ROBERT E LEE High School will play football again

After a long period without football the Robert E. Lee Generals will take to the field again Thursday, August 26th at 5:30PM.  The junior varsity game will take place on their home field located at 6529 Beverly Hill Lane.

This game is notable for many reasons.  First and foremost is the fact that Lee is an international High school and the students are more known for playing soccer than football.  But it goes back further than this.  Lee was started in 1963.  Many of the students came from the Tanglewood and Briargrove communities.  Lee was almost an extension of Lamar High School.  A place where Houston’s most affluent students went.  The first team was composed of future civic leaders and Lee activists Stuart Lang III,  Juan Carlos, Jim Faulkner, and legendary center Tom Behrman.  

Since then Lee has fallen on hard times.  Lee was allowed to lose a lot of its heritage.  HISD thought of Lee as a transition center for students coming into the country who had no where to go.   They were not given the opportunities the students had when Lee started in 1963.  Teachers were rotated and the school was allowed to fall into a period of decline.  No one seemed to care.  The high school experience had been lost for these kids.

All that has changed thanks to alumni who cares, a student body who wants to succeed, and a staff dedicated to helping these students.  A new sheriff is in town as principal Xochitl Rodriquez-Davila starts her first year at Lee.  The trees are being trimmed.  A new wrought iron fence is going around the school.  Classrooms are being painted and the library is being leveled and repaired.  HISD trustee Harvin Moore has challenged Lee to show the city they belong with the other High Schools.  He has pledged to bring Lee back to its glory days.  Lee will no longer be treated as a steep child. 

What happens on the field Thursday really does not matter.  Coach Gary Castille and his team of 26 players will be laying the ground work for future generations of Lee football players.  They are winners already.  As are the alumni who have had to figure out ways to pay for uniforms, and equipment.  This group does not know the word no.   The alumni are now talking about debate teams, and key club meetings.  In a big city which tends to hide its problem and not care.  It is refreshing to see Robert El Lee rise again.  There will be set backs and challenges but a group working together is hard to beat.  And the coalition has been founded of students, teachers and alumni dedicated to making Lee a great High school again. If you get a chance come by and cheer for the Generals on Thursday.