Monday, February 14, 2022

Black History Month

A big piece of Cy-Fair ISD history is the Carverdale School which was a school for black students from 1925-1970. It was located where Highway 290 meets Beltway 8. The school first opened in 1925 in a one-room farmhouse that was donated by a German dairy farmer. Teachers were known for encouraging students to attend colleges such as Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University after graduation. They were also committed to offering a range of extracurricular activities, including student council, National Honor Society, yearbook staff, Spanish Club, Future Homemakers of America, Future Teachers of America, choir, band, cheerleading, drill team, football, basketball, baseball and track. The Carverdale Cobras clinched two consecutive state basketball titles in 1965 and 1966. The school closed in 1970 after the district was court ordered to desegregate in 1967.


Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard and Bobby Marshall were the first two African American players in the NFL in 1920. Fritz Pollard became the first African American head coach in the National Football League. Pollard went to Brown University, majoring in chemistry and he was the first black football player at Brown University. Pollard later became the first black running back to be named to Walter Camp's All-American team.


Marlin Briscoe was the first African American to start as an American Football League quarterback in 1968 while playing for the Denver Broncos. Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes - are the only two African American quarterbacks in the NFL's 100 year history to outright win the MVP award. Cam Newton was the co-MVP with Peyton Manning.


African American coaches have enjoyed major success in the NFL, most notable when Lovie Smith's Chicago Bears met Tony Dungy's Indianapolis Colts in Miami for Super Bowl XLI. It was the first Super Bowl featuring two Black head coaches, Dungy's Colts defeated Smith's Bears, 29-17, behind a dominant defensive performance. Dungy was the first Black coach to win a Super Bowl and Mike Tomlin became the second after his Steelers topped the Arizona Cardinals just a couple years later in Super Bowl XLIII.


Little known black history fact: Admiral Michelle Janine Howard is a retired United States Navy four star admiral. Howard has achieved many historical firsts throughout her naval career. She was the first African American woman to command a U.S. Navy Ship and the first to achieve two and three star rank. On July 1, 2014, Howard became the first woman to become a U.S. Navy four star admiral. As Vice Chief of Naval Operations, which she began that same day, she was the first African American and the first woman to hold that post. Howard also became the first female four star admiral to command operational forces.