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'Titans' coach: Mutual respect, trust are what builds a team
YOUNGSTOWN
The movie “Remember the Titans” is not about football, said legendary high school football coach Herman Boone, who in 1971 led the T.C. Williams High School Titans in Alexandria, Va., to a 13-0 record and the Virginia state championship.
Before the Titans won a championship, Boone had to persuade athletes and coaches from three all-white and all-black schools that were combined to form T.C. Williams that confirmed his mantra: Mutual respect builds trust and trust builds a team, which he said is what the movie is about.
The journey of Boone and the city of Alexandria is chronicled in “Remember the Titans” in which Denzel Washington plays the role of Boone.
Speaking Sunday to several hundred Youngstown State University students and teachers and the public as part of the YSU Centofanti Symposium at the university’s Beeghly Center, Boone noted the obstacles to his success at T.C. Williams and laid out a formula for success for anybody.
The players, black and white, hated one another. They had been rivals on the football field and racial tensions added to the problem, he said.
Boone, a black coach, was hired as head coach over Bill Yost, a popular white coach whom the community favored.
‘I became controversial. Many felt I was named head coach because of my color. But, amid the controversy, Coach Yost and I found a way to put racial issues aside and learned to respect each other. Only then were we able to meld angry and unfocused young men into a dynamic team,” Boone said.
“Later, the boys said to me, you taught us respect and trust, which is the emotional glue that held the team together. Everybody has a right to be respected,” Boone said.
“I look back on the first day. No one had any attention of becoming a team. I said, ‘hold hands.’ Some of them had never touched a person of another color,” he said.
“The world didn’t want this team to win. But, for the good of the team they got to know each other as human beings and respect became the motto they preached all over the world,” Boone said.
“Kick adversity in the rear end. Stand up for what you believe,” he advised.
During the question and answer period, Boone was asked what he thought about National Football League players kneeling during the national anthem.
“I disagree. I don’t care what other people think. That’s my flag and my song. I wish in my heart that everyone would stand up for the national anthem. I don’t like it, but I’ll stand up for their right to do it,” Boone said.
Audience members said Boone’s presentation was inspiring and eye-opening.
“I grew up watching “Remember the Titans,” said Devin Motley, 29, of Sharon, Pa., who said his great uncle is Marion Motley who played for the Cleveland Browns.
Motley said he was very impressed by Boone, whose words encouraged him to achieve his goals.
“It was eye-opening to hear the story behind the movie and he provided insight into how he overcame obstacles,” Marissa Dunbar of Leavittsburg and a sophomore at YSU said of Boone.
Margie Iagulli of Canfield, who teaches radiology at Kent State University, said she took away Boone’s words about respect and trust creating a team.
They apply to the classroom as well as in athletics. You have to work together in the classroom,” Iagulli said.