Bill Pate, Florence native and former football coach at Lake View High School, died Friday, December 24, at the age of 88 following a brief illness.

Coach Pate will certainly be missed by all.
In Bill Pate’s era with the Lake View Wild Gators, the Wild Gators won many conference titles, lower state titles, and state titles in football.
In 1970 Lake View defeated Hunter Kinard 8-0 in the first round of play-offs followed by a 13-6 win over Cross for the Lower State Title. The Wild Gators defeated Graniteville 16-12 for the Class AA State Title. In 1971 Lake View defeated Barnwell 35-20 in the first round of the play-offs followed by a 20-0 win over Aynor for the Lower State Title. Once again, Lake View won the Class AA State Title with a 20-6 win over St. Angela.
In 1972 the Lake View Wild Gators lost to Bishopville 25-8 in the first round of play-offs.
In 1974 Lake View defeated Cross 44-12 in the first round of play-offs. In the second round of the play-offs, Lake View defeated Mayo 35-20. The Wild Gators were edged out 27-26 by Bamberg for the Class AA Lower State Title.
In 1975 Lake View defeated Choppee 30-22 in the first round of the play-offs followed by a 42-7 win over Mayo in the second round of play-offs. Lake View came up short 26-16 to Bamberg for the Class AA Lower State Title.
In 1976 Lake View defeated Barnwell 12-8 in the first round of play-offs followed by a 27-0 win over Georgetown in the second round of the play-offs. Lake View won the Class AA Lower State Title with a 7-0 victory over Bamberg but were defeated 31-0 by Woodruff in the Class AA State Title.
In 1977 the Wild Gators defeated Mayewood 58-6 in the first round of the playoffs but lost to Bamberg 20-10 in the second round of the play-offs.
In 1978 Lake View was victorious over Batesburg-Leesville 8-0 in the first round of the play-offs but lost to Andrews 13-6 in the second round of the play-offs.
In 1979 Lake View went to the play-offs as conference runner-up and lost to Batesburg-Leesville 36-0.
In 1980 Lake View again returned to the play-offs as conference runner-up and lost in the first round 20-13 to Porter-Gaud. In 1981 Lake View defeated Williamsburg in the first round 55-0 and defeated Hunter-Kinard 48-0 in the second round of the play-offs. The Wild Gators edged Blackville-Hilda 7-6 for the Lower State Title. The Wild Gators won the Class A State Title over Whitmore 27-0.
In 1982 Coach Bill Rate won 12 games and lost 1 game. Lake View was the Conference champs. The Wild Gators defeated Williston-Elko 14-7 in the first round of the play-offs and defeated St. George 34-0 in the second round of the play-offs. Lake View came up short in the Lower State Title game 20-14 against Blackville-Hilda.
Coach Bill Pate won 128 games, lost 30 games, and tied 2 games while at Lake View. He won 10 conference titles and played for 4 state titles while winning 3 of those.
From 1970-1982 while at Lake View, Coach Bill Pate won numerous Coach of the Year awards. He was in the South Carolina Association Hall of Fame for football and baseball.
While at Lake View, he coached many American Legion teams who won numerous regional titles and also played for Lower State several times.
Coach Bill Pate received the Lifetime Coaches Award from the High School Sports Report.