Cass Tech v. Southeastern: 'The passion and pride that still burns'

[RealityCheck]

Though using sports as a Metaphor for Much More Than a Game is a familiar journalistic chestnut, Darrell Dawsey makes it work this afternoon at Time's blog. [[No, I'm not on the promo payroll, just digging what they post.)

He graduated with academic/athletic honors from Southeastern in the early '80s, where he enrolled despite qualifying for Cass, and his wife is a Cass grad. But that's just a setup scene in his broader view of Saturday's state football playoff game between the schools.

Darrell believes the showdown reflects "the passion and pride that, despite Detroit's well-cataloged troubles, still burns within our city as a whole."

This game also serves as a metaphor for the class, geographic and social distinctions that have traditionally demarcated life in Detroit.

. . . Cass Tech is still Detroit shorthand to some for top-flight college-prep education. . . . And then there's Southeastern, . . . traditionally home to no-nonsense, working-class students whose parents got their hands dirty toiling in the area tool-and-die shops and car plants.

. . . The traditional class contrasts that the game highlights are still evident, though not nearly as pronounced as in decades past. . . . The broad strokes and grainy old POVs about Cass and Southeastern certainly can't fully define the current realities for the people or communities vested in either school.
But you can still see in them the outlines of Detroit's past and present, the dynamics that have compelled the evolutions of our assorted neighborhoods and our social, intellectual and professional classes.

As for me, no stake in this one. My Stuyvesant High Peglegs, who are 2-7 so far this year, play at Smith High in the Bronx back east this weekend.

[iheartthed]

Smells like a fellow forumer might be on the payroll at Time, Inc.

[gnome]

'The passion and pride that still burns'

Jeeze RC, I thought this thread was about someone with the clap who's too proud to for a round of tetracycline

[RealityCheck]

. . . a fellow forumer might be on the payroll at Time, Inc.

Nope, just a reader . . . honest.

Though for transparency I'll mention that Darrell and Karen Dybis were colleagues years ago at The News, in different departments. Haven't seen or spoken to either in many years and we never went to lunch or socialized.
- - - - - -
Good one, gnome!

[EastsideAl]

CT - Southeastern game is at 3:00 PM Saturday at Renaissance High, on Outer Dr. between Greenfield and Hubbell.

Also, Crockett from the PSL is playing Hazel Park in a Div. 3 playoff at 1 PM Sat. at Osborn.

[Mackenzie68]

Cass Tech football???? When did this start? And what are some of the other big DHS rivalries now? Mack and Northwestern used to be the big rivals, I guess that doesn't apply anymore.

And you youngsters,

[jjaba]

Mackenzie has left the stadium and Renaissance HS is located in the old Catholic Central Bldg. out on W. Outer Drive. Cass tech. has a wonderful and storied legacy. Eastern HS is now ML King HS. Gone are the Jewish kids from Central, Northern, Mumford, Mackenzie, Eastern, Northwestern and Cass Tech.

jjaba, CT class of '59. Go Technicians.

[Gary]

Nice to see you back, jjaba.

Actually, Renaissance High moved out of the old Catholic Central building several years ago when the school moved about a half mile down Outer Drive to their all new state-of-the-art campus on the old Sinai Hospital site. The Catholic Central building now houses DPS' foreign language academy, FLICS.

[jjaba]

Thanks Gary. jjaba better get over and check it out. Sinai Hospital was all the rage when the Jewish Community bought that site and built their very modern and wonderful hospital. Unlike New York or Chicago, previously, there was very limited Jewish hospital services in Detroit.

Did Cass Tech. lengthen their new field to a full 100 yards and add run-out space to be legal?
It was built at 95 yards with seats too close to the gridiron.

jjaba, Cass Tech. Printer, '59.

[RealityCheck]

Gone are the Jewish kids from Central, Northern, Mumford, Mackenzie, Eastern, Northwestern and Cass Tech.

Ah, those must've been the "best and brightest students [[as well as some not-so-bright children fortunate enough to come from the 'right' families)" Dawsey references.

- RealityCheck,
who knows a thread
doesn't matter 'til jjaba speaks

[gnome]

Jjaba again raises a good point, where does Cass Tech play their home games? I might want to check out the Jungaleers battle the Techs.

EDIT: just re=read the thread and noticed that EastsideAl already posted above that Cass Tech home games are played at Reniassance High on Outer Dr, east of Greenfield. Thanx E-Al, I should have been more careful.

[jjaba]

Metro Detroit has 100,000 Jews and very few live in the City of Detroit. So, no longer are there Jewish students sitting next to you in DPS classrooms. Other than the Reconstructionist Synagogue down at Lafayette Park, no Jewish synagogues, cultural centers, or recreation centers under the Jewish Federation are in Detroit either.
jjaba, Westside Bar Mitzvah Bukkor

[jjaba]

RealityCheck made jjaba laugh with his comment. Sadly, jjaba will never be able to verify all Forum threads. jjaba leaves some of that work to RealityCheck.

jjaba, Westsider.

[jjaba]

At old Cass Tech. HS, they had one goal post on a postage stamp practice field across the street from the school. All Cass Tech. football games were played elsewhere. About six Cass students would show to cheer them on. Ofcourse, nobody from the Westside would risk their safety to trudge out to a Denby, Pershing, or Southeastern.
jjaba, Cass Tech. Printer, '59.

[EastsideAl]

I believe that Cass now plays their home games on a new field behind the new school. When I was there the "home" games were mostly played on Belle Isle, rather than on the short field near the school where they practiced. Later Cass played a lot of their home games on the big field at King. Cass' basketball games were played in the old gym in the school with practically no seats and an overhanging track that made shots from the corner nearly impossible.

The playoff game tomorrow is actually officially a Southeastern home game, since they were the higher finisher [[and beat Cass 35-0 back in September). The PSL placed the game on the nice new field at Renaissance, which has more seats and facilities than at SE.

[jjaba]

Good report, Eastside Al. Merci.
jjaba.

[gnome]

Just got back from the game, and a celibratory stop at Buddy's.

To say that Jungaleers defeated the Techs, is not nearly accurate. Cass the manhandled, spanked, punished, out-played and experienced an all out woopin. They were de-pantsed, de-knighted and defeated. If Southeastern had not shot itself with a number of inopportune penalties, the score could have been 62 - 0.

luckily the Southeastern coach put in the second and thrid stringers in the 3rd quarter inorder to keep the score down and not disrepect the Techs.

As a self-appointed Jungaleer, I sat with the other SE fans and had a nice time. A few folks wondered aloud what I was doing there, but for the most part they were friendly.

[jjaba]

gnome, what was the score?
gnome, jjaba hopes your Jungaleers show up at scholastic competitions too.
And BTW, what be a Jungaleer?

jjaba, Proudly Cass Tech, '59.

[gnome]

Jjaba, I'm sorry to report the score was 41 to 0. The Techs looked terrible in everything from not being able to form a huddle to running a off-tackle dive on 4th and 11 from their own 38.

The offense was offensive, the defense redefined sieve and the play calling made one shake their head in confuzzelment. The most impressive thing about Cass was the number of players on the team. They had enough players to stretch from the 30 to the 30, a rough guess would be around 75 to 80 players. Southeastern had almost a total of 30 players.

Th most exciting player for the Jungaleers was a little guy, Jihad Rashid, who played sort of a wing-back, receiver on offense and corner on defense. To see him carry the ball was to remember Barry Sanders spinning and juking and twisting a defender into knots. On one touchdown that was called back due to penalty, Jihad had just one defender to beat to cross the goal-line. A head fake, shuffle step and pirouette left the Tech defender so mixed up he fell down without being touched. It was like Jihad had performed some Jedi mind trick on the kid, "I must fall down."

The must heralded Ghosian guy from Southeastern was there, I saw him, but if he had a tackle I didn't see it. In fact, if he was even close to a tackle I didn't see it. Now, one game doesn't make a career, but if that is what passes for a Blue Chip MSU recruit, no wonder the Spartans look good on paper. They list Ghosian as 6'5' 251 lbs ... they are about 2 inches and 50 pounds off.

Jjaba, what's a Jungaleer? That was my question, check out this thread : http://detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?t=3269
in short, when the school was built in was in a newly annexed part of the City. It was so far out in the country, the place was so muddy and treed, that they called it The Jungle. Also, at the time the moniker jungaleer was used as a synonym for a jungle cat.

Thinking back, we still use terms from the early part of the last centrury that seemingly make no sense. Gridiron? Who here really remembers when teams played on field divided into 10 yard squares ... who here really knows what a gridiron is anyway? ... a metal grate placed over a open fire to cook food ... we have these vestigial relics that color our language

[jjaba]

gnome, excellent report. Your account of Jungaleers is priceless. Ofcourse there are historical references all over Detroit and other cities. Where John Lennon was shot in front of The Dakota Apt. Bldg. along the Westsdie of Central Park invokes that history. The bldg. was so far out of town, it was like going to The Dakotas.

Jihad Rashid sounds like a one-man jihad to Cass Tech. but, you forgot Stinky Kowalski and Ramon Castro, a couple of huge pulling guards who blocked anything in his path on the "O" line.
Just ask OJ Simpson about his "O" line. Those big boys made a huge difference.

Credit your defense too. Anythime you can lay a shoutout on defense, you've got some tough big and fast boys out there, kicking ass and taking names. Cass Tech. isn't that inept. They were beaten by good coaching and strong players who knew how to hit somebody.

Part of the problem at Cass Tech. is the emphais on academics. Kids are more worried about math and chemistry than advanced football formations. We'll see you at the scholars bowls set for Spring.

jjaba, Proudly Cass Tech. '59.

[EastsideAl]

Southeastern, which has won 2 playoff games by identical 41-0 scores, will now travel to take on powerhouse Stevenson out in Sterling Heights in a Division 1 regional final.

Crockett was also a PSL winner, with a 50-48 double-overtime Division 3 win over Hazel Park. They will now play Orchard Lake St. Mary's in a regional final.