Martinsville Bulletin, Friday, September 29, 2000-9-A Movie tells of coaches who integrated ALEXANDRIA (AP)- -When moved here from Los Angeles four years ago, Gregory Howard was struck by how well people of different races lived together in the same neighborhoods. "I asked people about it, and they kept telling me, 'The high school football team integrated this town," said Howard, a screenwriter. He decided to investigate, and found the story of T.C. Williams High School, where a black coach took over the racially divided football team in 1971 and led it to the state championship with the help of a white assistant coach. Now Howard tells the story in the Titans," starring Denzel Washington and Will Patton, and opening Friday.
"They brought the city together," Alexandria mayor Kerry Donley said of coaches Herman Boone and Bill Yoast. "They put Alexandria on the map." Alexandria, a city of 117,000, sits across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. It's 23 percent black, 13 percent Hispanic, 6 percent Asian. Back in 1971, Herman Boone had been an assistant coach at the predominantly black T.C. Williams.
He was offered the head coaching job after Hammond and George Washington high schools were merged into T.C. in a move to end segregation and intracity rivalry. Boone initially refused. He had been passed over at a high school in Williamston, N.C., in much the same way Yoast, the veteran coach at largely white Hammond, was being passed over at T.C. "I knew how he felt.
And I didn't want a job based on the color of my skin," said Boone, 64, who coached at T.C. for five years and is now retired. "Some members of the black community ate me alive. All of a sudden they had one of their own as head coach at T.C.," he said. "They said I was too afraid to take it.
They played on my inner soul." Boone decided to take the job. Yoast, meanwhile, was angry at being passed over. But he agreed to stay, even though players on his former team had signed a petition saying they wouldn't play unless he were head coach. "I took it and I tore it up," he said. "I had to stay with them." Both coaches realized that to bring the team together, they needed to win.
"Winning is important in life," Boone said. "Do you think the town would have been proud of us if we had lost?" The message Boone delivered was a powerful one, Howard said. He told his players, "You don't really have to like each other. You have to respect each other." The Titans won their first state championship that year with an undefeated season capped by a 27-0 defeat of Salem's Andrew Lewis High. The team has since won two Thank more titles.
Viewers may roll their eyes in disbelief at some scenes, including one in which the team, in a show of unity, enters the field in a synchronized song and dance. But Howard said most of the scenes actually happened. "The Singing Titans, that's what people called them," he said. Howard said it wasn't easy selling the story to Hollywood. His story "tanked all over town" before making its way to the desk of Jerry Bruckheimer, who decided to produce it.
The screenplay is Howard's first major motion-picture credit, and he likes what he sees on the screen. "They respected the story," he said. AtT.C. Williams, students say there is a lot of curiosity about the film. "We want to see what it was like back in the day," said senior Nakia Reynolds.
Although racial tension still exists, it's not a big issue, students said. "I get along with everybody," said senior Tierra Reeves. i Bill Yoast and Herman Boone led T.C. Williams to a state championship the first year the school was integrated. "There's a High school coaches point where the Caucasian students sit at this table and the African-American students sit at that table, but there's also a point where we all come together." Donley, the mayor, played against T.C.
Williams in 1971 as a member of Bishop Ireton's football team. "I think we lost 45-6," he said. "We were one of the few teams that scored a touchdown on them that year. I think everybody was struck with awe because they were so big and so good." His team began rooting for the Titans as the season progressed, he added. "Clearly this team had a unifying influence on the citizens of this city," Donley said.
"They engendered a sense of community." 1 1 MARTINSVILLE NATIONAL NIGHT OUT SPONSORS! National Night Out would not have been the success it was without the help of special people like you. SPONSORS Fred Martin Associates, Chip Wyatt State Farm Insurance, Gold Sponsor Silver Sponsor Van Baalen Pacific Corporation SunTrust, Silver Sponsor (Nautica), Gold Sponsor Office Products, City Sheriff's Department, Silver Sponsor Gold Sponsor Hooker Furniture, Silver Sponsor Martinsville Police Benevolent Fund, Silver Sponsor Gold Sponsor Clear Defense, Silver Sponsor Martinsville Speedway, Pulaski Furniture, Silver Sponsor Gold Sponsor American National Bank, Brad Parker Insurance Agency Bronze Sponsor Nationwide Insurance, Imperial Savings and Loan, Gold Sponsor Bronze Sponsor Security Services Incorporated, Martinsville Astros, Gold Sponsor Bronze Sponsor Security, Gold Sponsor Domino's Pizza, Bronze Sponsor Child Abuse Martinsville Glass Company, Prevention Counsel, Gold Sponsor Bronze Sponsor Furniture, First Citizens Bank, Bronze Sponsor Gold Sponsor CP Films, Bronze Sponsor V-F Knitwear, Gold Sponsor Triple Beauty Salon, South Flag Bronze Sponsor Ashley's U.S. Lock Security 1 FOOD SPONSORS CANTEEN, Gold Sponsor Domino's Pizza, Gold Sponsor Chick-Fil-A, Gold Sponsor Papa John's Pizza, Gold Sponsor co*ke, Gold Sponsor Subway. Gold Sponsor The Martinsville City Sheriff's Office Gilmore against sexual orientation inclusion in hate crimes law RICHMOND (AP) Gov. Jim Gilmore said Thursday he still.
opposes expanding Virginia's hate crimes law to include sexual orientation despite last week's fatal shooting in a Roanoke bar frequented by gays. "The criminal justice system is there to deal with situations just like the one that happened in Roanoke, and I believe we have the laws in place," Gilmore said on his monthly call-in radio show on the Virginia News Network. Danny Lee Overstreet, 43. was killed and six people were wounded at the Backstreet Cafe on Friday. The suspect, Ronald Edward Gay, 54, told police after his arrest that he was upset that his last name made him the brunt of hom*osexual jokes.
Since the shooting, gay rights activists have accelerated their push to expand state and federal hate crimes laws to include attacks based on sexual orientation. Gilmore said expanding the state law is unnecessary. "We already have very tough laws on the books, and it really doesn't matter whether the victim, what their sexual preference is. The fact is that if you take a gun or knife and you hurt another person, we have very serious laws to deal with these. people," he said.
Other political leaders, including U.S. Sen. John W. Warner. and House" of Delegates Minority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton.
have said the shooting has caused them to rethink their opposition to expanding the hate crimes law. The law allows an enhanced penalty for violent crimes motivated by bias based on race, ethnicity, religion and other factors. West Virginia drug ring targeting vending machines? FINCASTLE Stores in southwest Virginia are being targeted by nickel-and-dime thieves. Botetourt County sheriff's deputies arrested a West Virginia couple after a citizen reported someone shaking and beating a soda machine at the Old Mill grocery Tuesday. It was the second vending machine break-in at the Fincastle store this year.
Deputies suspect the case is part of a series of vending machine thefts this year tied to an organized crime ring in West Virginia. The thieves use the money to buy drugs. police said. Between January and April. deputies from Alleghany.
Botetourt and Rockbridge counties charged 10 people from West Virginia with thefts from vending machines. The suspects were caught in the act by police or a witness who alerted police In those cases. deputies found burglary tools. as many as 300 keys to vending machines. and nickels, dimes and quarters in the suspects' vehicles.
The crime spree attracted interest among law enforcement agencies along the U.S. 460 corridor from Norfolk to Charleston, W.Va. Lt. Barry Brooks of the Alleghany County Sheriff's Office said an informal task force has been looking into the ring. The task force has found that crews of two to four people were leaving West Virginia with vending machine keys and breaking into machines in Virginia.
Ohio. Pennsylvania. North Carolina and Kentucky. reaping between $1.000 and $2.500 a night. The group used the coins and dollar bills to buy drugs.
often prescription painkillers. Brooks said. In the latest theft attempt in Botetourt County. James Thorp. 22.
of Calvin. W. was arrested and charged with attempted grand larceny. possessing M. glary tools and resisting Betty T.
Brooks, 28 alsooft. was arrested and charged with tampering with a vending machine. Thomas K. Berry, MD announces the relocation of his office for the practice of general surgery to 15 Cleveland Avenue, Suite 10 Martinsville, VA 24112 Phone: 540-634-5003 Fax: 540-634-5017 Effective October 1, 2000 Dr Berry will be at Commonwealth Surgical Associates until September 30. Patients wishing tr, transfer their records should contact Dr.
Berry's office at the above number to make arrangements. 9.
