Untouchable

The moment had come. As players stepped onto the field they knew this game was the most important one they might ever play. The stadium where they had earned the right to compete for the state championship was just across town from their home field, but in terms of its grandeur, the two gridirons were a study in contrasts. The team practiced and played on their home turf so much, overuse had turned the field to dirt. In fact, everyone knew Ridgeview’s arena as “the Dust Bowl.” Senior lineman Xenophone Lutz remembered there was “very little grass. At halftime you could see dust in the lights, so you knew Ridgeview was playing football.”

Now the Ridgeview Panthers walked onto the a surface so cushioned by grass, they all took notice. “Other teams had grass, we didn’t have grass,” recalled senior halfback Douglas Bumgarner, so when the team won their semifinal game at the Dust Bowl, the field at the local college was deemed to be a more appropriate place for the State 2A Negro League Championship. The choice of Lenoir-Rhyne College as the site of the game was an ironic one since the school at that time did not allow African-Americans as students.