Bridging Troubled Waters: Coach Jessie Heard, Football and Desegregation

During segregation and desegregation, football managed to always bring Southern communities together. Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes and other white and black coaches came to learn from Jake Gaither at Florida A&M. Gaither, a skillful champion of social change, used sports to improve race relations in and beyond the state of Florida. The tumultuous sixties saw teams take to the field through civil rights protests, political assassinations, the Vietnam War. Indeed, it can be said that football is part of America’s circulatory system. Ever pumping, ever constant.

Follow this story in the new feature-length documentary, Bridging Troubled Waters: Coach Jessie Heard, Football and Desegregation. Heard was the last head football coach at Gainesville Lincoln High, and the first head football coach at the new, desegregated Gainesville Buchholz High. After the Supreme Court finally ended the South’s side-by-side white and black schools in 1969, Heard was one of three Black head football coaches left at Florida high schools. Sportscaster, Pam Oliver, narrates this terrific tale.

This is a FREE event beginning at 7 PM.  It is not necessary to purchase tickets or preregister.   Doors open at 6:15 PM.  There will also be a complimentary reception after the show.