South Aiken High School shirt makes appearance in 'Stranger Things', available for purchase
Jul. 12—South Aiken High School recently became the talk of social media after a shirt for the school made an appearance in "Stranger Things."
The shirt saying South Aiken Thoroughbreds was worn by actor and comedian Adam Murray in episode 6 of season 4. He is wearing the shirt in the town hall scene about halfway through the episode, and it can be seen when Murray stands up to leave, but not before saying something to the crowd.
As for how he ended up wearing the shirt, Murray said the wardrobe department had several shirt options for him, and the South Aiken one was his favorite. But the decision wasn't up to him; it was up to the producers. He found out he was wearing that shirt the day of filming.
"For me, it was that it had a cool design on it," Murray said about why he liked that particular shirt. "I like graphic tees, and that was the only one they had as an option, for me I'm a T-shirt and jeans kind of guy. I didn't put two and two together that it was a high school shirt and then people went nuts for it."
Dave Mihoulides, the girls' varsity soccer coach at South Aiken, said he saw on social media about the shirt and shared it. From there it went viral and a student sent Mihoulides a message about recreating the shirts and selling them as a fundraiser.
"Carolina Screenprint jumped on board, and they're doing the shirts," said Mihoulides.
Online ordering is currently underway, and the funds will be going to the athletic booster club, which is self-sufficient, Mihoulides said. Stephanie Harvey, the manger of Carolina Screenprint and Signs, said the shirts can be purchased online or at the store.
Murray said he couldn't believe the reaction to his wearing the shirt in the Netflix show.
"I think it's wild," Murray said. "I've done a lot of film and TV stuff before, I never would've thought a wardrobe choice would floor a community like this, and I think it's really cool."
Following a post about the fundraiser, Mihoulides said Murray reached out to him about it, and they've struck up somewhat of a friendship. Murray is now looking at trying to do a comedy show in Aiken.
"I'm trying to find a venue to do that," Murray said. "...still looking for a place to try and do a standup show, but I'll find someplace."
If he does a show here, Murray said he plans on donating some of the funds to the school. He also plans on purchasing the popular T-shirt.
A show in Aiken wouldn't be Murray's first time to the area. The Atlanta resident said his dad use to love to go to Duke's BBQ.
"So we use to go there a lot," Murray said. "But I didn't realize that was in Aiken until I saw somebody posting about it catching fire. We use to go there so my dad could pick a bottle (of sauce)."
Murray said he's happy about how everything has turned out following the release of the episode.
"I'm happy that everyone is so excited about it, and hopefully this will turn into something that will help the kids and the community," Murray said.
The shirts can be purchased online at https://carolinascreenprint.com/products/sa-thouroughbreds. The shirt costs $15 for youth sizes and sizes adult small through extra large and $17 for XXL, 3X and 4X.
