4,000 games and counting

The Bishop England High School athletic department has produced some legendary figures whose service to the school is marked by impressive streaks of longevity.

Three who come to mind are Jack Cantey, Paul Runey, and Paul Spence.

Cantey was the head football coach for more than three decades at BE and also served as assistant principal and athletic director. He’s the all-time winningest football coach at the school, with 184 victories.

Runey has been at BE for more than half a century and has served as BE’s AD and is best known for his skills at coaching girls’ basketball. He currently ranks second on the all-time list of winningest girls’ basketball coaches in state history.

Spence has coached numerous sports but is best known as the wrestling coach. He’s been connected to BE for more than four decades. He’s coached thousands of BE students, mentoring nearly 120 wrestlers who were state qualifiers, with 18 of the grapplers winning state titles.

And then there’s David McCabe.

You might not have heard of him unless you are a diehard BE athletics supporter. But his long streak of service, dedication, and diversity might be second to none at the Daniel Island school.

Although he graduated from BE in 1991, he’s marking his 40th year as part of the BE athletics program. His duties have been diverse. He handled the public address duties, was part of the game-film crew, served as the scoreboard clock operator, and kept the scorebook and stats for many of the school’s teams, following in his brother Mark’s footsteps.

He is best known for being BE’s official scorer for basketball games.

Why basketball?

McCabe estimates he has kept score of more than 4,000 basketball games, whether it’s for the BE teams or their feeder schools.

“Whatever they’ve needed, I’ve helped out,” said McCabe, who didn’t play sports at BE for health reasons. “I’ve enjoyed the games, the coaches, the players, the fans, and the experience.”

He remembers many of the experiences, including the game and date when the Bishops ended the old Macedonia High School’s 27-game winning streak.

“It was January 25, 1991,” McCabe recalled. “The game was hyped the whole week, and the crowd was electric. Bishop England won, 67-65.”

If there was a specific season or team that McCabe remembers the most, it's the 2016-17 girls’ basketball season, when the Bishops won a state title when Katie Cullum scored a basket in the final seconds to give the Bishops a 48-47 victory over Newberry.

The 2011-12 academic year was also special. McCabe was the stat man for the football team that year when the Bishops won their first state championship. Not to be outdone, the BE girls hoops squad went 28-0 and won the first of six state championships.

McCabe runs a tight and clean show when he keeps the basketball scorebook, although he has some detractors.

“Some have accused me of erasing stuff in the book,” McCabe said. “But that’s not true because I keep score with a pen.”