Blake Has Won The Last Three Meetings

Tampa, FL – Middleton and Blake will play this Friday night for the 40th time. Blake leads all time series 21-17-1. Little known fact, Blake was known as Don Thompson from 1945-1955. When segregation “Was a thang”

Blake and Middleton were the two schools majority of Black Americans could attend locally. The “Whites Only and Blacks Only” signs really did exist. Black students did not attend the same educational institutions as White students. Seems crazy right? It was the norm in those days.

Well, the restrictions helped create a natural rivalry on the field between the two black schools in the Tampa. To many, the Middleton vs. Blake was the only game that mattered to so many in Tampa’s segregated black community.

“There was no normal game day when we played Blake,” said Henry Washington, Middleton’s principal who played quarterback for the Tigers until he graduated in 1968. “The night before, you didn’t get much sleep. Everybody was fired up. Everybody had their school colors. It was almost like the community came to a stop.”

From the first game in 1946 to the year 1955, before Don Thompson changed the school name to Howard W. Blake, The Yellow Jackets won six of ten of those games including a 33-0 thrashing in 1951. Payback for a butt kicking by Middleton in 1948 winning 25-0.

The series would go back and forth until 1970. INTEGRATION – According an article constructed by MIKE READLING, St. Petersburg Times staff writer back on September 12, 2002…August 1970, a man walked across Blake’s practice field with a clipboard and began reading off names. As their names were called, the players left the field and headed to other schools. The defending state champion Yellow Jackets had their roster dwindle from more than 50 players to 18 in a matter of minutes. Integration also it Middleton and swept through Hillsborough County. Both schools closed at the end of the school year.

The integrationist ideal holds that blacks and whites should live, work, and study together. Government policies designed to accomplish these goals include school busing, affirmative action in public schools and in the workplace, forced integration of public housing, and laws barring discrimination in housing and employment. – http://www.slate.com

Blake reopened in 1997 followed by the much-anticipated return of Middleton in August 2002. After a 31-year hiatus, the Tigers-Yellow Jackets rivalry that held together the black community for so long is back.

We would guess that many of the current students at Blake and Middleton have an idea of the history of Blake and Middleton, but don’t know how important the game was. “Varsity vs. JV. It doesn’t matter,” Henry Washington said. “We could play Blake at marbles and people would show up.” Washington played in 1966 games and recalls that season’s final Friday as one of the most anticipated and exciting of the year. Bands would play during lunch and then snake through the school at the end of the day as students fell in line and sang and danced. After school, the players would head upstairs or gather their thoughts while catching a quick nap on the gym bleachers. – St. Petersburg Times

Freddie Everhart graduated from Blake in 1971 and played outside linebacker for the Jackets. He said the feeling as the teams got off the bus was of a much bigger sense of duty than just winning a football game. – St. Petersburg Times

“At that particular moment, everybody was calm,” Everhart said. “Everybody tried to keep quiet and concentrate. We owed it to the community and the school. We knew that game was what kept the community tight-knit.”

Blake reopened in 1997 and struggled on the field. Only winning season coming in 2000 winning 6 of 11 games:
1997 1-9 (2-8) HC Clarence Higdon (forfeited 1 win)
1998 1-9 HC Clarence Higdon
1999 4-6 HC Clarence Higdon
2000 6-5 HC Clarence Higdon Wildcard
2001 1-9 HC Clarence Higdon
2002 3-7 HC Ricky Reynolds

Middleton reopened in 2002 almost having instant winning success on the field under veteran coach Harry Hubbard:
2002 3-2 HC Harry Hubbard (Partial Varsity Schedule)
2003 5-5 HC Harry Hubbard
2004 8-4 (7-5) HC Harry Hubbard (Forfeit win v Armwood) District Champions
2005 7-4 HC Harry Hubbard District Runner-Up
2006 4-6 HC Harry Hubbard
2007 6-4 HC Harry Hubbard

The two teams would finally play again in 2003 and ignited excitement within the black community. Middleton won the four of the first five games from 2003 to 2007. But the game was bigger than wins and losses on the field.

“That game was like bringing up a child. That was the beginning,” said Jones, who graduated from Middleton in 1945. “They both had players who finished school and played pro and that game was where they started. They were something. It was extremely exciting. It’s kind of difficult to really put it into words because the spirit was out of this world.”

Blake has won the last three meetings outscoring Middleton 96-9. The 2017 edition of this game will be played at Middleton High School 10.7.2017 at 7:30pm

CITATION
READING, M. (2002, SEPTEMBER 12 PUBLISHED). Blake vs. Middleton means more than return of rivalry Retrieved from http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/12/Sports/Blake_vs_Middleton_me.shtml