McKinley J.H. Armstrong, a championship-winning basketball coach and long-time athletic director/physical education teacher, died Thursday in Washington. He was 81.
A veteran of the Korean Conflict and a 1951 graduate of North Carolina Central University, Armstrong moved to Front Royal, Va., in 1961 to teach at the former Criser High School, a small racially segregated school built in 1959 to keep blacks out of Warren County High School (now the Ressie Jeffries Elementary School). While at Criser, Armstrong transformed a sports program that had been in its infancy into one that was respected throughout the Shenandoah Valley.
Armstrong had already had a similar impact on a small, similarly segregated school in Southern Pines, N.C., formerly called West Southern Pines School. Armstrong settled in the Washington area in 1965 and quickly became a force to be reckoned with in D.C. basketball circles. Under his leadership, the Mckinley Tech Trainers dominated area basketball throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.
A consummate family man, he is survived by his wife of 52 years, Annie C. Armstrong; five children - Chip Armstrong of Washington, D.C., Jenice Armstrong Turner of Burlington, N.J, Cheryl Armstrong Capers of Dublin, Ohio, Carolyn Armstrong of Washington, D.C. and Marilyn Armstrong of Silver Spring, MD; three siblings, Charles Armstrong of Oxon Hill, MD, Louise Powell of Durham, N.C., and Georgia Bass of Temple Hills, MD.; five grandchildren; two sons-in-laws Dr. Quinn Capers IV and Cameron Turner, many loving in-laws as well nieces and nephews.
A mass of Christian burial will take place Saturday (Feb. 20) at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, at 12th and Monroe streets NE in Washington, D.C., which he attended regularly. The funeral begins at 10 a.m. following a 9 a.m. viewing also at the church. Internment will immediately follow at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, Md.
---Northern Virginia Daily 2/18/2010
A veteran of the Korean Conflict and a 1951 graduate of North Carolina Central University, Armstrong moved to Front Royal, Va., in 1961 to teach at the former Criser High School, a small racially segregated school built in 1959 to keep blacks out of Warren County High School (now the Ressie Jeffries Elementary School). While at Criser, Armstrong transformed a sports program that had been in its infancy into one that was respected throughout the Shenandoah Valley.
Armstrong had already had a similar impact on a small, similarly segregated school in Southern Pines, N.C., formerly called West Southern Pines School. Armstrong settled in the Washington area in 1965 and quickly became a force to be reckoned with in D.C. basketball circles. Under his leadership, the Mckinley Tech Trainers dominated area basketball throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.
A consummate family man, he is survived by his wife of 52 years, Annie C. Armstrong; five children - Chip Armstrong of Washington, D.C., Jenice Armstrong Turner of Burlington, N.J, Cheryl Armstrong Capers of Dublin, Ohio, Carolyn Armstrong of Washington, D.C. and Marilyn Armstrong of Silver Spring, MD; three siblings, Charles Armstrong of Oxon Hill, MD, Louise Powell of Durham, N.C., and Georgia Bass of Temple Hills, MD.; five grandchildren; two sons-in-laws Dr. Quinn Capers IV and Cameron Turner, many loving in-laws as well nieces and nephews.
A mass of Christian burial will take place Saturday (Feb. 20) at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, at 12th and Monroe streets NE in Washington, D.C., which he attended regularly. The funeral begins at 10 a.m. following a 9 a.m. viewing also at the church. Internment will immediately follow at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, Md.
---Northern Virginia Daily 2/18/2010
McKinley J.H. Armstrong, a championship-winning basketball coach and long-time athletic director/physical education teacher, died Thursday in Washington. He was 81.
A veteran of the Korean Conflict and a 1951 graduate of North Carolina Central University, Armstrong moved to Front Royal, Va., in 1961 to teach at the former Criser High School, a small racially segregated school built in 1959 to keep blacks out of Warren County High School (now the Ressie Jeffries Elementary School). While at Criser, Armstrong transformed a sports program that had been in its infancy into one that was respected throughout the Shenandoah Valley.
Armstrong had already had a similar impact on a small, similarly segregated school in Southern Pines, N.C., formerly called West Southern Pines School. Armstrong settled in the Washington area in 1965 and quickly became a force to be reckoned with in D.C. basketball circles. Under his leadership, the Mckinley Tech Trainers dominated area basketball throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.
A consummate family man, he is survived by his wife of 52 years, Annie C. Armstrong; five children - Chip Armstrong of Washington, D.C., Jenice Armstrong Turner of Burlington, N.J, Cheryl Armstrong Capers of Dublin, Ohio, Carolyn Armstrong of Washington, D.C. and Marilyn Armstrong of Silver Spring, MD; three siblings, Charles Armstrong of Oxon Hill, MD, Louise Powell of Durham, N.C., and Georgia Bass of Temple Hills, MD.; five grandchildren; two sons-in-laws Dr. Quinn Capers IV and Cameron Turner, many loving in-laws as well nieces and nephews.
A mass of Christian burial will take place Saturday (Feb. 20) at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, at 12th and Monroe streets NE in Washington, D.C., which he attended regularly. The funeral begins at 10 a.m. following a 9 a.m. viewing also at the church. Internment will immediately follow at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, Md.
---Northern Virginia Daily 2/18/2010
A veteran of the Korean Conflict and a 1951 graduate of North Carolina Central University, Armstrong moved to Front Royal, Va., in 1961 to teach at the former Criser High School, a small racially segregated school built in 1959 to keep blacks out of Warren County High School (now the Ressie Jeffries Elementary School). While at Criser, Armstrong transformed a sports program that had been in its infancy into one that was respected throughout the Shenandoah Valley.
Armstrong had already had a similar impact on a small, similarly segregated school in Southern Pines, N.C., formerly called West Southern Pines School. Armstrong settled in the Washington area in 1965 and quickly became a force to be reckoned with in D.C. basketball circles. Under his leadership, the Mckinley Tech Trainers dominated area basketball throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.
A consummate family man, he is survived by his wife of 52 years, Annie C. Armstrong; five children - Chip Armstrong of Washington, D.C., Jenice Armstrong Turner of Burlington, N.J, Cheryl Armstrong Capers of Dublin, Ohio, Carolyn Armstrong of Washington, D.C. and Marilyn Armstrong of Silver Spring, MD; three siblings, Charles Armstrong of Oxon Hill, MD, Louise Powell of Durham, N.C., and Georgia Bass of Temple Hills, MD.; five grandchildren; two sons-in-laws Dr. Quinn Capers IV and Cameron Turner, many loving in-laws as well nieces and nephews.
A mass of Christian burial will take place Saturday (Feb. 20) at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, at 12th and Monroe streets NE in Washington, D.C., which he attended regularly. The funeral begins at 10 a.m. following a 9 a.m. viewing also at the church. Internment will immediately follow at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, Md.
---Northern Virginia Daily 2/18/2010
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