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When They Play, It's History

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By STEVE KORNACKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 30, 2007

Updated: 09/30/2007 03:33 pm

TAMPA - The sweet, smoky smell of barbecued chicken, ribs and turkey legs filled the air around Raymond James Stadium as surely as the sounds of 'Brick House' by the Commodores and other hits of yesteryear.

Inside the stadium, the Blake and Middleton football teams were warming up for their annual game. Outside, before the fans made their way in, the tailgate talk was about the old days, when they were Tampa's two black schools and this game was even bigger than it is now.

'Was it like the Auburn-Alabama of high school football?' said Jake Williams of Blake High's Class of 1969 and a former football center-linebacker.

He paused before adding, 'It was bigger. Imagine Florida and Florida State playing for No. 1. That's what it was like. It was the last game of the season, and the captains of the winning team ran off the field with the trophy that went to the winner.'

It was so big and meant so much that graduates such as Carlton 'Fish Man' Gambrell, Middleton Class of '62, come back for it every year.

'I live in Harlem now, New York, New York,' Gambrell said. 'But I got on an Amtrak train Wednesday to come down. I never miss it.

'This game goes very deep for all of us. It's historical and goes back to when we were the only two schools blacks could go to. Back to when there were black and white drinking faucets and when we had to sit in the back of the bus.'

The bond between these rivals is unique.

'We both want to win,' said Alphonso Ball Jr., Middleton Class of '69, 'but it's a camaraderie of coming together that matters most. We have an old school dance after the game at Sacred Heart Academy for both schools. One school will get to brag, and the other has to listen. But it's all good.'

The strongest link to the Middleton Tigers and Blake Yellow Jackets is the Rev. Abraham 'Abe' Brown, who has a predicament at the games. Just where is a former Middleton star, teacher and assistant coach supposed to sit when the school plays Blake, which Brown led to a state championship in 1969 as head coach?

'I used to sit on one side for a half and then cross over the field to sit on the other side for a half,' said Brown, 80, for whom Middleton's football stadium was named in 2003. 'But I can't do that anymore. Now, I am going to sit on one side one year and the other side the next year.'

Brown recalled the mood in 1971, when desegregation closed the schools.

'That was a sad time,' he said, dragging out the word sad for several seconds. 'It was a sad time in our community.'

The schools were educational, social and spiritual hubs for the black communities.

New schools were built to carry on the names, with Howard H. Blake reopening in 1997 and George S. Middleton in 2002. The varsity football teams rekindled their rivalry in 2003, with the Tigers winning 16-0 before 5,700 fans at Abe Brown Stadium.

'It was like a heavenly moment,' said Brown, who founded the Prison Crusade ministry in town. 'I can't tell you in words what it meant to the black community when those two schools came back and played against each other in football.'

Brown coached several players who went on to the NFL, the best-known being Middleton's Lloyd Mumphord, who played in three Super Bowls and was a member of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins.

'It's been a very important game over the years,' Brown said, 'and there has never once been a problem at the game. That is not by chance. The coaches have always taught that the game is played on the field and left on the field for next year.'

Ricky (Blake '69) and Patricia (Middleton '71) Smith exemplify the good-natured ribbing that exists in the rivalry.

'I'm out here today with all these bumblebees,' she said, cackling with a laugh.

Williams, wearing a wild black and gold hat in his school colors, said, 'We are not bumblebees. We are Yellow Jackets!'

She shrugged her shoulders, saying, 'Whatever. We have come here tonight to do the beat-down.'

The Tigers didn't let her down, winning 40-0.

The halftime battle of the bands was much closer, but Blake was determined the winner. The Tigers and the Yellow Jackets put on pulsating, swaying shows with acrobatic drum majors keeping the beat while losing all inhibitions. Four tuba players put an exclamation point on the performances by sprinting toward the drum section and doing splits.

'There is a wonderful competitiveness between the schools,' said Jewel Byrd Warren, Middleton '62. 'But it's about seeing old friends. This game and this day are a joy and a love that surpasses understanding.'

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.

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