1971 ‘Remember the Titans’ football team honored in Alexandria City on 25th anniversary of film

Players for the Alexandria City High School football group stand for the national anthem in their Remember the Titans jerseys before a championship on Sept WTOP Jose Umana Players for the Alexandria City High School football club stand for the national anthem in their Remember the Titans jerseys before a meeting on Sept WTOP Jose Umana Moments before kickoff at Alexandria City High School on Friday night a group of older men walked onto the football field and were forthwith greeted with applause and cheers from the cheerleaders and fans in attendance The walkout capped off a weekslong celebration of the T C Williams High School football company who became Virginia state champions and whose story inspired the film Remember the Titans The celebration of the Titans undefeated run comes as the film celebrates its th anniversary To see that the locality still embraces what we stood for then and what we stand for this day is really humbling Robert Bobby Luckett who played offensive lineman and center on the Titans stated About of the original players attended Friday s events along with four of the five surviving coaches and five cheerleaders from that season They participated in a society tailgate and a pep rally featuring Alexandria City group leaders before Alexandria City High School the new name for T C Williams took on John R Lewis High School in high school football action The Titans would go on to win - James Barber who played center during the season noted it is a tremendous feeling to be back on campus and seeing his old high school teammates Even as we all come back it all just falls back into place again Barber announced It s like we were back in high school It s a tremendous feeling and I m honored to be here Following the Brown vs Board of Tuition Supreme Court affair of ruled that separate but equal schooling was unconstitutional Alexandria formally desegregated its inhabitants school system Years after school personnel declared T C Williams High School as the area s high school combining two other schools with its aspirant body The band galvanized the city Running back Avery Morton recalled racial tensions remaining high as the season began with white people sitting on one side of the stadium while Black people sat on the other However as the Titans began winning it kinda got them to start mingling together Morton disclosed What we did was galvanized the city and enabled everybody to see that we were all working together for one common goal as a association and that brought the parents and stuff in line with what we were doing Morton explained With its roster mixed with Black and white players the Titans went undefeated during the regular season recording seven shutouts in games In three playoff games including the state finals the Titans only surrendered points as they dominated their state opponents en passage to a state championship The band s success led to the creation of the Remember the Titans film starting renowned actor Denzel Washington with a cast featuring Donald Faison Ryan Gosling Ryan Hurst and Hayden Panettiere While the film stayed true to the story of Titan players coming together for a common goal amid rising racial tensions Morton wished it proved off more of the company s dominance They portrayed us as not being as powerful as we were because we were dominating teams he reported In the movie that made it look like we were really struggling at times That never happened Only three teams scored on us the whole entire season until the playoffs For Luckett and others as long as the film stayed true to the core of what the Titans were it did the job While there was no Denzel in the stands as plenty of people required throughout the night the film indicated the world that if you can overcome and trust you can be profitable Luckett stated It doesn t matter what color your skin is doesn t matter where you re from doesn t matter any of that All that matters is what s inside here Barber stated pointing at his heart You look inside the person you re going to find the right person and I think we need to do a lot more of that Source