Mark A. O'Connell’s Book “The Team the Titans Remember: The 1971 Andrew Lewis High School Football Team” is the True History of a Small Virginia School’s Football Career
(PRWEB) November 15, 2017 -- Mark A. O'Connell, a retired adult probation officer with the Commonwealth of Virginia, and a freelance sports reporter and in broadcasting for the local television station in Culpeper, has completed his new book, “The Team the Titans Remember: The 1971 Andrew Lewis High School Football Team: The Final Link to a Lasting Legacy”: a recollection of the members of team Wolverine from the southwest Virginia school Andrew Lewis High, and their legacy throughout the years of playing football.
In 2000, Walt Disney Pictures released the film “Remember the Titans” which stirred the hearts of many, but falsely depicted the Titans of T.C. Williams playing their arch-rival, George C. Marshall, in a nail-biter of a championship football game decided on the last play in a place called Roanoke Stadium.
Wrong!
The Titans played a small and scrappy bunch of players from Salem known as the Wolverines of Andrew Lewis High in the historic Victory Stadium of Roanoke.
Salem native Mark A. O’Connell sets the record straight for all time in this book which tells the true story of the championship game and also links the 1971 Andrew Lewis High “Wolverines” to a lasting-legacy which had begun in 1962 under legendary head Coach Eddie Joyce.
This is the true—and unaltered—story.
Former Lewis player Dean East recalls a time of glory for him and his colleagues in the football field: Beginning with his college days, “‘I played football all four years. I was a defensive back, smaller for college. I weighed 170. As a freshman I wasn’t a starter at first. I was behind a guy who had played at E. C. Glass. He tore his shoulder up, and then I took his place, so I lettered all four years. I played safety. We played a 4–3, and I was the free safety. We rotated up and back. By the time I was a senior, I had two sophomores and a freshman in the secondary, so I was the boss.’”
“Andrew Lewis, a small southwest Virginia school located in Salem and nicknamed the Wolverines, played—and won—against some of the largest schools in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Tennessee. Today, these schools would be classified in Virginia as 6A, the largest of all six classifications. During the 1971 season, Andrew Lewis played 7 schools that had student enrollments over 2,000 while Lewis’s enrollment was only 975 students. Lewis was 12-1 that year, its only loss to T.C. Williams (Remember the Titans Game) which had an enrollment of 5,000 students. Between 1962 and 1971, Andrew Lewis won 2 state championships (‘62,’64) and was runner-up 3 times (‘66,’67 and ‘71) as a member of the largest classification in Virginia. Over that span of time—considered as ‘the best years of Coach Joyce’—the Wolverines compiled a record of 88 wins, 15 losses and 2 ties”— Coach Dale Foster.
Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Mark A. O'Connell’s astounding account follows an inspiring journey of the 1971 Andrew Lewis High School Football Team towards victory and greatness.
Readers who wish to experience this enthralling work can purchase “The Team the Titans Remember: The 1971 Andrew Lewis High School Football Team: The Final Link to a Lasting Legacy” at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon,
Google Play, Kobo, or Barnes and Noble.
For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.
About Page Publishing:
Page Publishing is a traditional New York based full-service publishing house that handles all of the intricacies involved in publishing its authors’ books, including distribution in the world’s largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not bogged down with complicated business issues like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes and the like. Its roster of authors can leave behind these tedious, complex and time-consuming issues, and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
Nichole Hoffman, Page Publishing, Inc, http://www.pagepublishing.com, +1 (866) 315-2708 Ext: 8283, [email protected]
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