Requiem For A Classic

About the Book

In the era when segregation and Jim Crow laws ruled the land, "The Turkey Day Classic" was created. The event prospered from 1927 thru 1966. Newspaper accounts describe the Thanksgiving Day football game between Jack Yates and Phillis Wheatley High Schools as the annual largest attended schoolboy game in America. Thousands of football fans came, "Dressed to Kill" with eager anticipation and jubilant spirits to enjoy pep rallies, parades, Thanksgiving Day breakfast and dances. The halftime activities were eloquent with its pageantry, beautiful automoblies, floats, marching bands and drill units, and the crowning of the Miss Wheatley and Miss Yates. "Let the Games Begin", is a chapter which provide highlights of each game played. The Classic was an annual rivalry between two teams like none other. The competition between the two schools were of epic proportion during their 39 years of play.

About the Author

Thurman Robins is an educator, administrator and coach who has worked in education at all levels for more than 40 years. He began his career in the public schools of HISD where he served for 12 years as a teacher/coach. For the past 30 plus years he has worked in higher education as a professor and administrator at Texas Southern University. In addition to his professional responsibilities he served as Athletic Director and also found time to administer youth sports programs for the University , the City of Houston and Harris County Pct. 1. During the past seven years he has published two books, Swimming Against the Odds, and Shimmy To Gold which has given him much joy to share information with young aspiring athletes. He has been inducted into four Hall of Fames: Southern University Athletic Hall of Fame, Prairie View Interscholastic Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame and most recently (Nov. 2010) Texas Southern University College of Education Hall of Fame. Dr. Robins is a native Houstonian, who's was a participant in various sports throughout his early life and his love for elite competition coupled with academic achievement were the foundations for his career as an educator. He is married to Doris Rodgers Robins and has three daughters Emma Robins Turner, Thelma Robins Welch and Kelley Robins Hicks.