They had known each other since the age of five but a life together for Emma Hoyt and Gerry Bertier truly began in the fall of 1969. It was no longer a time of innocence but one of major change. A couple of free spirited fun loving 15 year olds fell madly in love within the confines of all white Hammond High. It was after the U.S. death toll in Vietnam reached 33,641, after Senator Edward Kennedy's dreams of Presidency drowned right along with his 28-year-old passenger on Chappaquiddick Island, after the free love and peace themed Woodstock. Even though the outside world was going crazy, little changed in Alexandria, Virginia. It was a beautiful town located minutes from the nation's capital. It was where neighbors were friends, where you could leave your front door unlocked at night and where high school football was bigger than Christmas day itself. For Gerry and Emma the small town and its values weren't just home but a way of life.
He had grown up an only child and lost his father as a young boy. Raised by his widowed mother, Gerry was a happy boy who harbored dreams of winning a gold medal in the Olympics. Quickly he learned that his real talents were in the sport of football. The handsome, young line backer was a standout All American for Hammond High until 1971 when the city decided to integrate the school system. Gerry, along with his friends, was transferred to T.C. Williams. Desegregation had proved to be the toughest challenge of them all.
The first real drama began when Coach Bill Yoast was demoted to the position of assistant coach/defensive coordinator. The man who had been a successful head coach for over ten years was given the ultimate ultimatum...take the demotion or resign. That had been a blow and surprise to everyone. Yoast was more than a leader on the football field, he was more like a living legend in the community. Gerry and his friends had played for him since they were all knee high to a grasshopper. With junior year approaching, Yoast was supposed to lead his all white football team to another Hammond regional championship. He was supposed to mentor and coach the young men on through senior year where eventually they would get athletic scholarships and venture on to college. That had been the plan alright until Herman Boone came along. Gerry had shaken his head in disbelief and pure disgust at the very thought of it. It was bad enough they were expected to attend school and play sports alongside the blacks, now they would have to be coached by one. It was unthinkable and Gerry wouldn't stand for it. He talked it over with his best friend, Ray Budds, Alan Bosley and the others and they decided to boycott the season once Yoast had planned to resign. There was no way on God's green earth that any of them would play for a "thief". Not willing to let his boys sacrifice their future, Bill Yoast had sacrificed his pride and accepted the new position. The very heart of Alexandria had been rocked to its core.
It was Gerry who on that first day of summer practice marched proudly behind Bill Yoast as they and the rest of the Hammond players walked into the T.C. Williams gymnasium and boldly interrupted Coach Boone's first team assembly. Gerry had stood in stony silence as he listened to the black man lay out instructions for the upcoming football camp to be held in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It all seemed surreal even up to the last minute when the young players assembled for departure in the school parking lot. Ray and Gerry gallantly approached Coach Boone with their own version of the team roster. Half the spots on the Special Team as well as Offense were to be reserved for the Hammond players.
"We don't need any of your people on defense", Gerry had said, looking the new coach square in the eyes. "We got that covered."
Herman Boone had not been one to be intimidated. Not the man who had marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and had stood toe to toe with the Ku Klux Klan out in rural North Carolina. In a millisecond he had put both boys in their place in front of teammates, coaches and parents alike. He told Gerry to take one last look at his mother because at camp he wouldn't have a mother anymore. He'd only have his "Daddy" and they all knew who that was.
"Who's your Daddy, Gerry?"
Rage inflaming his cheeks a bright crimson, Gerry nervously looked at the ground.
"Gerry, if you want to play on this football team, you will answer me when I ask you a question. Now who's your Daddy? Who's your Daddy, Gerry? Who's your Daddy?"
Deflated like a popped balloon, Gerry could only hang his head and murmur softly, "You."And thus how camp began for the Titans.
"This is no democracy. It is a dictatorship. I am the law", Boone has said often.
And he wasn't kidding. When the blacks boarded one bus and whites assumed another, the players were quickly ushered off both buses. One bus was labeled "Defense" and the other "Offense" and players were instructed to board the bus for whatever position they were trying out for. Once on the bus, players were to sit with a member of the opposite race. As if all that wasn't enough, the person sitting next to them was to be their roommate for the duration. It was that fateful bus ride that introduced Gerry Bertier to Julius Campbell.
The lives of two young men would drastically change forever and a lifetime friendship would be born but who would have ever guessed with the fight that ensued less than ten minutes after settling into their dorm rooms. Gerry had quietly unpacked his belongings as Julius appeared to be hanging a poster on the wall. When he moved away, there as plain as day was the controversial and political image of black athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their hands in a "black power" salute at the 1968 Olympic games.
"I ain't looking at that for two weeks, man", Gerry grumbled.
"You look at your wall and I'll look at mine. You better use your X-ray vision and look right through it Superman because it ain't coming down", Julius retorted.
And the first blows were thrown...
Fighting amongst each other did not set well with Boone. The Titans were on three a day practices until each and every player got acquainted with and had a written essay about facts and particulars on teammates of a different race. Once again Gerry and Julius argued but it was there the first time they saw and respected each other as men. Big Ju had challenged Gerry's authority and leadership skills as a captain. He had called Gerry out for allowing his white friends to not block for black quarterback, Jerry "Rev" Harris worth a plug nickel. Gerry had gotten angry but he knew his teammate was right. A mutual respect developed soon after and by the time camp was over, Gerry had made a new friend.
The Titans began camp as boys and had left young men. Gerry's whole world changed that year. It was a year for great things...Gerry's continued domination on the field, his new relationships with black players, a "perfect" no loss regular season, his new best friend, Julius. It was also a year of great loss...the deterioration of his friendship with Ray Budds and relationship with Emma Hoyt. Times were changing and instead of running in that direction, Emma and Ray were both about as opposite as opposite could be. The final straw came with Ray when he purposely missed a block during the Groveton game. That missed block caused Rev to end up with a broken wrist. It was Gerry who made the decision to cut Ray from the team and Ray who decided to cut Gerry from his life. Then there was Emma. Pretty, polite, demure Emma who Gerry loved more than life. She just couldn't adapt. She didn't understand nor did she want to. She wouldn't be caught dead shaking a coloreds hand or forfeiting a night at the Hill to hang with them in some of the newly integrated establishments. She and Gerry had grown apart and painful as it was, it was over. Regardless of the split, she would always remain in his heart. Emma Hoyt was his first love and the image of her beautiful face, the happy sound of her laugh was always with him...at home, at school, on the field and especially the night that everything changed. One minute the school, the whole town, was in the midst of a jubilant celebration after winning the Regional Championship. The next minute there were bright lights and a loud crash. The next minute Gerry was in a hospital bed, tubes everywhere and in tremendous pain...from the waist up. He felt nothing from the waist down. The handsome all American, the cocky champion was now mortal.