T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Carl T. Ford, Junior COLLECTION: 4700.0642
IDENTIFICATION: Baton Rouge native, 1943 graduate of McKinley High School, and a coach there from 1960 to 1983.
INTERVIEWER: Roderick Jones
PROJECT: McKinley 1: History or McKinley High School
INTERVIEW DATES: July 5, 1995
FOCUS DATES: 1940s – 1980s
ABSTRACT:
Tape 932, Side A
Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on June 17, 1923 to Carl T. Ford, Senior, and Julia Collins Ford; parents’ educational level was low; father was one of the first interior decorators in Baton Rouge; graduated from McKinley in 1943; coached at McKinley from 1960-1983; McKinley students came from everywhere; typical day was going to class; students in 1960s were “a little bit more aggressive” than when he was a student; academics were important, graduates have done well in society; playing on state champion football and basketball teams in 1942 and 1943; Coach Julius L. Craft; redistricting during integration hurt athletic programs; rivalry between Capitol High School and McKinley was greater when he was a student; he was an average student; got tired of going to school, dropped out in tenth grade and worked in a furniture store doing manual labor; hated the job and went back to school; role model was Coach Craft; while in the Army he decided he wanted to coach; his son was successful playing football at Southern with Mel Blount and Ken Ellis, his daughter was a cheerleader; didn’t have a least favorite teacher but dropped Latin because it was too hard; drafted into Army during World War II; “McKinley is the history of Baton Rouge”; great influence of McKinley on community; role of McKinley in civil rights movement; students have become less interested in school, they talk back more to teachers now; advice to aspiring graduates, “Education is it”; suggestions for other people to interview.
TAPES: 1 (T932) TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 18 minutes
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 12 pages
OTHER MATERIALS: Correspondence
RESTRICTIONS: None