"The Game That Changed The South" on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations, leaders, and volunteers who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations, leaders, and volunteers  embody, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Join us Saturday, December 13, 2014 to hear from members of the historic match that is often referred to as "the game that changed the South" between two schools, Father Ryan and Pearl Cohn, in 1965. This meeting between the powerhouses was the first ever sporting event in the South between an integrated team and an all African-American team.

Listen to players share how the game changed theirs lives as January 5, 2015 marks the  50th Anniversary of the game. The anniversary coincides with the state of unrest and mounting tensions regarding today's state of race relations in our country.  Hear how a basketball game was an ice breaker to bringing many together to watch a sporting event while the City of Nashville was at the center of protests for racial injustices.

Scheduled to appear on today's show: Walter Fisher and Tony Moorman players from Pearl, Father Ryan's Atletic Director Pat Lawson, whose father was also on the 1965 team and Pat Sanders who played for Father Ryan.

Must hear radio!

This interview promises to empower, inspire, and motivate you to live your BEST life.Tune into 760AM in the Middle Tennessee Region, on Tune In, streaming live online at UStream.TV, and on military bases on Saturdays from 9:00-10:00am CST.

More About  Game Day Events
 

·       The Nashville Sports Council and Comcast Sports Speaker Series “The Game That Changed the South Celebratory Luncheon” sponsored by McDonald’s, beginning at 11:30 a.m. at the Wildhorse Saloon.

·       An exhibit in the Civil Rights Room at the Nashville Public Library at 3:30 p.m., which will include photographs and memorabilia from the game 50 years ago.

·       The 50^th Anniversary Game sponsored by Star Physical Therapy and McDonalds at the Municipal Auditorium. Pre-game events will begin at 5:00 p.m. Tipoff of the girls’ game will be at 6:00 p.m., with the boys’ game to follow at 7:30 p.m.

All of the game day events will be open to the public. The luncheon will feature a panel of guests including Perry Wallace, Pearl Class of 1966 and center on the 1965 team; Andrew Maraniss, author of “Strong Inside:The Story of Perry Wallace”; Jesse Porter, Father Ryan Class of 1964, who in 1963 with Willie Brown became the first African-Americans to integrate sports in the South; and Lyn Dempsey, Father Ryan Class of 1965, who made the winning shot in the game.

Members of both 1965 teams will be part of the activities, including players, coaches, and staff.  They will be introduced at the luncheon and saluted before the boys’ game.  

The 1965 game attracted more than 8,700 fans to the Auditorium—and some reports claim that 10,000 people were actually in attendance—in a match between two of the best teams in the state.  It was the largest crowd ever to see a regular season game.  Dempsey’s basket went through the hoop as the horn sounded, earning Father Ryan a 52-51 victory in a game that lived up to its billing.  Wallace, Walter Fisher and Ted McClain led the Pearl team while Father Ryan was paced by Brown, Champ Hounihan and Pat Sanders.  

To learn more about the events and to purchase tickets, visit www.fatherryan.org/pearl50.  Game tickets are also available at www.ticketmaster.com.

Andrew Maraniss on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

 Update: Audio of show can be found here.

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations, leaders, and volunteers who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations, leaders, and volunteers embody "Be the change you want to see in the world."

 

On Saturday, October 4, 2014 tune in to hear one of several interviews that will focus on the life Perry Wallace and "the Collision of Race and Sports in the South" with Andrew Maraniss who will discuss his first book, Strong Inside.  Maraniss will share about Perry Wallace's, (the first African-American to play sports in the Southeastern Conference) early childhood, his life at Pearl High School, and his historic decision to play basketball at Vanderbilt University. Unknown to Wallace at the time, his decision to attend Vanderbilt would forever change sports in the south and would become a defining moment in race relations in our country.

Maraniss will share how he first learned of one of America's unsung pioneering heroes during his sophomore year at Vanderbilt University. Maraniss wrote about Wallace for a Black Studies class. That initial paper lead to more stories on Wallace by Maraniss when he became the sports editor of Vanderbilt's student newspaper. Maraniss relationship with Perry Wallace continued even when his pen was not writing about him.

Tune in to hear the engaging conversations between the show host, Genma Holmes, and Andrew Maraniss as they  discuss Perry Wallace's great achievements in higher education and his stellar performances on the basketball court that came with isolation, constant worry about his life, and delayed satisfaction. They also discuss the contrast between many Civil Rights Era leaders who were often marching with others and trailblazing Wallace who played alone in arenas filled with taunting jeering crowds while he played basketball games as the only African-American in the SEC.

Stong Inside chronicles not only Perry Wallace's life before and after the game of basketball at Vanderbilt, but time stamps events in Nashville and around the country. The author and host believe that Strong Inside can be used to initiate healthy race relations discussion while giving us an insight into present day events.

This interview promises to empower, inspire, and motivate you to live your BEST life.Tune into 760AM in the Middle Tennessee Region, on Tune In, streaming live online at UStream.TV, and on military bases on Saturdays from 9:00-10:00am CST.

More About Andrew Maraniss

Strong Inside is the first book by Andrew Maraniss. A partner at McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations in Nashville, Andrew studied history at Vanderbilt University as a recipient of the Fred Russell – Grantland Rice sportswriting scholarship, earning the school’s Alexander Award for excellence in journalism and graduating in 1992. He then worked for five years in Vanderbilt’s athletic department as the associate director of media relations, dealing primarily with the men’s basketball team. In 1998, he served as the media relations manager for the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays during the team’s inaugural season, and then returned to Nashville to join MP&F. The son of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author David Maraniss and trailblazing environmentalist Linda Maraniss, Andrew was born in Madison, Wis., grew up in Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas and now lives in Brentwood, Tenn., with his wife Alison, and their two young children.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @trublu24 and visit his website at andrewmaraniss.com.

Photo credits:  Vanderbilt University, Andrew Maraniss, and Genma Holmes