Both Sides of the Line by Kelly Kevin

Author:Kelly, Kevin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Dempsey;football;team;sports;fugitive;America's Most Wanted;true crime;justice
Publisher: Bancroft Press
Published: 2015-12-19T17:28:36+00:00

1975

“When I look out at this team, I don’t see white football players on this team, and I don’t see black footbal players on this team, I don’t see Irish or Italian football players on this team. I only see football players on this team.”

—Coach Dempsey

The timing was perfect. We’d been at Bosco for four years and all of us were ready and even excited to move on with our lives. The strict Catholic philosophy, the coat and tie attire, and the all-boys environment, were now joyfully behind us. Some goodbyes with certain faculty and dear friends pulled emotional strings, but they quickly faded by the time I pulled into Forest Hills.

But as we seniors looked forward to the next chapter in our lives, our city was still being torn apart by forced busing. Boston was gearing up for its second year of the program and the emotional and financial cost to all was crippling.

A strange twist to the busing issue for me, however, was the awareness that my father, for the first time in his career, was actually making some money. The city simply didn’t have enough police to handle the issues created by forced busing. Schools needed police in the morning during the arrival of students, and again at the end of the day when students were being bused home. Demonstrations and mini-riots were popping up all over the city.

Boston cops were given the green light to work as much overtime as they could handle. My father, who’d struggled financially for years, was simply never home during this time. He worked double shifts three to four times a week and never once complained about being tired.

“Dad, take it easy,” Tom said once. “You’re not that young anymore. Try to pace yourself.”

“I’m okay. Just make sure you’re helping your mother with your brothers and sisters.”

“How bad is it out there?” I asked, craning my neck from the car’s front passenger seat to look at my father’s riot gear in the back.

“Southie, Charlestown, Hyde Park, and Dorchester are the most troubled areas; the residents in those sections will not consider the slightest compromise. A lot of people are getting hurt on the subways too.”

My dad was fully aware of the rampant trouble between blacks and whites on the T.

Interestingly enough, as many cities around the country struggled with forced busing laws in the mid ’70s, racial tension and prejudice in sports was actually making some positive headway. In the ’50s and ’60s, many college and professional football teams struggled to find racial harmony. Black and white players never roomed together. Many teams with black players traveling throughout the country, especially in the South, weren’t welcome in restaurants or hotels there. Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers and George Halas of the Chicago Bears were exceptions to the rule. They were the first pro coaches in the ’60s to room black and white players together in the NFL. Lombardi was once told during an away game that his black

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