Longtime teacher, coach retires after 35 years in the Princeton ‘family'

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 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 husband) here. It’s just been an awesome, awesome trip.

“I don’t want to start naming 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 into spring, and also required players to compete while wearing face coverings.

Wooten says her players endured without complaint.

“It’s been very odd,” she said. “But I think we just did it without really thinking about it. These kids get up at 6 a.m., and if we had a basketball game (later that day), we’d practice volleyball and vice-versa. So they had a lot going on, and I had a lot going on. But it’s been a different year, no doubt. One that we definitely won’t forget for many reasons.”

The basketball season, in particular, was memorable in its own right.

Wooten’s last team finished the season with a perfect regular season record and a Carolina 1A Conference title. The team advanced all the way to the state championship game before finally falling to Murphy.

“You can’t write it any better, except to win the state championship,” she said. “Sometimes, when you look at a state championship, you think, ‘Will I ever get there',” she said. “And then for me to get there in the last year, it meant everything. Especially having the opportunity to coach Meredith and spend time with her like that, it was just a blessing. I could just sit there and see it orchestrating out. We got a good draw, the first- and secondplace teams lost out, so we played every game at home. It was just unreal, really.”

Meredith is her youngest and will be one of the students getting a diploma at graduation. Her oldest, Michael, is studying nursing at Campbell after playing football there. And she’s been married to their father, Mike, for nearly 32 years.

They all got a heads-up, of course, on her retirement plans. “I told (Michael and Meredith), ‘You realize how many years I’ve been in school,’” she said. “I’ve been in school 53 years. Counting kindergarten, high school, college and teaching. It’s definitely going to be a change. I’m going to miss it. There’s no doubt about that. Anytime you do something that long and love it like I do, you’re going to miss it. But you know, it’s time to get out. Let somebody else come in and take over. I’ve loved every minute of it.”

If Ellis needs anyone to talk up the virtues of the school or the town to potential applicants, Wooten would be a good choice.

“This is a special place,” she said. “I would have never wanted to leave. It’s a real close-knit community with a lot of community support. Most of the time, when we go to an away game, we have more fans there than they do. ... I probably could have left a couple of times, but I would have never even thought about leaving. My kids grew up here, too. It’s just a family. A big family.”

As it turns out, she might not be the last Wooten who decides to follow a path that leads to teaching.

“My daughter said she wants to teach elementary school,” she said. “People say, ‘Don’t let her do that.’ How could I tell her not to do that when it’s been my life? This is my home. This is what I love.”