Mr. J.C. Bowman, Class of 1981, is well-known to the educational community. Mr. Bowman began his career in education in Tennessee public schools where he taught high school social sciences and special education. He now serves as the CEO/Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee in Nashville, TN.

Mr. Bowman has an extensive background in educational policy and working with policymakers and lawmakers. He served as the Chief Policy Analyst of the Education Policy Unit for Florida Governor Jeb Bush. A popular speaker, he has appeared on radio and television shows and has been featured at events on the local, state, and national levels.

Mr. Bowman holds a B.S. in Social Science from Lee University and an M.Ed. from Trevecca Nazarene University. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Mr. Bowman was meritoriously promoted twice in the line of duty.

Mr. Bowman is married to Bethany O’Bannon Bowman and is dad to Jennifer and Julie, and grandfather to Donovan, Harley, John Zachary, Henry, and Mirage.

Mr. John G. Brewer is our Hall of Fame Inductee who represents the Class of 1969. Once a CHS athlete, Mr. Brewer ended his business and financial career in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.

Mr. Brewer’s career in business and finance was an illustrious one. He held a degree from the University of Tennessee Knoxville in Accounting and worked for several high-profile firms and companies. In 2002, he was appointed by President George W. Bush as part of a team of financial executives to work on government finances in all aspects of the federal government. He had that position until his retirement in 2016.

Mr. Brewer volunteered with many organizations and was active in his church. He was married to his loving wife, Ginny Brewer, with whom he shared 50 years of life, and they had two children (Ginny Pennekamp and Michelle Blackwelder) and three grandchildren (Juliette, Margot, and Finn). Mr. Brewer passed away suddenly on August 14, 2017, and Mrs. Brewer will be receiving this honor on his behalf.

Once a CHS cheerleader, today a public relations professional, our inductee from the Class of 1994 is Dr. Allison Campbell. Dr. Campbell represents Cleveland High School honorably in the world of marketing and public relations.

A graduate of Lee University (B.A.) and Regent University (M.A. and Ph.D.), Dr. Campbell is the chair of the Marion County (Florida) School Board. She is also the owner of A & A Campbell Group, a boutique public relations firm specializing in branding, public relations, and strategic communication.

Dr. Campbell has been honored with many awards in her dedicated field as well as being named Outstanding Graduate from the School of Communication and the Arts at Regent University. She is actively involved in non-profits for public education and women’s services in her hometown of Ocala, Florida. She is married to Andy and they are parents to Cole, Cade, and Connor.

From the Class of 1995, our next Hall of Fame inductee is Mr. Matthew Coleman! Mr. Coleman is someone very well-known in our Cleveland area, as he is the managing partner in a well-respected local legal practice and a member of the Cleveland City Board of Education.

After graduation, Mr. Coleman joined the military where he did 12 years of military service and was awarded Green Beret (US Army Special Forces). He received his Bachelor's in Biology from Lee University and his J.D. from Appalachian School of Law.

Mr. Coleman is active in our local community, serving on the Cleveland City School Board and Cleveland State Alumni Council, as well as on various boards and organizations. He is a deacon at Westwood Baptist Church. After becoming a shareholder in Logan-Thompson PC in 2014, Mr. Coleman became a managing partner in 2023, where he focuses on civil litigation primarily in the insurance claims field. Mr. Coleman is married to Sarah and they have two children, Samuel and Anthony.

Mr. Mike Connolly is our Hall of Fame Inductee who represents the Cleveland High School Class of 1978. Once a standout CHS athlete, he spent his entire career serving our community as a respected educator and coach. Mr. Connolly exemplifies Raider pride.

Mr. Connolly was a three-sport athlete at Cleveland High School before he graduated from Cleveland State (where he is now a member of the Hall of Fame for Baseball) and Tennessee Wesleyan College. He has coached baseball, basketball, and football for Cleveland City Schools and taught health and wellness at CJHS and CMS for 39 years. He also served as assistant principal at CMS for 3 years.

Honored many times for his teaching and coaching career, Mr. Connolly has also been actively involved in charitable organizations and volunteer work. He is married to Jeanette, and he has one son and daughter-in-law, Matthew and Kellie Freytag, and grandchildren Anna Mae and Jackson.

From the Class of 1984, our next Hall of Fame inductee is Mrs. Prisavia Croft. Mrs. Croft is very well-known to the Cleveland community through her career in education and now, in her retirement, the real estate field.

Mrs. Croft holds degrees in education and educational leadership from UTC (B.S.) and Tennessee Tech (M.A. and Ed.S.). Mrs. Croft began her career as a kindergarten assistant at Stuart Elementary School and later held roles of intervention specialist, kindergarten and third grade teacher, assistant principal, and eventually the job from which she eventually retired, principal of Blythe-Blower Elementary School.

Mrs. Croft has been recognized with various awards and honors including several grants and Teacher of the Year title and the Spokesperson Award by the 100 Black Men of Bradley County. A real estate agent with Crye-Leike Realtors, Mrs. Croft is married to Jeff Croft and they are parents to Travis and Bailey Croft, Tyler, Trevor, and Tiffany Croft, and grandparents to Jason Springer.

This Cleveland Blue Raider can now be found providing concrete to 13 counties in East Tennessee through his company, Lambcon Ready Mix and Bradley Concrete. From the Class of 1994, Mr. Kirk Lambert is a business owner and entrepreneur.

Mr. Lambert fully immersed himself in the life of a Raider during his time at Cleveland High School. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Business Administration and entered his family business, which he now owns and operates.

Mr. Lambert has served as a member of FCA Boards on a state and local level, as well as serving as a sponsor of the Boys’ and Girls’ Club. Mr. Lambert is married to Renee, and they have three children: Jax, Drew, and Claire.

Mr. Ben Murphy graduated from Cleveland High School in 2011. A former student of fine arts at CHS, active in band and theater, Model UN, and video production classes, Mr. Murphy works today as a motion picture editor of film and television.

After graduation from Cleveland, Mr. Murphy went to the University of Tennessee Knoxville to pursue his education in film. He earned a BS in Cinema Studies and Journalism/Electronic Media, then was selected for a highly competitive internship, followed by a job at Warner Animation Group. It was there that Mr. Murphy spent a year working on the films The LEGO Batman Movie, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, and Smallfoot. In 2017, Mr. Murphy joined the team of his current project, the AVATAR Sequels, as an assistant editor. The first film, AVATAR: The Way of Water, won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 2023 Oscars and was nominated in three other categories, including Best Picture. He is currently working on the yet-to-be-titled AVATAR 3 as supervising first assistant editor under director James Cameron and supervising editor Stephen Rivkin.

Mr. Murphy is an active member of the editing community in Los Angeles, mentoring young editors, as well as spending time speaking to students at both Cleveland City Schools and the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Mr. Murphy is the son of proud parents, Dr. Bill and Jan Murphy.

Ms. Alison Pryor is a member of the Blue Raider Class of 2006. Ms. Pryor is a long way from the football field sidelines where she spent many hours as a Blue Raider dance team member. From a Blue Raider to the local news, she now serves our community as the morning meteorologist for Local 3 News in Chattanooga.

Ms. Pryor is active in community work including providing educational talks with school groups and the public regarding severe weather, as well as fundraising for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. In the years since her graduation from Cleveland High School, Ms. Pryor earned degrees in Psychology from Furman University, Mathematics from Smith College, and Meteorology from Mississippi State. Ms. Pryor is a member of the WRCB weather team for Best Weather Report in the Chattanooga Times Free Press Best of the Best Awards in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023. 

Ms. Pryor is the daughter of proud parents Dr. Nancy Blank and Dr. Bill Pryor and recently became engaged to Logan McKenzie, a 2008 graduate of CHS.

From the Class of 1997, our next Hall of Fame inductee is Dr. Samantha Logan Spinks. Dr. Spinks is very well-known in our community, as she serves as an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Lee University, where she teaches in both the graduate and undergraduate programs.

Dr. Spinks has enjoyed a long and storied career in the medical field. After graduating from Cleveland High School, Dr. Spinks attended and graduated from Chattanooga State and Southern Adventist University, most recently in 2020 with a Doctor of Nursing Practice: Acute Care Specialization. She began her career in 2000 and has worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit, GI lab, and has served in leadership roles such as administrative house supervisor and nurse manager of a cardiac telemetry floor.

Dr. Spinks has received many community and volunteer organization awards through her involvement with organizations such as board member to Foundation House Ministries and serving as a nurse mentor in the American Nurse Association as well as on the CHS Health Science Advisory Board. Dr. Spinks is married to Aaron Spinks and mother to Blake, Ashley, and Abigail Kitterman and Annabeth Spinks.