Herman Boone

Herman Boone
Boone in January 2008
Born	(1935-10-28) October 28, 1935 (age 81) Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Nationality	American
Occupation	High school football coach
Spouse(s)	Carol Boone
Children	3

Herman Boone (born October 28, 1935) is a former American high school football coach, most famous for coaching at T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. Boone was portrayed by Denzel Washington in the 2000 film Remember the Titans.

Boone attended Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, then the now closed Booker T. Washington High School in Rocky Mount and graduated from North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina, where, in 1958, he was awarded his B.A. and M.S. degrees.

After college, Boone decided to become a teacher and coach, so that he might motivate other youngsters, as he had been early in his childhood. In 1958, Herman accepted his first teaching and coaching position at the Luther H. Foster High School in Blackstone, Virginia, where he coached football, basketball and baseball. His teams recorded impressive results with twenty-six wins, six losses and three district championships.

In 1961, Herman returned to his home state of North Carolina to continue his coaching and teaching career. He accepted a coaching position at the E.J. Hayes High School in Williamston, North Carolina. His football teams amassed a record of 99 wins and 8 losses in a nine-year period. His 1966 football team was recognized by Scholastic Coach’s Magazine as “The Number One Football Team in America”. In 1969, Boone was fired from his position, informed by the Williamston school board that the town of Williamston “was not ready for a black head coach”.

In 1971, the city of Alexandria, Virginia decided to totally consolidate its school system and appointed Herman as its first consolidated head football coach at T. C. Williams High School over a white coach Bill Yoast with several years seniority and a steadfast citywide following. Remarkably, Herman was able to pull together and solidify a diverse coaching staff and an unfocused group of young boys into one of the most powerful football teams in the state of Virginia, winning the 1971 Virginia State Championship. This team was ranked second in the nation by national polls.