Anne Long graduated from Winthrop University in 1974 with a B.S. in Physical Education.
She later earned an M.Ed. in Physical Education from the Citadel. While attending
Winthrop, she served as captain of the first softball team under Ms. Upchurch, played
basketball for Dr. Griffin, and field hockey for Dr. Bobb. She was active in the Physical
Education Majors Club and served as an officer while an undergraduate.
After finishing her undergraduate degree, she began a teaching and coaching career in South Carolina that has spanned 37 years. While serving as chair of the Physical Education Department at Dutch Fork High School, she developed a model physical education program. Based on her outstanding leadership in the PE Department, she was named the 2006-07 Teacher of the Year at Dutch Fork. She was a committee member for the South Carolina High School Assessment Program where she was instrumental in developing the SCEAP High School Standards. When she moved to Spring Valley High School, she wrote a grant that funded a fitness laboratory with state-of-the-art cardiovascular equipment. Her goal was to include more fitness into the physical education program at Spring Valley. Her teaching career has included stops at Wilson, Boiling Springs, Union, Lower Richland, Dutch Fork and Spring Valley high schools. While Anne has been an outstanding physical education teacher, she is best known as an outstanding basketball coach.
Anne has a lifetime record of 737 wins and 178 losses as a high school basketball coach. She has been named South Carolina Coach of the Year six times and was a two-time finalist for National Coach of the Year. In February 2010 she won her 700th game. She has won numerous district and regional championships at six different schools. The total count is 23 regional championships, seven state championships (ok, one was in volleyball) and five state runner-up championships. In her last four seasons at Union High School, her teams lost a total of four games and two of her teams were ranked in the Top Ten by USA Today. While at Spring Valley, she won the SC State AAAA championship in 2009 and 2011 and finished as runner up in 2010. She was selected to coach the 2002 and 2011 Women's Basketball Coaching Association's High School All-American team. She has been selected as South Carolina's Outstanding Contributor to Women's Sport and in 2011 Anne was inducted into the SC Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
As a teacher and as a coach, Anne Long has touched the lives of thousands of boys and girls in South Carolina. It is with great pleasure, that we, the current faculty and staff, welcome Anne Long as a member of the Class of 2011 Distinguished Alumni.