41 years in the making

If you’re involved in any way at Loudon High School, you probably know Teacher Bill Brakebill. In fact, there are two Brakebills at LHS. Wiley Brakebill, former social studies teacher, is Bill’s nephew (and now one of his bosses as the assistant principal). 2026 marks 41 years of teaching at LHS for Bill Brakebill. While almost everyone knows his name, few may actually know his story.

For those who don’t know, Brakebill is the longest-working teacher at LHS. He is a huge enthusiast of all LHS sports, especially football. Around the school, Mr. Brakebill is known for his traditional home game attire: a Loudon tie and red boots. He teaches Algebra and serves as the school’s historian, answering any question one may have about LHS history. At this point in his career, he’s taught up to three generations. In fact, he said, ”I remember the first time one girl asked me if I remembered, and she told me somebody’s name and I said, yeah, who is that to you? And she said, oh, that was my mama. And I couldn’t believe it. And since then, I probably taught, 50 or 60 kids of formal students. In fact, I’ve already taught the grandchildren of former students.”

Contrary to popular belief, Brakebill’s family is not from Loudon. He was born in Memphis and moved around from Navajo reservations to Florida until finally landing in Loudon at the age of 5 so that his father could start his dental practice with the Monroe County Health Department. He spent his 9th{/span} grade year at LHS, but he transferred to Webb School of Knoxville where he played football, basketball, and baseball. Brakebill spoke on this more and said “I was in Latin Club, the math club, and the science club. So, I was very involved.” He later attended college at The University of Tennessee at Martin. Brakebill reflected on his college days: “College days were a lot of fun. You met lots of new people...I made lifelong friends there. In fact, I just got back two weeks ago from visiting two college friends in Memphis, who I went to school with 50 years ago.”

He student taught at Farragut High under Bill Parker, but his first day as an independent teacher was Aug. 24. 1986. Funny enough, Brakebill did not always want to be a teacher: “I started off to be an engineer, and I just decided I didn’t want to be an engineer, and I like helping people out. I figured that was a good way to help people out, teaching them.”

Outside of school, Brakebill is a son, brother, husband, father, and Pap Pap to his five grandchildren. A question Brakebill gets very frequently is asking when he’s going to retire. Brakebill commented “I don’t know. Retirement is just the beginning of something else; I may retire from work but not life.” LHS would be a completely different school without Brakebill, and the impact he’s been having on kids for 41 years hasn’t gone unnoticed.