Former longtime Dorman High School resource officer Javan King will have a scholarship named in his remembrance. Photo courtesy of Dorman High School
For the better part of two years now, something has been missing from Dorman High School: and whether you feel it in the halls between classes, the winning and losing of the ball games, or just a kind of soul and spirit that once pervaded several generations of the Cavalier student body, teachers and parents and graduates from across the last 30 years will tell you that this something is former school resource officer Javan King.
King retired in 2024 and died in October 2025.
But wanting his name and presence to remain, a group recently created the Javan King Memorial Scholarship in his remembrance, not only to help with a student’s continued academic success, but to ensure that the man with the quick smile and kind word will stand as the example of what Dorman should always represent.
“Javan was a true friend,” said Dorman High Principal Bryant Roberson. “And the scholarship originated with a committee the school formed to honor his memory.”
The scholarship was announced in January 2026 and came two months after the idea began. Roberson said funding has come entirely through donations, and that an initial amount of $1,000 will be awarded in May to a graduating senior “who exemplifies character, integrity, and commitment, and aspires to pursue a career in law enforcement or criminal justice.”
“Our intent is to see that Officer King’s influence on the Dorman community is never forgotten,” he said.
Even without the scholarship, King’s effect on the school is still felt among many Cavaliers, almost as if he is still patrolling the hallways and greeting everyone with his usual cheery ‘Hey chump!’
He began his service with the City of Spartanburg as a Public Safety Officer in November of 1984. During the next decade, King served as a Crime Prevention Officer and patrol sergeant before landing in 1994 at Dorman High – and soon became the kind of school resource officer that every high school should be lucky to have.
For example, when King first walked onto the campus, Dorman was in the city limits at what is now Dorman Center Drive and W.O. Ezell Boulevard. When the school moved to Roebuck for the start of the 2002-03 year, King was so highly thought of that Cavaliers from the principal on down requested him to continue at Dorman – which he did until his retirement.
His death on the morning of October 20, 2025, while on a camping trip with his wife, left a void that many Cavaliers deem irreplaceable.
“Officer King was a staple at Dorman, laughing and joking with students, while also providing them with a strong sense of safety,” District Six officials posted on the same day. “Students often joked about how cool Officer King was, yet he quietly and humbly commanded their respect.”
Longtime Cavalier Brad Casey indicated in a Facebook post that the scholarship alone hardly does Officer King justice.
“Javan really deserves some kind of statue or monument on Dorman grounds,” Casey said in the post. “He took care of us and our kids.”
In the same post, Cole Garrison, class of 2009, said simply, “He was the best.”
And while Roberson had many more things to say about what King meant to the school and the community at large, he summed it all up this way: “I, along with the Cavalier family, profoundly miss him.”
