Lyle Flagg's Son Grades Principal Dad at Brandon High's Grand Reunion

Howard Flagg, with his parents and his wife at the 2012 Greater Brandon Area Community Picnic, hosted by the Greater Brandon Oldtimers Association at the , wanted a moment to think about how to best answer the question: What are five things to know about Lyle Flagg?

Common knowledge among this April 28 gathering, which included as well attendees to the Brandon High School Grand Reunion, is that Flagg was a principal at .

Also, that he went on to become the charter principal of Armwood High, where he is the namesake of the field on which the state powerhouse Armwood High School Hawks take battle against their opponents, including their crosstown rivals, the Brandon Eagles.

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What are five things to know about Lyle Flagg, as put forth by his son, Howard?

• "He is the most scrupulously honest man I've ever known."

• "He still gets up at 4 o'clock in the morning every day except for Sunday and for the Fun Fly-In air show. Then he gets up, for the 10 days of the show, at 2:30 a.m. My brother Timmy says, 'If you get up any earlier than dad you're going to get up yesterday.' "

• "The luckiest day of his life is the day he married my mother, Vivian."

• "He has six children, who are very proud to call him father."

• "He was the principal of Brandon High School from 1968 to 1974."

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Never leave an interview, though, before it has time to run its course. It's always in its waning minutes that a true gem is bound to surface.

So it was with Howard Flagg, who had this to add in his list of remembrances of his dad, the Brandon High leader.

"He was given a car when he left Brandon by the students," Howard Flagg said. "They all chipped in and drove it through the goal posts, the last game of the season."

Imagine that.

Then consider this:

It happened again, this time at Armwood High, which Flagg opened as the charter principal to bring relief to Brandon, which was on double sessions and threatened to go to three to accommodate the burgeoning student enrollment.

That would make the two schools rivals on the football field, which is why the second car came with one stipulation. As Howard Flagg put it: "The kids gave him a car and made him promise to take a sledgehammer to the first car."

Lyle Flagg left Brandon for a job in the downtown Tampa offices of the Hillsborough County School District, but left because he wanted to get back to the schoolhouse, Howard Flagg said.

Lyle Flagg returned to the field as principal of East Bay, in Ruskin, before stepping in to run Armwood, in Seffner, from 1984-90.

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