By Hannah Lathen
The football coach portrayed by Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans will be the special guest at the district’s Celebrating Strides event as part of Black History Month Feb. 28.
In 1971, three high schools in Alexandria, Virginia, were combined to form T.C. Williams High School. Coach Herman Boone united the black and white students from the formerly rival schools and led them to be one of the best teams in Virginia, winning the state championship.
Disney created the film Remember the Titans in 2002 based on these events.
Boone is retired from coaching but travels giving motivational presentations.
SE economics professor Bob McKizzie says Celebrating Strides is a celebration of African-American culture.
“The theme for this year’s celebrations is Looking Back, Moving Forward … and Connecting with Respect,” he said.
TCC has a Celebrating Strides committee, and the chief officer for diversity and inclusion Andrew Duffield listened to Herman Boone speak and suggested him, McKizzie said.
Boone will speak during the 5-7:30 p.m. event at the Hurst Conference Center at 1601 Campus Drive in Hurst. Students, faculty, staff and the community are invited. The event will offer free T-shirts, food and entertainment. The dress code is business casual. Attendees can enter to win door prizes and scholarships.
To volunteer, people can register at http://tccdne.volunteerub.com/events/index. On-site registration begins at 4 p.m. the day of the event.
For more information, students can contact McKizzie at 817-515-3583 or robert.mckizzie@tccd.edu or South academic advisor Deshun Jackson at 817-515-4549 or at deshun.jackson@tccd.edu.
