (94.2 percent minority enrollment), Munroe is the second-most diverse former segregation academy in Big Bend.

Salters, who is a lifelong resident of Gadsden County, coaching at East Gadsden, and at Munroe has noted the demographical change since he was in high school. It's an accurate makeup of the county being that is helping the school rise to prominence. Salters had a full-circle moment last winter as the Bobcats defeated Gadsden County in boys basketball last season, a matchup that was unthought of when he was in high school.

"The school has changed tremendously since my friends have gone here," Salters said. "The diversity is really, really good in terms of teachers, faculty, staff, and students. Munroe has grown culturally and has improved tremendously, academically and athletically. This is what schools should be. Just very diverse. It's a great place to go to school and the community has bought into it."

While recruiting has become a big focus in high school sports, and Munroe has boasted a handful of transfers from southwest Georgia, a lot of its big playmakers are Gadsden County-born and raised players. It's been a goal of the program for years to bring the Gadsden County talent back into the area. The guys making the big runs, grabs, and tackles are playing right in their hometown.

"Most of the guys that are making the plays for us are from Gadsden County," Ellington said. "You have an Ostin Perkins and Makari Vickers that come back. And then you have guys that are relatively unknown like a Carson Bradley or a Janealius Davis. We get to games and people are like 'who are these big guys,' but everyone in the county already knows about them."

"We are also the only private school football program in the country. NFC, JPII, and Maclay have to compete for kids. If you want to go to public school, you can go to Gadsden County. If you want to go to a private school, Munroe is an option. I don't want people to think if you want a good education and good athletics, you have to go to Leon County."

No matter the result, the 2022 season will go down in Bobcats' history. The first regional title win, first state semifinals appearance, and even the first time Munroe has won a game off a field goal. It's another chapter etched into the rural school's ever-growing story and one that has left a resonating impact.

Gadsden County has taken notice of Munroe and so has its opposition.

"This is going to get people to hear about Munroe that have not ordinary heard about it," Fallis said. "When they've heard about Munroe before it's been oh it's just Munroe. Now it's been, 'oh it's Munroe. We can't take this week off'. That kid's from Munroe. He works hard over there."

"I think something like this is just going to put the school in a bigger light statewide."

Jack Williams covers prep sports for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams. 

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Munroe's growth from segregation academy to Gadsden grown football powerhouse