Michael Hurd is the director of Prairie View A&M University's Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture, which documents the history of African American Texans. He has worked as a sports writer for the Houston Post, the Austin American-Statesman, USA Today, and Yahoo Sports. Hurd's previous books include Black College Football, 1892–1992: One Hundred Years of History, Education, and Pride. For more than a decade, he served as a member of the National Football Foundation's Honors Court for Divisional Players, the group that chooses small college players for the College Football Hall of Fame, and he currently serves on the selection committee for the Black College Football Hall of Fame.

Hurd tells the PVIL story with conviction, attention to detail, and great affection. (Abilene Reporter-News) [Hurd has] seen a lot. And he understands the connections between sports, especially football, and other, often riven cultural expressions of our state. (Austin American-Statesman) Though this book is long overdue, it is also right on time. We are currently having a collective cultural discussion about whose history gets told, how we choose whose stories matter, and which historical characters get cast, quite literally, in stone or metal to be celebrated for years to come. Hurd shows that the stories we tell ourselves about the history of football in Texas are woefully incomplete. (Texas Observer) Thursday Night Lights clearly succeeds in reviving the memory of black high school football in Texas and honoring its legacy. (Southwestern Historical Quarterly) Hurd's work should prove essential to those interested in examining the racial politics of sports at the high school level, college recruitment, and desegregation. (Journal of Sport History) In America's current Colin Kaepernick-inspired moment, with sports once again taking on a conspicuous role in debates about black citizenship and the persistence of white racism, this book is especially timely and important. (Great Plains Quarterly) Hurd's book carefully proves how…football became a potent source of pride and ambition in the black community, helping black students succeed both athletically and educationally in a racist society. (Temple Daily-Telegram) [A] fascinating and beautifully-written homage to black high school football in Texas…a badly needed corrective to the history of high school football in Texas. (Central Texas Studies) [A] groundbreaking book. (Houston Chronicle)

• Introduction1. The PVIL: Emerging from the Shadows2. Night Train, Choo-Choo, and Ridin' the Yella Dawg!3. Learning and Teaching the Game4. Gold in the Triangle5. Yates versus Wheatley6. Integration: The Good, the Bad, the EndAcknowledgmentsAppendixesPVIL Football State ChampionsPVIL MilestonesSelect BibliographyIndex

Michael Hurd is the director of Prairie View A&M University's Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture, which documents the history of African American Texans. He has worked as a sports writer for the Houston Post, the Austin American-Statesman, USA Today, and Yahoo Sports. Hurd's previous books include Black College Football, 1892–1992: One Hundred Years of History, Education, and Pride. For more than a decade, he served as a member of the National Football Foundation's Honors Court for Divisional Players, the group that chooses small college players for the College Football Hall of Fame, and he currently serves on the selection committee for the Black College Football Hall of Fame.

Hurd tells the PVIL story with conviction, attention to detail, and great affection. (Abilene Reporter-News) [Hurd has] seen a lot. And he understands the connections between sports, especially football, and other, often riven cultural expressions of our state. (Austin American-Statesman) Though this book is long overdue, it is also right on time. We are currently having a collective cultural discussion about whose history gets told, how we choose whose stories matter, and which historical characters get cast, quite literally, in stone or metal to be celebrated for years to come. Hurd shows that the stories we tell ourselves about the history of football in Texas are woefully incomplete. (Texas Observer) Thursday Night Lights clearly succeeds in reviving the memory of black high school football in Texas and honoring its legacy. (Southwestern Historical Quarterly) Hurd's work should prove essential to those interested in examining the racial politics of sports at the high school level, college recruitment, and desegregation. (Journal of Sport History) In America's current Colin Kaepernick-inspired moment, with sports once again taking on a conspicuous role in debates about black citizenship and the persistence of white racism, this book is especially timely and important. (Great Plains Quarterly) Hurd's book carefully proves how…football became a potent source of pride and ambition in the black community, helping black students succeed both athletically and educationally in a racist society. (Temple Daily-Telegram) [A] fascinating and beautifully-written homage to black high school football in Texas…a badly needed corrective to the history of high school football in Texas. (Central Texas Studies) [A] groundbreaking book. (Houston Chronicle)

• Introduction1. The PVIL: Emerging from the Shadows2. Night Train, Choo-Choo, and Ridin' the Yella Dawg!3. Learning and Teaching the Game4. Gold in the Triangle5. Yates versus Wheatley6. Integration: The Good, the Bad, the EndAcknowledgmentsAppendixesPVIL Football State ChampionsPVIL MilestonesSelect BibliographyIndex

Michael Hurd is the director of Prairie View A&M University's Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture, which documents the history of African American Texans. He has worked as a sports writer for the Houston Post, the Austin American-Statesman, USA Today, and Yahoo Sports. Hurd's previous books include Black College Football, 1892–1992: One Hundred Years of History, Education, and Pride. For more than a decade, he served as a member of the National Football Foundation's Honors Court for Divisional Players, the group that chooses small college players for the College Football Hall of Fame, and he currently serves on the selection committee for the Black College Football Hall of Fame.

Hurd tells the PVIL story with conviction, attention to detail, and great affection. (Abilene Reporter-News) [Hurd has] seen a lot. And he understands the connections between sports, especially football, and other, often riven cultural expressions of our state. (Austin American-Statesman) Though this book is long overdue, it is also right on time. We are currently having a collective cultural discussion about whose history gets told, how we choose whose stories matter, and which historical characters get cast, quite literally, in stone or metal to be celebrated for years to come. Hurd shows that the stories we tell ourselves about the history of football in Texas are woefully incomplete. (Texas Observer) Thursday Night Lights clearly succeeds in reviving the memory of black high school football in Texas and honoring its legacy. (Southwestern Historical Quarterly) Hurd's work should prove essential to those interested in examining the racial politics of sports at the high school level, college recruitment, and desegregation. (Journal of Sport History) In America's current Colin Kaepernick-inspired moment, with sports once again taking on a conspicuous role in debates about black citizenship and the persistence of white racism, this book is especially timely and important. (Great Plains Quarterly) Hurd's book carefully proves how…football became a potent source of pride and ambition in the black community, helping black students succeed both athletically and educationally in a racist society. (Temple Daily-Telegram) [A] fascinating and beautifully-written homage to black high school football in Texas…a badly needed corrective to the history of high school football in Texas. (Central Texas Studies) [A] groundbreaking book. (Houston Chronicle)

• Introduction1. The PVIL: Emerging from the Shadows2. Night Train, Choo-Choo, and Ridin' the Yella Dawg!3. Learning and Teaching the Game4. Gold in the Triangle5. Yates versus Wheatley6. Integration: The Good, the Bad, the EndAcknowledgmentsAppendixesPVIL Football State ChampionsPVIL MilestonesSelect BibliographyIndex