I can fully identify with Mark Clegg’s The Crimson and Gold, a historical recap of a potentially tense time in Athens and Clarke County, because a similar process was playing out at the same time in my hometown of Greensboro.
In the fall of 1970, I was a member of the first integrated football team in Greene County: the Greene County High School Tigers. There were 19 players — 12 white and seven Black — so I had a front-row seat to the entire process of integration, with all the ups, downs, and challenges that came with this highly charged transitional period in history.
Clegg has done an extraordinary job writing The Crimson and Gold. His research is impressive and provides detailed accounts of the historical events of this turbulent time, while his interviews with current and former Athens residents offer authentic firsthand perspectives.
Not only does Clegg explore racial integration in high schools during the 1960s and ’70s, but he also provides a historical backdrop to a “seedier” side of Athens during those years. The narrative is further heightened by the proximity of the University of Georgia, just down the street, which was navigating a separate and complex path toward integration.
In The Crimson and Gold, Clegg provides the important real-life story of high school football and racial integration in Athens-Clarke County, where there were two public high schools: Athens High School, a predominantly white school, and Burney-Harris High School, an African American school.
Clarke Central High School was formed after the two schools were required to merge. Clegg illustrates the disparity between the facilities at the white and Black schools, including the fact that UGA football coaches donated hand-me-down jerseys and equipment to Burney-Harris.
Clegg recounts the very challenging early years of Clarke Central and how segments of both the white and Black communities opposed the merger. Both Athens High and Burney-Harris were forced to give up longstanding traditions as part of the consolidation.
The book also explores the rich history of Athens’ culture and music scene, which continues to influence the city to this day.
Mark Clegg will be Georgia Writers Museum’s Meet the Author presenter Tuesday, Sept. 1, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and the program beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $45 each or $40 each for two or more. All tickets include a themed meal prepared by Uncle Fred’s Kitchen.
To register, visit Georgia Writers Museum, 109 S. Jefferson Ave., Eatonton, or go online at georgiawritersmuseum.org.
Tony Barnhart is a former reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and currently appears as a college football insider for CBS Sports. He is the author of The 19 of Greene.