EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. – When Gene Washington watches his former team take the field, it’s not the purple and gold that catches his eye.
It’s the combination of black and white working together.
More than 50 years ago, Washington woke up in his La Porte, Texas, home. He got dressed, ate breakfast and boarded a bus that took him and a handful of other students to the nearby city of Baytown, where he attended George Washington Carver, an all-black high school.
Washington joined his teammates on the football field after school, but they faced only a select group of opponents.