Calvin Triplett inducted in Newberry College Hall of Master Coaches

One former Winter Haven head football coach will be inducted into the inaugural class of the Newberry College Hall of Master Coaches.

According to a press release, Winter Haven’s Calvin “Dusty” Triplett, who graduated from Newberry College in Newberry, South Carolina in 1974, is recognized as one of seven Hall-of-Fame honorees for 2026. Triplett graduated from Winter Haven High School in 1968 before becoming a successful coach for the Blue Devils.

But his career was so much more. In fact, for over four decades, Triplett was a successful teacher, coach and mentor in high schools in South Carolina as well as Florida. He would on to play football at the United States Military Academy at West Point before transferring to Newberry — a place where he again lettered in both football and baseball.

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He embarked on his career at Whitmire High School as an assistant coach and math teacher before spending two years at Bartow High School as a defensive backs coach and was a part of a state title team in 1978. Triplett then returned to the Palmetto State to become defensive coordinator at Strom Thurmond High School and for nine years, he was involved in several conference, regional and state playoffs.  

Ahead of his time, he developed the Blue Steel defense utilizing data and computers well before it became the norm, making their defense one of the most prepared and effective defenses in the entire state. He, too, was a head baseball coach and in 1982, he led the Rebels to the only state championship in school history. Triplett grabbed his first head football coach position at Aiken High School in Aiken, South Carolina, leading the Hornets to the 1989 state championship game. In 1990, he returned to head coach his alma mater in Winter Haven where he turned around a 1-9 program to a dominate, 8-2 force in just his third season.

Triplett journeyed back to South Carolina, serving as head football and baseball coach and athletics director at Brookland-Cayce High School 1994-2000 where he coached his son, Russell, with the two winning the state baseball title in 1998. In 2000, he returned to Strom Thurmond High School, leading the football program as well as returning to the classroom.  

When it was time to retire, Triplett continued to teach in the Adult Education program at the Edgefield-McCormick County Adult Education and Family Literacy program. The legendary football coach was eventually inducted into the Strom Thurmond High School Hall of Fame in 2019 and passed away that same year. 

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Calvin Triplett inducted in Newberry College Hall of Master Coaches