Clarke Central is hosting a panel to discuss the integration of Athens’ high school football teams in the late 1960s.
The Athens High School Trojans hosted the Burney-Harris Yellow Jackets for a football game on September 12, 1969. It was just the second time the two schools played on the football field despite being separated by just a couple miles.
The Trojans won 20-7 in the game between the segregated schools. Athens was the white school and Burney-Harris was the black school.
Local historian Mark Clegg talked with WUGA about those two games between the schools in Athens.
“Ultimately in the last two years of their existence, the two schools played each other,” Clegg said, “which was, I think, unique in the annals of Georgia high school football in the sense that a white high school did not play its black counterpart.”
The game was the final time the two squads would play as they were merged to form Clarke Central the following school year.
Clegg covers the history of high school football in Athens in his book "The Crimson and Gold: Football and Integration in Athens, Georgia." The book was released in 2024 by the University of Georgia Press.
“It’s a story about integration viewed largely through the prism of football because football of course is very important in the south,” Clegg said. “High school football was even more important to communities than it is today.”
Clarke Central’s librarians assigned the book to their student athletes as part of this summer’s book club. Nearly 500 Clarke Central students and coaches read and engaged with the book this summer.
Clarke Central is hosting a community panel featuring Clegg and other voices from the book Wednesday night, September 16th. The panel begins at 6:30 p.m. in Clarke Central's Mell Auditorium.
Clegg will be joined by Horace King and Clarence Pope, who were two of the first five Black football players at UGA after playing at Clarke Central. Former Athens mayor and Clarke Central player Doc Eldridge and other critical voices from Clegg’s book will round out the panel.
The event is free and open to all Clarke Central students, families, faculty and members of the Athens community.
After the panel, there will be roundtable book discussions, light refreshments and more conversation with community members in the Clarke Central cafeteria.
