Mighty, mighty Matadors

Strongly inviting comparisons with the movie Remember the Titans, this inspiring story of the 1968 state champion Estacado Matadors carries a distinctly Texan flavor. Veteran sports journalist and author Al Pickett interviewed the players, Coach Jimmie Keeling, members of the Lubbock Independent School District administrators to assemble a colorful, insider account of a group of young men who came together for love of a sport and the coach who mentored, encouraged, and guided them. In the late 1960s, the Lubbock Independent School District was pressured by the courts to address its still-segregated system, and the creation of Estacado was instituted as an integrated campus, combining students from Dunbar High School (all African American) and Lubbock High School (predominantly white) and their junior high "feeder" schools. Remarkably, Coach Keeling forged a unit that was not only cohesive but highly competitive, winning the Texas Class AAA high school football championship in the first year that Estacado was eligible for varsity competition.