The late Willie James “Speedy” Simon was honored with a resolution by West Columbia City Council Tuesday. 

Simon was a 1952 graduate of West Columbia’s Lakeview School. After high school Simon became a superior quarterback at Allen University. He passed away in 2004. 

After graduation from Allen, Simon coached football, boys basketball and girls basketball at Lexington Rosenwald High School from 1956 to 1968. In 11 years, he won seven State and nine Football Conference Championships with a record of 99 wins, 15 losses and 4 ties.

Simon coached baseball at Allen University from 1968 to 1969. He then moved on to South Carolina State University. From 1969-until-1987, Simon assisted legendary coach Willie Jeffries in football. Simon also coached baseball and women’s basketball.  In baseball, Simon guided Gene Richards and Willie Mays Aikens. Both became prominent in Major League Baseball.

In women’s basketball, Simon’s S.C. State team won the AIAW National Championship. He amassed a record of 305 wins against 93 losses. He is also a member of The SC State University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Anthony Wright, managing partner of Shermone Vermelle, presented a list of Simon’s achievements to West Columbia City Councilman Boyd Jones and council’s move to recognize Simon was initiated.

Simon has also been inducted into the Allen University Athletic Hall of Fame and the 2017 Class of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2013, the Town of Lexington  awarded Simon with The Key to The Town of Lexington. 

In 1984, he was voted by five coaches from the Lakeview School Era as the greatest football and basketball player in the school’s history,

Simon is the first and only African-American from a segregated school system in Lexington County to be inducted into a replacement school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was selected as an honoree in both, Lakeview and Lexington Rosenwald Commemorative Calendars by Historic Schools Legacy Foundation.

Simon also played Sandlot Baseball for The West Columbia Braves.

Throughout his career, Simon never forgot his West Columbia roots. While coaching in Orangeburg, Simon returned to West Columbia weekly to attend church at Brookland Baptist where he served as a deacon under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Charles B. Jackson, Sr. Jackson was in attendance at the council meeting Tuesday to honor Simon.