the economy sort of falls apart, these schools are no longer these titans anymore. where there's more of a future for their kids. There are no jobs, the gang violence has gotten out of control and so people are getting sick of this.
is I think a lot of the kids' parents are moving out. "It's interesting this year because the Raiders for the first time in their history started the season 0-4.
#Muck city florida full#
Belle Glade is full of these grid-iron kings who were never able to get out. At the same time, it is such a pressure-cooker environment and often it is so often prioritized above all else. It opens a door to a lot of these guys that they otherwise wouldn't have. "Football has sent more kids to college in the Glade than anything else. On Belle Glade's relationship with football Once there was no jobs anymore, football became the only kind of life raft away from this place that kept sinking back in time. " has been ingrained in them from the time they were born their dads, their uncles, their cousins - they all played football. Right now I think the official unemployment is about 20 percent." Once the machines came in we saw just chronic underemployment and unemployment in the Glades. They cut the cane year after year until the mid-'90s, when machines could do it. And the result was this loamy, black soil we called 'the muck.' In the '60s, the sugar industry came and would hire, instead of local labor, they started bringing in people from the Caribbean. "It was started, as a lot of towns in south Florida, with the draining of the Everglades. In a town deep in the Florida Everglades. He talked with Weekend Edition host Scott Simon about the town's story - a story that's more than just about football. Read Muck City Winning and Losing in Footballs Forgotten Town by Bryan Mealer available from Rakuten Kobo. The school is proud of that record, but it may have come at a cost.īryan Mealer spent a year in the town of Belle Glade, Fla., and his new book, Muck City: Winning and Losing in Football's Forgotten Town, spotlights the stories of players, their families, their coach and a town that struggles to win a spot on the field, and life. Over the past generation, Belle Glade Central High School has sent 30 players onto the NFL. Belle Glade, on the shore of Lake Okeechobee, is surrounded by black soil, also known as the "muck" that's renowned for growing sweet corn, vegetables and sugar cane. There are five graduates from Belle Glade, Fla., in the NFL right now. It's almost certain that during this NFL season, you'll see a player from a place that's called Muck City.
His work has appeared in Best American Travel Writing and was chosen for an Overseas Press Club Award citation. When the people move out to seek a better life, these traditions fade.Crown Archetype Bryan Mealer is the author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
He talked with Weekend Edition host Scott Simon about the town's story - a story that's more than just about football. Bryan Mealer is the author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
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