J. M. Tate High School 5.39

J.M. Tate High School is a secondary school in Cantonment, Florida, United States. The school is part of the Escambia County School District.HistoryTate High School was founded in 1878 by James Madison Tate Sr., a Civil War veteran, minister and former lawyer. The school was originally called Roberts High School and was one of the first high schools established in Escambia County. The original school building was one room with a sawdust floor; students sat on wooden benches. Initially, Tate taught all of the grades himself. Tate taught at Roberts High until 1913, when he retired.In 1917, the James Madison Tate Sr. Agricultural School was completed. The school was a two-story brick building with eight classrooms. Establishment of the agricultural school advanced the agricultural programs already in place at the original Roberts High.In 1927, O.A. Strange became principal of Tate High School. During his 24-year tenure as head of the school, 10 buildings were added to the campus and the school transformed from a small rural school to a modern high school.Student organizations and athleticsDuring the early days of Tate High, there was no football equipment, so the school's main sports were basketball and baseball. Tate's baseball team won the national championships in 1984 and has won seven state championships since 1960. One of the school's most accomplished baseball players, Don Sutton, went on to major league fame with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Tate softball team won the Florida Class 7A state championship in 2015 lead by pitcher Tori Perkins current player for the University of Alabama Birmingham.