A 'Team of the Century' - Matthew Gilbert H.S.

Photo: Members of the 1958 Matthew Gilbert High School undefeated football team gather with assistant coach William Higgins (right) and New York City Councilman and Gilbert alumnus Larry Seabrook (fifth from left) as the team is honored Friday at the school's reunion at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront. Seabrook worked to make sure the team was recognized for its achievement.

50 years later, Jacksonville, Fla. Matthew Gilbert High football champs finally recognized.

They were members of the 1958 Matthew Gilbert High School football team. They traveled as far away as Pensacola and Miami to find opponents and finished 11-0. But they couldn't play against their neighbors who attended Jacksonville's white high schools because of segregation laws. Last month, the 1958 Gilbert team was named one of the "Teams of the Century" by the Florida High School Athletic Association, the same governing body that didn't represent black schools in the '50s.

In 1958, the state association governing black high school athletics held a football championship for the first time. Gilbert's team traveled to Fort Lauderdale where it beat Dillard High School 14-7 in front of a crowd of 11,000. The reaction back home reflected the segregationist attitude of the city. They were a black team from a black school that won a black championship, and the city's white majority generally overlooked them.

The players knew how much they had accomplished that year, but they also knew not to expect widespread recognition. "It was the way it was," said Roy Mitchell, a senior tackle on the team. "Segregation was at its zenith at the time." Instead, they moved on.

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Photo: Bullet Robert "Bob" Hayes

They graduated from Gilbert and went on to college, the military or to work.

One of the players, Bob Hayes (Florida A&M University), eventually became an Olympic gold medalist in track and an NFL All-Pro standout. But at Gilbert, he wasn't even among the best. During the 1958 season, as a junior, he played behind more talented halfbacks.

Today, Bob Hayes remains the only player in history to win both an Olympic Gold Medal and NFL Super Bowl ring. It's a doggone shame that he is not immortalized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.