On Tuesday, February 4, 2025, during half-time of the Dreher Girls’ Basketball Game, we will have the pleasure and privilege of revealing the "DuBard Gymnasium" inscription on our court floor, honoring our beloved former Athletic Director, esteemed Science teacher, Jack-of-all-Trades, and True Blue Devil Mike DuBard and his late father, Ken DuBard, a Dreher legend and Athletic Director from 1969 to 1986.
The dedication is in recognition of the contributions that father and son made to Dreher High School, especially for their service building and supporting the student athletic programs.
Coach DuBard retired in 2018. Josh Cruse, a reporter for the Columbia Star, interviewed Coach DuBard for an excellent article that appeared in the Columbia Star in 2019, at the time of the first dedication of the DuBard Gym.
The Dreher Foundation is hosting a plaque dedication for former Blue Devil’s Athletic Director Michael DuBard at the Dreher gym Saturday, March 2, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. It is open to the public.
“The foundation is a great organization,” DuBard said. “They contribute a lot to the school. When you get to be institutionalized, when you work for 40 plus years, they wonder what to do with you. They decided to put a plaque up for me. I don’t know if I deserve all of that, but I do enjoy that I’ll be there with my dad in the lobby. It’s quite an honor.” DuBard’s father, Ken, was Dreher’s athletic director from 1969 to 1986, and the gym is named after him.
Michael began his time at Dreher as a student in 1966. At that time, Dreher was a school known for tremendous athletic teams and very good students. “When I went off to college, I didn’t learn anything there I didn’t already know because the teaching at Dreher was so good,” DuBard said.
Along with being a good student, DuBard was a two-sport athlete, playing baseball and football. He was a member of the 1969 State Championship Dreher baseball team. He recalls all they received for their efforts was a mere handshake and a ‘good job’ from the coaches. To add to the experience, most of DuBard’s teammates had played in his father’s pony league system at Hand Middle School.
While winning the state championship in baseball is the highlight of his high school career, DuBard was also part of the Honor Society, Glee Club, and Letterman’s Club. He was voted Most Dependable. On the athletic field, he was named a member of the North /South All Star team, and to the Shrine Bowl. He was also picked as an All-State player.
Even with those honors, none compared to DuBard’s proudest accomplishment. “Surviving Dr. (Mary Crow) Anderson’s English class for four years, I thought, was a pretty good accomplishment,” DuBard said. “She was a pretty tough old lady, but I learned. I was glad I had her.”
Dr. Anderson had DuBard and his classmates read Moby Dick, War and Peace, and the Bible in one summer. He also recalls failing a test about a poem from class. To make up for it, she had him copy the poem. Late one night, his dad approached him and asked what he was doing. He explained about the test and the make up work. Later he heard his father and Dr. Anderson had an argument about the work.
Ken DuBard
One of the more influential people in DuBard’s life was his father, Ken DuBard, who was a paratrooper in World War II. “He was fair but hard,” Michael DuBard said. “I think anybody who played for him would say the same thing.”
The elder DuBard played a key role in the role sports would play in the younger DuBard’s life. As a child, Michael would attend Dreher football practices. His father was an assistant coach.
When the younger DuBard returned to Dreher in 1975 as a teaching aide, he got to spend more time with his father. “Being back with my dad every day over there was a real treat,” DuBard said. “A lot of people don’t see their parents every day when they are that old. He taught me a lot. He was the hardest working man I ever knew.”
When Ken DuBard stepped away as the athletic director in 1986, he and Charlie Stewart approached Michael about taking over. Two weeks after Ken retired, Michael became the new AD. The elder DuBard passed away in 2002.
Getting into coaching
After graduating from Dreher in 1970, Michael DuBard attended The Citadel on a football scholarship. After one tough year which soured him on football, DuBard transferred to the University of South Carolina. While attending USC, he returned to Dreher to be an assistant coach for the B-team. Soon, he was approached by one of his friends, who talked with him about joining his staff at Thornwell High School in Clinton. He took the job and after two years and two state championships, DuBard left to finish his degree at USC.
He continued to coach while in school, joining another friend at Eau Claire High School. After a brief, unsuccessful stint with the Shamrocks, DuBard left for Dreher where he became a teaching aide. Two years later, he took on a full-time position in the middle of the year. He also coached softball and later football. One of his proudest moments as a coach was his last in 1985. A year after the Blue Devils went 2-8, they finished 7-3. DuBard also enjoyed his time coaching softball. He says he still stays in touch with some of his former players. A year later, he moved to the role as athletics director, a position he would hold until 2018. It was a job in which he had some training, but he admits he needed more.
In his 32 years as Blue Devils’ athletic director, DuBard has seen several of Dreher’s sports teams enjoy success. The first team which won a state championship with him as AD was the wrestling team coached by Jim Soltish. The Lady Blue Devil basketball team has also been successful, winning titles under Soltish, Scott Long, and Teresa Jones. The Lady Blue Devil soccer team, which was founded while DuBard was AD, won two state championships, the latest in 2015. Head track coach Danny Brooks won multiple state championships coaching both the boys’ and girls’ programs.
“Those are the best times as an athletic director,” DuBard said. “Not only do you have to be very good, you also have to be very lucky.”
There were some tough times for DuBard, such as balancing the department’s strict budget. DuBard said at best the athletic department worked on a $50,000 budget. “There is a difference between what you need and what you wish for,” DuBard said. “It was up to me whether it was necessary or if it was something the coaches wanted. I tried to put the teams on a uniform rotation, usually three to five years. Sometimes is had to be sooner; sometimes it didn’t work out.”
“As far as equipment, I never bought the cheap stuff. I purchased good equipment, maybe not the best of the best, but it wasn’t bargain stuff. As an athletic director I had to be concerned with safety. It’s a big part of my job.” Providing an adequate security force at athletic events and maintaining the relationships with his coaches were also important parts of his job.
“With all of my coaches, 99 percent of the time we were friends,” DuBard said. “At the same time, if they wanted me to give them advice, I would but only if they asked. You hire a coach; you let him do the job. For the most part, the coaches I had did an excellent job with what they had. Sometimes they were criticized for not winning enough, but I knew the situation they had. The hardest part of my job was getting rid of a coach. I hated that.”
The end of the road
“When you take a job, you are supposed to do your best.”
That is one of DuBard’s core beliefs. For 42 years, whether it was in the classroom, athletic field, or in his athletic director’s office, DuBard did his best. Many of Dreher’s teams were successful, and many graduated and moved on to college. It’s no wonder DuBard is known for his long workdays. “As an athletic director, there is a lot of responsibility,” DuBard said. “Athletic directors need assistance. I didn’t have that for the majority of my time there, and that made for some long days.”
The work and long days finally caught up with him in 2018. During the middle of the school year, while at a physical, the doctor informed him he was in need of heart surgery to replace a valve. A heart cath later determined three blockages. After the surgery in March of 2018, and DuBard decided later it was time to retire. “It’s a job that will wear you out if you let it,” DuBard said. “It was just time to get someone else in there, someone younger and with new ideas. Sometimes, you have to stop and smell the roses.”
DuBard now teaches at Midlands Technical College and also does some substitute work. “Midlands Tech has been good because what I’m teaching the kids in labs I haven’t done in 30 or 40 years. It’s been a good refresher.”
While his time at Dreher may be over, he looks back on it with fondness. “To go back to the school where I graduated is a special thing,” DuBard said. “I loved being a graduate and I loved being there for 40 years.”
Coach DuBard added to the many honors he received over the course of his career as student athlete, teacher, coach, and athletic director when he was inducted in 2020 into the Hall of Fame of the South Carolina Association of Athletic Administrators.
