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School Athletics Help Reveal Pre-Integration Black History

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By IMANI ASUKILE

Tribune Correspondent

Published: July 17, 2008

I have always wanted to tell the story of the Mid 8 Athletic Conference, to which area black schools, such as Mickens High School in Dade City and Moton High in Brooksville, belonged before integration.

It's tough to come by records chronicling the conferences of the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association. The definitive source is "The History of the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association, 1932-1968," written by Leedell Neyland, Matthew Estaras and Wilts Alexander. Without the 1982 publication, which is out of print, several decades of history might be lost.

For instance, through the book I was able to document that Moore Academy won the 1953 Class B state baseball championship. Mickens High School won the baseball championship in 1960 and 1968. Other Mid 8 Conference schools won state titles - and not just the boys. New Smyrna's Chisholm High School girls won the state basketball championship in 1934 and 1935, and the girls from Clermont Junior High School, which became Lincoln Park, won the state basketball title in 1953.

Other high schools in the conference included Bellview-Santos in Ocala, Booker T. Washington in Inverness, Williston, J.R.E. Lee in Wildwood, Mills in Webster and Fessenden Academy in Ocala.

Conference schools offered a number of sports - including football, baseball, basketball and track - but not as many as schools today. Basketball was offered before many black schools bestowed high school diplomas. Mickens had one of those teams in the '30s but did not issue its first high school diploma until 1940. There were teenage boys playing on the same team as men who were almost 30.

Dade City has always been a hotbed for baseball talent, so it's not surprising the local school won three state titles. But the school was competitive in football, too.

The Mid 8 Conference was a tough place to play football. It reminds me of the Southeastern Conference. You could be beaten by a number of teams, and losses in late-season games doomed many teams to second-place finishes in the conference. I can remember a 1966 game, in particular. Moton, which had won eight games, was tied for first place going into its final game against J.R.E. Lee. The game ended in a 6-6 tie, giving Clermont the conference title with a 9-0-1 record. Moton's was 8-0-2.

The football games between Mickens and Moton were always grueling. The game in 1964 ended in a tie. I remember Jerry Bell, who scored a touchdown for Moton to tie the game, blacking out in the end zone with the ball locked in his arms. Looking at him, we wondered if he was dead.

Winning a conference championship meant an awful lot to the players then because it took considerable leadership, focus, discipline and teamwork to do it. I remember when Moton won the Mid 8 basketball conference championship in 1968. This was the school's first conference championship since the football team won in 1958-59. The school was close on many occasions but always came up a little short.

It was about more than championships, though. You have to factor in the schools' ability to triumph over adversity. Only a few Mid 8 Conference schools had gymnasiums. Basketball games were played on asphalt courts at night. February nights are chilly, even in Dade City, which represented the southernmost tip of the conference. Fires were built in 55-gallon drums to keep the fans warm.

In about the 1966-67 school term, with integration being accelerated, accommodations were made for blacks to play in white gyms. Dade City was not so lucky. The National Guard Amory was the only gym in town, and Pasco and Zephyrhills high schools and Saint Leo College had priority, according to Willie Broner, who coached Mickens' 1968 championship baseball team. For about three years, Mickens did not have a basketball program because there was no place for the school to play.

The conference produced top athletes. Two of the best known are Moton's Maulty Moore, a member of the Miami Dolphins 1970s championship teams, and Moore Academy's James "Mudcat" Grant, who pitched in the 1964 World Series.

The Mid 8 had outstanding coaches, too. Mickens' Mike Artis was one of the best. He was a gifted athlete and good at everything, including checkers, said Broner.

Mickens' and Moton's principals were big players in the conference and worked hard to teach their students good sportsmanship. After each conference football game, the home team provided the visiting team a meal that usually consisted of baked beans, wieners, sliced bread and a carton of milk. The meal prevented confrontations with local Jim Crow food providers.

It's always an honor to share the story of those who contributed to our quality of life today, especially when their stories have been forgotten or omitted. The story of Mickens' participation in the Mid 8 Conference is a story of who we are.

The Florida High School Athletic Association should take the lead in having the history of the FIAA republished to preserve the contributions of Florida's black school athletics program. In the meantime, the stories should be included in all the reunion booklets and passed along from one generation to the next. I am proud to be an eyewitness to a little of the history of the Mid 8 Conference.

Imani Asukile, a Hernando County native, is a longtime Dade City resident and one of the founders of the African American Heritage Society of East Pasco County. To suggest a column idea, e-mail idasukile@yahoo.com.

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