2022 Black Heritage Calendar - Presented by the Black Educators' Caucus Inc., of Hernando County

Lorenzo Hamilton
8/26/1938 -
Lorenzo Hamilton was one of Hernando County’s most celebrated 20th century educators, not
solely for executing the duties and responsibilities on his job description, but for going beyond
the call of duty. He was a coach, teacher, and administrator who implemented a comprehensive
vision of community recreation and engagement.
He arrived in Hernando County in 1965, as Moton High School athletic director, football and
basketball coach, physical and driver education, science teacher, and summer recreation
program director. In a short time, he enhanced the basketball program by relocating the
court from the school’s entrance closer to the athletic complex and expanding the court
from two goals to six. His basketball team won the Mid-8 Atlantic Conference Class B
Basketball Championship, the first in the school’s history. He added track and field to the
athletic program. The summer youth baseball program was expanded from two casual
teams to four in uniforms, award ceremonies, and trophies were added. He made a public
campaign of his student’s successes by having their stories published in The Sun Journal,
the local newspaper. Thus, he successfully breathed needed reverence into a struggling
Kennedy Park, the first public park in Hernando County for African Americans when he
relocated the youth program from Moton Field to the park where the fields had lights, and
public accommodations. A women’s softball program emerged from the Wednesday Night
Community Recreation Evening. Eventually he started a competitive girls’ softball team, the
Jets, that won the state championship in 1976. From the two youth ball programs, Kennedy
Youth Club (KYC) was formed to aid Black students navigating the cultural transitions from Moton
during the desegregation of public schools. KYC nurtured empowerment skills fostered positive
socialization skills and their successful completion of high school and college. He also founded the Human Relations Club at HHS, a
forerunner to equity, diversity, inclusion, and multiculturalism. He organized Hernando County Professional Organization and he
stepped forward and joined the Community Alliance, a community-based organization that was formed in the early 90s’ to address
racial matters. He was the only male to join the Black Educators’ Caucus, Inc., of Hernando County and would eventually serve as its
President 2001-2003. In February 1970, he coordinated the first Black History Month Celebration Assembly at Hernando High School
and he was a member of Moton High School Reunion 50th Anniversary Celebration, 1939-1989 Steering Committee.
Mr. Hamilton’s efforts to enhance the quality of life in Hernando County have not gone unnoticed. Graduates of his youth programs
sponsored three appreciation events in his honor; the Hernando County Branch NAACP recognized him as an Unsung Hero in
Recognition of the national organization’s centennial, he was inducted into Hernando High School Sports Hall of Fame, Central High
School Yearbook was dedicated to him, the Kennedy Park(KP) Community Center was renamed the Lorenzo Hamilton Community
Center and the Hernando County School Board promoted him from teacher/coach to assistant principal to principal and giving him the
honor of opening Springstead High School in 1977. A plaque was placed on the Mid-Community Services Head Start Office wall on
School Street in his honor by his mentees.
Coach Lorenzo Hamilton was born in Cotton Plant, Florida in Marion County and raised in Frostproof, Polk County, Florida. He
graduated from Roosevelt High School in Lake Wales, FL, 1956, earned his bachelor’s degree from Bethune Cookman (College)
University 1960, and a master’s degree from Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University in 1971. He retired as an educator after 33
years and worked several years for the Department of Corrections. He was married to the late Mae Lois Hamilton and they had one
son, Keenan Hamilton. Hernando County in particularly and the world more general, are better places because of his service.
Education was his profession and providing leadership and wholesome recreational opportunities for youth was his vocation.
Sponsors: Colonel Peter Burnett USA (Ret.) & Family
“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the
obstacles which he has overcome.” – Booker T. Washington