SLIDESHOW: Robert Ellis has his head shaved to raise money for a school in Mali, in western Africa.
Nearly 40 years ago, when Darryl "Blue" Stanton was playing football for the newly integrated T.C. Williams High School Titans, he never imagined a movie would be made about the team's struggles with racism.
"You never know when someone is going to be looking at you," he told a packed auditorium yesterday at Manchester High School in Chesterfield County, "so this is my advice: Conduct yourself as if someone is going to make a movie of you."
In 2000, the movie "Remember the Titans" was based on the story of one black high school and one white high school in Alexandria shutting down and students being integrated into T.C Williams in 1971. A black coach, Herman Boone, played by Denzel Washington, replaced the white coach, Bill Yoast. Racial tensions flared, but the team rose above the prejudice to become one.
Stanton, an offensive player who was portrayed in the movie by actor Earl C. Poitier, and Kerry Lundin, a Titan offensive tackle, appeared at Manchester High for a motivational talk with students.
Their invitation to speak was part of a fundraiser headed by students and teachers in the school's Success Program for at-risk students. The money will help pay for a school in Diakaba, a remote village in Mali in western Africa.
Robert Ellis, an English and theater teacher at the school, had his head shaved yesterday after $500 was raised in his name.
Manchester hopes to raise $25,000 by October 2010 for the West African school project. Since last October, they have raised about $4,000, said Kristin A. Breslin, coordinator of the Success Program.
Each year, the students in the award-winning program -- which boasts reducing the freshmen failure rate from 10 percent to 2 percent in the past 10 years -- organize a fundraiser for charity. This is the largest so far and the first time they are helping a cause abroad through the Peace Corps.
About 600 children in Diakaba need a secondary school, Breslin said. Americorps already helped the local villagers build a one-room, cinderblock elementary school. The secondary school will be similar.
"If the children in the village don't have an education by 12, they're forced into labor and girls are forced into marriage," Breslin said. "Early motherhood and early labor knock down their life span."
This project exposes her students to knowledge of other countries and cultures, Breslin said.
"I think what it truly teaches them is that they have a responsibility as human beings that there's always someone else who needs their help," she said.
The'71 Original Titans Foundation, a nonprofit organization made up of coaches, players and cheerleaders dedicated to helping high school students pursue post-secondary education, will try to match some of the $1,500 raised for yesterday's event, Breslin said.
Lundin told students to stay focused on academics. He advised athletes not to rely solely on big scholarships or the promise of big salaries because few players make it to the pros.
"You need an education because if sports end up not working out, you have to have something to fall back on," he said.
Lundin recalled that a friend told him not to be friends with Stanton and the rest of the black players.
"And I paused for a moment, and I asked him, 'Why?'" he said. "And I put my finger up and said, 'Before you answer that, if you tell me that it is because of the color of their skin, you're an idiot,' and I turned around and I walked away from him."
The Manchester students cheered him.
Contact staff writer Juan Antonio Lizama at jlizama@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6513.
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