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Eddie Fowlkes, Decatur High’s historian, remembered by students and staff

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Eddie Fowlkes, Decatur High’s historian, remembered by students and staff

Photo provided by http://3ten.org/
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Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on http://3ten.org/, the website for Decatur High School’s media program.

Photo provided by http://3ten.org/

Photo provided by http://3ten.org/

By Aiden Gibbs, 3TEN

On Friday, Oct. 7, friends and family of former Decatur coach and teacher Eddie Fowlkes gathered to dedicate the bulldog statue in the stadium.

Fowlkes taught graphic design, coached baseball and cross country and cataloged Decatur High’s history. He died last spring of brain cancer.

Susan Riley, Fowlkes’ former colleague, appreciates his work as Decatur’s “historian.”

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“Everything we have, we have because of him,” she said.

His wife, Anne Fowlkes, agrees with Riley.

“When a coach leaves, the history of that team leaves,” Anne Fowlkes said.” Nobody knows what that team did, there’s no records. He found records of those teams.”

Eddie spent countless hours flipping through ancient yearbooks and rediscovering forgotten  scorebooks, uniforms and memorabilia. He fixed broken trophies and stored trophy cases in his basement while the school was under construction.

“He glued little feet back on [trophies] and created little basketballs to go with the basketball players,” Anne said.

To read the full story on 3TEN, click here.

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