By David Thompson | BeaumontEnterprise.com
Updated 10:28 am CDT, Friday, October 14, 2016
It took years before Shawn McCelvey was comfortable sitting on the same side of the field as Port Neches-Groves football fans.
He still adds his own lyrics to the Indians’ fight song, “Cherokee.”
“We had our own name for ‘Cherokee,'” said McCelvey, who played football for Thomas Jefferson High School from 1988 to 1992. “We called it ‘Poor Little Indian Boys.'”
McCelvey represents a faction of former players and students who remain loyal to a school that no longer exists and who long for a decades-old football rivalry that disappeared when three Port Arthur schools merged in 2002 to form Memorial High School.
Tonight’s football game between Memorial and PN-G – the first time a Port Arthur school has played PN-G in 15 years – could be a rebirth of that rivalry.
“A lot of people I graduated with, including me, moved to Port Neches and have kids who play football there now,” McCelvey said. “But it has been hard for some of us to convert. We were raised to hate purple and white, not wear it.”
The game has caused some light tension at home between McCelvey and his wife, Tammy, a 1991 PN-G graduate and ardent Indian fan.
“He knows who he has to root for,” Tammy said. “He knows where his bread is buttered.”
Tammy, a registered nurse at Christus St. Mary in Port Arthur, said the type of trash talk at work usually reserved for the PN-G and Nederland game has spilled over into this week.
“It’s friendly, nothing too ugly,” said co-worker Narkiffia Lewis, a 1998 Jefferson graduate. “It’s just nice to be involved. It feels like it used to when we played each other. It feels like we are part of the conversation again.”
Proximity and intensity
Memorial head coach Kenny Harrison still remembers how it felt, as a wide receiver for Jefferson in 1990, to beat PN-G. The Yellow Jackets defeated the Indians 28-5 that year -a score Harrison can still recall off the top of his head.
“It didn’t get any bigger than that game every year, at least in my opinion,” said Harrison, who later coached as an assistant at Jefferson from 1998 until the consolidation. “That was the game where everyone who worked at a refinery would bet their entire paycheck on the outcome.”
As defensive coordinator for Jefferson from 1982 to 1991, current Nederland coach Larry Neumann would paint the tackling dummies purple and white during the season, McCelvey said.
“He would tell us no matter what happened that season, we had to win that game,” McCelvey said.
Todd Dodge, head coach at Austin Westlake and Jefferson’s quarterback in the 1980 state championship game, said the game’s intensity came from the proximity of the two schools.
Dodge grew up on Owens Avenue in Groves, one street away from the Port Neches attendance area.
“All the guys from TJ dated PN-G girls and vice-versa” said Dodge, whose 1980 team defeated PN-G 14-13 to break an eight-game Indians win streak. “It was just a natural rivalry. I remember going into The Reservation, and if that stadium held 10,000 people, there was at least 3,000 more than capacity. If you had asked anyone, they’d say it was a bigger game than PN-G and Nederland.”
In 1978, Dodge’s junior varsity teammate Chris Reeves found himself in the middle of a PN-G hazing ceremony, where incoming freshman football players were forced to have their heads shaved. Reeves was mistaken for a PN-G freshman and had most his hair shaved off in a struggle, Dodge said.
The next week, Jefferson played the Indians and Reeves received three straight personal foul penalties before he was ejected in the first half.
“We call that ‘the night Reeves went crazy,'” Dodge said.
In 1991, Jefferson students burned “TJ” on the 50-yard-line at PN-G’s stadium and painted parts on the school’s new track maroon and gold.
“It’s fair to say we did not have much love for PN-G,” said Mike Owens, former Jefferson coach from 1982 to 1995. “Even though the school is gone now, I know there are plenty of secret fans who live among the Indians.”
Undefeated teams face off
When the three schools were consolidated, Harrison said, Jefferson, Lincoln and Austin graduates were upset.
“Hell, yeah, they were mad,” he said.
Memorial moved into Class 5A in 2002, landing in a district with Baytown and Houston schools and leaving PN-G behind in Class 4A. West Brook, which opened in 1982 after the consolidation of Forest Park and Hebert, became the Titans’ closest district opponent.
“Those fans lost someone they could identify with on Friday nights,” Harrison said. “Those road games were always so far away and most people couldn’t get off work in time to make them. It was hard to bring the community together when no one could make the drive.”
After 15 seasons at the state’s largest athletic classification, Memorial was bumped down into District 22-5A with PN-G during February’s UIL realignment.
Tonight’s game is the first time Memorial and PN-G have taken the field together. Both teams are undefeated.
“I think some people are still a little resistant to the change and bitter about the consolidation,” Harrison said. “There are a lot of memories associated with the old schools, but this is an opportunity to start something new.”
The players in tonight’s game most likely don’t view it as rivalry.
“I think when my dad was growing up and playing here (at PN-G), he knew a lot of those guys who played at Jefferson,” said Logan LeJeune , a senior linebacker on the PN-G team. “I just don’t know those guys at Memorial the same way.”
Memorial senior Kary Vincent Jr. said he’s more focused on a district title than creating a rivalry game.
With time, the rivalry could regain its old fervor, McCelvey predicted.
“I’m excited for the entire area to have this game back,” he said. “These teams are meant to play each other. This rivalry is meant to be played out on the field.”
PN-G (6-0) at Memorial (5-0)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Titans Stadium, Port Arthur
What to watch for: A possible District 22-5A title is at stake today as two undefeated teams meet in a game that pits two of the best offenses in Southeast Texas against the other. PN-G quarterback Roschon Jonson and Memorial quarterback Kadon Harrison go head-to-head in what could decide this year’s district MVP.
