Thursday Night Lights: The Story of Black High School Football in Texas

by Michael Hurd

At a time when “Friday night lights” shone only on white high school football games, African American teams across Texas burned up the gridiron on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The segregated high schools in the Prairie View Interscholastic League (the African American counterpart of the University Interscholastic League, which excluded black schools from membership until 1967) created an exciting brand of football that produced hundreds of outstanding players, many of whom became college All-Americans, All-Pros, and Pro Football Hall of Famers, including NFL greats such as “Mean” Joe Green (Temple Dunbar), Otis Taylor (Houston Worthing), Dick “Night Train” Lane (Austin Anderson), Ken Houston (Lufkin Dunbar), and Bubba Smith (Beaumont Charlton-Pollard). Thursday Night Lights tells the inspiring, largely unknown story of African American high school football in Texas. Drawing on interviews, newspaper stories, and memorabilia, Michael Hurd introduces the players, coaches, schools, and towns where African Americans built powerhouse football programs under the PVIL leadership. He covers fifty years (1920–1970) of high school football history, including championship seasons and legendary rivalries such as the annual Turkey Day Classic game between Houston schools Jack Yates and Phillis Wheatley, which drew standing-room-only crowds of up to 40,000, making it the largest prep sports event in postwar America. In telling this story, Hurd explains why the PVIL was necessary, traces its development, and shows how football offered a potent source of pride and ambition in the black community, helping black kids succeed both athletically and educationally in a racist society.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, History

248 pages, Hardcover

Published October 11, 2017

Reviews

[Saketh Bhupathiraju · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thursday Night Lights is a powerful journey that employs a seamless balance of humor, nostalgia, anguish, and tragedy to evoke an emotional appreciation for black players during the era of the PVIL. Through personal accounts from players, coaches, and his own memories; Hurd effectively captures the profound atmosphere of a football driven Texas. Through the employment of slang and actual nicknames, Hurd establishes a sense of brotherhood and fosters a personal connection to the men and women in the book. By doing so, readers are provided a sense of intimacy with the consistent degradation and lack of recognition attributed to people who played such a vital role in developing our society today.

The underlying tones of "underdog" and "chip-on-your-shoulder" mentalites that permeate the book are an expression of the black community's endeavors to attain respect and leave a legacy behind. Such manifestations draw a parallel to modern America's society's battles with social injustice and becomes a powerful testament to the notion of taking initiative to better one's life. Hurd consistently accentuates the ability of these players and coaches to not succumb to societal adversity, but rather harness it to pave a road to success. In that sense, the pages of this book are the embodiment of the blood, sweat, and tears of these forgotten, yet inspiring heroes. On that account, this book is a must-read to understand the nuances and roots of black culture from the views of those who cultivated it. In that sense, we can tip our hats to Michael Hurd for unveiling the depths of an overshadowed league and his embracement of the soul of African American culture.

[Reginald · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was aite.

[B. May · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you consider yourself a serious student of football— especially Texas high school football— your knowledge is incomplete without this exhaustive history of the PVIL.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good and necessary book to tell the story of the many amazing PVIL athletes and coaches who are way too often forgotten when telling the story of Texas High School Football. But there are several factual errors that could have been corrected if the author just referenced his own appendix. It mentions Lufkin Dunbar losing to Wichita Falls Washington in the state title in 1966, but his appendix has Lufkin Dunbar winning that game 14-7. He also mentions Ray Timmons as being the only coach to win back to back 3A state titles. But his appendix also has Elmer Redd as winning back to back 3A titles in the 1960’s.

Those errors aside, the stories of what the players and coaches experienced in the PVIL were very illuminating and I think you cannot tell the story of high school football in Texas without telling the story of the PVIL and the many influential coaches and players who came from their ranks.

[Nathan Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thursday Night Lights is and exploration of African American high school football in Texas history during the segregation era. Hurd documents the stories of players, coaches, and communities that thrived despite facing significant racial barriers. This book highlights the resilience and determination of these student athletes and their supporters. It shows the power of sports that brings people together and inspire change. Through story telling and thorough research, Hurd brings light to an overlooked part of American sports history. It was a good book and brings up an important part in history but it wasn't to interesting for me but would be a great fit for someone who likes history and sports.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a history of football in the Prairie View Interscholastic League, the governing body for Texas black high school extracurricular activities during a portion of the Jim Crow era. Michael Hurd is a sportswriter and director of a history and culture institute at Prairie View A&M University. I enjoyed learning about an aspect of Texas history that I hadn't thought much about before this. It was interesting to read about the origins of so many players who went on to great success in college and in professional football.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, makes me want to go to a high school football game. As a white Texan, I’m disappointed that this history is not a part of our shared cultural history. Integration was necessary, but the loss of culture and talent was regrettable. In a better world the two leagues would have integrated as equals. Let us do better.

[Kyle Magin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty fascinating piece of reporting here. The writing is a little wobbly at times but I found it enjoyable and informative. The writer uses segregated football as a way to tell the history of Texas and I learned a lot about the state's sports geography.

[MaKenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️

[RTB: Review of Texas Books]

by Jennifer Ravey

Thursday Night Lights is everywhere at the moment, hitting the presses at a seemingly prescient moment. Amid national controversy surrounding NFL players taking a knee in protest of racial violence comes this well researched book chronicling the hard work and triumph of segregated black high school football players and their coaches in the Prairie View Interscholastic League in the 60s. Friday Night Lights were for white football players; Thursday nights, the stadiums were free, and segregated schools took advantage of empty football fields to square off.

Hurd, a former sports writer, discusses the creation of black schools in Houston and its surrounding areas, including southeast Texas. Football was a big part of those schools, and players achieved hero status depending on their feats on the field. However, without organization, any team could declare themselves "champions" until the creation of the Texas Interscholastic League of Colored Schools (TILCS) in 1920 - formally the Prairie View Interscholastic League in 1963 - which began to set standards based on similar UIL guidelines.

With organization came additional interest and an emphasis on playing college ball, specifically at historically black colleges, and Hurd recognizes the first black recruits for the AFL and the NFL and profiles a number of those early professional players. He then focuses on those who mentored these students, the coaches. These men did more than teach the sport. Often, they spent their own low incomes outfitting teams in uniforms and buying equipment. As Joe Washington, Sr. said, "We were developers of character and discipline" (86).

An entire chapter is devoted to football in southeast Texas, "Gold in the Triangle," and PVIL schools Charlton-Pollard, Hebert, Lincoln, with additional profiles of exceptional players and coaches. Self-proclaimed as the "pro football capital of the world," the Texas State Senate declared as much with a 1971 senate resolution (114). With a brief primer on Beaumont history, including the 1943 race riots, Hurd describes a community ripe for the unity and pride football brought.

Awed at so much talent, Coach Leon Bedford remarked, with "all of those industrial places...we used to say it was something in the smoke up there" (114).

A final chapter features integration in Texas schools and UIL. The PVIL was absorbed into UIL, and black coaches and teachers lost jobs, as white parents didn't want their children educated by blacks. While several black coaches indicated their desire for treatment equal to white teams, they also noted their concerns. Coach Joe Washington, Sr. echoed the sentiments of other coaches: "They put those kids in situations that were new to them, and some of them were not able to handle it....We lost too many people in the shuffle. Coaches and teachers lost jobs, kids dropped out of school" (49).

Another problem, unique to football, was the "lust for black running backs and other superstar-quality black players from the new, overflowing pool of black talent from the PVIL" (186). Black football players, in many cases, were superior players, but many were still limited by white coaches who felt they had to feature white players. Black players also faced the pressure to win - but not too well, as Coach Charles Brown discovered after winning a close game and leaving the stadium to a shower of racist epithets. Too, the racial inequity of officials could make play difficult, and many coaches fought for inclusion of black officials for games. Off the field, things were often worse, with black players and coaches unable to dress or eat inside at certain schools.

Thursday Night Lights opens with the author having attended the PVIL Coaches Association's 2007 Hall of Honor and Hall of Fame Banquet, and he describes the congeniality, the pride, the nostalgia, and the recognition of struggle, as coaches reminisce days past. His book goes a long way in uncovering their stories and those of their players. With firsthand accounts, photographs of ragtag but proud teams, and newspaper articles with scores, Thursday Night Lights is a highly illuminating book, perfect for sports lovers, those interested in sports and African-American history, Texas history, and race.

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[Roxanne Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Hurd does an excellent job of us taking us back to his high school days. We experience the excitement of high school football teams and the legendary players these schools produced. The book is well-researched and very well-written. A true delight.

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

POPSUGAR 2019: A book revolving around a puzzle or a game

An excellent history, but more about the actual game of football than I would have preferred.