Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - Herman Boone, the real life football coach depicted in "Remember the Titans," delivered a speech to a standing-room-only crowd of students, faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, as well as the public, at the Williams Fieldhouse at 10 a.m. on April 2. A question and answer session followed Boone's speech.

Boone began his speech by apologizing that he was not Denzel Washington, the actor who played Boone in "Remember the Titans" but that he was glad he was the campus' second choice. Boone was the high school football coach for the Titans, a team that was formed in 1971 when three high schools in Alexandria, Va., integrated, and racial tension ensued.

Boone spoke a great deal about his experience with his 1971 Titans. Boone worked right away to integrate his team by separating the buses into offensive players and defensive players, rather than allowing them to separate themselves by races. The players called it "the ride of a lifetime." They sat next to individuals they would normally not be within arms-length of and were given a chance to talk to one another and to know each other as human beings.

A clip from the movie showed another experience of Boone with his team, when he took his players on a 3 a.m. run to the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. Boone explained how 50,000 individuals lost their lives on that field because of one act of hatred and related to his team that if they did not get along, they would never succeed. He made it clear that everyone on his team deserved to be respected.

"The 1971 Titans simply broke the silence. They learned to accept one another as individuals instead of by how they were different," Boone said.

Boone also praised another respected coach, Vince Lombardi, who insisted that his players all be treated the same and said, "My team is a team with one vision, one objective."

As a way to open the audience's eyes to existing racial problems, Boone spoke of how racial issues still exist today. Although children and teenagers may get along in class, unlike in the past, Boone pointed out that at lunch time, the different races and ethnicities divide and sit at opposite corners of the lunch room. Boone urges individuals to look for opportunities to invite people who don't necessarily look like them into their own circle, like his Titans did.

Boone also related that, in business, a company's total success depends on its determination and its diversity, and that to be successful in this globalized world, that they must have access to multiple perspectives. Yet he also stated that diversity is not about the color of one's skin, but who a person is as an individual.

Throughout his speech, Boone encouraged UWP to be a model for promoting diversity and ending hatred. He said that Unity Week was a great start for this, and that it was one of the largest programs he'd been a part of. Boone spoke of his belief that, in order to solve problems, individuals only need to find ways to sit down and talk with people of different races, religions and beliefs. He praised the actions of those like a mayor in Florida who organized different groups to meet on Monday nights once a month, and, as a result, the city saw less crime and lower unemployment.

Boone concluded his speech with encouraging words for the students in the audience.

"The whole world is waiting for you. Your degree at UW-Platteville qualifies you to make a difference. When you do things that are right, the world tends to watch you," concluded Boone.

Anyone wanting more information about Boone's speech may contact Kendall Christian, event manager for Campus Programming and Relations, at (608) 343-1497 or cpr@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Kendall Christian, event manager, Campus Programming and Relations, (608) 342-1497, cpr@uwplatt.edu Written by: Megan Mowry, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, mowryme@uwplatt.edu