[5] Sumter attracted the attention of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, prompting an inspection tour in 1982, along with eight other schools in Alabama[3] In the early 1980s, headmaster Allyn Watts attributed the schools declining enrollment to a decline in anger about the racial desegregation of public schools.

Watts wanted to seek nonprofit status to boost fundraising, but Sumter academy board was unwilling to fulfill IRS requirements and recruit minority students.

[7] Joe Nettles, the leader of the football team, stated that chatter about a proposed charter school convinced some prospective families that Sumter Academy was bound to decline and close anyway, so they chose not to enroll their children.

The alma mater was designed by a committee, and the lyrics and music of the fight song were created by the class of 1985 and its advisor.

[9] Before it closed, Sumter sold an annual subscription to a weekly gun lottery.