1971 ‘Remember the Titans’ football team honored in Alexandria City on 25th anniversary of film
Moments before kickoff at Alexandria City High School on Friday night, a group of older men walked onto the football field and were immediately greeted with applause and cheers from the cheerleaders and fans in attendance.
The walkout capped off a weekslong celebration of the 1971 T.C. Williams High School football team, 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 25th anniversary.
“To see that the community still embraces what we stood for then and what we stand for today is really humbling,” Robert “Bobby” Luckett, who played offensive lineman and center on the Titans, said.
About 40 of the original players attended Friday’s events, along with four of the five surviving coaches and five cheerleaders from that 1971 season.
They participated in a community tailgate and a pep rally featuring Alexandria City community 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 71-0.
James Barber, who played center during the 1971 season, said 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 said. “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 Education Supreme Court case of 1954 ruled that separate but equal schooling was unconstitutional, Alexandria formally desegregated its public school system.
Years after, school officials declared T.C. Williams High School as the area’s high school, combining two other schools with its student body.
The team ‘galvanized the city’
Running back Avery Morton recalled racial tensions remaining high as the 1971 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 said.
“What we did was galvanized the city and enabled everybody to see that we were all working together for one common goal as a team, and that brought the parents and stuff in line with what we were doing,” Morton said.
With its roster mixed with Black and white players, the Titans went undefeated during the regular season, recording seven shutouts in 10 games. In three playoff games, including the state finals, the Titans only surrendered 14 points as they dominated their state opponents en route to a state championship.
The team’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 showed off more of the team’s dominance.
“They portrayed us as not being as powerful as we were, because we were dominating teams,” he said. “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 many people asked throughout the night, the film showed the world that “if you can overcome and trust, you can be successful,” Luckett said.
“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 said, 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.”