Crest High School was established in 1960 through the consolidation of Boiling Springs, Lattimore, and Mooresboro High Schools. It operated in the building at 141 South Main Street that had been home to Boiling Springs High School until the new Crest High School building opened in the fall of 1967.
According to the school’s website, the word “Crest” was originally an acronym for “Cleveland Rural Education Stands Together.” Currently the school is using the motto, “Chargers Rising to Excellence and Success Together.”1
The photos below came from the 1963 Crest High School yearbook, Falcon, digitized and accessible on Ancestry.com. Later the title of the yearbook was changed to The Crestonian.
In 1967 Crest High School students began attending classes at a brand new building at 800 Old Boiling Springs Road.
When football season started that fall, the stadium was not yet finished, so the game was played at Spangler Stadium at Gardner-Webb College.
The 1970s
The beginning of the ’70s brought an outstanding run of wins on the basketball court led by top scorer, David Thompson.
David Thompson, CHS Class of ’71, went on to become an All-American basketball star at NC State University, leading the Wolfpack to the 1974 NCAA Championship before being selected first overall in the 1975 NBA Draft.
The ’70s marked a transformative era for the rights of women and girls. Congress passed six acts addressing equal rights for women. One of these impacted girls in schools and colleges. Known as Title IX of the Education Amendments, this landmark legislation prohibited discrimination based on sex in any education program or activity that receives federal funding.
The law was rolled out and implemented in phases. In 1975, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare issued comprehensive regulations that formally required educational institutions to comply and set guidelines for equal opportunity, particularly in athletics. Schools were generally given a three-year window to fully implement these athletic regulations.
By the end of the decade Crest High School offered girls tennis and track, in addition to its previously established girls basketball team.
The 1977 Crestonian can be viewed in its entirety at Ancestry.com. Some images are below.
The 1980s
The Crest Chargers captured their first-ever conference championship in 1980.
In the 1986–1987 school year, Crest High School celebrated a major academic milestone by earning a National Blue Ribbon School award for exemplary school performance and achievement gap reduction.
The 1988 Crestonian documented the process that led to becoming a National Blue Ribbon school.
The 1990s
In 1991, North Carolina General Assembly passed statutes to make administrative unifications easier, prompting the consolidation of multiple city and county school systems. This marked the beginning of talks regarding the consolidation of Shelby and Kings Mountain City Schools with Cleveland County Schools.
In 1993 the number of units required for graduation increased from 16 to 20.
The 1990s at Crest were dominated by the rise of the Chargers football program, which cemented itself as a state powerhouse under head coach Mike Stewart. In 1994, the Chargers won their first-ever NCHSAA state football title in school history, defeating Jacksonville High School in the championship game. In 1996, Crest captured its second NCHSAA state championship of the decade.
The 1995 Crestonian is on Ancestry.com.
The 2000s
The new millennium brought the most significant change to Cleveland County Schools in a century. A plan to merge Shelby and Kings Mountain City Schools with the Cleveland County system was initially approved in 2000. It was delayed for several years due to legal challenges and litigation from the Kings Mountain School District. The merger process went forward and became official on January 13, 2004.
In 2000, Crest High School honored its long-time coach Ed Peeler by naming the gymnasium in his honor. Peeler was the school’s first athletic director, first boys basketball coach, and the winningest coach in Crest High School history.
On October 13, 2000, Crest High School running back, Josh Brown, etched his name in state history by rushing for an astonishing 428 yards and tying the state record with seven touchdowns in a single game. Coach Roy Kirby led the Chargers football team to two NCHSAA state championships in back-to-back seasons in 2003 and 2004.
The 2010s
Jonathan Bullard, a Class of 2012 and football standout at Crest, went on to play for the Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys.
The Chargers had undefeated 16-0 records in both 2014 and 2015, an incredible 32 consecutive game winning streak. Quarterback Ely Hamrick played a major role in the 2014 title run by recording 233 passing yards, 87 rushing yards, and two touchdowns, earning him the Championship MVP Award.
The 2020s
The first year of the decade was met with the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. On March 10, 2020, Gov. Roy Cooper issued executive order No. 116, declaring a state of emergency. Four days later, Cooper followed that with executive order No. 117, which prohibited mass gatherings and also closed public schools through the end of the month. Just over six weeks later, Cooper announced all schools would remain closed through the rest of the school year. Encouraged by the fact that young children seemed to resist the harmful effects of the virus, elementary schools were allowed to reopen in September. However, high schools did not reopen until February of 2021.
Crest High School Faculty
A virtual cemetery of former Crest High School faculty members has been compiled on Find a Grave.com. Many of these profiles include obituaries and/or biographies.
Crest High School Principals
| Principal | term | photo |
| Edward B. Clayton | 1960-1983 |  |
| George Litton | 1983-2003 |  |
| Roger Harris | 2003-2008 |  |
| Jeff Benfield | 2008-2010 | |
| Gary Blake | 2010-2012 |  |
| Rodney Graves | 2013-2015 |  |
| Holly Robinson | 2015-2021 |  |
| Jeremy Shields | 2021-present |  |
Crest High School Yearbooks
Several volumes of the Crest High School yearbook, The Crestonian, have been digitized and made accessible online. Published each spring, the years below are at Ancestry.com; a paid subscription is required however.
Notes
- Creating acronyms for consolidated schools was apparently popular during this time. In neighboring Rutherford County, a Crest rival school was Chase High. It was an acronym for “Cliffside, Caroleen, Harris, Henrietta, Avondale, Shiloh, and everybody else.” ↩︎
Cleveland County History 