Florida Senate - 2009                            (NP)    SR 2134
       
       
       
       By Senator Hill
       
       
       
       
       1-00884A-09                                           20092134__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing the 1958 Matthew Gilbert High
    3         School Panthers football team as a Florida High School
    4         Athletic Association Team of the Century.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, under Head Coach Earl Kitchings, Matthew Gilbert
    7  High School had the first “organized” high school football
    8  program in the City of Jacksonville, and
    9         WHEREAS, the 1958 Matthew Gilbert High School Panthers
   10  football team has been recognized as one of the most talented in
   11  Florida history, and
   12         WHEREAS, the 1958 Matthew Gilbert High School Panthers
   13  football team went 11-0 when it defeated Dillard High School in
   14  Ft. Lauderdale by a score of 14-7 in the first black high school
   15  state championship game in Florida, and
   16         WHEREAS, the 1958 Matthew Gilbert High School Panthers
   17  football team was, and continues to be, a source of great pride
   18  in Jacksonville's black community, and
   19         WHEREAS, the Florida High School Athletic Association in
   20  2007 recognized the 1958 Matthew Gilbert High School Panthers
   21  football team as one of ten Teams of the Century, and
   22         WHEREAS, 1958 Matthew Gilbert High School Panthers football
   23  Head Coach Earl Kitchings, coaches William Huggins and Alvin
   24  White, trainers Alfred Chambliss and Varn Ford, assistant
   25  trainer Oliver Seabrook, statistician Elbert Robinson, and
   26  teammates Cicero Bell, Bernard Berry, John Bush, Issac Carnes,
   27  Kenneth Clair, James Clark, Russell Davis, Donald Dixon, Lee
   28  Fayson, Eddie Griffin, Milton Griffin, Charles Grover, Eugene
   29  Hardy, Willie Haywood, Louis Hill, Walter Jackson, Jesse
   30  Johnson, Harold Jones, Oliver Joyce, Charles Kohn, Willie Kohn,
   31  Joseph Lane, Randolph Lee, Kirkland McKenzie, Roy Mitchell,
   32  Roosevelt Morrell, James Murphy, Oliver Nelson, Bobby Newsome,
   33  Charles Sapp, Leon Smith, Charles Spencer, Charles Sutton,
   34  Ulysees Walker, Enoch Webster, James Whaley, and Robert Williams
   35  recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of their championship
   36  season, NOW, THEREFORE,
   37  
   38  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   39  
   40         That the 1958 Matthew Gilbert High School Panthers football
   41  coaches, staff, and team be recognized by all Floridians for
   42  their outstanding skill, sportsmanship, and fierce
   43  competitiveness and for their recognition by the Florida High
   44  School Athletic Association as the top prep school football team
   45  of the 1950s and a Team of the Century.
   46         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
   47  the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to 1958 Matthew
   48  Gilbert High School Panthers football Head Coach Earl Kitchings
   49  as a tangible token of the sentiments of the Florida Senate.