‘Remember the Titans’ coach speaks on hatred, diversity
Richard Nixon said Coach Herman Boone “saved the city of Alexandria.” Boone said he didn’t do it, his team, the Titans, did.
Boone is the real coach from the movie, Remember the Titans, set in 1971. He spoke to students in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom on Thursday.
The movie “stars Denzel Washington as you know who,” Boone said.
Boone spoke about hatred, diversity and the movie. He also talked about the recent terrorist attacks on the east coast, as well as leading the students in a moment of silence for the people who died.
He said people can’t let hatred take over their lives.
“Hatred is born out of prejudice and fear,” Boone said.
Boone defined diversity as who we are as individuals and the differences, similarities we share.
Most corporations are realizing “their strength comes from diversity.”
He said diversity is going to be a challenge for some students after leaving Utah State University “their safe haven,” but they “must be prepared to face this challenge.”
“Diversity, ladies and gentlemen, is here to stay,” he said.
Boone encouraged students to follow the Titans and simply talk to one another. He said by speaking with others people learn to understand one another.
He explained everyone in the room was different, but everyone shared similarities. He had everyone in the room grab the hand of someone sitting next to them.
After the activity he said, “Not a single hand rotted off, did it?”
USU is full of “brilliant, young, beautiful students” that are going to be the leaders of the future, Boone said.
Boone related his love of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to the students. He said if King were alive today he would be disappointed with many circumstances in the world, such as violence and teen pregnancy. He would also say people today have done some things right.
He said King would say, “I hope you know you are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and the engineers of bridges to carry people of every race.”
In an interview before speaking, he said, “Yes, the story is real,” but said the producers made it more dramatic and misconstrued some events.
For instance, his oldest daughter’s name was changed from Sharon to Nikki, because Coach Youst had a daughter named Cheryl and Denzel Washington couldn’t keep the names straight.
“They flipped a coin to see which name they would use and I lost,” Boone said.
Washington and Boone talk often. Boone said he used to hate giving autographs, but learned an important lesson from Washington.
“Denzel once told me ‘it may be your thousandth [autograph], but it’s their first,'” he said. “Now, I don’t mind it too much.'”
Boone said he originally wanted to be a doctor, but both his parents died on the same day and “the money just wasn’t there.”
He was hired as a teacher with the agreement he could coach.
“I had no intentions of becoming a coach,” he said.
He was hired to work at a school where, out of 25 teachers, he was the only male. He said he met Carol, his wife, there. She was another teacher at the school.
He said, “I fell in love with what coaches do for kids.”
Taking on the Titans was quite a challenge, Boone said. The team was made of students from three high schools forced into integration.
“They had to deal with race as well as being arch-rivals,” he said in the interview.
The students had a profound effect on those around them, he said.
“The kids went home and taught their parents,” he said.
The parents would sit in different sections of the stands wearing different colors.
“It was not a team effort,” he said. “By the seventh game, the crowd was a sea of red.”
The parents of the football players formed the first booster club in Alexandria, Va.
The principal also asked the athletes to wear their jerseys at school because the other students knew they would be accepted by the team, no matter what race they were.
While at USU, Boone addressed the roles of hatred and discrimination in 1971, as well as today.
He said, “History may not remember the names of Coach Youst or Boone, but they will remember the Titans.”