Cass Tech and Catholic Central are biter football rivals.
But as Terry Foster recounts in the Detroit News, 14 Cass Tech players journeyed to the suburbs to pay respects to Detroit Catholic Central linebacker/running back David Widzinski, who died in his sleep Dec. 3. Cass had beaten Widzinski and his Catholic Central teammates, 36-21, a few days earlier in the Division I football championship at Ford Field.
It was Cass Tech's second straight championship victory, both over CC.
A year ago we saw the ugly side of athletics and the great divide that keeps this community from growing. Someone sent a racially charged letter to Cass Tech coach Thomas Wilcher that sent shock waves. It was debated for weeks because it supplied us with our crutches of race, class status and burned another bridge between city and suburbs.
The Cass Tech visit is not a story you will hear much about because it's positive and attempts to bring us together. That does not sell in this town. This year, the schools embraced and shared love and stories with one another. Weber didn't know what to expect when he stepped into a public viewing for Widzinski. What he discovered is blacks and whites, the city and suburbs, grieve the same way. He welcomed the warm embrace from Catholic Central parents, administrators and parents.
Everybody shared the same grief and the same pain.
