West Columbia, South Carolina: The 1963 Champions' Field Reborn

In November 1963, Lakeview High School in West Columbia, South Carolina, won the Class AA state football championship, capping an extraordinary season that saw them outscore opponents 526-27. For the all-Black school's players and community, that victory represented triumph over segregation's barriers. Nearly sixty years later, three men—Benny Sulton (team captain turned board chairman), Reverend Charles Jackson Jr. (pastor of Brooklyn Baptist Church), and Keller Kissam (Dominion Energy South Carolina president)—came together to restore that championship field and preserve Lakeview's legacy for future generations.

This is Part 2 of Shane's conversation with these three remarkable leaders about saving the former Lakeview High School from abandonment, transforming it into the thriving Brooklyn-Lakeview Empowerment Center, and renovating the old "dust bowl" football field into a beacon of hope for West Columbia's youth.

When Lakeview closed as a segregated high school in 1968 following integration, the building became North Side Middle School for over thirty years before eventually serving as an alternative school. By the 2000s, the facility faced the same fate as most former all-Black schools across South Carolina—demolition or decay. But the Lakeview alumni refused to let their history disappear. When Brooklyn Baptist Church acquired the ten-acre property in 2008, Reverend Jackson saw an opportunity to serve the community through the building that had once educated him.

The football field, however, remained a dust bowl—literally. The surface was so uneven it had a four-foot decline from one end zone to the other. Broken concrete, rusted fencing, and bare dirt marked where generations of athletes had played. Remarkably, West Columbia's youth teams were still competing on that same deteriorated field in 2019, still winning championships despite the conditions, still lacking a proper home venue.

Everything changed when Dominion Energy partnered with the Lakeview Empowerment Center to transform the field. Led by Benny Sulton's meticulous project management, the renovation included laser-grading the surface, installing an irrigation system, laying new turf, erecting steel light poles with reclaimed light banks, and adding a walking track. The total transformation took just months, culminating in a powerful dedication ceremony on November 22, 2022—exactly 59 years after that 1963 championship victory.

The dedication ceremony itself became a profound moment of intergenerational healing. Alumni from the 1963 championship team, some in wheelchairs, some using walkers, lined up on the restored field. Young AAU football players stood behind them. In a symbolic passing of the torch, the elderly champions handed a football forward to the youth, literally and figuratively transferring Lakeview's legacy of excellence, perseverance, and dignity to the next generation.

One of the ceremony's most emotional moments came when a successful accountant shared how, as a six-year-old child, he'd accompanied his father (a Dominion lineman in the 1960s) to install lights at both the white high school's immaculate field and Lakeview's dust bowl. That stark inequality—one field like a golf course, the other bare dirt—stayed with him for fifty years. When his wife passed away, he donated her annuity to the Lakeview Empowerment Center to finally rectify what he'd witnessed as a child.

Today, the Brooklyn-Lakeview Empowerment Center serves West Columbia through diabetes intervention, mental health services, tutoring programs, senior support, and youth development initiatives. The restored field hosts West Columbia Tigers youth football games under lights—something denied to the 1963 champions. The facility employs over 190 people and is slated for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

This episode celebrates the character of men who refuse to let injustice have the final word, who transform painful history into empowering legacy, and who prove that redemption is always possible when communities commit to lifting each other up.

Timeline of Key Events:

• November 22, 1963 – Lakeview High School wins Class AA state football championship (526-27 season record)
• 1968 – Lakeview's final graduating class; school closes as segregated institution
• 1968-late 1990s – Building operates as integrated North Side Middle School (~30 years)
• Late 1990s-early 2000s – Building becomes alternative school (~4 years)
• March 28, 2008 – Brooklyn Baptist Church acquires former Lakeview/North Side school from Lexington District II School Board
• 2008 – Property converted to Brooklyn-Lakeview Empowerment Center
• 2014 – Dominion Energy partners with center for commercial kitchen renovation
• 2019 – West Columbia youth teams still playing (and winning championships) on deteriorated dust bowl field
• 2022 – Field renovation completed with Dominion Energy partnership
• November 22, 2022 – Field dedication ceremony (59th anniversary of 1963 championship)

Historical Significance:

The Lakeview story illuminates three critical American narratives: the excellence achieved by segregated Black schools despite systemic barriers, the community devastation when those institutions closed during integration, and the redemptive power of preserving that history rather than erasing it.

Most former all-Black high schools across South Carolina have been demolished or left to decay—their fields overgrown, their buildings collapsing, their legacies forgotten. Lakeview stands as one of only seven remaining intact former all-Black schools in the state. By preserving and activating this site, the Brooklyn-Lakeview Empowerment Center ensures that younger generations can literally walk the ground their ancestors walked, play on fields where champions were forged under Jim Crow's shadow, and understand that excellence and dignity persisted even within unjust systems.

The field restoration also represents a rare model of corporate-community partnership for racial healing. When Dominion Energy committed not just funding but volunteer labor, reclaimed materials, and sustained partnership, they demonstrated how companies can acknowledge historical inequity while actively creating more equitable futures. The image of that six-year-old boy noticing the disparity between white and Black schools' facilities in the 1960s, then returning as a successful adult to help rectify it, captures the long arc toward justice.

Finally, this story affirms that historic preservation serves the future, not just the past. The field doesn't function as a museum—it hosts youth football games, community events, senior walking groups, and tutoring programs. History becomes living legacy when spaces are activated for service rather than merely commemorated. The Empowerment Center's 190 employees and comprehensive community programs prove that investing in historically significant buildings generates both cultural and economic returns.

Sources & Further Reading:

• Brooklyn-Lakeview Empowerment Center: brooklandlakeview.org
• WIS TV coverage of field dedication (November 22, 2022)
• Brooklyn Baptist Church history and community programs: brooklandbaptist.org
• South Carolina High School League historical championships records
• West Metro News coverage of 2022 dedication ceremony

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