“What the hell’s going on out here?”

[Gator By Marriage]

Did you play for Herman Boone? If not, then all your doing is repeating allegations. As I said all of the coaches I played for during that exact time span could have been accused of abusive behavior as it was the style of the day. Also, I loved the movie and felt it was a reality based representation of exactly what we dealt with in the 68/69 seasons as the black HS was shuttered and integration was forced on all of us. We learned how to become a team and some of my friends lost their starting positions to better athletes. BTW it was a joke when I asked if he was available.

Give me a little credit; I knew you weren't serious about hiring Boone.

As for the rest, based on everything I know from living there and knowing the people who worked with and played for him I believe it. I never saw or heard anyone defend him and he never denied it. Feel free to believe whatever you want.

And I can assure you the movie, while entertaining, was not an accurate representation of the city or the high school. (For starters the school was interegrated before the movie takes place, as was the football team.) Maybe that's how the city was where you were, but that's not what Alexandria was like in 1971.

 

[Joegator96]

Give me a little credit; I knew you weren't serious about hiring Boone.

As for the rest, based on everything I know from living there and knowing the people who worked with and played for him I believe it. I never saw or heard anyone defend him and he never denied it. Feel free to believe whatever you want.

And I can assure you the movie, while entertaining, was not an accurate representation of the city or the high school. (For starters the school was interegrated before the movie takes place, as was the football team.) Maybe that's how the city was where you were, but that's not what Alexandria was like in 1971.

Integration choice began in Lakeland in 1967 when I was in ninth grade with a small minority of blacks crossing over. The similarity to the Titans movie occurred my Senior year in 1970 when they closed all of the black schools and forced the integration like was depicted in Titans. Pre-season practice started several weeks before school commenced so the integrated team had resolved some of the cultural issues on the field and in the locker room before school began. The general population struggled the first couple of weeks with one serious incident in the lunch room where a large group of blacks squared off with our redneckersons! The football team walked between the two groups and stared at both sides admonishing their stupidity. We weren't trying to do anything other than cool it down so our game did not get cancelled later that week :-)

 

[alcoholica]

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I know I’m taking a chance here, but if this in-fighting continues, I’m afraid we’re going to lose our forum that allows us to speak pretty freely on the Gators and sports in general and that would be a travesty. It’s alright to disagree, in fact it’s a healthy part of robust discourse. But when it gets to the point that we start threatening others, supposedly in the same camp, or continually running down the program beyond reasonable points and counter points and then egging things farther (which I know I can be guilty of), then basically we are becoming like the fans and programs that we regularly poke fun at. Maybe worse. The refrain has always been “players or anyone else of consequence don’t read what’s posted here.” Actually they do and I’m afraid what they read lately goes beyond just passionate fans peppered with smartasses (guilty as charged).

I’m not suggesting this place turn into a virtual be-in or love fest, but let’s consider dialing back some of the vitriol. This site is a gem and should be regarded as such. We don’t always have to agree with dissenting opinions, but they shouldn’t drive us to an apoplectic reaction either. We really have far more in common than not.

Thanks for your introspection. And in a moment of levity (which I hope doesn’t overwhelm the greater points), where would we go for our fix of Mom jokes, culinary braggadocio, obscure musical interludes, political shaming, and all things Gator as well as the sports world in general?

Let‘s not become what we frequently mock.

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[MertzJay26]

Screw it, I’m Team Nape no matter what. Guy’s just a good dude

 

[Back Alley Gator]

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Oh shi....Alkie's back.

 

[gatormandan]

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[soflagator]

Screw it, I’m Team Nape no matter what. Guy’s just a good dude

I hate to be “that guy”, but some strange man is creeping through the windows of the football facilities at night, and Billy’s first thought is to invite him in? See, this is exactly the type of lack of situational awareness some of us have been concerned about. Ten bucks says the whole incident took longer than he’d anticipated and he came out to an expired parking meter as well. Unbelievable.

 

[Theologator]

 

[Bushmaster]

Screw it, I’m Team Nape no matter what. Guy’s just a good dude

Wait. This dude's old man was caught peeping in the windows then Billy killed him and now he is in heaven?

 

[Fodderwing]

I played from 69-72 in Fla and you are right. My coach played FB for UF in 59 and then for Graves. He tried to kill us with hitting so much and long practices in Aug. No water. And then we integrated in 71 and learned that our AA brethren were just as tough and badazzz as we thought we were........They came from a coach named Jesse Heard that worked their assses off too.........ahh those good old days.......

What classification did you play in?

My middle brother made All State as the QB for the 1970 Wildwood state champieyons! I think it was Class B for Wildwood back then, I was only 9.

 

[stephenPE]

Newberry was like class C when they had AA, A, B and C.
Found it for you.

1970 STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS​

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C
HASTINGS beat Groveland 14-0

Hastings HS (Hastings, FL)

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B
WILDWOOD beat Port St. Joe 30-0

Leesburg HS (Leesburg, FL)

 

[soflagator]

What classification did you play in?