Movie character inspiration, racism fighter, Mercer grad dies

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

            He became the inspiration for the key character in one of the top sports movies ever, for his fight against racism and fight for integration in the 1970s.

           And Bill Yoast, played by Will Patton in “Remember The Titans”, was a Mercer grad who coached in Central Georgia for a few years before that.

          Yoast died at Aarondale Retirement and Assisted Living in Springfield, Va., it was announced Friday, at 94.

          A graduate of Coffee High in Florence, Ala., Yoast followed three years in the Air Force by attending GMC college and then Mercer, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in phys ed in 1949. He spoke at Mercer’s Founders Day in 2009.

          He coached football – and basketball and baseball and track – at old Sparta High from 1949-52. Sparta’s final season was in 1970, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association website.

          Yoast moved to Roswell for seven years, then to Alexandria, Va., where he coached for three decades. His record in 10 seasons in Georgia? 29-68-3.

          Yoast was the successful and popular head coach at an all-white high school in Alexandria, Va., who put aside ego to become the defensive coordinator of a new integrated high school rather than fight for the head coaching job, which went to African-American Herman Boone.

          The movie was based on that decision, to “put aside personal pride” and “solidify a diverse coaching staff,” a release from the Alexandria school system noted.

          The 1971 team went undefeated.

          "It was not easy," Boone said in a story posted by the Alexandria school system on Friday, courtesy of WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C. “People were not accepting integration. But you could see it in Bill Yoast. You can’t fake believing. You can lie about things, but you cannot fake your beliefs.
          "Bill was not going to allow racial differences to exist in this city. He and I found a way to talk to each other and trust each other.”

          Ironically, May is the 65th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that required integration.

          Yoast is survived by his ex-wife Betty, daughters Dee Dee Fox, Angie Garrison, and Susan Gail Greeson, as well as grandchildren and great grandchildren.

          Services are Friday in Virginia with a private cremation ceremony to be scheduled.