Thurman W. Robins

Requiem for a Classic: Thanksgiving Turkey Day Classic Thurman W. Robins

In the era when segregation and Jim Crow laws ruled the land, "The Turkey Day Classic" was created. The event prospered from 1927 thru 1966. Newspaper accounts describe the Thanksgiving Day football game between Jack Yates and Phillis Wheatley High Schools as the annual largest attended schoolboy game in America. Thousands of football fans came, "Dressed to Kill" with eager anticipation and jubilant spirits to enjoy pep rallies, parades, Thanksgiving Day breakfast and dances. The halftime activities were eloquent with its pageantry, beautiful automoblies, floats, marching bands and drill units, and the crowning of the Miss Wheatley and Miss Yates. "Let the Games Begin" is a chapter which provide highlights of each game played. The Classic was an annual rivalry between two teams like none other. The competition between the two schools were of epic proportion during their 39 years of play.