Stemming from a lost bet in 2004, with another administrator at Alleghany High School, Kenny Higgins, former principal at AHS, portrays Santa Claus in “Christmas at the Greenbrier,” a Fox Nation movie.
Looking back to the lost bet, Higgins recalled, “Jan Hobbs (an assistant principal at AHS), left the high school to become the principal at Boiling Springs Elementary School, and Roberta Crizer, secretary at AHS who currently works in the AHS guidance office, both were involved with the bet that I lost.”
Having grown a beard at the time, Higgins recalled that the lost bet resulted in him accepting the role as Santa Claus and traveling to local elementary schools to perform.
“It just blossomed from there,” Higgins, who married Sandra “Sandy” Nair Higgins in 2007, remembered.
Kenny continued, “Sandy made me my first two Santa Claus outfits, and that’s how this all came about.”
Sandra was employed by the Alleghany County Public Schools as a bus driver, and the couple now reside in Wesgate.
Once Kenny began performing as Santa, the demand for him to fill the role increased over the years, and he was recruited by officials at two world class resorts to play Santa, The Greenbrier in White Sulphur W. Va. and the Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Va.
Kenny noted, “Well, last year I became the official Santa of The Greenbrier.”
Sarah Braxton, an AHS graduate who was employed by The Homestead, recruited Kenny, and he is currently performing his role as Santa at both resorts on separate days.
He explained, “On Christmas eve, I will be making appearances at both resorts.”
Kenny remarked, “This year Holly Gillespie and Stacy Miller (employees at The Greenbrier) contacted me and asked if I’d like to perform as Santa in a movie.”
After accepting their invitation, Kenny was on the set two days during the filming that took place at The Greenbrier from late July till mid-Aug.
“I think that The Greenbrier with Jim Justice and his staff had a lot to do with casting me as Santa,” Kenny observed.
He continued, “They’ve been really good to me over there.”
As for the current Christmas season, Kenny will be portraying Santa Claus at The Greenbrier on Fridays, 6:00 p.m. till 9:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. till 6:00 p.m.
He will fill the role of Santa at the Omni Homestead Resort on Sundays from 8:30 p.m. till 10:30 p.m.
Kenny will also make appearances as Santa at the Cliff View Golf Club on Sun., Dec. 4, at 6:00 p.m., and he will perform at the Kiwanis Club in Covington from 6:30 p.m. till 7:30 p.m. during the “Gifts for Children” event.
Jack Mason’s Tavern has scheduled Kenny to portray Santa on Sun., Dec. 18, from 4:00 p.m. till 7:00 p.m., and he will conduct a storytelling session for children at the Alleghany Highlands Regional Library at 2:00 p.m. on Wed., Dec. 21.
Kenny is a 1970 graduate of Alleghany County High School where he distinguished himself as an outstanding athlete, hitting a single, double, triple, and home run in his last high school baseball game.
Before Virginia established a playoff system for high schools, ACHS finished the 1970 season with a 19-1 record while outscoring opponents 168-32.
Kenny said, “I will unequivocally say that had there been a playoff system in place, we would have been state champions.”
“We had some great players on our team: Buddy Raye, Billy Simpson, Johnathan Williams, Butch Simpson, Hiawatha Nicely, C.B. Nicely and Keith Scruggs,” Kenny recalled.
In fact, Scruggs signed a professional contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Kenny attended Ferrum College where he played centerfield for the Panthers before he transferred to VPI (Virginia Tech) where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial arts in 1976.
Kenny was offered the opportunity to attend the Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy.
He recalled that Nancy Higgins, his mother, was adamant that he not travel that far away from home.
“Joe Carpenter (Kenny’s coach at ACHS) came to talk to Mom, but Mom squashed it real quick,” Kenny revealed.
Bobby Higgins, Kenny’s father, was employed by the C&O Railroad, and Nancy worked at H.O. Canfield in Iron Gate.
After graduating from VPI, Kenny taught at Broadway High School from 1976-1979, at Clifton Forge High School from 1979-1983, at Alleghany High School from 1984-1990 and at Brookville High School from 1990-1994.
He was hired as an assistant principal and athletic director at AHS in 1994, and he served as principal of AHS from 2000 till 2009, the year he was promoted to the Alleghany County Public Schools as director of transportation.
After retiring in 2013, he was employed at Boys Home for several years, and he continues as an educator by serving as a substitute teacher at Jackson River Technical School.
Kenny attributes all of his success as an athlete, teacher, coach and administrator to the coaches he coached with and to the athletes who were his teammates.
His baseball teams won two district championships at CFHS, and his football teams won four district championships at AHS, following consolidation between Clifton Forge City Schools and Alleghany County Public Schools.
Kenny credits Donnie Hayslett for much of his success and inspiration, and he praised Hayslett as a special athlete who quarterbacked the very first Alleghany County High School football team in 1964. Hayslett was chosen to quarterback the Virginia All-Stars, and he led the team to victory over the West Virginia All-Stars.
Kenny noted, “I was in the right place at the right time, and I learned a lot about football from Johnny Reynolds.”
Kenny said, “We all played Little League together, and I was blessed to coach with Johnny, Rusty Crance, John Hutchison, Gary Rice, Gary Childs, Donnie Buzzard and Tom Beirne.”
A gifted athlete, Kenny held many athletic records at ACHS for several years. He recalled, “Roger Bo Cook broke my stolen base record of 32, and Richard “Chops” Hall broke my home run record of seven.”
As a running back, defensive back and wide receiver, Kenny starred for the late ACHS Football Coach Bill Jonas, setting the school record for 11 interceptions in a single season.
As for playing Santa Claus in “Christmas at the Greenbrier,” Kenny performs in three scenes.
He offered, “They dubbed my voice because of my southern accent but not my “ho,” “ho,” “hos.”
“Christmas at the Greenbrier” is the second movie made for Fox Nation, and it stars Alicia Willis, an Emmy-nominated actress, and Josh Murray. It began streaming on Thanksgiving day on the Fox Nation’s app.
