History of Alcoa Football

[clintabbott]

Jim Brown, 1969, went to Tenn. Tech

Lester Robinson, 1971, went tp Delaware, I've heard, best lineman I coached

David Greer, 1972, went to Gorgia Tech

Tony Coleman,1972, could have gone anywhere almost, chose the path that leads to self destruction

Ned Lidvall,1970, went to Kentucky

Edited December 15, 2004 by clintabbott

[clintabbott]

Come on Alcoa and Huntington guys and gals, Coacht has a sick son and is trying to get 1000 plus members. It is only 1 dollar a month and we can continue to communicate all year on this board. It will be worth it. Look at all the hard work he does. I hope that we can find 1 dollar a month. This a challenge to all Knoxville area folks as well. Clint Abbott

Edited December 16, 2004 by clintabbott

[JRC]

Come on Alcoa and Huntington guys and gals, Coacht has a sick son and is trying to get 1000 plus members.  It is only 1 dollar a month and we can continue to communicate all year on this board.  It will be worth it.  Look at all the hard work he does.  I hope that we can find 1 dollar a month.  This a challenge to all Knoxville area folks as well. Clint Abbott

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I agree 100%. Coacht is a bargain at $1 a month. It is worth far more than that. Mr. Abbott: You mentioned in an earlier post about how Alcoa was integrated back in the 60s. Give us an overview of how this happened. Was there a set process they followed? How many years before the black high school completely shut down? Were there any problems? Thanks.

[clintabbott]

JRC- The first black students were accepted very well. Charles M. Hall High was closed after school year 1967-68. All black students in Alcoa came to AHS in the fall of 1968. I came as an assistant coach to Bill Cochran in the spring of 1969.

We had alot of good black players on our teams. Coach Jim White was an assistant in the Jr. High and helped us when he could. There were rumblings in our school, but it came to a head in Feb. of 1971. The Knoxville College Choir was scheduled to perform in an assembly, and a rumor got started that the choir was the Black Panthers. The rednecks and the blacknecks fussed and the blacknecks organized a walkout. Most of the black students walked out of class and sang "We Shall Overcome." The school took a very assertive stance and we had school on Monday. The students who walked out were suspended and had to bring their parents to get back in school. I became principal in Nov. of 1973 and we worked hard at being a well integrated school. Progress was slow, but I always said "cinch by the inch and hard by the yard." AHS was very well integrated when I retired in June, 1995. Our community is now integrated, because black folks don't all live in the same neighborhood. Thanks for asking and if I can be any assistance, feel free to call me. My number is still in the book.

[Rebelsman]

I agree 100%.  Coacht is a bargain at $1 a month.  It is worth far more than that.  Mr. Abbott: You mentioned in an earlier post about how Alcoa was integrated back in the 60s.  Give us an overview of how this happened.  Was there a set process they followed?  How many years before the black high school completely shut down?  Were there any problems?  Thanks.

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Coach Abbott, correct my dates.

 

Springbrook elementary school burned down in the summer of 1969. I was so disappointed because I was graduating from 3rd to 4th grade. That meant I would be moving to the "other" end of the school with the "big" kids. (1st to 3rd was on one end and 4th to 6th was on the other. They were seperated by a central corridor.) After the school was destroyed we were placed in the old high school that was located where the new basketball field house is now.

 

I am not sure how long Alcoa had been integrated, I think it may have been that year. I really didn't care one way or the other at 10 years of age. The only impact integration had on me occured one day during lunch.

 

The assembly that day was to be a black chorus. With the tone of racism that was prevelant in the day, many of the white kids brought excuses from home to leave school during the assembly (never in the history of the school were there so many dentist appointments at the same time). Word got out during our lunch period.

 

The elementary students ate lunch in the high school cafeteria. We made our daily journey down the steps from the old school, past the office (where coach Abbot "councelled" me with his "motivator" on more than one occassion), down another flight of steps, and into the cafeteria. The riot broke out as we were leaving.

 

I will never forget Mr. Andy Miles. He was my homeroom and science teacher. A stocky man was he and I was proud of it. He stuck my hand under his belt from behind and told me to hang on. He grabbed two other small hands and charged through the mob with the three of us. Up the steps we raced with people fighting all around us. I had never been so scared or held so tight to anything in my life as I did Mr. Andy Miles' belt. Mr. Andy Miles towed us to the safety of the old school and turned to retrieve any other little ones that may have been left behind.

 

The police came and broke up the fighting. School was dimissed for the day. My sisters (16 and 18) came and got me and rushed me away. My cousin was with us and he was pretty beat up.

 

I don't remember much more about that day other than it changed everything about that school for me. That is the day that black and white became different to me. The black and white elementary children didn't associate with each other after that day. As always, time went on and healed some of those wounds.

 

I played football beside my black friends. However, we never did socialize much off campus. Occasionaly we would play basketball or shoot pool at Springbrook Gym.

 

I still see a few of them today and enjoy the reunions.

 

I don't know what it was about that day. It didn't make any of us wrong, but it did make us different.

 

GO TORNADOES!!!

Edited December 18, 2004 by Rebelsman

[clintabbott]

Rebelsman- I was not at school the day of the walkout, I was in Chattanooga refereeing a wrestling tournament. I'm pretty sure that it was Feb 12,1971. I came home on Sunday and stopped at a drug store to buy my wife some candy for Valentines Day. I saw one of my black students and he wouldn't talk to me, when I got home my wife told me that we had a faculty meeting that day at 2:00.

One of my aunts had heard that I had been stabbed. The word got to Ted Wilson at MHS, that I had been hit over the head with a billy stick. Ted replied " call Blount Memorial, either Clint or the student will be in the hospital. I know that in August of 1969, all students in Alcoa City Schools were on the hill, except K thru 6 black students at Hall and the students at Bassell Elementary.

[JRC]

Coach Abbott, correct my dates.

 

Springbrook elementary school burned down in the summer of 1969. I was so disappointed because I was graduating from 3rd to 4th grade. That meant I would be moving to the "other" end of the school with the "big" kids. (1st to 3rd was on one end and 4th to 6th was on the other. They were seperated by a central corridor.) After the school was destroyed we were placed in the old high school that was located where the new basketball field house is now.

 

I am not sure how long Alcoa had been integrated, I think it may have been that year. I really didn't care one way or the other at 10 years of age. The only impact integration had on me occured one day during lunch.

 

The assembly that day was to be a black chorus. With the tone of racism that was prevelant in the day, many of the white kids brought excuses from home to leave school during the assembly (never in the history of the school were there so many dentist appointments at the same time).  Word got out during our lunch period.

 

The elementary students ate lunch in the high school cafeteria. We made our daily journey down the steps from the old school, past the office (where coach Abbot "councelled" me with his "motivator" on more than one occassion), down another flight of steps, and into the cafeteria. The riot broke out as we were leaving.

 

I will never forget Mr. Andy Miles. He was my homeroom and science teacher. A stocky man was he and I was proud of it. He stuck my hand under his belt from behind and told me to hang on. He grabbed to other small hands and charged through the mob with the three of us. Up the steps we raced with people fighting all around us.  I had never been so scared or held so tight to anything in my life as I did Mr. Andy Miles' belt. Mr. Andy Miles towed us to the safety of the old school and turned to retrieve any other little ones that may have been left behind.

 

The police came and broke up the fighting. School was dimissed for the day. My sisters (14 and 16) came and got me and rushed me away. My cousin was with us and he was pretty beat up.

 

I don't remember much more about that day other than it changed everything about that school for me. That is the day that black and white became different to me. The black and white elementary children didn't associate with each other after that day. As alway, time went on and healed some of those wounds.

 

I played football beside my black friends. However, we never did socialize much off campus. Occasionaly we would play basketball or shoot pool at Springbrook Gym.

 

I still see a few of them today and enjoy the reunions.

 

I don't know what it was about that day. It didn't make any of us wrong, but it did made us different.

 

GO TORNADOES!!!

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Mr. Abbott: Thank you for the overview of the integration process.

Rebelsman: Thank you for sharing your experience. I don't want to get sentimental but your story really spoke to me. I was in pre-school when Springbrook burned down. I lived in the neighborhood and remember being awaken in the early morning hours to go and watch the school burning down. That is one of my few memories from that young age.

Apparently, a lot of progress in race relations took place after the riot in the early 70s and the time I got there in the late 70s. During my years at the high school I can't remember any race incidents. I had several black friends and we occassionally socialized together outside of school and sports. My two oldest sons have been in the Alcoa system many years now and have never experienced any racial conflicts.

I had vaguely heard about the riot but not much specific information. It sounds like that event was a turning point for the Alcoa system and the entire community, one that forced both races to come to a consensus and move forward.

We need someone to write a history of Alcoa City Schools. Mr. Abbott: I am going to nominate you to take this on.

[clintabbott]

JRC- Let's get Tornado74 to fork over 12 bucks and if he will build a web-page, I will be available to help him with some of the research. L. A. Campbell would be an excellent source and I can think of others. Donnie Bledsoe has a lot of memorabilia and would love to contribute. David Duggan is going to be a judge and I know he is always interested in anything about Alcoa.

[Rebelsman]

The more I recollect, we actually had partitions built in Springbrook gym and went to fourth grade there. 5th and 6th were at the High School so the walkout would have been 1971 and I would have been in 6th grade because Mr. Andy Miles was the 6th grade science teacher.

 

I fell in love with Janet Backus (Love) that year but, she had her eye on another. I finally enticed her to go to The Carpenters concert when we were in 7th grade. We doubled with my sister and her date. It was kind of neat that my big sis, four years older, would let us tag along. I was on cloud nine.

 

Then she fell for a tall skinny hayseed from Middlesettlements. She tore out my heart and stomped that sucker flat. That tall kid came to be one of my best friends. His name was Mark Love. Their youngest boy Logan played fullback for this year's championship team. Tragically we lost Mark several years ago in a car accident.

Edited December 17, 2004 by Rebelsman

[clintabbott]

Rebelsman- I saw Janet break other hearts. so don't feel bad. I still would like to get Tornado74 to respond. Maybe I will have to float a loan for 12 bucks.

[GovMan]

Other than growing up down the road from the Love's and being family friends and having played minor league and little league in the Alcoa baseball program, I don't have a lof credentials to get involved in this incredible thread, but I do have one story that comes to mind that kind of fits in.

 

I think it would have been spring/summer of '69 (I was playing minor league baseball) when this event occurred. We used to practice at a field that was next to the "African American" swimming pool (can't recall it's name... was it Halls?). One night we practiced right up until dark and for whatever reason, our coaches left me at the field waiting for my parents. Mom was at a church function; dad was at a work function. They got their wires crossed on who was supposed to pick me up and neither did! Here I was, seven years old, all alone in the parking lot and it was getting dark quick. I did the only thing I knew to do ... I started walking up a street, wailing as loud as I could. I'll never forget the most precious black lady came out of her house, gathered me in and gave me a big hug, took me in and helped me track down my mom on the phone, and then fed me cookies and milk till mom got there.

 

Something about that event always has stuck with me. I wasn't scared that night because I was in a predominately black neighborhood ... I was scared because I was a little boy and I was alone in the dark. That woman was an angel to me, I could have cared less if she was black, yellow, white, or green. It didn't matter. Kids aren't born hating people that are different than them. It's a learned behavior. We parents, coaches, teachers, ministers, etc. have a God-given responsibility to speak out against racism and to model acceptance of all with our lives.

 

Coach Hamp (ton) will always be a hero to me because he modeled to me at an early age what a man was supposed to be like. James & Edmund Cox, Lamar Norris, Sidney Scott ... these guys were great teammates and great friends to me. I hope I was always the same.

 

Sorry for the sermon ... but this thread really pumped me up. Great stuff.

[Rebel Nation]

Guys, check out unapproved website, especially you Tornado74. There's a link on the right side of the page you'll like...though it's not much right now. It's only the beginning. The will be all kinds of good stuff including a store and memberships for the chat rooms etc later on. It'll be a Blount co thang....not just all rebels, all the time.