Former Viking Dwayne Merritt set to take over as Ripley High principal

Merritt is leaving his role in the central offices as attendance director for Jackson County schools to lead the school he proudly called home for four years from 1978-82.

He begins his new job there on July 1.

This won’t be his first run of duty at Ripley HIgh. Merritt taught special education there and served as an assistant football coach.

He’s also been the school’s head tennis coach.

Going back to Ripley High School is a dream come true for Merritt.

“It puts a smile on my face,” Merritt said. “You think back to walking those hallways as a kid and all the good times you had.

“We had a great support staff of teachers and coaches. They helped my life so much. Now I get to go back and hopefully do the same. To be able to be back in that school and hopefully provide assistance to students like I have for so many years means a lot.”

Merritt has experience as a principal at three other schools in Jackson County.

He was an assistant principal at Ravenswood High School while serving at other times as principal for both Gilmore Elementary and Fairplain Elementary.

A standout lineman at Ripley under the late Frank Marino, Merritt was chosen to play for the South in the N-S Classic by the late Bob Zopp, the former Greenbrier East head coach who guided the Cardinals in the ’82 game.

Merritt became the fourth Ripley High player in school history to be picked for the Classic, following Jerry Ocheltree, Butch Barnette and the late Mickey Marino.

“That was a tremendous opportunity,” said Merritt of being picked for the N-S Classic. “I made so many friends. I just ran into Dave Griffith (a former South Charleston standout, who later started at center for WVU). It’s always nice to see those guys and reminisce years later.

“Of course, I see Dave Darst (former Point Pleasant star who became a Hall of Famer at Glenville and now is Point’s successful head football and track and field coach). We both competed against year other and then were with each other in that game. When you see those guys, you just pick up where you left off with conversations. You keep that bond years later.”

Merritt spent one season in the football program at West Virginia Tech when the school was still located in Montgomery before its move to Beckley.

He transferred to Marshall University and worked as both a student manager/graduate assistant in the Thundering Herd football program that was under the direction of the late George Chaump.

“Coach Chaump was great,” Merritt said. “I got to sit in on all the meetings.”

Merritt was at Marshall and got to travel to Pocatello, Idaho when the Herd of 1987 competed for the NCAA 1-AA national championship.

After graduating from Marshall, Merritt attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. There he received a diploma in theology.

He then worked at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia as a dorm parent and substitute teacher.

OHA has been under the supervision the last several years of Ravenswood High graduate and former Red Devil basketball player Mike Groves.

Merritt returned to Jackson County and started teaching and coaching in 1999.

He has two children, son Cooper, age 14, a soon-to-be Ripley High freshman, and daughter Carson, age 12.

He is excited to be working under Will Hosaflook, who beings his duties as Jackson County schools superintendent on July 1.

Merritt once served on a Ripley High football staff with Hosaflook when Jimmy Frashier was head coach of the Viking program.

Merritt replaces Frashier as Ripley High’s principal. Frashier is set to begin his new duties as an assistant superintendent.

That Viking football staff also included Justin Frashier, now a principal at head football coach at Union Academy in North Carolina and Jason Ward, a principal at Williamstown.

One of Merritt’s goals as principal for his alma mater will be to get as many kids involved in activities as possible.

“We need to recruit our own kids and keep them here and get then involved in as many things as we can,” he said. “It serves as extra motivation to come to school and do well. And it all helps the school become stronger.”

Merritt was the second of five boys. His oldest brother, Tim, who lives in Mercer County, remains the school’s shot put record holder.

Two of his brothers, David and Mike, live in Wood County. His youngest brother, Jeff, is a teacher in Jackson County.

His late mother, Mary, raised the five boys.

“My mom was everything,” he said. “She was one of the founding members of the Ripley High School athletic boosters.

“She helped run the concession stand and did secretarial things for 25 years. She never missed an event. She was always there for us. She was a great parent. Mary Merritt did everything she could to help her boys (not to mention countless other boys and girls within the community).

“She was a huge part of Ripley High.”

And one can bet she is looking down from the Heavens above wearing the same smile as her second oldest Dwayne is as he gets set to become the principal for the blue and white school.