BY SANTI GABINO JR.
A new documentary film, Bridging Troubled Waters: Coach Jessie Heard, Football and Desegregation, will screen at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 15, at the Athens Theatre in DeLand, with a reception following. Sportscaster Pam Oliver narrates this terrific tale.
“There’s one thing about sports, even way back then, there was more division in the people than there was on the team. Because in order to be a teammate, the guy had to know that you had his back.” – Fred Marion (New England Patriots 1982-91, University of Miami Class of 1982, Gainesville Buchholz High School Class of 1978)
During segregation and desegregation, football managed to always bring Southern communities together. Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes and other white and black coaches came to learn from Jake Gaither at Florida A&M University. Gaither, a skillful champion of social change, used sports to improve race relations in and beyond the state of Florida.
The tumultuous ’60s saw teams take to the field through civil rights protests, political assassinations and the Vietnam War. Indeed, it can be said that football is part of America’s circulatory system. Ever pumping, ever constant.
Jessie Heard was the last head football coach at Gainesville Lincoln High School, and the first head football coach at the new desegregated Gainesville Buchholz High. After the Supreme Court finally ended the South’s side-by-side white and black schools in 1969, Heard was one of three Black head football coaches left at Florida high schools.
Heard starred on the first football team at segregated Tallapoosa County Training School in Alabama, and for the Rattlers at Florida A&M University. At Lincoln, he rebuilt a storied football program just as freedom of choice desegregation allowed white high schools to recruit Black players to their powerhouse teams.
When Buchholz High opened, however, its buildings were not ready. Heard had to start a desegregated program using two Mayflower moving trailers, one for offense and one for defense.
Before desegregation, football was a haven that united close-knit Black communities. This poignant film allows us to experience this moment in time, the unique values, and the love so missed by the last generation to attend the Black high schools.
This is a free event with general seating. It is not necessary to purchase tickets or preregister. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. There will be a complimentary reception after the show.
The Athens Theatre is at 124 N. Florida Ave. in Downtown DeLand.
