Hill, Damon H
Damon Hill, former Dunbar High School athletic coach, talks about his career, his involvement with Texas Tech football coach Pete Cawthon, and various aspects of Lubbock’s black community during the 1930s and 1940s, including the significance of "Juneteenth." Mrs. Hill also comments on the last two tapes.
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Damon H. Hill
Additional Parties Recorded: Mrs. Hill
Date: April 21, 1969; June 16 and 25, 1975
Location: Lubbock, Texas
Interviewer: Robert Foster, Etta Lynch, David Murrah.
Length: 3 hours, 20 minutes
Abstract
Tape 1, Side 1: Damon Hill’s job as all-sports coach and agriculture,
teacher at Lubbock’s Dunbar school (1937-1950),
Development of the Wheelock area (c. 1937),
Busing of students from servants’ quarters in white sections to black
schools,
Movement of blacks out of servants’ quarters and into black residential
areas,
Necessity of blacks to build their own businesses,
Black school facilities and equipment,
Tells of a bus accident in which he was injured and that eventually led
to partial disability,
Movement from Iles School (1958),
Describes Avenue A (1937),
Discrepancy between black and white salaries at the same job.
Tape 1, Side 2: Blank
Tape 2, Side 1: Dutchy Smith Cawthon’s assistant coach,
Pete Cawthon,
Childhood,
Use of ineligible player,
Bobby Horn,
Racism,
Support of Dunbar High School football,
Use of Texas Tech’s facilities,
Donated equipment,
Dean Stangel,
Damon Hill’s medical problems,
Pete Cawthon (again),
Publicized and supported Dunbar football,
Texas Tech football team first to travel by plane,
Pete Cawthon (again),
Coaching school,
Post-Tech positions,
Disciplinarian,
Sideline emotions,
Holding son out of school,
Allowed Pete Jr. to peak physically,
Quarterbacked Lubbock High Westerners to their
first state championship,
Hugh "Bo" Williams,
Tech’s football business manager,
As a friend,
Wide range of opponents.
Tape 2, Side 2: Pete Cawthon (continued).
Tape 3, Side 1: Personal history,
Black athletics (1930s),
Attended Prairie View A & M University,
Worked in power plant,
Played football,
Description of other black colleges,
Moved to Lubbock (1937),
Early Dunbar High School related,
Club (not schoolboy) football,
Development of tennis program,
Conflicts between cotton picking and football program,
First Monday Night Quarterback Club meeting,
Credits Pete Cawthon with boosting black athletics,
Pat Pattison.
Tape 3, Side 2: Careers of ex-students traced,
Football discussed.
Tape 4, Side 1: Black semi-professional baseball mentioned,
Baseball in Lubbock,
Attitude toward racial equality,
Industrial arts workshop described,
Contrast between black and white schools,
Development of black community in Lubbock,
Community use of old Dunbar High School.
Tape 4, Side 2: Formation of Dunbar Mothers Club (1947),
Black churches in Lubbock (1937),
Importance of churches,
Black businesses and business leaders,
Social clubs listed,
Decreasing importance of June 19th (Juneteenth).
Tape 5, Side 1: Discussion of June 19th (continued),
Comparison with July 4,
Family members named.
Tape 5, Side 2: Blank
Range Dates: 1937-1958
Bulk Dates: 1937-1947
Access Information
Original Recording Format:
Recording Format Notes:
Transcript:
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