From Alexandria to New York City and back to Alexandria.

News of the death of Herman Boone actually traveled across the USA, but for my son (and his friends) it was a sad moment.

Herman was the football coach long before Daniel traipsed through the halls of TC Williams.  As a matter of fact, the TC Williams of Daniels’s high school career was a totally new building.  But, the impact of Herman Boone still fills the halls and the minds of many of the high school students.

As I’ve reported here before, Boone was the football coach of TC Williams back in 1971.  When TC Williams became THE high school of Alexandria.  Replacing the three previous high schools- Hammond, George Washington, and Parker Gray.

Hammond and George Washington became middle schools (6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grades).  Parker Gray was leveled.  Why were these three replaced by TC?

Because Hammond and GW were for White kids; Parker Gray was the Black school.  TC Williams was the way Alexandria was going to integrate all the students into a single school.  Of course, unless you lived in the South, you would never recognize the hubris of this act.

After all, Thomas Chambliss Williams was a segregationist.  As the superintendent of schools from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, he advocated- no, he demanded- racial segregation within the Alexandria School System.  As was true for many Virginia schools, when ordered by the courts to desegregated (17 May 1954), Williams resisted.  (Check out the massive resistance program espoused by the Byrd Machine of Virginia.)

But, back to Boone.  The first black football coach- not just for Alexandria- but for all of Northern Virginia.  Boone was chosen over the heavily favored Bill Yoast (Hammond’s head coach).  Boone understood the symbolism, but played it differently than you’d think- he was a “coach who was born Black”; and to play for TC, one had to “play based on talent and character”.

That didn’t mean things went smoothly.  On one of the first summer training trips to Gettysburg (PA), the White players jumped on one bus and the Black footballers on a different one.  Until Boone made them march off and share equally in each bus.  By the time the players were returning to Alexandria, they were a team.  (Unfortunately, the rest of the students- nor the city of Alexandria- wasn’t!)

Until…

TC Williams football won.  Shutting out 8 of 12 other schools (and winning every game).  Winning the State Championship game for their 9^th shutout, 27-0.  The 13^th consecutive victory.

The team’s perfect season became the way folks could “eat together, talk together, sit together, and live together”.  The power of sports to modify the human heart.  In essence, this football saga did something ‘Brown v. Board of Education’ never could.  It changed the hearts of the people, as opposed to simply updating the laws of the land.

Boone continued to coach TC Williams football until 1979- but stuck around longer to teach physical ed and to coach golf until 1989 (when my family moved into Alexandria).

After his wife died in March, and his assistant coach (Bill Yoast) in May, Boone succumbed to cancer at the age of 84.  And, right after the Titans won their first playoff game in 28 years.

The story of that 1971 football experience (modified for Hollywood standards) became the hit of 2000 (and the hit of rerun TV)- “Remember the Titans”.

 

Boone was no saint- but he managed to get folks to a place of working together.  In these divided times, you should find the  90 minutes to watch this movie.  Take that time to discern what brings us together, not rends us asunder; to determine the values and credos we share, not to the echo chambers we desperately cling.

A private service will be followed by  a public viewing at the Lee Center today from 3 to 7.  Given his importance to Alexandria schools, a special service will be held at TC Williams tomorrow at 1 PM.

May his memory be a blessing.