Undefeated

Book excerpt: I want to tell a story of how kids from different backgrounds and cultures came together in the summer of 1970, and grew during that fall to produce an 8-0 undefeated football season. This book is a journal of my own personal experiences with that team. These memories, along with personal accounts, recollections, periodical reports are recalled in this memoir. Also included are anecdotes that I gathered from players, cheerleaders, teachers, coaches and sports writers. While compiling information to glorify the achievements of that great team, I discovered that WNA had a tradition of assembling undefeated football teams that dates back to 1933, and were known for their tenacious football style as far back as 1895. When I showed up at West Nottingham Academy in the fall of 1970, our nation was at war with Vietnam, and we were still healing from the aftermath of the shooting of Dr. Martin Luther King where all of the large inner cities had exploded with anger, hatred and riots. My choice to attend a primarily white school was a bit ambitious so I was feeling a bit ambivalent, and a little worried about this new adventure that I was embarking on at this countryside campus in rural Maryland. I had a few nasty racial encounters while in Florida that had left me wondering about my reach out and be friends with everyone attitude. As it turned out, it was a decision that would define my future, and growth into a man . . . . and not just a black man. What I experienced in that rural prep school and in particular what I learned during that wonderful season of comradeship and accomplishment taught me a lot about community that I have carried through the years with me and has kept bringing me back. While attending the 2008 Homecoming at West Nottingham Academy, I discovered that football had been dropped from the schools athletic program. This was my motivation for writing this journal of sorts. I hope it will bring enough attention to the alumni and the administrators at the school to put a competitive football team back on campus. Football has a way of bringing together people who otherwise have very little in common. It brings together student and faculty as well as creates a common goal for all of the campus to reach for in addition to an exhilarating educational experience.