Longtime teacher, c 35 years in the Pr By RANDY CAPPS Photos by KAI JONES/WE JOURNAL GREAT SPORTS
PRINCETON — On May 28, the Class of 2021 will graduate from Princeton High School. Sometime that day, Paula Wooten will walk out of her office, just behind the Deacon Jones Gymnasium, head down the hall, out the front doors and into the parking lot. It will be the last time she makes that walk as a full-time Johnston County Public Schools employee. Wooten is retiring after a 35-year career teaching physical education and weightlifting while coaching basketball, volleyball and softball — all of which happened in Princeton. “I really haven’t got a whole lot of plans now,” she said. “Whatever comes
I just loved basketball. I always have. I learned a lot playing under him, but I also learned that playing basketball in college is a job. It’s not like high school. PAULA WOOTEN, Retiring Princeton coach
up, I guess. We have a place at the lake, Smith Mountain Lake, and I hope to spend some time there. Spend some time with my mom. She’s older, and I’d like to spend some time with her. I’ve got a few things I can do to keep me busy.” She’s not planning to completely vanish from the hallways, however. “But I’ll probably come back and sub some,” she said. Wooten grew up in Kenly, was a 1980 graduate of North Johnston High School and played for Paul Sanderford’s Louisburg Junior College basketball team that captured a national championship in 1981. “When I was in high school, that was the sport that was my favorite,” she said. “I just loved basketball. I always have. I learned a lot playing under him, but I also learned that playing basketball in college is a job. It’s not like high school.” After college at Louisburg and Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College), she came to Princeton to start her career. It was a path, she believes, that was chosen for her. “You can see that God has his hand everywhere,” she said. “Everything I’ve ever done, you look back and you see it. I’ve just been so blessed to have some of the kids I’ve had here. Some of my best friends are people that I’ve met here. I met (my Wooten, and her husband) here. It’s just been an daughter, Meredith, pose after the awesome, awesome trip. Bulldogs won the 1A “I don’t want to start naming Eastern title.
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names, but this has just been a great place to work. I started out with Mr. (Fred) Bartholomew. He hired me. Then Mr. (Kirk) Denning came and then Mr. (Jarvis) Ellis. All three of them have been so very supportive. Not only of athletics, but also of me as a person. With our athletic directors and coaches, we’re just a family. To me, that’s what it’s all about. Like this year, Coach (Travis) Gaster would travel to the volleyball games and Facebook Live them, so our parents could see it — because they couldn’t go to away games.” “Coach Wooten is a class act who has dedicated her professional career to serving others,” Gaster, Princeton’s football coach and athletic director, said. “She is a positive role model for every student-athlete she coaches. There is no secret to her overwhelming success as a coach. She is a hard worker who is always willing to put others before herself. “In small schools, coaches must take on many different roles. Coach Wooten has coached all three seasons every year since I have been here. She truly has no offseason. Despite her workload, she finds a way to be successful in each sport she coaches. Although her legacy as a coach will reign for a long time at Princeton High School, the positive impact she has had on countless student-athletes during her career is even more impressive.” Wooten’s final year on the sidelines was marred by a host of challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic forced a shuffling of the sports calendar, shifting fall sports
