Wade Hampton Generals basketball eases Integration in SC Upstate Public Schools
Friends We all meet folks in college who become to some fame in time and if you are from Gaffney you get to know a few in high school.
In Gaffney it was Johnny Dawkins who was one of a handful of black athletes who stayed on the football team the first two year of full integration, won the praise of Wayne Whiteside and found himself in film school at Southern Cal a Few years later. He wrote early script for Denzel Washington and had very respectable career. He doesnt like for me to say too much about him but I did have a phone chat with him just a couple hours ago.
In the interim from the miracles of Facebook it came to my attention Furman basketball great Clyde Mayes--had good career with the Milwaukee Bucks before charming Europe in their Italian League--was at a book signing a few hours ago.
His High school team the Wade Hampton Generals of Greenville SC won the state championship two years in a row after five blacks joined the team in February of 1970,
Clyde Came to Furman and was on a team there from 71-75 that set the woods on fire. His HS teammate Norm Macdonald played football and ran track at Furman and charmed the Ladies. Proud of both of them for their story in this book.
I'm itchin to get my hands on a copy but thought I would put my illustrious blog to good use on the fly this afternoon at year's end.
Proud to know both of them
Quoting Mr Chibbaro on why he wrote the book
thanks for your question about what prompted me to document this story-As a graduate of Wade Hampton (class of 1977) and also a former basketball player at WH, I had a personal attachment to the story. When I saw Disney’s “Remember the Titans,” I thought to myself, “A basketball version of that story happened right here in Greenville and someone needed to document that story.” I became even more interested in telling it when a controversial effort began a couple years ago to try to rename Wade Hampton High School. With all the division and disunity occurring these days, I felt it was the right time to document an inspirational story of racial unity and the positive results that can happen when people of different backgrounds work together to accomplish a common goal. It’s a wonderful story that, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of public schools in Greenville County (2/17/2020), we should pause to remember and celebrate.
end quote
Here is an excerpt
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/535b9aebe4b0a78001c0bc29/t/5da763e14f4af712f3c3551e/1571251176368/TheMightyGenerals_Excerpt.pdf
In Gaffney it was Johnny Dawkins who was one of a handful of black athletes who stayed on the football team the first two year of full integration, won the praise of Wayne Whiteside and found himself in film school at Southern Cal a Few years later. He wrote early script for Denzel Washington and had very respectable career. He doesnt like for me to say too much about him but I did have a phone chat with him just a couple hours ago.
In the interim from the miracles of Facebook it came to my attention Furman basketball great Clyde Mayes--had good career with the Milwaukee Bucks before charming Europe in their Italian League--was at a book signing a few hours ago.
His High school team the Wade Hampton Generals of Greenville SC won the state championship two years in a row after five blacks joined the team in February of 1970,
Clyde Came to Furman and was on a team there from 71-75 that set the woods on fire. His HS teammate Norm Macdonald played football and ran track at Furman and charmed the Ladies. Proud of both of them for their story in this book.
I'm itchin to get my hands on a copy but thought I would put my illustrious blog to good use on the fly this afternoon at year's end.
Proud to know both of them
Quoting Mr Chibbaro on why he wrote the book
thanks for your question about what prompted me to document this story-As a graduate of Wade Hampton (class of 1977) and also a former basketball player at WH, I had a personal attachment to the story. When I saw Disney’s “Remember the Titans,” I thought to myself, “A basketball version of that story happened right here in Greenville and someone needed to document that story.” I became even more interested in telling it when a controversial effort began a couple years ago to try to rename Wade Hampton High School. With all the division and disunity occurring these days, I felt it was the right time to document an inspirational story of racial unity and the positive results that can happen when people of different backgrounds work together to accomplish a common goal. It’s a wonderful story that, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of public schools in Greenville County (2/17/2020), we should pause to remember and celebrate.
end quote
Here is an excerpt
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/535b9aebe4b0a78001c0bc29/t/5da763e14f4af712f3c3551e/1571251176368/TheMightyGenerals_Excerpt.pdf
posted by foxofbama | 1:42 PM
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