Benjamin E. Mays High School welcomed back alumni to help celebrate their former high school coach, Mrs. Anna Louis Martin Wade, during halftime of the girls basketball game versus Maynard Jackson High School.
Mays High School principal Ramon Garner and athletic director Natasha Harrigan presented Mrs. Wade with the Legacy Award to celebrate her legacy as an educator and coach at Southwest High School and Mays High School.
Wade, who retired in 1995, was described as a “born leader and perfectionist.” She was the Chairman of the Physical Education Department at Southwest and Mays High Schools where she also coached basketball, softball, track and field, and cross country.
Read her full Bio below:
Anna Lois Martin Wade was born and grew up in Gainesville, Georgia. She attended Fair Street School and participated in the Band, Chorus, and played on a State Championship Basketball team.
After graduating from high school, she matriculated at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education. She also earned a Master’s degree from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, and furthered her studies at Georgia State University.
After college, her teaching career began at Booker T. Washington High School in Enid, Oklahoma. After a one-year completion, she taught at Lynwood Park in DeKalb County School Systems, Archer High School during the lottery (integration) in Atlanta Public Schools, Southwest High School, and then Benjamin E. Mays High School, where she retired in 1995.
A born leader and perfectionist, Coach Wade was extremely dedicated to completing any task undertaken. She was an exemplary educator and distinguished herself in numerous assignments during her professional career. During her tenure, she was Chairman of the Physical Education Department at Southwest and Mays High Schools. She coached basketball, softball, track and field, and cross country.
She was an exemplary support and resource for both students and educators in the Atlanta Public School system and beyond, affecting positive change and indelibly impacting thousands. She was the first black female to coach the State Girls All-Star basketball team North Varsity unit.
She is professionally affiliated and has received various accolades throughout her professional career as she is actively involved in her community and social activities.
After retiring from the Atlanta Public School system she became an adjunct Professor at Clark Atlanta University in the Physical Education Department. She became a certified water instructor and taught water classes at the Harriett G. Darnell Multipurpose Facility. She is married and has one son and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
“It isn’t a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for.“