Pranks with Coach Smith

Coach recalls his best practical jokes

Class+clown+%5C%5C+Alpha+teacher+Coach+BJ+Smith+loves+to+have+fun+with+his+students+and+co-workers.+His+pranks+keep+the+laughs+coming.

photo credit: Gloria Olajimi

Class clown \\ Alpha teacher Coach BJ Smith loves to have fun with his students and co-workers. His pranks keep the laughs coming.

writer: Gloria Olajimi, Editor-in-Chief

April 1st is well-known as April Fools Day. There is another holiday on the same day known as: Have Fun at Work Day and no coach knows fun more than Mr. William, BJ, Smith. Coach Smith is known for his work on the field coaching the freshman football team, but the games don’t end on the field.

Here are Coach Smith’s best prank stories.

 

The Prank Call

Accompanied by Counselor Mr. Jeff Hattaway, Coach Smith hid former teacher Mrs. Cheng’s phone in a ceiling tile in her classroom. 

“She was having a test that day and had told me not to bother her. Our rooms were parallel to each other and we could see each other’s rooms through a window in between so I saw the entire thing go down. Hattaway was in my room with me and told me to call her phone and I kept calling and hanging up while she tried to find out where the sound was coming from. The kids started pointing to the ceiling and since she’s short, she stood on a chair and started reaching for her phone. She saw me through the window and she yelled at me. I got called in by Mr. Williams [former principal] and was told not to mess with her anymore, but he knew it was funny.”

 

Trumpet Sound

Coach doesn’t miss an opportunity to pull a prank, and teacher work days are no exception. Coach Smith recalls the time he brought an airhorn to a teacher work day. 

“It was at the end of the school year when teachers would have to come in on Friday for a teacher work day. I had an airhorn and hopped into the teacher’s work room. I would sneak up behind everyone and scare them. Eventually, Mr. Williams comes in on the intercom and says ‘Mr. Smith, quit blowing that air horn at everybody.’”

 

That’s a Stretch

Coach Smith’s pranks are not limited to his fellow colleagues. Students get in on the fun with Coach’s annual paper-stretcher prank.

“I mainly do this one to freshmen. I’ll say we need an electric paper stretcher, something I made up, and send a student to another coach, who was also in on the joke, to go get it. The coach would claim to not have it and send the student to other coaches until the student went all around the school. There was one student who I told that the paper-stretcher was left on the football field. She came back to my room with Mr. Williams who told me I shouldn’t be keeping students from learning.”