CENTENNIAL
29
wrote. “Carol could have refused to touch me or could have
simply ignored me, but her generous act set the tone for the
next two months.”
Robert Jefferson was the longtime coach of orange-andblack
clad sports teams, most notably football, at LPA. Later,
he was principal at Fort Pierce Central. Jefferson was at LPA
when part of the faculty’s job was to spruce up the new place.
“Instead of playing sports in PE class, Mr. Jefferson had us
out planting grass seeds,” Gaines said of his first months at
the new LPA when he was in the 10th grade.
Before the move, Jefferson coached the 1952 football Greyhounds
to a perfect season in seven games when it outscored
opponents 152-21.
Even in the early days, LPA produced outstanding sports
teams. The Greyhounds won the first state championship for
black high schools in 1930, then won it again in 1932.
Gaines is a story himself. He turned 85 in January, and can
still be frequently seen at Stone Bros., the funeral home his
grandfather started in 1932 on North Seventh Street. He is a
former president of the National Funeral Directors & Morticians
Association. He was a St. Lucie County School Board
member for 34 years, a span of years that included LPA’s
transition to a magnet school. And then there is the kindergarten
to-eighth grade Samuel S. Gaines Academy of Emerging
Technologies on Jenkins Road.
MAGNET AFTER SOME DOWN YEARS
In 1985, partly to satisfy federal District Judge C. Clyde Atkins
who was required to approve St. Lucie County’s school
attendance zones, Lincoln Park became a magnet school and
drew students from throughout the county.
3015 Okeechobee Rd. u Fort Pierce u (772) 461-5211
2041 Bayshore Blvd. u Port St. Lucie u (772) 879-1000
Over 45 Years Experience u Locally Owned & Operated
Also offering Pet Loss Services at both locations
ST. LUCIE COUNTY REGIONAL HISTORY CENTER
In 12 years as LPA football coach, Robert “Bobby” Jefferson’s Greyhounds
won 86% of their games, and in six years as basketball coach, the team
had 116 wins and 16 losses. Shown in 1956, Jefferson later was assistant
>> principal of LPA and principal of Fort Pierce Central.
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