Charles ‘Phil’ Smith: Thanksgiving Football Traditions Recall Historic Brevard County Rivalries

The final high school football game played on Thanksgiving in the county took place in 1970

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Reports showing Cocoa High School and Eau Gallie High School practicing football on Thanksgiving morning have sparked memories of a time when Thanksgiving Day holiday games were a cherished local tradition.

Cocoa’s post highlighted the team sharing a Thanksgiving meal, noting that the school has observed this practice for 18 consecutive years.

From the 1950s through the 1970s, Thanksgiving Day rivalry games were a staple in many Brevard County communities, including Cocoa, Eau Gallie, Titusville, and Melbourne.

Families planned dinner times around kickoff. Schools boosted attendance with pep rallies, bands marched through neighborhoods, and entire communities turned out in school colors.

The final high school football game played on Thanksgiving in Brevard took place in 1970, when Cocoa traveled to Titusville for an 11 a.m. kickoff.

The matchup drew more than 2,000 spectators to Draa Field, a venue better known as a baseball stadium.

Because of its design, a portion of the football field was played on the clay surface of the baseball infield, creating a distinctive backdrop for the rivalry.

Both teams had practiced the afternoon before. According to one former athletic trainer who served on the Cocoa sideline that year, players arrived early on game day after eating breakfast at home.

Coaches and players gathered at the school at 6:30 a.m. to tape ankles and board yellow school buses for the 20-minute ride to Titusville.

Titusville ultimately claimed the Thanksgiving victory, marking the end of an era for Brevard County high school football.

After the game, players and their families returned home to celebrate the holiday.

Although the tradition has faded, today’s Thanksgiving practices and team meals serve as reminders of the community spirit and shared history that continue to define high school football across the Space Coast.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Charles “Phil” Smith graduated from Cocoa High School in 1961 after earning a triple trifecta of nine varsity letters, three each in football, basketball, and track.  He was also named All-State in football and basketball.

WATCH: Charles “Phil” Smith graduated from Cocoa High School in 1961 after earning a triple trifecta of nine varsity letters, three each in football, basketball, and track.  He was also named All-State in football and basketball.

2016 PREP INDUCTEE

All-State In Football and Basketball, FCCAA Distinguished Service Award, and First Scholarship Athlete At EFSC

COCOA HIGH GRADUATE

Today’s high school athletes tend to focus on a particular sport, but “back in the day,” when Charles “Phil” Smith was growing up, things were very different.

“Athletes back then didn’t specialize,” said Smith. “We played football, and then we went to basketball two weeks later. When that was over, we headed to the track.”

That’s exactly what Smith did at Cocoa High School, where he graduated in 1961 after earning a triple trifecta of nine varsity letters, three each in football, basketball, and track.

Those letters would continue to find Smith when he enrolled as the first scholarship athlete at Brevard Junior College, the precursor of today’s Eastern Florida State College.

Here, he earned two letters in basketball, was twice the team’s captain, a leading scorer and rebounder, and the school’s first player to earn Southern All-Conference and All-State honors.

Smith’s record of 30 rebounds in a single game still stands today, more than 50 years later.

The school started a track team during Smith’s second year there, and he jumped right to the state championship, with a high jump of 6’3” and a long jump of 20’8”.

With a basketball scholarship, the versatile Smith headed to Georgia Southern College. Smith spent his time wisely at Georgia Southern and graduated as a member of the 1964 NAIA National runner-up team.

Back in Brevard with a newly minted bachelor’s degree in education and history, Smith helped his junior college alma mater by volunteering as a basketball coach and helping launch women’s basketball and softball.

FHSAA EXECUTIVE

For his day job, he dove wholeheartedly into a career with Brevard County Schools. The Cocoa native headed north to Titusville to teach at South Lake Elementary and Jackson Junior High, where he also served as head coach in football, basketball, and track and athletic director.

The job would later take him to another alma mater, Cocoa High, where he served as the boys’ basketball coach and the first head coach in girls’ basketball and slow-pitch softball. He was also the athletics director, dean, assistant principal, and adult education principal.

Cocoa lost Smith to Gainesville in 1982, when he accepted the director of field services position with the Florida High School Activities Association. He was also the state’s executive director for the Florida Association of Student Councils and the executive secretary of the Florida Association of National Honor Societies.

Tallahassee claims him these days, for Smith and his wife (and Cocoa High sweetheart) Sandi still live there, even though he retired in 2007 after 16 years as executive director of the Florida Community College Activities Association.

Hall of Fame membership is nothing new to Smith, a pioneer in the implementation of gender equity in education and sports and a member of the FHSAA, FLCCAA, Collegiate Press Association, and the Community Colleges Men and Women’s Basketball Coaches’ State Halls of Fame.”

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME, call 321-615-8111 or e-mail Contact@spaceCoastDaily.com

CLICK HERE to see all the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame members.

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