Plot
In 1971 in Alexandria, Virginia, at the desegregated T. C. Williams High School, African American head coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) is hired to lead the school's football team. Coach Boone takes the coaching position from current head coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton), who has been nominated for the Virginia High School Hall of Fame, and who also later decides to move on to other coaching opportunities. In a show of respect and in an attempt to ease racial tension, Boone offers an assistant coaching position to Yoast. Yoast at first refuses Boone's offer, but is then tempted to join after the white players pledge to boycott the team if he doesn't participate. Dismayed at the prospect of the students losing their chances at scholarships, Yoast changes his mind antivated conflicts at their football camp, including those between captain Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst) and Julius Campbell (Wood Harris). However, after forceful coaxing and rigorous athletic training by Boone, and partly because of white Offensive Lineman Louie Lastik (Ethan Suplee), the team achieves both racial harmony and triumph. In one scene, Coach Boone wakes the team up around 3:00 AM and takes them to a cemetery where the Battle of Gettysburg was fought and delivers a speech about hatred. After returning from football camp, Boone is told by a member of the school board that if he loses even a single game, he will be fired. Subsequently, the Titans go through the season undefeated while battling racial prejudice, before slowly gaining support from the community.
Just before the state semi-finals, Yoast is told by a member of the school board that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame after the Titans lose their game, implying that the game has been fixed to ensure Boone gets fired over his race. During the game, when it becomes apparent that the referees are engaging in biased officiating against the Titans, after seeing his daughter upset at the horrible calls, Yoast warns the head official that he will go to the press and expose the scandal unless the game is called fairly. The referees yield and the Titans ultimately win the game, but Yoast is told afterward that his actions have resulted in his loss of candidacy for the Hall of Fame.
Later, while celebrating after the victorious game, Bertier is paralyzed in a car accident, when he is hit by a truck while accelerating into an intersection. Despite the fact that Bertier is no longer able to play, the team goes on to win the championship. Ten years later, the coaches and athletes from the team reunite to attend Bertier's funeral, as Sheryl reiterates the message of racial equality taught by the Titans.
The epilogue reveals what many of the Titans are doing, ranging from getting married to going to college.
Read more about this topic: Remember The Titans
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