NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

2/13/2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES - Herman Boone, and Bill Yoast, the Virginia high school football coaches made famous by the movie "Remember the Titans," will lecture at Northwestern State University Thursday, March 1 at 7 p.m. in the Friedman Student Union Ballroom. The event is sponsored by the NSU Student Government Association. Admission is free and open to the public.

Boone became head football coach at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., in 1971, the year three schools were integrated to form the new school. He was named to the job over Yoast, the successful former coach of white Hammond High, a move that angered Yoast's supporters. Boone and Yoast managed to put aside their differences and unify the team which finished 13-0 and captured the state championship.

In "Remember the Titans," Boone was portrayed by Academy-Award winner Denzel Washington. The film's screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard told the Washington Post, "Herman is Shakespearean. The beauty of Herman and what he did was that it was sort of unconscious. If you'd ask Herman when he took over T.C. Williams, 'Were you trying to make a point with these kids?' he would have said, 'No, I just want to win football games.' He had to get the players to get along to win football games. And it worked for just that reason ­ because it wasn't self-conscious. He did something quite beyond what even he realized."

Boone is retired but continues to motivate and inspire audiences with presentations on respect, teamwork, community involvement and the importance of character.

Yoast was given credit for being the calming influence on the team. He has been acclaimed as being ahead of the time in fighting racial injustice and behind the times in seeking personal glory.

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